Applejack's family has served Equestria's Holy Knights since their founding, and it's her dream to do the same. Rainbow Dash is a nobody, who'd rather pick fights than study. Their first day at the military academy begins with a fist fight.
There can be no higher honor for a soldier in Equestria's service than to become one of the six Holy Knights, and it's Applejack's dream to achieve that honor. Just as her brother has, and her father before her did, and his father before him, and so on, since the very day the Knights were founded.
And on her very first day at the military academy, she gets into a fist fight with the class troublemaker, and it's all downhill from there.
Canterlot’s Royal Military Academy. Applejack’s dream since she was a kid was to one day enter this prestigious school, to train at the elite academy that her brother trained at, and her father too, and probably his father before him!
For as long as Apples lived in Equestria, they became knights, and eventually Holy Knights. Applejack was determined to become one too, and her first step was to walk into the courtyard of the Academy, to take in the stone walls surrounding the main entrance, that made the place look almost more like a fortress than a school.
She wasn’t intimidated by the sight though, it only made her more excited, and so did taking her first step onto the frosty grass of the courtyard; it was crisp and frigid from the winter air, but Applejack was burning up inside with anticipation.
This was it. Her very first day at the Academy, the very first step on her journey to becoming the Holy Knight of Strength.
Applejack’s ears twitched as the chattering of a large gathered crowd reached them, piquing her curiosity. Something big was going on in the courtyard, and Applejack almost missed it because she was too starstruck by a bunch of old buildings. She’d have to be more alert than that if she wanted to fit into this school!
She tugged on her straw hat as she walked over to the crowd, cautiously sizing up the situation before getting too close, and she had very mixed emotions upon finding that the people were gathered to watch a fight in progress.
Looked like a quarrel between students, and while Applejack felt some headiness bubbling in her gut, eager to see how the fight played out, her head reminded her that this was a prestigious academy, and that the students here were training to be Knights. Just fighting in the middle of the courtyard might send the wrong impression, and everyone standing around gawking would look like a bunch of fools if the instructors saw them!
Applejack would have to put a stop to this.
She pushed past some of the gathered folks to see the combatants; a bright orange young man with almond-colored, slicked back hair fought with his fists against a light blue girl with striking rainbow hair tied behind her in a loose ponytail. Her movements—both on her feet and with her pair of knives—were almost too quick for Applejack’s eyes to keep up with.
Applejack’s first thought was that she was glad she wasn’t the one in the ring with that girl, because that guy didn’t stand a chance, and judging by the horrified look on his face— and the cuts across his cheeks— he probably knew it.
Applejack’s second thought was to be dazzled by the woman’s beautiful, somewhat masculine features. She didn’t look like a man, per se, but she looked odd. Familiar, almost. And then it hit Applejack that the girl was probably trans, and it warmed Applejack’s heart to know she wouldn’t be the only trans girl in her class.
Still though, this fight had gone on long enough.
Blue girl may have been fast, but her moves were pretty basic and predictable. Applejack jumped into the makeshift arena and grabbed Blue’s arm mid-swipe, and when she tried to swing at Applejack with her other knife, Applejack twisted the girl’s wrist to knock her off balance, then grabbed Blue’s free arm and yanked on it hard enough to bring her to the ground.
The guy looked giddy—assuming that Applejack had come to his defense— as he rushed to stomp on the grounded girl, and he was caught embarrassingly off-guard when Applejack punched him in the stomach and brought him to his knees.
“Hey, what gives?!” Blue’s raspy voice and fiery tone alarmed Applejack, who took a step back as the girl got to her feet and pointed a knife her way. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, just barging into my fight like that!?”
“Yer fightin’ on school property!” Applejack rebutted. “Don’t you have any respect for this place?”
“Not really?” Blue shrugged, and Applejack felt her eye twitch. Blue scoffed, “Whatever! What do you care anyway, just who the hell are you?!”
“The name’s Applejack,” Applejack took a step forward and cracked her knuckles, though her dramatic entrance was somewhat downplayed by the cooing of the crowd, who she’d momentarily forgotten about.
“Applejack?” Blue grinned and bit on her thumbnail, before pointing a finger at Applejack. “You’re one of them! One of those big fancy Apple clods!”
“Don’t you dare talk bad about my family, uhhh…” Applejack moved her hand in a forward circle, hoping Blue would give her actual name.
“I’m Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow flashed another grin, baring sharp fangs on either side of her mouth, “and if you’re soooo insistent to get in my way-” Rainbow flicked her knife and bobbed her head toward the almond-haired boy slinking unsubtly into the crowd “-maybe you’d like to take this dunce’s place!”
Applejack grit her teeth. It wouldn’t do to start a fight after she’d just broken one up, but she didn’t like this girl’s attitude one bit, and she knew this type of person wouldn’t listen to reason, but she’d have no choice but to listen to Applejack’s fists.
“Okay, Rainbow Dash, you’re o—”
“Hold on, now,” the voice of one of the instructors chimed in; a chestnut-skinned man with spiky blue hair, and a thin beard on his chin, by the name of Flash Sentry. “Everybody break it up! The orientation lecture will be in half an hour, and all of your butts should be in seats!”
The chastised crowd soon dispersed as Flash continued to reprimand them, until only Applejack and Rainbow remained; Applejack out of mild shame and a desire to make her case to the instructor, to apologize for almost getting goaded into a fight, and Rainbow probably stuck around cuz she was a stubborn bitch.
“Rainbow Dash, right?” Flash said as he walked up to the pair, and the distaste in his tone was met by utter apathy for it that was clear as day on Rainbow’s face. “Yeah, Shining Armor warned me you’d probably try to pick fights.”
“Don’t worry your spiky blue head about it, chief,” Rainbow’s voice dripped with sarcasm, and Applejack felt her face twisting into a bitter frown more with each word, “soon everyone’s gonna know that I’m the strongest fighter here, then no one’s gonna wanna fight with me! Problem solved!”
“Right,” Flash pinched the bridge of his nose. “Unless you want a fight with me, you’d better get to class.”
Rainbow scowled, and for half a sec Applejack honestly wondered if Rainbow was gonna start a fight with an instructor, and what should she do if Rainbow did, but thankfully Rainbow just spat at the ground and walked away without another word, giving Flash a firm slap on the shoulder as she passed him.
“Flash Sentry, sir, I—”
“Applejack, right?” Flash raised his hand and Applejack shut her mouth and nodded. “Academy’s been expecting you for a while, what’s been the hold-up?”
Didn’t want anyone to think I was a boy.
“Just some personal stuff I needed to clear up,” Applejack shrugged and tipped her straw hat. Technically that wasn’t a lie, so she could say it with a straight face. “But hey, better late than never, am I right?”
“Absolutely,” Flash bore a goofy grin on his face and Applejack pre-emptively rolled her eyes, “or should I say applesolutely?”
“You shouldn’t,” Applejack griped, “sir.”
“Right then,” Flash cleared his throat. “Anyhow, you’ll be in the Squire class, correct?”
“That’s right,” Applejack nodded.
“A little odd,” Flash hummed, “you’re already qualified to take the basic Knight class. If you cleared that, it would just be a matter of deciding what type of Knight you want to be, take that class, and you’d be set. You’re basically setting yourself up for an extra year’s worth of unnecessary work.”
“I appreciate the advice, sir,” Applejack drew herself up proudly, “but I’m an Apple. We do things the proper way. Just cuz I’m ‘qualified’ to jump ahead, doesn’t mean it’d be right. I need to go through all the steps if I wanna achieve my dream. Just like my brother did, and my pa, and my granpappy, you get it.”
“I do,” Flash nodded, and the smile on his face warmed Applejack’s heart. “You’re a rare one though, Applejack. Most of the students here aren’t going to see it that way. Most just want to get ahead in the world, to achieve a lucrative station and then just coast.”
“Good news to me, then,” Applejack chuckled, “I’ll have a one up on ‘em.”
“Well, I wish you luck,” Flash said, “you have a lot riding on you, after all. Apples have served the Cross since the day it was founded, and with your dad’s heroics during the Scarlet Rebellion, the Apple name’s never been more important. Lotta pressure.”
“Th-thanks,” Applejack said. She wasn’t nervous before, least she told herself she wasn’t, but she sure felt it brewing inside her now. “Anyway, I’d better get to class.”
“Right,” Flash laughed, “don’t let me hog any more your time! Good luck, Applejack.”
“Thank ye kindly, sir.”
As Applejack rushed to class, through the courtyard and into the halls, taking only a brief sec to be awestruck by all the history and magic that flowed through the marble floors and stone columns inside the building, she thought about what Flash said.
Instructor may have had all the tact of a drunken prep school student, but he wasn’t wrong. The pride of the Apple family rested on Applejack’s shoulders now, and she couldn’t afford to let her family down.
More than that though, her personal pride rested on her becoming a Holy Knight. She took the straw hat off her head and stared at it, at the hat she fashioned herself after the one her father had given to Big Mac, and she gave a bitter sigh as she put it back on her head.
There could only be one Holy Knight of Strength, and the men of the Apple family had held that honor for long enough.
Applejack had no trouble at all squeezing into her chair in the classroom, which made her feel nervous. She’d been reminded time and time again that her hormone therapy wasn’t actually making her smaller, but she still couldn’t help but feel self-conscious about her size; she was fit, and buffer than most girls, but she was practically a mouse compared to the mountain-sized men in her family.
Then again, comparing herself to the men in her family never did anything but give her a headache and a stomach full of anxiety, but that didn’t mean she’d stop doing it constantly.
Flash Sentry gave the orientation lecture, and while it was nothing too special, it was inspiring to hear anyway, at least to Applejack. He explained how the Holy Knights were so much more than just Equestria’s protectors; they were the land’s beacons as well, symbols of everything Equestria and its Cross stood for, and to be one meant to be a role model to all the land’s citizens, with all the honor— and pressure— that implied.
But there could only be six, one for each of Equestria’s Pillars, and so not every student would be able to become a Holy Knight. Flash explained that despite that, every single student, every single soldier in Equestria’s service, was valued and important. That each and every one of them would carry a sword that may one day slay Equestria’s enemies, and a shield that may save a comrade’s life.
Every person mattered, no matter who they were or where they came from. It was a message that brought a smile to Applejack’s face, even as she wondered how much she mattered outside the shadow of her family’s name.
Once the lecture was complete, Applejack looked around to see many of her fellow students chattering excitedly about their future plans, and their dreams and ambitions, and she couldn’t help but feel pumped up by all the heated energy surrounding her as she idly fiddled with a nearby pencil.
Except for one girl, who snored loudly as drool fell out her mouth and onto the desk where her head rested atop folded arms. Rainbow Dash had slept through the entire lecture, and Applejack snapped the pencil in her hand and nearly pounded her fist on her desk.
Applejack couldn’t believe how little Rainbow seemed to care about even the most basic shows of respect. The absolute least Rainbow had to do was to just stay awake during orientation, and she couldn’t even do that!
It got Applejack’s blood boiling for sure, but she took slow, deep breaths to try and calm herself. It wasn’t worth getting into a fight on her first day at the Academy.
Was it?
No, no it definitely wasn’t.
But that didn’t mean she couldn’t at least give Rainbow Dash an earful for her ridiculous behavior.
Applejack slammed her palm onto Rainbow’s desk, the rainbow-haired dolt’s head jerking up awkwardly as she looked tiredly up at Applejack, affecting a smirk as she blinked herself awake.
“Oh hey, Applesack,” Rainbow’s smirk morphed into a conceited grin, “how’s it goin’?”
“I can’t believe you slept through the entire lecture,” Applejack scolded, and Rainbow just snickered.
“Not my fault the lecture was so boring!” she shrugged, and Applejack practically felt steam pouring out of her ears.
“Don’t you have any respect—”
“Nope! No respect at all, Applesack!” Rainbow jumped up, planting her feet on her chair which allowed her to just barely see above Applejack’s head. She put her hands on Applejack’s shoulders, and it took every ounce of willpower Applejack had not to just break Rainbow’s fingers off right then and there. “And if you have a problem with my attitude, Applesack, you can take it outside with me!”
Rainbow snickered again and hopped onto her desk, jumping off it and behind Applejack.
“But I know you won’t,” Rainbow said smarmily, an utterly despicable smug grin plastered on her face, “your whole ‘family pride’ shtick would never let you fight on schoow pwopewty, especially not with a nobody like me.” Rainbow flicked her hair and turned her back on Applejack, “So I’ll sleep wherever I damn well please.”
Rainbow walked toward the exit, and Applejack watched her go, seething with anger. Every eye in the classroom was now homed in on Applejack, waiting to see how she’d respond to Rainbow’s taunts. Thing is, Rainbow wasn’t wrong; Applejack had no intention of risking her reputation, or her family’s pride, on something as petty as a grudge between schoolmates.
But letting all her peers see her buckle to a few taunts was even worse. Besides, like Applejack figured before, Rainbow wouldn’t listen to words, but Applejack could still get through to her with fists.
“Rainbow,” Applejack said firmly, and she caught the flicker of a grin that Rainbow made before she turned around with a stone-faced expression. “I’ll meet you in the courtyard. Let’s settle this right here and now.”
“Fine by me,” Rainbow hissed, “but don’t come crying to me after I kick your ass.”
Applejack flicked her nose as Rainbow tore her jacket off, throwing it onto the courtyard grass. Applejack removed her plaid jacket too, and while Rainbow took her hair out of its ponytail, letting it fall across her shoulders, Applejack kept hers in the loose, messy bun it was in.
No surprise, a crowd of fellow students were gathered around the arena where Applejack and Rainbow were about to square off, chattering amongst themselves and placing bets by the sound of it.
Rainbow was lean and muscular; contrary to her lax attitude, Applejack could tell just by looking at her that she took her training regiment seriously. She was short, maybe two or three heads shorter than Applejack, and Applejack was quite a bit bigger too; a mixture of overcompensating during hormone therapy and a natural love for strength training gave Applejack a body that could crush apples just by flexing. That was a fact, she’d done it before.
Be that as it may, Applejack had a good feeling that she’d better not hold back against Rainbow… too much.
Applejack scoffed as Rainbow drew her knives out of her pockets.
“Yer gonna use knives?” Applejack cocked her head and put a hand on her hip. “What’s the matter, ‘fraid you can’t beat me if you fight fair?”
“There’s no such thing as a ‘fair’ fight, Applejack,” Rainbow said coldly, and her glare pierced right through Applejack, who hadn't expected Rainbow to get serious at all, much less over a basic taunt. “You either do everything you can to win, or someday your family’s gonna have to bury you. That’s all there is to it.” Rainbow’s smug grin returned, “But if you’re scared of getting cut, we can call this off.”
Applejack cricked her neck back and forth. She said nothing, just put her dukes up.
Rainbow started the fight off by throwing one of her knives right at Applejack’s face, and Applejack was alarmed that Rainbow would start off with such a dirty trick, but she really should’ve seen it coming.
She tried to grab the knife out of the air, knowing if she tried to dodge, it might hit a student behind her instead. Granted, maybe the other students should’ve known better than to crowd around a fight in progress instead of getting an instructor to call this whole thing off, but Applejack wasn’t about to let other ponies get hurt because of her fight.
She did manage to catch the knife, but only by grabbing the blade and cutting up her hand in the process. Rainbow dashed to the side, and she was much faster than Applejack remembered from this morning; she grabbed a stone off the ground and threw it at Applejack, who was just about done with Rainbow’s petty tactics.
Applejack threw the knife to the ground and did nothing as the rock hit her square in the cheek, leaving a bloody cut across her face. She simply stared Rainbow down as the blood trickled down her face, though she did crack a smile at seeing Rainbow’s eyes widen.
Applejack ran at Rainbow and tried to throw a punch, but only hit empty air as Rainbow effortlessly jumped away from her attack. Rainbow sliced Applejack with her knife and cut her arm, but Applejack barely felt it, throwing another punch at Rainbow’s face that whiffed as Rainbow jumped back.
Applejack waited patiently for Rainbow to make her next move, but even though she was ready and on-guard, Rainbow’s blazing speed still managed to make her jump, and before she knew it, Rainbow was behind her.
Applejack turned on her heels and managed to catch Rainbow’s hand before she could plunge the knife into Applejack’s back, though Rainbow was all too happy to just drop the knife to avoid taking a punch from Applejack, especially since Rainbow’s speed made it easy for her to pick up the other knife off the ground, which she did while flashing a smug grin.
“Hope you didn’t think usin’ these things’d give you an advantage against me,” Applejack mirrored Rainbow’s grin and tossed the knife aside. “I ain’t about to lose to no one, ‘specially no one like you.”
“You say that,” Rainbow spat, “but I can tell you’re holding back. What’s the matter, Appleslack? You tryin’ to stall ‘til a teacher gets here? Afraid you can’t beat me on your own?”
Applejack took a sharp breath in through her nose. Rainbow wasn’t wrong, Applejack was holding back. Applejack had magic—not much, mind, but enough that she could probably end this fight with one or two blows, but could she really justify using her magic in a petty grudge fight?
Looking around at the crowd, some of the onlookers were starting to get bored and disperse. It wouldn’t be long before someone called an instructor, and Applejack wasn’t gonna get away with just a slap on the wrist if she was caught fighting a second time today.
Was that Rainbow’s plan all along? Goad Applejack into a fight just so she’d get in trouble with the instructors? It’d be awful shrewd of her.
“Earth to Applejack!” Rainbow laughed. “You losing your nerve? The oh-so-great Apple family ain’t all it’s cracked up to be, I guess! You can’t even land a single punch on me!”
Well. If Rainbow was that insistent on Applejack not holding back, it’d just be rude to not use her magic at this point, wouldn’t it?
“Alright, Rainbow,” Applejack said coolly, “but don’t blame me when you get hurt!”
Rainbow wasn’t stupid, Applejack had to give her that at least, and she’d probably figured by this point that trying to hit Applejack head-on was gonna be a no-sell. When Applejack approached, Rainbow would try to get behind her, and that’s when Applejack would strike.
Applejack stood at the ready while Rainbow stared her down, knife in hand. Applejack felt the energy of the Earth Aura flowing through her legs, and she charged at Rainbow, who smirked as she dashed underneath Applejack’s thrown punch, and Applejack managed to fight back her own smile as Rainbow tried to get behind her, just like she figured.
Applejack spun around, and though she wasn’t fast enough to avoid getting cut across the side of her gut, she fought through the pain and grabbed Rainbow’s hand. Just like before, Rainbow dropped the knife and slipped her hand out from Applejack’s, rolling her eyes at Applejack’s seemingly basic strategy.
But before Rainbow could get away, Applejack kicked her in the thigh and shattered her femur.
Rainbow’s eyes widened as she stumbled backward, and Applejack just threw the knife away and cracked her knuckles, waiting for Rainbow to make her next pained, sluggish move.
“Wh-what did—” Rainbow looked up at Applejack in shock. “You have magic?!”
A wave of chatter washed over the crowd of onlookers, and Applejack’s nose curled. She didn’t want anyone to look at her any different than any other student, and she knew her family name was gonna make that hard enough, now she was known as probably the only student in the class to have access to magic.
“It’s a basic spell,” Applejack shrugged as Rainbow gently touched at her thigh and hissed in pain, “you’ll learn the same one next year in the Knight class. You didn’t think, just cuz I’m late to join the Academy, that I been restin’ on my laurels, didja?”
“What the hell did you do to my leg!?” Rainbow yelled, her ‘cool’ façade falling away entirely as she panicked over her injury. Was this the first time Rainbow had seen magic before? Or maybe she had a bad experience with it sometime? Cuz this response wasn’t what Applejack expected at all.
“Like I said,” Applejack said calmly, trying to reassure her opponent, “it’s a basic spell. It won’t do any permanent damage. I mean, you’re still standin’, ain’t ya?” To be honest, it was kinda a marvel that Rainbow was still standing. Applejack hadn't expected that either. “You’ll be able to walk that wound off in a couple hours. Magic’s funny like that.”
“Right then,” Rainbow sighed, before fixing a steely glare on Applejack. “Then I guess we’d better get back to the—”
Applejack punched Rainbow hard in the nose, closing the distance between them faster than Rainbow could react on her busted leg, and knocked Rainbow to the ground, planting a foot on the girl’s stomach and glaring down at her in contempt.
“No, Rainbow,” she said coldly, “we’re done here. And let this be a lesson that you don’t insult my family again, got it?”
Applejack didn’t wait for an answer before walking away from her defeated opponent, especially when she saw Flash Sentry approaching in the distance, looking none too pleased. She barely registered Rainbow shouting at her in the distance, but entirely tuned her out as she walked away to meet Flash.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Flash barked through gritted teeth, trying not to cause yet another scene as he scolded Applejack.
“I couldn’t just let her talk about my family like—”
“A lot of jealous folks are going to be talking about your family, Applejack,” Flash said sternly, “and if you fly off the handle every time it happens, what kind of message does that send? What does that say, other than that those critics are right to think badly of you?
“Think about that next time, before you jeopardize your family’s reputation, and your place here in the Academy.”
“What about her?” Applejack threw her fist up and grit her teeth. “She’s the one who—”
“I’ll deal with her,” Flash’s tone was cold as the winter’s bite, and Applejack knew her time to talk was done. “Orientation’s over for the day, Applejack. Go home.”
“Right,” Applejack hung her head and headed off, not even bothering to return to where she’d left her jacket. “See you tomorrow, sir.”
“I hope you’ve thought about what I said by then,” Flash said, his words searing into Applejack’s mind like a hot iron.
“I will. I won’t let my family down.”
Won’t let myself down either. I… I can’t.
After what felt like sixty hours of lecturing from Flash Sentry, Rainbow was finally left to her own devices in the school courtyard. All the spectators were gone too, probably cuz they were too afraid of Flash to stick around and gawk at Rainbow and her stupid broken thigh or whatever.
She didn’t want to admit it, she really didn’t wanna say anything about it or even acknowledge it, but whatever Applejack did to her leg really hurt.
Rainbow kept gently pressing on the thigh, hoping that she could maybe reset the bone by herself or something, anything that would make it stop hurting. It wasn’t until the fourteenth time she heard herself let out a pathetic whimper that she finally gave up and just threw her face into her hands in resentment and disgust at herself.
“Umm… excuse me…”
Rainbow barely heard the vague whisper, but it was enough to draw her attention and jolt her head up, finding a tiny, skeleton thin yellow waif of a girl standing in front of her, loose clothing billowing in the gentle wind, and an absolute ocean of pink hair falling down her back and shoulders.
“What’s up?” Rainbow asked casually, acting like she wasn’t in terrible pain. She actually recognized the yellow girl from earlier in the day, from right before the fight that Applejack had broken up.
“I just wanted to, um,” the girl bit her thumb, and Rainbow guessed that talking probably wasn’t her strong suit. “I wanted to say thank you!” she blurted out, throwing her head down in a bow, pink hair flying every which way.
“Hey, it’s no big—” Rainbow grit her teeth and hissed in pain as she moved her leg, and the girl gasped.
“Oh no, I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands over her mouth. “This is all my fault, if you hadn't been protecting me—I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!”
“Hey, it’s no biggie,” Rainbow shrugged, “it’s not your fault, so stop apologizing.”
“Oh, okay,” the girl said, “I’m sorry.”
Rainbow just sighed, and she looked dismally at her thigh.
“Apparently I can just walk it off in a couple hours,” she grumbled, more to herself than to the girl. “What’s your name, by the way?”
“Um, it’s Fluttershy,” Fluttershy said, and Rainbow smiled at what a pretty name that was. “If it’s alright, I have something that might help you with your injury.”
Rainbow’s eyes lit up and she held out her hands. “Give it here then!”
“Oh! Uh, okay!” Fluttershy said bashfully, pulling her backpack off her shoulder and rummaging through it, pulling out a tiny pink vial. “I’m in the Chemist class, and I made this one myself as a practice, but it should work to—”
Rainbow snatched the bottle out of Fluttershy’s hands and popped the cap off with her teeth, downing the bottle as quick as possible, and just as quickly realizing the potion tasted like tree bark and raw vegetable oil, and spitting it back out.
“Sorry, but yikes!” Rainbow’s face twisted in disgust as she handed the bottle back to Fluttershy. “I can’t drink that.”
“Um,” Fluttershy giggled, holding a hand over her mouth and gently pouring the potion over Rainbow’s thigh, “you’re not supposed to drink it.”
Rainbow watched in amazement as the liquid seeped through her pants and into her skin, a cold, tingly feeling enveloping her thigh for a moment before soothing relief followed it, and Rainbow gasped as she realized that she wasn’t in pain anymore.
“Good as new!” she exclaimed as she jumped to her feet, smacking her healed thigh for good measure. “Thanks, Fluttershy! You’re amazing!”
“Oh, I’m not,” Fluttershy brushed a strand of hair out of her face, “it’s just some basic alchemy, I—”
“Pfft! Nonsense!” Rainbow beamed and slapped Fluttershy’s shoulder. “You fixed my leg up, so that’s amazing in my book! And hey, I guess we’re all square, so you don’t need to thank me for protecting you earlier or anything.”
“I guess,” Fluttershy nodded, “thank you again, though.”
“Like I said,” Rainbow shrugged, “no biggie. I’ll stick up for anyone who gets bullied. In fact, if those guys— or any other guys— try to give you any trouble, you come to me!”
“R-really?”
“Yeah!” Rainbow tapped Fluttershy’s nose. “Stick with me, Fluttershy! I won’t let anyone hurt you! Promise!”
“Th-thank you,” Fluttershy said, tears falling out of her eyes. “That’s really sweet of you.”
“I mean it too,” Rainbow grabbed her jacket off the ground and threw it over her shoulder, before looking up at the sunset. “I won’t let anyone get bullied on my watch, I promise.”
“Applejack wasn’t bullying anyone though,” Fluttershy muttered, crouching to pick up a red plaid jacket off the grass, “how come you seemed so insistent on fighting her?”
“Huh? Oh, that’s different,” Rainbow shrugged, slyly avoiding giving an actual answer. “I’m not done with her yet either! I’m gonna kick her butt tomorrow!” Rainbow threw her fists into the air.
“She didn’t seem very interested in fighting you again.”
“Oh yeah?” Rainbow grinned and put her arm around Fluttershy’s shoulder, who made a little ‘meep!’ but otherwise didn’t seem to mind. “You let me worry about that. Applejack’s one of those girls who’s all about honor and pride and stuff, they’re super easy to provoke.”
Rainbow clapped her hands and rubbed them together, before clenching her fists and staring at the ground.
“Everyone’s gonna know that I’m the strongest Knight in Equestria,” Rainbow bit her thumb, digging her fang into her flesh. “Next time, I’m gonna settle the score between us once and for all.”
Rainbow struggled to lift her head as blood dripped from her nose and mouth onto the concrete for the twenty-third time.
Twenty-three days since school started, twenty-three fights with Applejack, twenty-three failures.
She coughed up a bit of blood as she shakily pushed herself up onto her feet, jumping into a standing position and taking a wobbly fighting stance, fists raised at Applejack, who just looked at her like she was the biggest idiot in the academy.
“You’re not serious,” Applejack rubbed her forehead.
“I’m not done yet,” Rainbow breathed heavily, blood dripping down her chin. “I’m not beaten yet!”
Applejack took a deep breath and looked around. She was always so concerned about what other people thought, and about looking all good and dignified and crap. It irritated Rainbow to no end; she’d have no problem fighting Applejack right in the center of the Academy courtyard like their first day, but Applejack only agreed to fight if it was somewhere that didn’t draw a crowd.
Lucky for Rainbow, she knew just the place; a strip of town with nothing but empty, boarded up and falling apart houses. They used to belong to soldiers, ones who left to fight during the Scarlet Rebellion, and the few soldiers that came back from that mostly went to hospitals or the morgue instead of back to their homes.
Applejack put her hands in her plaid jacket pockets, and the reminder of the winter chill made Rainbow regret throwing her own jacket on the ground. She couldn’t just pick it up now and admit that she needed it, that’d make her look super lame.
“Well, I’m done,” Applejack sighed. “I’m tired of havin’ this same fight with you every single day. You’re a great fighter, Rainbow Dash, there’s no doubt about it, so why’s it so important to you to beat me, anyway?”
“It’s not about me!” Rainbow sneered and spat blood at the ground. “It’s about you— miss high and mighty important family over here— knowing that you can’t just waltz into the Academy and expect everyone to throw themselves at your feet because of your name! You’re probably sooo used to nobody ever challenging you, and I’m gonna make sure you get that you aren’t better than me just because of who you were born to!”
Applejack shifted her weight to one side, cocking her head and giving a super bitter scowl. Rainbow grinned and clenched her fists harder, sure that Applejack was gonna throw another punch.
“That’s not what I think,” Applejack said coldly.
“Yeah?” Rainbow scoffed. “Cuz I think you just keep accepting my challenges cuz it bugs you that somebody would challenge you! You just can’t stand that I don’t care about your pwestigious famiwy, right?!”
“I keep acceptin’ yer challenges cuz I thought it meant somethin’ to you,” Applejack grit her teeth and shook her head. She tilted her straw hat over her eyes and stomped her foot on the ground. “But if this was all just a big exercise in tryin’ to stick it to me cuz of my family, then you can forget about it. I don’t need that kinda stress in my life.”
Applejack started to walk away, and Rainbow got ready to chase her down and prepare some other witty quip that would make Applejack wanna take a swing at her, but then Applejack stopped and turned her head, giving Rainbow an ice-cold glare that’d make Cerberus stop in his tracks.
“And lemme make this clear,” she said in a measured, but eerily angry tone, “I ain’t come to the Academy to represent my family. My name and its history matter to me, but at the end of the day, I’m here to achieve my dream. And if you think I’m just some spoiled rich kid cuz of who I come from, you couldn’t be more wrong, and you got the bruises to prove it.
“Now go home, Rainbow,” Applejack sighed and walked away, “and clean yourself up, you’re a mess.”
Rainbow wanted to do something; to scream, or run after Applejack and punch her in the back of the head, or… something! But she had nothing, so her hands just fell limp at her sides, and her legs gave out right after.
She bit her thumb. Twenty-three times she’d fought Applejack and lost. And what was all that crap that she said about Applejack’s family? Did she really believe someone like Applejack— who was built like a mountain, could keep up with Rainbow’s speed after only their second fight, and who had access to magic—was really just some silver spoon kid?
Maybe at first she thought that, and maybe Rainbow started challenging Applejack because she wanted to get under her skin, but she couldn’t possibly believe that anymore. But to admit the real reason she kept challenging Applejack— to admit how humiliated she was that she kept losing, and that she couldn’t bear the idea that she was weaker than Applejack— that just… she couldn’t do that.
She took in a deep breath and got back on her shaky legs, putting her hair back into a ponytail before grabbing her jacket, taking a quick look around to make sure nobody was watching before she put it back on. It felt good to wear it though; it was cold out.
Sun was setting by now, and Rainbow had to hurry to catch her train home, but it was no biggie. Even if she wasn’t the strongest person at the Academy, she was still the fastest and would have no problem making that evening train. Which was good, cuz she couldn’t afford the night train, and she really didn’t wanna get stranded in Canterlot for the night.
Rainbow wiped some blood from her face and grumbled. Applejack was right, she was a mess. She’d just have to do better next time.
Tomorrow she’d win for sure.
****
Rainbow yawned herself awake and wrinkled her nose at the little rays of sunlight peeking in through her curtains. It was too early to be daytime already.
She hadn't slept much, but time waits for no one so she crawled out of bed. She definitely didn’t fall out of bed and land face-first on the floor. That would be embarrassing, but it didn’t happen.
Rainbow groaned under her breath and pinched her nose at the sight of herself in the bathroom mirror. Her face was all jacked up from her fight yesterday, with cuts and bruises pretty much all over. She looked down at the unused makeup kit sitting on the counter, and she wondered if she could use it to hide her injuries.
Honestly, she’d never touched the thing before. It was a gift from her roommate; both of them were still pretty new to the whole ‘being a girl’ thing, and neither of them really knew how to makeup, but at least the roommate was trying and wasn’t too self-conscious to even give makeup a shot.
So that was a ‘no’ on the whole ‘using the makeup to hide the bruises’ thing too. Rainbow figured she’d get around to learning how to do makeup eventually, probably, but then again, why did she even need makeup when her face was already awesome? Even if she had a few nicks and scrapes, it just made her face look cooler, if anything.
Rainbow ran out the door of her tiny apartment, said goodbye to her roommate on her way out, and saw Fluttershy standing at the end of the path, waving to her. Rainbow waved back before running up and slapping Fluttershy’s hand bombastically, though Fluttershy yelped as their hands collided.
Fluttershy was cool. On top of being a pretty gifted Chemist, she was also super nice and patient to everybody, including Rainbow. Plus they had the whole trans girl thing in common, so that was rad.
They’d managed to strike up a nice little arrangement; walking to the train station together every morning, Rainbow would point knives at anyone in school who looked at Fluttershy wrong, and Fluttershy patched Rainbow up after she got beat up by Applejack for the bazillionth time.
“Oh, Rainbow!” Fluttershy gasped, and Rainbow looked behind her to see what was up before realizing Fluttershy was just reacting to her jacked-up face. “Your face is all—did you get into a fight with Applejack again?” Fluttershy sighed and crossed her arms, shaking her head at Rainbow like a disappointed mom. “What am I saying? Of course you did.”
“Is it that obvious?” Rainbow asked sheepishly, flinching as she ran her fingers over some of her bruises.
“I’m afraid so,” Fluttershy muttered, looking over Rainbow’s injuries as the two walked down the quiet, misty Fillydelphia road on their way to the train station. “I wish I could help, but my Alchemy isn’t quite at the level where it can fix cosmetic damage. Turns out that potion I gave you when we met was a bit of a fluke, and I’m not allowed to make potions at home anymore after I blew up the greenhouse.”
Rainbow sucked air through her teeth, “Sorry to hear that.”
“Thank you,” Fluttershy brushed some hair out of her face and looked away.
“Don’t sweat it, though,” Rainbow slapped Fluttershy’s shoulder while grinning confidently, although Fluttershy’s yelp and jump combo didn’t quite relay the same level of enthusiasm, “I’m sure you’ll be making awesome potions and stuff in no time! Cuz you’re amazing, Fluttershy!”
“I’m not,” Fluttershy pressed her fingers together, “but thank you for saying it.”
“No problem!”
“Are you going to be okay though?” Fluttershy asked, biting on her fingernails. “People are probably gonna say stuff about your injuries. They’re worse than usual today.”
“Whatever,” Rainbow shrugged. “It’ll be fine.”
It was not fine.
“Wow, looks like someone got jacked up!” a chestnut-colored, brown-haired ape guffawed at Rainbow in the hall.
“More like applejacked up!” one of the dude’s goons— a dark-brown goober with a mop of pale-brown hair— added with a cackle.
“How do you like dem apples, Rainbow Trash?” another dude— a gray ogre with scruffy black hair practically covering his whole upper face— chimed in.
Rainbow put a hand on her hip and arched an unimpressed eyebrow.
“You guys done?” she said dryly. “Or do you have more sidesplitting material to share? Super original too, you guys, never heard those ones before.”
Rainbow swore if she heard the phrase ‘how do you like dem apples’ one more time, she’d find a way to blow up the sun.
“Hey, don’t get salty with us,” the chestnut guy, named Hoops, scoffed, “just cuz you’re the class laughingstock!”
Rainbow grinded her teeth together and caressed the hilt of a knife with her finger. The goon squad had blocked most of the hall and were starting to draw a bit of a crowd, and sure enough there were people watching that were snickering under their breath or pointing at Rainbow’s face and laughing.
She tapped a nail against the knife handle. It would be so easy to show these guys exactly why you don’t make fun of Rainbow Dash. But the last time she drew knives in the hallway, she was stuck on janitor duty all day and nearly missed her train home.
Was it worth the risk, just to show up a couple of chumps? Honestly, it might’ve been. Hoops thought Rainbow’s face looked back? He should just wait until she was done with him.
“Get to class, y’all,” Applejack walked by the fight-in-progress without stopping, only muttering those words and piercing Hoops with an icy glare. She was good at those.
Hoops huffed and tugged on his shirt collar. He didn’t say anything as he turned his back on Rainbow and gestured for his buddies to follow him, and as him and his bros headed for the class, Rainbow looked around to see everyone else who had gathered suddenly had somewhere else they needed to be, and not one of ‘em wanted to look Rainbow in the eye.
Funny that.
Rainbow yawned as she slumped into her chair in the classroom. She barely slept three or four hours last night, and probably just as many the night before. Insomnia was kicking her ass harder than Applejack could ever dream to.
She wasn’t totally dumb, and she knew getting into fights when she was this tired was only gonna make everything worse. Besides, she needed to focus on the class. If Flash Sentry caught her sleeping in class again, he was gonna be furious.
Stay awake, Rainbow. You gotta stay awake!
Rainbow slapped her cheeks a few times and looked around the room, her face turning into a grisly frown when her eyes locked on Applejack, ever so dutifully scratching away at a piece of paper.
Teacher’s pet.
That said, at least she hadn't said anything to Rainbow about her wounds. And especially she didn’t make any insufferable apple puns at her.
“You’re a great fighter, Rainbow Dash, there’s no doubt about it.”
Actually… Applejack hadn't really been anything but nice to Rainbow. Annoyed usually, but… but that was the plan, wasn’t it? Get under her skin and all that?
Fluttershy got along with Applejack really well too, on the few times that they talked; usually while Fluttershy was fixing up Rainbow’s wounds.
Looking around at a classroom full of other students, Rainbow could count on one hand the ones she hadn't gotten into a fight with in her three weeks at the Academy. And of those, Applejack was the only one who didn’t seem to have a bone to pick with her.
Or maybe she did. Applejack sure hated when Rainbow fell asleep in class, but it was hardly Rainbow’s fault that she had insomnia. Then again, she never told anyone she had it, and whenever Applejack chided her about sleeping, Rainbow always blew her off.
Aw crap, I’m the problem, aren’t I?
Rainbow yawned and folded her hands on the desk.
Maybe…
She rested her head on her arms, cuz a couple winks of sleep before the teacher got there wouldn’t be so bad, right?
Maybe I owe her…
Someone would wake her when class started.
…an apology…
A palm slamming onto her desk caused Rainbow’s head to jolt up, and her eyes widened to see Flash Sentry’s scowling face peering down at her, and not Applejack’s cool, freckled face. A glance over at the window, and the pale orange glow of the setting sun filtering through, alerted Rainbow that she’d slept through the whole class.
Welp.
“How many times have I told you,” Flash snarled, “not to sleep during classes?!”
“And how many times have I told you to bite my ass?” Rainbow crossed her arms and stuck out her tongue, trying to play it totally cool like she wasn’t humiliated to have slept through another class. At this point, she’d probably slept through more classes than she’d been awake for.
Hell, she had more than one class that day, and now school was over! She slept through the whole day! And no one bothered to wake her before sunset?! What gives!?
“You’re not leaving this building,” Flash said through gritted teeth while he got a mop and bucket out of the nearby closet, “until the halls are all spotless. Understand?”
“Uh,” Rainbow glanced at the setting sun, “I kinda have a train to—”
“I’ll lend you the money for the night train,” Flash said sternly. “You can come see me in my office, after you’ve cleaned the halls.” Flash pushed the mop and bucket into Rainbow’s hands. “Understand?”
“Y-yeah.”
“Understand?” Flash cleared his throat, and Rainbow clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes.
“Yes, sir,” she growled, and Flash looked like he wanted to start something, but instead he just shook his head and meandered on his way.
Rainbow got up from her desk and arched her back, groaning in frustration and from being sore after sleeping in a bad position all day. She took the mop and bucket and let out less of a ‘groan’ and more of a disgusted sigh.
She hated cleaning, and she wasn’t too good at it either. She knew she’d probably have to go over all the halls three or even four times before they were ‘spotless’ enough for Sentry, and she’d probably be there well into the night.
Nothing to be done for it though, and the night wasn’t gonna come slower if she moped around, so she headed out into the hallway without really paying too much attention, until she walked right into Fluttershy.
“Ugh, sorry,” Rainbow grumbled, “wasn’t paying attention.” Rainbow blinked at Fluttershy, who just kinda awkwardly stood there. “What’re you doing here, Fluttershy? Don’t you gotta catch the train home?”
“Well, we usually take the train together, but, um,” Fluttershy cleared her throat and tugged at her clothing as she slowly mulled over what she wanted to say, “I, um, I overheard Flash Sentry just now, scolding you.”
“Oh,” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck and curled her nose at the feeling of her cheeks burning up. “So yeah, I can’t go home quite yet, so if you just wanna head out and I’ll see you tomorrow, that’d be—”
“Do you want help?”
“What?” Rainbow blinked, and Fluttershy bit her lip. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I, uh—” Fluttershy cleared her throat again and exhaled sharply. She tried to stand up tall, but she still hunched over a bunch and her eyes nervously jittered every which way. “There’s an awful lot of halls for one person. If you want, I could stick around and help you clean up?”
“Why would you wanna do that?” Rainbow laughed and started to walk away, figuring that’d be the end of it, but Fluttershy followed her.
“What I want, is to help out my friend,” Fluttershy gave a bright smile as Rainbow froze in her tracks, “if she’ll let me.”
“Uh,” Rainbow put a hand on her cheek, sure that the heat was gonna sear the skin right off her fingers, “I mean, i-if you want to, I guess that’s fine.”
Rainbow wasn’t used to ‘the f-word’. She figured she got along just fine with Fluttershy, and she admitted she actually really liked her and admired how brave she could be even though everything made her so nervous, but for someone cool like her to consider Rainbow a ‘friend’? She never would’ve thought that could be a real thing.
But she didn’t hate it.
“Holy crap,” Rainbow cackled as she looked at the tidied up halls that her and Fluttershy had finally finished cleaning. Fluttershy rested on the ground, her back to a bunch of lockers, and Rainbow stared over their handiwork with her hands on her hips.
“It looks pretty good now, I think,” Fluttershy smiled sweetly, and Rainbow had half a mind to shake her by the shoulders.
“Pretty good?!” she exclaimed, aghast. “I bet this place is cleaner than it’s ever been! And it’s all thanks to you!”
“Oh, don’t say that,” Fluttershy covered her bright red cheeks with her hair. “You were cleaning just as much as I was.”
“I never would’ve managed to make it look like this on my own,” Rainbow beamed at Fluttershy and gave her a thumbs-up. “So thanks, Fluttershy.”
“Y-you’re welcome. Thank you for the compliment.”
“Hey,” Rainbow snickered, “what’re friends for, right?” Fluttershy smiled brightly and nodded, and Rainbow flashed a proud grin and pumped her fist. “I swear, if this place isn’t ‘spotless’ enough for Flash Sentry, the dude’s got problems.”
“I dunno,” the voice of Hoops from behind Rainbow made her stomach drop, and she turned around quickly to face him, “I think you missed a spot.”
She turned around just quick enough for the pail of red paste to splash all over her face and down her chest, and onto the floor around her feet.
Dumbbell and Quarterback snickered as Hoops just stood there, holding the empty pail and grinning smugly. Rainbow thought she heard Fluttershy gasp, but she couldn’t quite make it out past the intense ringing in her ears that sounded distinctly like a boiling tea kettle.
Rainbow inhaled sharply.
She grabbed Hoops’ head and smashed it into a nearby wall, then threw it downward where it collided with her knee, and if that didn’t break his nose, hitting the marble floor face-first as she threw him to the ground sure did.
Rainbow’s speed was way more than the slow-witted apes could keep up with and they were still snickering by the time Hoops was on the ground, but they both stared with gaping mouths at the paste-soaked Rainbow as she drew her knives on them.
Rainbow jumped forward and punched Dumbbell in the nose, forcing the charcoal-brown oaf to bumble backward, and cut a gash across the bridge of Quarterback’s nose, the gray-skinned caveman moaning in pain as he clutched his face.
A flurry of punches met Quarterback’s face next, and before the dude knew it, he was bleeding from his nose and mouth, and Rainbow had decorated his cheeks with a couple new cuts to boot.
Dumbbell tried to grab Rainbow’s arm, but his clumsy attempt at a grapple was met by Rainbow’s fist right in his eye, and a stab to his shoulder that sent him awkwardly stepping back as he hissed in pain.
Rainbow slammed the back of her hand into Quarterback’s head, knocking him off balance, and swept his leg out from under him, the big dullard collapsing to the ground with a painful-sounding thud.
With two dudes down, Rainbow took a sec to glance behind her and see how Fluttershy was faring, and her heart sank to see no pink-haired cutie huddled in front of the lockers.
Rainbow couldn’t blame Fluttershy for bailing on the fight—Fluttershy wasn’t in any of the combat classes, after all—but it kinda stung that her new ‘friend’ didn’t even wanna stick around to see Rainbow ace these guys.
Oh well, no sense in dwelling on it, so Rainbow focused on Dumbbell, locking eyes with the dude even as his stupid front-swept hairdo made it hard to even see his eyes. She glared at him, and he grit his teeth and slowly crept backward, walking a step back for every step Rainbow took toward him.
But he was way too slow.
Rainbow dashed behind him before he could even blink, and she winded up a punch that rocked the base of his spine, the loser screaming bloody murder from that hit and the follow-up punch that slammed his head into the wall.
Dumbbell slowly slid down the wall, leaving a bloody trail in his wake, and Rainbow locked her fiery eyes with Hoops and Quarterback, who were struggling to their feet.
“You got somethin’ to say?” Rainbow sneered as she walked over to the trembling pair, knives pointed their way. “You got some kinda problem with me? Then let’s settle it, right here!”
“P-please, it was just a prank!” Hoops quivered. “We didn’t mean to set you off like this, honest! It was just a joke!”
“You have a bad sense of humor,” Rainbow growled, pressing a knife up against Hoops’ neck.
It would be so EASY. No one would ever bother her again after these guys suddenly showed up in the obituaries.
Rainbow glanced back to see Dumbbell on his hands and knees, coughing up blood. Served him right, but did he deserve to die?
No one ‘deserves’ to die.
Rainbow took in a sharp breath and stepped back, putting the knives back in their sheathes.
“Go home, you idiots.”
Rainbow might’ve gone a little off the handle there. She didn’t take kindly to bullies though, and while what they did to her— after she’d gone through so much trouble to clean this place up— really stung, it was the fact that these were the same losers who were picking on Fluttershy during orientation that really set her off.
Still though, if she just flew into a rage at every challenge, what would people think of her? She didn’t care, of course, but…
But…
…
Okay, maybe she cared a little.
Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen. Rainbow probably scared her off, and she couldn’t really blame Fluttershy for that. These guys may have been jerks, but Rainbow didn’t need to be so aggressive. She should’ve just played it cool.
She sighed miserably as she walked away from the oafs, and decided she’d better head to Sentry’s office and grab her train money.
At least, that was plan A before Hoops threw his arm around her neck, grabbing her in a headlock and yanking her back. Quarterback got in front of her and punched her hard in the stomach, making her hack up air, and then Dumbbell landed the last blow; a heavy punch right to her head that knocked her to the ground.
She barely even registered what was happening as she struggled to her hands and knees, but a firm stomp onto her back sent her flat against the ground. The bullies cackled as she tried to reach for her knives, but one of them kicked her hard in the ribs while another stomped on her hand, Rainbow biting down a pitiful yelp of pain.
This is what she got for trying to show some mercy. But then again, Fluttershy bailing on her is what she got for being too aggressive, so maybe fate just had it out for her.
Maybe she deserved this.
Rainbow’s hand twitching got met by another solid kick to her ribs, and she painfully rolled over onto her back, which she instantly regretted as Hoops stomped hard on her stomach, knocking all the wind right out of her.
“This is what you get, loser!” Hoops cackled, and Quarterback and Dumbbell gave each other a high-five. “This is what trash like you deserves!”
Honestly, Rainbow found it hard to disagree.
Maybe she did deserve this.
“Hey, y’all.”
A cold voice cut through the hallway, and the Rainbow’s blood froze over. Judging by the distraught faces of her tormentors, she guessed she wasn’t the only one.
Rainbow could just barely see out her peripherals, a pair of black boots that belonged to her favorite rival, and she could also make out a pair of pink slippers that belonged to Fluttershy.
Wait… she didn’t abandon me after all? She just went to fetch Applejack?!
Rainbow wanted to joke about how that was actually worse, but honestly… she kinda appreciated it. Especially right now because OW getting stomped on is painful and it sucks!
“I dunno what y’all think yer tryin’ to pull,” Applejack cracked her knuckles as she walked forward, and the bullies all skittered away from Rainbow’s prone body, “but if y’all don’t beat it, yer gonna have a problem.”
The bullies didn’t need to be told twice, practically tripping over themselves to get away from Applejack, who just sighed bemusedly as she walked over to Rainbow, holding a hand out to her.
“You alright, sugarcube?” she said with a sweet smile, and Rainbow’s brain almost tore itself in half trying to decipher why Applejack was being nice to her.
“I don’t need you help, thanks,” Rainbow scoffed and tried to bat Applejack’s hand away, but she didn’t realize she needed both hands to keep herself up until she fell flat on her face. “I don’t need… your help…” she wheezed, blood pooling in her mouth and dripping down her lip as she struggled to keep her eyes open.
Applejack took a deep breath, and if she had any other keen insights or words of wisdom, Rainbow didn’t hear them as she drifted off into unconsciousness.
****
As class dispersed for the afternoon, Applejack looked over at the sleeping figure of Rainbow, still hunched over a desk with her head resting on her arms like always, and Applejack bit down on her thumb.
Rainbow wouldn’t be happy to be woken up, but Applejack knew that despite Rainbow’s protests that she didn’t care about ‘boring, stuffy classroom junk’, it bothered her that she was so far behind everyone else so early into her training.
Applejack approached her, but was stopped when the voice of an instructor, Abacus Cinch, reprimanded her.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked coldly.
Applejack drew herself up and cocked her head toward Rainbow, “I can’t just leave her. We got another class today and—”
“You will leave her be,” Abacus harrumphed. “If she thinks sleep is more important than learning, then let her sleep, and she can see what Flash Sentry has to say about it this evening.”
“But I—that doesn’t seem ri—”
“Are you questioning your instructors, Applejack?” Abacus tilted her glasses down and glared.
“N-no, ma’am,” Applejack swallowed her nervousness and slowly made her way out of the class with her head hung, looking back once more at Rainbow before she left, “sorry, ma’am.”
Applejack shook off the memories and tried to focus, breathing a slow, steady sigh as she walked down the moonlit street to home, carrying a sleeping and bloodied Rainbow Dash on her back.
According to Fluttershy, Rainbow couldn’t afford the night train home, but that was kinda moot to Applejack, who didn’t like the idea of Rainbow trying to commute all the way back to Fillydelphia with her injuries anyway.
So Fluttershy returned home with a promise from Applejack that she’d take care of Rainbow, and Applejack headed to her place with Rainbow in tow.
Applejack wasn’t about to just leave her. She wasn’t about to just abandon someone who needed her help.
That said, when Rainbow started to groggily groan as she woke up, Applejack grit her teeth and felt a knot in her stomach, cuz she knew Rainbow wouldn’t be happy.
“What happened to Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked weakly, and Applejack found herself surprised at Rainbow’s first choice of question.
“Uh, she went home,” Applejack said. “Poor girl was worried sick about’cha, and neither of us felt too good ‘bout you gettin’ on the train in your state, but she needed to get back or her family’d be mad at her.”
“Did she get you?” Rainbow asked. “Like, is she the reason you came to stop the fight?”
“Yeah,” Applejack chuckled as she recalled Fluttershy’s frantic, gibbering plea to come help, and how long and hard she tried to justify Applejack helping Rainbow, when Applejack would’ve done it with no convincing at all. “She’s a good lady, Rainbow, and she cares ‘bout you a lot.”
“That’s cool,” Rainbow muttered, and Applejack stopped.
“How ya feelin’?” Applejack asked. “I don’t mind carryin’ ya, but if you’d rather walk—”
“Yeah.”
Applejack let Rainbow get onto her feet, then looked down at the poor wreck of a girl, still banged up from their fight yesterday and blood and some kinda red paste coating her whole face and clothes. She looked a mess.
“You didn’t have to help me,” Rainbow said.
“I guess,” Applejack shrugged, “but how could I not? When you needed—” Applejack bit her lip and tried to cut herself off, knowing Rainbow wouldn’t like what she was gonna say, but she was a mite too late.
“I didn’t need your help!” Rainbow snapped, and Applejack took a step back and threw up her hands.
“Rainbow, I get it,” Applejack tried her best to stay calm and not escalate things with Rainbow; that was the last thing either of them needed. “You wanna do everything yourself, cuz you want everyone to know how strong you are, and that’s kinda admirable.
“But everyone needs help now and again, and there’s no shame in takin’ it when it’s offered. C’mon,” Applejack let out a little, nervous chuckle, “how would you feel if it were Fluttershy gripin’ about you tryin’ to help her?”
“W—that’s not—” Rainbow’s cheeks turned redder than the paste on her chest and she puffed up her cheeks and crossed her arms. “That’s different.”
“How so?”
“I can accept help,” Rainbow coughed, “sometimes, but… I don’t want you helping me.”
“And why not?” Applejack couldn’t help but smile at the tantalizing knowledge right in front of her.
“Cuz then I’d have to admit-” Rainbow groaned loudly and rolled her head back, “-that I was wrong about you. That all that stuff I said, about you being a silver spoon kid or whatever, that was all bullcrap I made up to hide the fact that I was just super embarrassed that I kept losing to you. And that… you’re actually not the worst.”
“I don’t think you’re the worst either,” Applejack smiled warmly, and she couldn’t help feeling endeared to the little smile Rainbow gave in return. “Honestly, I think Hoops is the worst.”
Rainbow cackled, and Applejack beamed at that. “Yeah,” Rainbow said, “you’re totally right! They’re the worst, not me—er, I mean you.”
The pair’s laughter petered out after a sec, which left the two standing quietly together in the chilly winter night. No fists raised or sharp-tongued barbs flying between them, just a moment of peaceful silence.
“So,” Rainbow broke the pause with a nervous clearing of her throat, “we’re headed to your place, I guess?”
“Yep,” Applejack said as she resumed the trek, Rainbow following behind. “I hope that’s okay with you.”
“It’s-” Rainbow sighed and ran a hand through her hair, offering a hesitant smile to Applejack “-not the worst.”
Applejack’s place was only inside Canterlot borders on a technicality, being like a million miles away from the Academy, and separated from the city proper by a river. It was on the bridge above said river that Rainbow finally stopped pretending like she wasn’t injured and leaned on the side of the bridge for support, gasping for breath.
“I swear we’ve been walking like sixty years,” she wheezed, “how do you put up with this every day?”
“Ain’t nothin’ to it, sugarcube,” Applejack offered a warm smile and shrug of her shoulders, walking back across the bridge to offer Rainbow her hand. “I’m sure if you weren’t already roughed up, you’d have no problem with it.”
“I guess you’re right,” Rainbow crossed her arms and puffed up her cheeks. “If I wasn’t injured, I probably could’ve made it there and back to the Academy like three times by now.” She smirked at Applejack, “Geez Applejack, why’re you so slow?”
“Gee Rainbow, I dunno,” Applejack smirked back and crossed her arms, “it almost feels like I got a ball and chain draggin’ me down.” She stuck out her tongue, and Rainbow snorted. Applejack turned her back and pointed at herself, “You want a lift? We’re practically there already.”
Rainbow chewed her thumbnail. Letting Applejack carry her while she was conscious would be super embarrassing, and if they were almost there, Rainbow could totally tough it out the rest of the way, right?
Rainbow felt a throbbing in her legs, practically hearing them scream out for mercy, as if even a single extra step would cause them to collapse into dust.
“You must be really dedicated,” Rainbow changed the subject suddenly to give herself a little more time to think and/or stall, “if you make this walk every weekday.”
“It’s like I toldja before,” Applejack faced Rainbow and shrugged, then put her hands on the bridge’s railing and looked over the river, Rainbow folding her arms on the rail too and watching the water flow by, “I’m tryin’ to reach my dream. And ain’t nothin’ gonna stop me from achievin’ it.”
“To become a Holy Knight?” Rainbow asked.
“Somethin’ like that,” Applejack adjusted her straw hat and pushed herself away from the railing. “Honestly, becomin’ a Holy Knight is more a means to an end than anything.”
“Gotcha,” Rainbow slapped the rail and put a hand on her hip, taking in a deep breath; she really didn’t like what she was about to say. “Hey, I guess I’ll take you up on that lift after all, if you’re alright with it.”
“No problem, hon,” Applejack flashed a really cool smile, and Rainbow felt her heart swell up for some weird reason.
Applejack turned her back on Rainbow, who hopped onto Applejack’s shoulders and rested her arms across them, Applejack’s hands resting underneath Rainbow’s thighs. And as Applejack took off to her place at a pretty solid pace, Rainbow realized this wasn’t too embarrassing after all. It was actually kinda rad.
Not that she’d admit it, of course.
Rainbow was back on her own feet by the time they reached Applejack’s place, and it was funny; the whole walk there it felt like it was taking forever, but when Applejack was carrying her, it almost seemed like they got there too quickly. Weird.
But it was important that Rainbow walk into the place on her own, cuz Applejack apparently had a cousin she lived with, and Rainbow would be mortified if someone else saw her clinging to Applejack’s back like some kind of big kid, or like a possum baby.
“Hey, cousin!” Applejack’s roommate was a peach-skinned dude with really long, flowing hair, wearing a black cowboy hat. He greeted Applejack at the door with a big hug, and Applejack patted him on the back. “Took ya long enough to get back!”
“Yeah, I had some stuff to deal with at the Academy,” Applejack shrugged. “Had to help out a f—uh, a person in my class. Y’know how it is.”
Applejack gave a tepid smile, and Rainbow poked her head out from behind Applejack, the cousin’s eyes lighting up as he saw her.
“Is this who I think it is!?” the man pushed Applejack out of the way and grabbed Rainbow’s hand, and if she wasn’t standing right in front of Applejack, she’d have half a mind to cut the guy’s fingers off for just grabbing her like that.
“Yup,” Applejack rubbed the back of her neck, but then she saw Rainbow’s pained smile and grabbed her hand and the cousin’s and separated them, standing in between the two.
Rainbow quickly took her hand away from Applejack, brushed some hair out of her face and took a look at her hand, which was feeling all tingly now after Applejack touched it, not that it was any big deal or anything.
“Rainbow Dash, this is my cousin Braeburn,” Applejack pointed a thumb at Braeburn. “Brae, this is Rainbow Dash.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Rainbow Dash!” Braeburn held out his hand again and Rainbow hesitantly shook it, immediately being rattled by the heartiness of the dude’s handshake. “Applejack’s told me a ton about you, I’m pleased as punch to finally meet’cha!”
“Oh yeah?” Rainbow flicked her thumb across her chin and gave the slyest possible grin to Applejack, who pretended not to notice by playing with her hat. “She tell you about how awesome I am?”
“Pretty much!” Braeburn chuckled, and Applejack loudly coughed as Rainbow’s grin grew wider and smugger.
“Uh, hey, ain’t soup ‘bout to be on?” Applejack tapped Braeburn’s shoulder several times.
“Oh yeah!” Braeburn laughed from his belly, and Applejack took her hat off and wiped her brow with it, Rainbow arching an eyebrow cuz it felt like she was missing something. Maybe she was imagining it, but it felt like Applejack was sure eager to change the subject.
“You stayin’ for dinner, Rainbow Dash?” Braeburn asked with a big smile. “We got plenty’a extra!”
“Yeah, I think I will,” Rainbow said casually, sticking her hands in her pockets with a shrug and pretending like she wasn’t stranded there for the night. “Maybe we can talk about how awesome Applejack thinks I am over some grub!”
“I’m sure we can!” Braeburn grinned, and Applejack shot him a nasty look. “There’s a lot to talk about!”
“No there ain’t!” Applejack huffed, scrunching up her face and darting her eyes away from Braeburn and Rainbow.
“Ha! You’re doin’ the face, cuz!” Braeburn laughed as he disappeared inside the house.
“I am not doin’ ‘the face’!” Applejack screamed, and even though Rainbow didn’t know what exactly ‘the face’ was, she was pretty sure Applejack was still doing it.
Rainbow’s tongue fell right out of her mouth when Braeburn put the food on the table; plate after plate of pork and beef cuts, all steaming and looking juicy and tender and just really good!
Braeburn puts the plates in the center of the living room table—which was like the only piece of furniture in the empty, barren living room— and sat down, and before anyone could even blink, Rainbow had grabbed three or four or five hunks of meat and slapped them onto her own plate.
She thought for a fraction of a sec that maybe just going in on the food that fast might’ve been kinda rude, but her worry was washed away when Applejack did the exact same thing, not even waiting to put the meat on her plate before shoving two strips of beef into her mouth.
Applejack tore into her food like a lion devouring its freshly slain prey, but Rainbow wasn’t about to be outdone, tearing strips of meat and stuffing as much into her mouth as possible to the point she could barely close it to chew.
Braeburn watched in awe, content with the slabs that he’d taken at the beginning of the meal and not wanting to put his hand into the center plate just in case Rainbow or Applejack mistook it for a porkchop or something and bit his whole arm off.
Rainbow swore dinner only lasted like five seconds, and before she knew it there was only one scrap of meat left; a beef thigh on the center plate. Rainbow reached for it, digging her fingernails in even as Applejack tried to swipe it out from under her.
Rainbow glared at Applejack, who just offered a predatory snarl in return and tugged on the beef. Rainbow tugged back, and Applejack tried once more to yank it out from Rainbow’s grasp, but Rainbow wasn’t about to let go; she yanked the beef closer to her and then sunk her teeth into one side, even as Applejack’s fingers were still on the other side.
Applejack’s eyes glistened at the challenge and she tugged on the beef before biting down on her own side, the thick cut of beef caught between both girls’ teeth, their heads less than an inch apart and their foreheads colliding as neither one wanted to give up the meat.
Rainbow tugged with her teeth, but Applejack just sunk her own teeth in and refused to give an inch, the two girls growling and snarling at each other and pushing their foreheads against one another, until Applejack snickered, and that was Rainbow’s chance to rip the meat out of her mouth and devour it, proudly eating the whole thing in one bite as Applejack chortled into her hand and reached for a glass of apple juice.
“Darn,” Braeburn sighed as Applejack drank and Rainbow struggled to chew the entire thigh in her mouth, “I thought for sure y’all were gonna smooch for a sec.”
Applejack spat her drink across the table as Rainbow hacked up her food, both coughing and Rainbow pounding against her chest as Braeburn chuckled.
“Hey look everyone’s finished!” Applejack stood up so fast she banged her knee into the table, only acknowledging that pain with a brief wince. “Guess I’d better clean up the dishes!”
Applejack took the empty plates— Rainbow swiping the hacked up thigh and stuffing it back into her mouth— and hurried off into the kitchen.
Braeburn took a drink of apple juice while Rainbow struggled with the thigh until she finally choked it down, quickly and queasily realizing she may have had one too many.
She took a deep breath and folded her arms on the table. The kitchen wasn’t in earshot of the living room, but Rainbow could still just barely see Applejack through the open door, cleaning the dishes at the kitchen sink.
“Hey Brae,” Rainbow said casually as she watched Applejack work, “so what did Applejack say about me anyway?”
“Hm? Oh, yeah!” Braeburn chuckled and put down his juice, and Rainbow tore her eyes away from Applejack to pay attention to him. “She basically said yer like the only other person in her class that’s on her level, y’know?”
“Uh, not really. What do you mean?”
“Applejack’s a cool gal, and she doesn’t like to throw stones,” Braeburn rolled his head back, “buuuut, she doesn’t have a lot of kind words for the other students in the Squire class. Lotta bullies and stuffed shirts, y’know what I mean?”
“Oh yeah,” Rainbow snickered thinking about all the fights she’d gotten into with the other Squire students, “that I totally get.”
“She told me one time, I guess after fightin’ ya—”
“Me and Applejack fighting? I’m sure that didn’t happen,” Rainbow tugged at her jacket collar.
“Uh-huh,” Braeburn rolled his eyes, “well anyway, she told me that you were like the only gal in her class she actually cared about knowin’ better. It’s a real shame y’all got off on such a bad foot, she thinks you’re pretty cool.”
“Y’know what?” Rainbow looked back at Applejack, still working diligently in the kitchen, and felt her cheeks warm as a soft sigh escaped her lips. “I think she’s pretty cool too.”
“I’ll tell her ya said that!” Braeburn laughed.
Rainbow stood up and gave a tiny smirk, “You won’t have to.”
Rainbow headed into the kitchen and patted Applejack on the shoulder, grinning at the way AJ jumped.
“I’m here to tag you out, bitch!” Rainbow declared.
“I’m almost done,” Applejack chuckled, eyes focused on the dishes in the sink, “don’t worry ‘bout it.”
“Will you let me do it?” Rainbow leaned over the sink and offered what she hoped came off as a warm smile. “I mean, I’m a guest in your place, and I’d feel super lame if I didn’t pull my own weight, y’know?”
“Um,” Applejack looked at Rainbow, who blinked a couple time and kept smiling, and Applejack bit her lip and pushed herself away from the sink, “if you insist, go ahead.”
“Cool!” Rainbow beamed and took Applejack’s place at the sink, Applejack sitting down in a nearby chair. “So, not a big fan of our classmates, huh?”
“Ugh,” Applejack threw her face into her hands, “what’d Braeburn tell you?”
“Said you told him that all our classmates were ‘bullies and stuffed shirts’,” Rainbow turned her head away from the sink just long enough to give the smarmiest of grins to Applejack and to make sure she saw it, “except me.”
“Yeah, well,” Applejack shrugged, hiding her face behind her hat and looking away from Rainbow, “you’ve met our classmates. Not exactly Holy Knight material, y’know?”
“Yeah, but I wanna focus on the part where you think I’m awesome,” Rainbow cackled as she scrubbed a plate.
Applejack was silent, and Rainbow kept smiling as she waited for the inevitable smart remark or denial.
And waited.
And then Rainbow stopped smiling.
She turned to look at Applejack, who had her fists up to her cheeks, elbows resting on her legs, and looking off into the distance.
“What’s the matter, Applejack?” Rainbow asked, hoping she hadn't screwed things up. “Are you embarrassed that Braeburn told me that stuff?”
“Nah,” Applejack shrugged. “You were gonna find out eventually; not like I can keep a secret or nothin’.”
“Then what’s up?”
Applejack sighed, “It’s just… this whole thing at the Academy, it hasn’t been goin’ like I thought it would.
“I thought when I came here, that I’d meet a bunch of likeminded folks and we’d all work together to achieve our dreams and stuff. That’s how it always works out in the stories, right? But no one likes me, not for anythin’ but my name at any rate.”
“I like you,” Rainbow said, tightly clutching a plate so hard she almost worried she’d break it.
“Then why do you keep pickin’ fights with me?”
Rainbow put the last plate on the drying towel and turned off the sink. She gripped the edge of it and bit down on her lip, her mind racing for an answer to that question that didn’t suck ass.
“I thought I told you,” Rainbow grumbled through gritted teeth, “I just didn’t want to admit that I was weaker than you.”
“But why does that matter so much?”
“Wouldn’t it bother you?” Rainbow spun around and snapped at Applejack. “If I kept kicking your ass, wouldn’t it drive you crazy!? To know that no matter how hard you tried, you’d always be too weak!?”
“Nope,” Applejack tipped up her hat and stared Rainbow straight in the eye. “Cuz I know that no matter how weak or strong I am now¸ it’s all just a steppin’ stone to my ultimate dream. And like I told’ja on the bridge, ain’t nothin’ gonna keep me from that dream.”
“Damn,” Rainbow leaned her back against the sink, propping herself up by the edge, “wish I had that kinda confidence.”
“You got a dream, Rainbow?”
Rainbow twitched her nose, frowned, and weakly shrugged, “Not really.”
“Then why’re you even goin’ to the Academy?” Applejack frowned, cheek leaning up against her fist.
“Cuz I wanna be strong!” Rainbow barked, pumping a fist toward Applejack. “Stronger than anyone else!”
“Why?” Applejack arched an eyebrow.
“So I won’t get pushed around anymore!” Rainbow yelled, her cheeks instantly heating up when she realized she’d said that, but she kept her cool and stared Applejack down. “So that no one gets pushed around anymore, so that I can protect the people I care about. I don’t have much of a dream for myself right now, I just-” Rainbow sighed and gave a pitiful little shrug “-I just want everyone else to be happy.”
“Rainbow,” Applejack scoffed and shook her head, and Rainbow crossed her arms and puffed up her burning cheeks, “that’s a damn fine dream.”
“Wh—wait, what?” Rainbow took a step back and bumped into the counter.
“I mean,” Applejack chuckled, “y’think I wanna be a Holy Knight for the good of my health? Course I wanna make my family proud, but more’n that, I want everyone in Equestria to know they can count on me, that I can be relied upon to carry everyone’s burdens. I wanna be that beacon for Equestria that the Holy Knights are s’posed to be, so that maybe everyone else can take it a little bit easier.
“I know that’s super cheesy, but…” Applejack shrugged and took her hat off, “…that’s my dream. And it doesn’t seem like it’s that different from yers.”
Applejack looked so cool, sitting there with her hat dangling from her hand, wearing that weary smile and looking at Rainbow, who couldn’t do anything but tap agitatedly at the countertop and stare back at her.
“I…” Rainbow bit down on her thumbnail. She knew what she had to do now, but this wasn’t the right time to tell Applejack; not literally two seconds after she decided. Maybe she should sleep on it first.
“I think you’re pretty cool, Applejack,” Rainbow crossed her arms and looked away from Applejack, puffing up her cheeks. “But don’t get a big head over it or anything.”
Applejack got up and, before Rainbow could get away, grabbed Rainbow and squeezed her in a big bear hug. Rainbow tried to squirm out of her grasp, but Applejack just held her tighter until Rainbow sighed and begrudgingly admitted to herself that it wasn’t so bad.
“Well yeah,” Rainbow scoffed and let a little smile creep onto her face, “obviously.”
Rainbow Dash collapsed into the bed as soon as she got to Applejack’s room, her feet still throbbing like crazy. The room was neatly organized, but tiny as heck; with only the one bed, a nightstand, and a wardrobe on the other side of the room. But there was an adjacent bathroom, and that was pretty sweet.
“So hey wait,” Rainbow sat straight up and crossed her legs as Applejack walked in the room, “shouldn’t I sleep on the couch or something?”
“We ain’t got a couch,” Applejack shrugged. “You saw, it was practically a wasteland out there.”
“Huh,” Rainbow pondered and looked around the tiny, nearly-empty room, “then where am I gonna sleep?”
“Right where yer sittin’,” Applejack yanked a pillow and blanket off the bed and threw them on the floor. “I’ll just be sleepin’ on the floor tonight.”
As Applejack tossed her pillow to the ground and sat on the floor, Rainbow puffed up her cheeks and threw her fists into the mattress.
“No no no no no!” Rainbow huffed. “No way!”
“What’re you—”
“After everything I—” Rainbow was about to say ‘put you through’, but she bit her tongue just in time to stop herself from humiliating herself, and cleared her throat instead.
“Look,” she said calmly, “it’s your place, and I wouldn’t feel right at all about you sleeping on the floor.”
“I ain’t about to let you sleep on the floor, hon,” Applejack stood up and put her hands on her hips, wearing a stern frown that kinda reminded Rainbow of the Academy instructors, but way easier on the eyes, “not with those injuries of yers.”
“Well I’m not gonna let you sleep on the floor either!” Rainbow shouted. “I’m gonna make ghost noises and keep you up all night if you try to!”
“Look, Rainbow,” Applejack sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, “I ain’t lettin’ you sleep on the ground, so unless you wanna sleep in the bed with me, I don’t see how we’re gonna resolve this.”
“I mean—” Rainbow coughed and felt her cheeks burn up again. She shook her head wildly, her hair slipping out of its ponytail and falling around her shoulders, and she looked Applejack right in the eye. “I guess we could.”
“Wha—are you serious?” Applejack’s eyes widened, and it looked like her cheeks were heating up this time, which was a score for Rainbow Dash! And she wasn’t about to settle for just one point.
“C’mon AJ, what’s the matter?” Rainbow grinned. “You’re not intimidated by my powerful presence, are you?”
“Well it’s just, uh—” Applejack cleared her throat and took off her hat, fanning herself with it. She wasn’t exactly a master of subtlety. “The bed’s big, but it ain’t that big. We’re probably gonna be bumpin’ into each other—”
“I can think of worse things to bump into,” Rainbow purred, her grin growing wider as Applejack’s lips formed an o and her eye twitched.
“Well, uh,” Applejack tossed her hat to the ground and placed a hand on top of her head, “I guess when you put it like that-“ Applejack released her hair bun, causing golden hair to cascade around her face and fall across her shoulders like a waterfall, and Rainbow’s jaw dropped “-I guess it’s fine,” Applejack tilted her head to one side and gave Rainbow a cocky smile.
Rainbow only barely registered Applejack’s words, staring at her with wide eyes and gaping mouth as she finally accepted a truth about Applejack that she’d been denying for a long time.
OH NO SHE’S HOT!
“What’cha lookin’ at, hon?” Applejack put a hand on her hip and bit down on her lip, and Rainbow’s entire body tensed up as she held her hands down in front of her.
“Uh, bguhhhhh, ffffffff—” Rainbow loudly hacked and slapped her cheek. She tried to think of a way to wrest control of this conversation back from Applejack, but damn! Applejack had her beat so hard she couldn’t think straight.
Applejack laughed softly. “Hey,” she said, and Rainbow looked up at her with bright red, burning cheeks; if her skin was pink it would’ve been no big deal, but it’s kinda hard to act like you aren’t blushing when your pale blue skin turns bright red. “Y’don’t got a change of clothes, do you?”
“Uh, n-no,” Rainbow shrugged, not really sure what Applejack was getting at. It’s not like Rainbow packed her bags before she got her ass kicked in school.
“Alright, lemme just—” Applejack turned around and rifled through her wardrobe, and as she bent down to search through a lower drawer, Rainbow smacked herself over her eyes and dug her nails into her face because FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!
“I hardly throw anythin’ away,” Applejack said, and Rainbow nodded even as her hand was still covering her face, “so I probably got somethin’ in here from when I was mite smaller that you can wear for tonigh—ah! Perfect!”
Rainbow was bowled over onto her back by a thrown wad of clothing, but quickly sat up and blinked at what she was given. A white shirt with an apple painted on it, and black shorts.
“I hope that’s okay,” Applejack said pensively, like Rainbow was gonna be like ‘no your generosity isn’t good enough for me!’, which was a fair concern with Rainbow involved, “those shorts should fit’cha, and that shirt’s gonna be too big, but who cares, right?”
“I don’t need new clothes y’know,” Rainbow scoffed.
“Y’ain’t gonna sleep in those, are ya?” Applejack’s brow scrunched up.
“I mean, that was plan A, yeah,” Rainbow awkwardly tugged at her shirt. “I usually just sleep in my clothes.”
“One, that’s gross,” Applejack said flatly, and Rainbow rolled her eyes, “two, ya can’t sleep in those! Not in their condition! I’ll run out in the mornin’, getcha somethin’ fresh to wear tomorrow, but for tonight you can just wear what I gave ya.”
“Wh—you can’t just buy me new clothes!” Rainbow’s grip on the clothes tightened and she gave a flustered glare at Applejack, who just looked confused.
“Sure I can,” she shrugged. “I ain’t got a lot of money, but I got enough to getcha some fresh clothes. And it’s no trouble.”
“Well, it’s—but I—I can’t just—”
“Rainbow,” Applejack said sternly, Rainbow looking up at her like a dog that’d been scolded. “Relax, okay? You don’t have to feel weird or nothin’, cuz I ain’t puttin’ myself out. I’d do this for anybody, and I’m happy to do it for you. Okay?”
Rainbow bit her lip, and her head lowered as she couldn’t stand looking at Applejack. She took a deep breath and let it out as a defeated sigh.
“Yeah, this’ll be—” Rainbow cleared her throat and smiled at Applejack. “This is great, thanks.”
“My pleasure,” Applejack winked, and Rainbow felt like her heart stopped for a sec.
Applejack took some other clothes from off the top of the wardrobe and threw them through the open door into the bathroom.
“I’m gonna get changed real quick,” Applejack said, “and you can just let me know when yer done changin’ so I can come out, okay?”
Rainbow nodded and Applejack headed to the bathroom, but she didn’t wait until she got there to start undressing; though Applejack’s shirt was already off by the time she reached the bathroom, the door was thankfully closed before she could hear the pained wheeze Rainbow made when she saw all of Applejack’s amazing shoulder freckles.
Rainbow got changed into her new jams in record time, trying not to dwell on the weird sensation of being naked for a sec in Applejack’s room, and she found AJ’s clothes to be pretty snug; another thing she really didn’t wanna dwell on.
“You can come out, AJ,” Rainbow said as she rapped on the door with the back of her knuckles.
Rainbow’s heart—and junk—wasn’t prepared for how cute Applejack looked in her apple-pattern pajamas, and she had to bite her lip to keep from shrieking.
“What?” Applejack’s nose curled and she backed up a step. “What’s that face?”
“You’re adorable!” Rainbow squealed, putting her hands on her cheeks. She put some sass into her tone too, so it sounded like she was teasing Applejack when she was actually just totally blown away by the cuteness.
“N-no I’m not!” Applejack’s cheeks puffed up and she crossed her arms, but it was hard to look defiant or intimidating in little apple footy pajamas.
“You are!” Rainbow snickered, tapping Applejack’s nose with her finger. “You are precious and cuddly and adorable!”
“You are!” Applejack huffed, throwing her fists to her side.
“A-am I?” Rainbow stopped for a sec, putting a finger up to her lips and pointing at herself.
“Uh, I mean,” Applejack ran her hand through her hair and coughed awkwardly, “no.”
Applejack’s lips scrunched up and her eyes darted away from Rainbow, whose blush was in full-force now as her smile reached from one ear to the other.
“You’re doing the face!” Rainbow hollered. “You think I’m cute!”
“I-I don’t!”
Rainbow jumped back toward the bed and did a little dance, shaking her hips as she teasingly sung a little song to the tune of “You think I’m cuuuute!”
Applejack huffed and stomped toward her, trying her best to look serious even with cheeks redder than an apple, and Rainbow just grinned at her.
“You think I’m cute,” Rainbow beamed and tapped Applejack’s nose.
Applejack just looked bemusedly at Rainbow and shoved her onto the bed, but what neither of them expected was for Rainbow to grab onto Applejack’s jams as she fell, dragging Applejack on top of her, with Applejack snatching Rainbow’s hand off her chest just in time to pin it to the bed as they hit it, Applejack’s other hand landing on Rainbow’s other wrist.
Welp.
Rainbow blinked, and she could feel Applejack’s warm breath on her cheek. Applejack stared at Rainbow, expression totally undecipherable, and her gaze so intense that it forced Rainbow to turn eyes away. It felt like she was in an oven all of a sudden, or like… the apple equivalent to an oven. Rainbow didn’t know how to cook with apples.
Applejack stood up and cleared her throat, and Rainbow curled into a ball on the bed as fast as she could.
“I, uh,” Applejack tugged at her collar, “I guess we should get some sleep, huh?”
“Yup,” Rainbow blurted out.
“You sure you still wanna share the bed?” Applejack asked awkwardly, and Rainbow knew a chance to pounce when she saw it.
“What’s the matter, AJ?” she said with a sly grin. “After all that, you don’t wanna sleep with me?”
“Why ya gotta phrase it like that?!” Applejack tried to cover her face with her hat, but she wasn’t wearing it so she just swiped the air above her head and then slapped herself in the face, Rainbow holding back a cackle as Applejack’s hand slowly slid down her face. “G’night, sugarcube.”
“Goodnight, AJ,” Rainbow decided to let AJ off the hook with the teasing for now and settled into bed, but as Applejack laid down in the bed next to her, Rainbow knew she would be running through this night in her mind until the sun came up.
She just hoped she didn’t screw things up too terribly.
****
Applejack’s eyes fluttered open and she saw little beams of light filtering through the curtains, but she barely paid them any mind, what with Rainbow’s sleeping face two inches from her own.
Maybe it was just Applejack being delirious from just waking up, but she couldn’t help but smile at Rainbow sleeping peacefully, and she absentmindedly brushed some hair out of the blue gal’s face, only to have Rainbow giggle under her breath and bite her lip.
Applejack bolted up, her shoulders tensing.
“Yer awake?” she asked, trying to ignore the burning sensation in her cheeks. It was too early in the morning for her to get this flustered.
“Yep,” Rainbow said groggily, pushing herself up and giving a weary glance at Applejack, and practically looking like a zombie.
“Ya not sleep well, hon?” Applejack couldn’t help fretting with Rainbow’s wild mane, brushing it out of Rainbow’s face and behind her shoulders.
“Nah,” Rainbow shrugged, and then yawned. “Don’t worry about it though, I don’t usually sleep well. I think I got insomnia? Can’t afford a doctor, so I dunno for sure, but I can’t usually sleep.”
“Oh,” Applejack frowned, “I’m real sorry to hear—”
And then it struck her, like a clear bell ringing inside her head.
“That’s why you sleep in class,” Applejack whispered, her eyes widening in realization, “cuz y’ain’t sleepin’ at home!”
“Yeah,” Rainbow ran her hand through her hair and gave a half-hearted shrug.
“Wh—I thought it was cuz ya didn’t care about the classes or the teachers or somethin’!”
“And I let you think that,” Rainbow’s shoulders rose up as she lowered her head, “cuz it was less embarrassing than the truth.”
“I’m sorry, Rainbow,” Applejack struck her face with her palm and slowly shook her head. “I totally misjudged you.”
“I wouldn’t say ‘totally’,” Rainbow laughed, and that made Applejack smile, “and it’s not like I even tried to explain anything to you. I didn’t exactly make myself easy to like.”
“Maybe,” Applejack sighed and put her hands on Rainbow’s shoulders, “but still, I apologize.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Rainbow brushed Applejack’s hands away and slumped down onto her pillow with a yawn, “no biggie.”
Rainbow grumbled and fidgeted around a bit as she tried to get comfortable and maybe catch a few more winks before her and Applejack had to head to the Academy. Applejack felt for her; she couldn’t stand to think of Rainbow struggling to stay awake through another class cuz she couldn’t sleep on her own time.
Applejack felt a tug at her heat and her entire stomach became like a violent sea. She had an idea, and her gut said it’d help, but to face the overwhelming embarrassment of suggesting it? She’d rather climb a mountain barefoot, or be thrown into a coliseum and fight lions barehanded.
She took a deep breath. It wasn’t like her to run away from what she believed was right, and she sure as sugar wasn’t gonna start here.
“Hey, Rainbow?” Applejack said, her voice cracking as little drops of sweat formed on her brow. Rainbow grumbled an acknowledgment, and Applejack forced herself to talk, every word that came out feeling like a pinecone being scraped across the inside of her mouth. “I got somethin’… that might help you sleep.”
“I don’t wanna take anything, but thanks,” Rainbow yawned.
“Not what I meant,” Applejack shook her head in bemusement, but she still felt a smile creep onto her lips. “I got… well, it’s kinda, uh… um…”
Rainbow peeked an eye open and her pretty face was blessed with a small, eager smirk.
“’sup, AJ?”
Applejack cleared her throat.
Now or never.
“I used to have nightmares as a kid,” Applejack said, faking calmness, “real bad ones. My ma, she—” Applejack swallowed a lump of anxiety, almost feeling like she’d vomit if she didn’t. “She used to sing me a lullaby, said it had magic in it. Dunno if that’s true, but… you wanna hear it?”
Rainbow bit her lip, closed her eyes, and rubbed her head against her pillow, a tiny purr escaping her lips.
“I’d love to,” she said quietly, and Applejack felt her heart ready to beat out of her chest.
“Okay,” Applejack took a deep breath— or several— “here goes.”
“Sleep, my little apple, lay your weary head
Know that I’ll protect you, little apple red
You can be at peace now, although the night is long
Know that you are safe now, and that your heart is strong
Family will guide you, if you stumble or you fall
We will walk beside you, and see you through it all
So sleep, my little apple, and lay your weary head
You deserve to rest now, my dearest apple red.”
Applejack took a deep breath and fanned herself with her hand, and while she was waiting for some biting comment or barely contained laughter, what greeted her ears instead was Rainbow’s loud, obnoxious snore, as she slept with a smile on her face.
Flash Sentry was wrapping up the day’s class with some kind of lecture, but Applejack couldn’t pay attention to it; her focus was totally fixed on the chair that had stayed empty for over a week now, where a rainbow-haired goblin used to sit.
Applejack tapped her finger against her desk as her classmates got up and left the room without her. Maybe one or two of them called out to her, but probably not, unless it was to try and heckle her and get under her skin about something that she couldn’t possibly have cared about.
It didn’t matter, even if someone was trying to get her attention, she wasn’t listening; she was going over the last three weeks in her head, over and over again.
It had been three weeks since Applejack and Rainbow’s impromptu sleepover, and Applejack had barely seen hide nor hair of Rainbow since.
In fact, that very same morning after the sleepover, Applejack left real early to buy Rainbow new clothes—like she said she was going to do—and when she got back to the house, Rainbow had already left for the Academy, and Applejack only saw her that day during class and ever so briefly in the hall, where Rainbow said a mumbled greeting and then bounced.
Applejack sighed wearily as she forced herself to stand up. She waved goodbye to Flash Sentry— who was cleaning up his desk and politely waved back— before she meandered into the hall, hands in her pockets and mind totally focused on trying to figure out where she went wrong with Rainbow Dash.
She thought that her and Rainbow were starting to hit it off after the sleepover, but then in the weeks since, Rainbow had been more distant than Applejack had ever known her; heck, Applejack found herself starting to miss Rainbow’s daily challenges!
Applejack wandered the halls for a few minutes before accepting there was no Rainbow in sight, so she went outside to the courtyard and sat on the waist-high cement wall of the outer halls, under the awning and watching the last remnants of rain drip onto the grass.
Applejack let out a bitter grumble. She hated to admit it, but she found herself missing Rainbow Dash. She wondered for a moment if it was really Rainbow she missed, or just the company in general; no one else in their class wanted to give Applejack the time of day, they all were either jealous of her, saw her as nothing more than competition, or as some kinda silver spoon kid who wasn’t worth their time.
But after thinking it over for just a sec, Applejack realized she did miss the company, but she missed her troublemaking little gremlin just as much.
“Applejack!”
Applejack perked up at hearing her name called, and turned to see a pink-haired girl with flowy, flowery clothes awkwardly walking toward her.
“Hey, Fluttershy,” Applejack put on a cheerful smile and waved at Fluttershy. “How ya doin’?”
“I’m doing okay,” Fluttershy chirped as she sat down next to Applejack, her legs dangling off the wall. “You don’t look so good, though. Are you tense?”
“Uh, a little, I guess,” Applejack shrugged and tried to relax by watching the rain drop, but it wasn’t helping.
“Is it about Rainbow Dash?”
Applejack’s whole body turned stiff as a post, and she nervously fidgeted with her straw hat. She wanted to deny it, but it’s not like she could tell a lie.
“I, uh, well, um…” granted, didn’t seem like she could tell the truth either, “wh-why would you say th—"
“Rainbow’s been avoiding you, hasn’t she?” Fluttershy said casually, gently kicking at the air.
Applejack’s shoulders slumped, and she felt a depressed frown slowly warp into a bitter scowl.
“She really has been avoiding me,” she growled, “hasn’t she?”
“Um, oh,” Fluttershy bit her lip and hastily scooted away from Applejack, “oh no, you’re mad now, aren’t you?”
“I’m not—” Applejack wanted to say she wasn’t mad, but what would be the point of denying it now? Applejack took a deep breath and placed her hat beside her. “Yeah, I am mad. But not at you, Fluttershy.”
“Oh, good,” Fluttershy curled her feet up in front of her.
“Any idea why she ain’t talkin’ to me?” Applejack asked. “She say anything to you?”
“No,” Fluttershy shook her head furiously like she was trying to buck a rustler off it, “she didn’t say anything to me. She didn’t even tell me that she was avoiding you, I just—well, she used to talk about you all the time on our walks to the train station, but then she just suddenly stopped, and whenever I bring you up, she really quickly changes the subject and I pretend not to notice because I don’t want to pry.
“But I saw you sitting here all alone, and I never see you two together anymore, and I know you two don’t really get along, but you looked really down and I was worried about you.”
“I thought we were gettin’ along,” Applejack rested her fists up against her cheeks. “At least, I thought we were gettin’ somewhere after I had her over at my place, but now she ain’t even showin’ up to class, and I have no idea what that’s abo—”
“She switched classes,” Fluttershy said, like it was the most normal thing in the world, and Applejack just stared at her like she was an oncoming train. Fluttershy blinked and her eyes widened. “Did—did she not tell you? She transferred over to the Lancer class last week.”
Applejack blinked. She opened her mouth, but wasn’t sure what to say. Of all the reasons Applejack conjured up to explain why Rainbow stopped showing up to class, Rainbow transferring out of the Squire class was never one that would have come to mind.
Applejack recalled that during a break in one of their many fights, she asked Rainbow why she didn’t start in the Lancer class to begin with, arguing that Rainbow’s speed would make her a perfect fit for a Lancer.
“Cuz Lancers don’t become Knights,” Rainbow scoffed, “they don’t get the glory, and they aren’t the ones that everyone looks at, and looks up to! No way, I’m gonna be a Knight!”
“She transferred out?” Applejack said distantly, wracking her brain to come up with an explanation, but nothing made sense. “Why? She say anything?”
“Mm-mm,” Fluttershy shook her head. “She only told me once the transfer was all done, and that was last week. I didn’t really think anything of it, and it honestly never occurred to me that she didn’t tell you, but…” Fluttershy hummed, and held a finger up to her chin.
“What?” Applejack asked.
“On second thought,” Fluttershy tapped her cheek, “you two… you aren’t really friends, are you? So why would she tell you? Why would she think to run that by you, or think it would matter to you? Is that the kind of relationship you two have?”
“I…” Applejack was at a loss for words as her face turned red, shame burning her cheeks as she grabbed her hat and tried to hide her eyes under its shadow, “I dunno. I guess yer right, we don’t have that kinda relationship.”
I thought…
…
I guess… never mind what I thought.
“Hold on a tick,” Applejack decided it might be good to change the subject to something less personally shameful, “each of the three classes needs thirty students in it, no more and no less, so where’s the new Squire? Someone had to transfer outta the Lancer class, right?”
“That’s right,” Fluttershy nodded and hummed ponderously, “I think I heard about that. The student who transferred out originally applied for the Squire class in the first place, but was put in the Lancer class because she injured a couple of other students during her application test.”
“So they made her a Lancer to try and teach her to be a team player?” Applejack asked, and Fluttershy just shrugged. “I guess that makes sense? Must’ve taken too, if they’re lettin’ her be a Squire now.”
“Hell yeah, it took!” a rowdy, boisterous woman’s voice roared from behind Applejack and Fluttershy, and Applejack turned around and jumped off the wall, just in case whoever this gal was wanted to pick a fight.
Applejack sized up the woman who spoke; she was a teal skinned woman with golden, swept-back hair, donning a proud grin and wearing a black trench coat with golden lightning streaks down the sides.
Applejack immediately had reservations.
“And you are?” Applejack asked tepidly, glancing over at Fluttershy to make sure she wasn’t too scared and seeing her scooch behind Applejack.
“The name’s Lightning Dust,” the girl pounded herself on the chest, “and I’m now the number one team-player in the Academy, so the instructors saw fit to put me in my rightful place, aka the Squire class!”
“Uh-huh,” Applejack muttered. “So you injured your fellow students, huh? How’d that happen?”
“Look,” Lightning Dust shrugged, and her proud grin didn’t falter for a second, “sometimes when the chips are down in an intense situation, people get hurt. Sometimes a spell or two gets cast when your teammates aren’t expecting it, and they’re too slow so they get caught in the crossfire.”
“Right.”
Applejack’s single word reply oozed with her disdain for her new classmate. It looked like this girl wasn’t any better than any of the rest of the bullies and stuffed shirts.
“Anyway,” Lightning Dust flicked her nose, “I got a bone to pick with you, Applejack.” Applejack arched an eyebrow. “See, you and me are basically at the top of our classes, and now that we’re in the same class, I think we need to find out which of us is better.”
“Huh, y’know it’s funny,” Applejack grit her teeth and tried not to emit literal steam from her ears or something, “I don’t. Y’ain’t the first person to get a bug up yer ass about challengin’ me, and honestly I’m tired of it, so don’t bother me ag—”
“C’mon, Applejack,” Lightning Dust took a step closer, her grin only growing wider at Applejack’s frustration, “I’m not suggesting some back-alley street brawl, I’m talking about a real fight.
“The Academy has an arena set up for official sparring matches,” Lightning Dust clapped her hands, “I already registered some time to use it just in case. I’m talking about an honorable, on the books, fair and square contest of skill between two students. Nothing more, nothing less.”
Applejack was silent at first, even as she clenched her fists. It wouldn’t do to get provoked into yet another battle with a student, but damn if she wasn’t in a mood to knock someone’s lights out.
She was mad. Mad at Rainbow, mad at Lightning Dust, but mostly mad at herself for being Equestria’s biggest idiot. Way she saw it, this fight was the perfect opportunity to let some of that rage go, and worst case, she got herself a concussion or something, which she probably deserved anyway.
“Alright, Lightning Dust,” Applejack held out her hand, and Lightning wasted no time in firmly clasping it, “yer on.”
“Are you going to be okay?” Fluttershy asked nervously as Applejack entered the arena opposite Lightning Dust.
Applejack didn’t feel the need to answer with words, and instead winked at Fluttershy while slapping her forearm; judging by the giggle and nod of her head, Fluttershy got the point.
The arena room was basically just a gymnasium, with a polished wood floor for the arena itself and a waist-high wall around it so onlookers wouldn’t get too close. And there were a few onlookers aside from Fluttershy, a little handful of students who caught wind a fight was starting and wanted to watch, but a cursory glance among them revealed that Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be found.
Not that Applejack cared, of course.
Lightning Dust cracked her knuckles and drew her weapon as Applejack approached; a wooden sword.
“Bringin’ a sword to a fistfight?” Applejack cocked her head and grinned. “Seems a little low, don’tcha think?”
“Hardly,” Lightning Dust scoffed. “School doesn’t have any rules against personal weaponry, just against using them on other students outside of sparring matches. Not my fault you can’t be bothered to learn how to use a weapon.”
“Oh, I got weapons,” Applejack chuckled, “two of ‘em!” Applejack raised her fists and punched them together.
Lightning Dust slashed her sword, and Applejack could almost see sparks of electricity crackling around the blade, though she figured that was just her imagination— or maybe Lightning Dust just had a really intense fighting spirit or something.
“Interesting choice, though,” Applejack pointed at the sword. “Nothin’s stoppin’ ya from usin’ a real sword, so why bother with a wooden one?”
“Cuz if I can be the strongest student here with this,” Lightning Dust slapped the sword against her palm, “imagine how strong I’ll be with the real deal!”
“Fair enough,” Applejack adjusted her hat and cracked her knuckles. If nothing else, she admired Lightning’s enthusiasm, and she got the feeling that despite her attitude, Lightning’s skill wasn’t anything to sneeze at. “’nuff talk, then. Let’s do it to it!”
Lightning Dust grinned and grit her teeth, before charging at Applejack with speed that mirrored her namesake. She was halfway across the arena before Applejack could even blink, and Applejack’s mind reeled at the amount of intense training Lightning Dust must have done to get such skill.
That said, Rainbow was faster.
Applejack dodged Lightning’s first attack, then her second and third, jumping back into a defensive stance as Lightning Dust sneered and slapped her sword against her palm.
“You thought just bein’ fast’d be enough?” Applejack snapped her fingers at Lightning, who paced back and forth while narrowing her eyes at Applejack. “Don’t make me laugh! Yer speed’s somethin’ else alright, but y’ain’t the fastest I’ve seen!”
Lightning didn’t like that, if the grinding of her teeth was any clue, and Applejack took a sec to smirk at her opponent’s flustered reaction.
Truth be told, Applejack hadn't realized how much her constant fights with Rainbow had increased her own speed until just this moment. If she’d met Lightning before Rainbow, Lightning’s speed and intense attacks would’ve bowled Applejack right over, but Applejack had gotten so much stronger in the six weeks since school started.
She’d have to thank Rainbow later for being such a troublemaking little gremlin.
“So what’s this, then?” Lightning scoffed, brushing off her shoulder. “You’re just gonna play defense? Make me do all the work? C’mon, Applejack! You gotta show a little initiative!”
“Not if I wanna stay on my feet,” Applejack replied coolly. “I’ll play defense long as it keeps me alive, thanks!”
“Is that how it is?” Lightning’s face warped in disgust, and she slashed her sword again, and this time Applejack saw clear as day the crackle of electricity following the weapon. “You think you can win by playing defense? What’re you afraid of?!”
“I ain’t stupid,” Applejack kept her fists raised and her eyes down at Lightning’s feet; she’d have to react the second Lightning moved, or else she’d have no chance to defend. “I know yer a lot faster than I am, so if I don’t stay on defense and keep an eye on yer movements, I ain’t gonna win.”
“Not much of a risk taker, are you?” Lightning laughed.
“When yer life or yer honor’s on the line, it’s better to play it safe.”
Lightning clicked her tongue and spat on the ground. “No way are you beating me with an attitude like that! Haven’t you heard the phrase ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’!”
With that last word, Lightning jumped forward. Applejack saw her coming just soon enough to jump out of her way, and to duck under the sword swipe that accompanied her charge, but Applejack couldn’t go in for the counterattack without leaving herself totally open, so she jumped back again.
Best to let Lightning Dust exhaust herself, then Applejack could switch to the offensive.
“Something else that’s pissing me off,” Lightning growled as she turned to face Applejack and point her sword her way, “you aren’t using magic! I know you have it! Whole Academy saw you break Rainbow Dash’s hip or whatever!”
“That don’t seem fair,” Applejack shrugged, “to use magic on a first-year.”
“What do you think this is?!” Lightning shouted. “Some kind of game?! This may just be a sparring match, but this is a fight, Applejack! If you don’t use every tool you have during a fight-“ Lightning Dust pointed her fingers like a gun at Applejack’s arm “-you’re gonna die.”
Electricity crackled through Lightning Dust’s hand and shot like a bullet out of her fingers, striking Applejack’s right arm before she even knew what was happening.
“You didn’t think you were the only student here with magic, did you?” Lightning said proudly, grinning ear to ear as Applejack’s right arm fell limply at her side and went completely numb, Applejack just staring at it completely dumbfounded.
Honestly, Applejack did think she was the only student who had magic, and it was only hindsight that revealed what an idiotic assumption that was, especially now that she remembered Lightning Dust mentioned using a spell during her entrance exam.
Applejack’s assumptions seemed to have a way of repeatedly biting her in the butt today, it seemed.
“Well now,” Applejack panted, trying to move her right arm, but nothing doing, “color me impressed, Lightning Dust. That’s a mighty powerful spell you got.”
Applejack’s right pinkie finger twitched, but nothing else was moving; but that was enough to tell Applejack the effect was temporary, and likely didn’t work for that long either. Lightning Dust’s magic may have been flashier than Applejack’s, but it seemed like the actual effects were pretty similar; simple disabling spells that got taught in the Knight class.
Still, Applejack wasn’t going to lose this fight to yet another assumption, so she figured she’d best stay cautious.
“So what now, Lightning?” Applejack said confidently. “You knock out my arm and pat yerself on the back? Not much of a strate—”
Applejack’s sentence got cut off by a hard thwack of a wooden sword slamming across her jaw. As Applejack hit the ground— a painful thud resonating through her back— she wondered how Lightning managed to get even faster, until she saw the crackling of electricity around Lightning Dust’s feet.
Lightning Dust pointed her fingers at Applejack’s leg, and Applejack tried to sweep Lightning off her feet with a kick, but Lightning just jumped, stomping down on Applejack’s ribs with a painful pound.
“If you’re not gonna give this your all,” Lightning kicked Applejack once more in the side for good measure, before she turned and walked away with a disappointed sneer, “then don’t bother getting up. If you’re afraid of taking risks and getting hurt, you won’t be much of a Knight.”
Applejack wondered if Lightning was right; if she should just stay there on the ground and not bother trying to get back up. This is what she deserved, wasn’t it? To get knocked around like the chump that she was.
Still though, there were other students watching, plus Fluttershy. Wouldn’t be fair to them to give up halfway through a fight, and it wouldn’t do to make people think that the Apples were quitters.
Applejack could move her shoulder now, but not much else. Still, she planted her left palm on the ground and struggled to her knees.
“Hold on, Lightning Dust,” Applejack wheezed, “I ain’t finished yet.”
Another bolt of electricity shot through Applejack’s left leg, the limb giving out instantly and causing Applejack to clatter to the floor in a heap.
“Yeah?” Lightning Dust clicked her tongue. “How about now?”
Applejack’s entire leg was frozen; there was no way she could stand on it, and she could barely move even as she writhed on the ground. This fight was well and truly over.
Applejack looked into the crowd as her cheeks started burning, and she meant to look at Fluttershy so she could apologize for such a lousy performance, but her line of sight never quite reached the rosy-haired gal, because it stopped on the girl standing next to her— Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow’s hands were pressed firmly against the waist-high wall, and she was biting her lip as she watched with tense anticipation while Applejack just laid helplessly on the floor.
Welp. When did she get here?
Applejack decided right then and there that she had to win this fight now.
“Lightning Dust,” Applejack said firmly, lying flat on her back, “hold on. I said I wasn’t finished yet.”
“How do you figure?” Lightning cackled. “You can’t even mo—”
Applejack felt the magic of the Earth Aura coursing through her right arm as she punched it into the air, drawing a gasp from the onlookers, and Applejack turned her head up just in time to see Lightning’s jaw drop. Applejack felt the Earth Aura flow through her legs as she raised them up, jumping up from the ground and straight to her feet.
She tossed her hat to the side and tore her jacket off, Lightning Dust grinning maniacally and slashing her sword, electricity trailing behind it.
And one last thing, just for my own sake…
Applejack took the needle out of her hair that kept it in its tight bun, letting her blonde hair flow freely down her back and shoulders, shaking her head a bit to get her hair all loose.
“YYYYYYYEEEEAAAAHH!!!” Rainbow screamed, and Applejack bit down the biggest smile of her life. “Go get ‘er, AJ! Knock her right on her ass!”
“Sorry, Lightning Dust,” Applejack shrugged, “I can’t turn down a pretty lady’s request. Guess you gotta get knocked over.”
“You can try!” Lightning Dust charged at Applejack, electricity coursing through her legs from her magic, but Applejack just closed her eyes.
It was a major risk to shut her darn eyes during a fight, but her eyes could barely keep up with Lightning’s enhanced speed anyway, so Applejack figured she may as well rely on her magic and her gut instead.
Lightning Dust’s attack never reached Applejack, but Applejack’s fist reached Lightning’s gut, stopping her advance dead in its tracks. Lightning reeled, and she stumbled backward, gasping for breath. She grit her teeth and growled, then stomped on the ground, but gasped as no electricity greeted her frustrated stomps.
“Hm, funny that,” Applejack stretched her arms over her head, mostly in a show of just how much they both still worked, “yer magic ain’t workin’ so good now, huh?”
“What did you—”
Applejack slammed Lightning Dust’s stomach with a second punch, then hit her twice in the face, before finishing with an uppercut that threw Lightning Dust off her feet and onto the ground.
“I just used the tools I had,” Applejack shrugged, “and one of my tools is a spell called Magic Break. I feel it’s pretty self-explanatory how it works.”
“That… was…” Lightning grinded her teeth and glared up at Applejack, who just stared back at her with a satisfied smile. Lightning cackled and raised her hands in the air, and Applejack grabbed one to help her back to her feet. “…awesome! You totally threw me for a loop, Applejack! Nice job!”
“You put up quite a fight yerself, Lightning Dust,” Applejack firmly clapped Lightning’s hand, the two combatants smirking proudly at each other.
“But don’t think that I’m gonna lose to you again!” Lightning yanked Applejack closer to her and bashed their foreheads together, grinning excitedly.
“You’d better not be thinkin’ I’m gonna lose either,” Applejack snickered, and Lightning let go of her hand and clapped her on the shoulder.
“See you around, Applejack,” Lightning raised her fist.
“Yeah,” Applejack tapped her fist against Lightning’s, “I look forward to sharin’ a class with ya, Lightning Dust.”
Applejack and Lightning Dust went their separate ways, and Applejack headed over to Fluttershy and Rainbow, offering the two a thumbs-up, and Fluttershy sticking both her thumbs in the air and smiling brightly for Applejack’s victory.
“Good job, Applejack!” Fluttershy said, softly clapping her hands.
“Heh, thanks, sugarcube,” Applejack smiled back and ran a hand through her hair, forgetting for a sec that she’d let it all loose.
“Yeah, you were alright, I guess,” Rainbow said with her arms crossed, big grin on her face. Applejack wished she could mirror Rainbow’s enthusiasm, but now that the adrenaline was gone, Applejack could only muster a scowl for the woman who’d spent three weeks blowing her off.
Rainbow kept smiling at Applejack for a moment, but after a few seconds passed and Applejack said nothing, Rainbow’s cheer faltered.
“Um, is something wrong, Applejack?” Rainbow asked.
“Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy spoke softly and tugged at Rainbow’s sleeve, “I’ll meet you at the front gate, okay?” Fluttershy winked at Applejack, who nodded in reply.
“Uh, sure,” Rainbow nodded, and Fluttershy ran off and left Applejack and Rainbow; with the other onlookers having left after the fight ended, it was just Rainbow and Applejack alone in the arena room.
“Can I talk to ya a sec, Rainbow?” Applejack placed a hand on her hip and stared Rainbow down.
“Yeah, I guess?” Rainbow cocked her head; if Applejack didn’t know better, she’d almost think Rainbow was completely oblivious to Applejack’s icy behavior.
Applejack sighed and headed back into the arena to pick up her stuff, Rainbow hopping over the wall to follow her.
“What’s up, Applejack?”
“That’s kinda what I wanna ask you, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack put her straw hat back on and flung her plaid jacket over her shoulder. “You been avoidin’ me lately, how come?”
“Wh—I haven’t been ‘avoiding’ you!” Rainbow scoffed and backed up a few steps, scratching behind her neck as her eyes darted around. “What would make you think that?”
“C’mon, Rainbow,” Applejack groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose, “don’t lie to me. I know you’ve been avoidin’ me on purpose, and I wanna know wh—”
“You two… you aren’t really friends, are you? Is that the kind of relationship you two have?”
Applejack blinked, and felt her cheeks burn. She grit her teeth into a snarl and snatched her hat off her head, tossing it away before throwing her jacket at the ground.
“Woah, you okay, Applejack?” Rainbow asked, taking a step back.
Applejack turned away from Rainbow and covered half her shameful face with her hand.
“I’m sorry, Rainbow,” she said. “I totally misread the situation. I thought we were—er, I guess it doesn’t matter what I thought. I had no right to get angry with you, so… sorry.”
Applejack slumped her shoulders and shrugged, looking at her discarded items and wondering if it was even worth the effort of picking them back up.
She shook her head and walked past Rainbow toward the exit of the arena. “I’ll see you around, I guess,” she said, “or maybe not? I dunno, whatever you wanna d—”
“Hold on,” Rainbow said sternly, and Applejack turned to look at her with a tired frown. Rainbow was staring at Applejack’s jacket on the ground, biting her lip as she ran a hand through her hair. “You’re right, Applejack. I lied before, I’ve totally been avoiding you on purpose.”
“Why?” Applejack asked wearily.
“Wh-why do you even care?!” Rainbow snapped back, cheeks turning red. She wore a shaky smile and let out a weak laugh. “I thought you’d be glad to be rid of me!”
Applejack didn’t have the energy to tell Rainbow just how wrong she was, and settled for a sigh instead.
“I thought we—” Applejack paused, wondering if it was worth it to tell Rainbow the truth and why she was hurt, or if she should just let sleeping dogs lie and move on with her sad life.
“If you’re afraid of taking risks and getting hurt, you won’t be much of a Knight.”
Applejack inhaled sharply and faced Rainbow dead-on, clenching her fists and staring Rainbow down, the shorter girl taking another step back at Applejack’s sudden intensity.
“I wasn’t glad to be rid of you, Rainbow,” Applejack said softly. “I thought we agreed to start over as friends, and I was lookin’ forward to that. So, when you started blowin’ me off, it…” Applejack paused, feeling that familiar heat stinging her cheeks, “…it really hurt. I’m sorry, but it did.”
“Don’t apologize to me,” Rainbow clicked her tongue. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I should’ve… I dunno. I should’ve done something different, I guess.”
“You wanna tell me what this is all about, at least?”
Rainbow took a deep breath and drew herself up, but as she tried to make eye contact with Applejack, her gaze fell to the floor.
“I was… embarrassed,” Rainbow muttered, “after what happened three weeks ago.”
“Embarrassed?” Applejack tilted her head. “How come?”
“C’mon, Applejack!” Rainbow yelped. She looked around to make sure the room was still empty and brought her voice down to a whisper. “We slept in the same bed! I mean, geez, you even sang me a lullaby! And it worked too! Knocked me right out!”
“Yeah, I was really proud of that,” Applejack chuckled, and this time she didn’t mind the warmth gracing her cheeks. “But I’m still not sure why that embarrassed you. I thought we were becomin’ friends, so I didn’t think anything of it.”
“We were,” Rainbow bit her thumbnail, “that’s why I—” Rainbow groaned and threw her hands up to her face, shaking her head quickly before throwing her hands back down. “Look, getting close to people isn’t—it hasn’t, like, historically, been the best thing for me. So when I started liking you, it freaked me out and I tried to run away. And you didn’t deserve that at all, so… I’m really sorry.”
“I like you too, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack went for her hat, but just ended up awkwardly placing her hand atop her bare head. “And I’d really like it if we could still be friends.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow’s whole face practically turned red, and she kicked at the ground, “I’d like that too.”
Applejack held out her hand, and Rainbow hesitantly took it, with Applejack pulling Rainbow into a hug. Rainbow snickered and hugged Applejack back, nuzzling against her chest for a sec before clearing her throat and pushing Applejack away.
“So, uh, anyway,” Rainbow blurted out, “so what happens now? Where do we go from here?”
“I reckon wherever we want to,” Applejack said with a smile. “There’ll be some growin’ pains, but I don’t see why we can’t have whatever kinda relationship we wanna have with each other, right?”
“Yyyyyeah,” Rainbow said, awkwardly nodding her head and rapidly tapping her fingers against each other. “So, what do you wanna do?”
Applejack blushed and scratched her cheek, holding out her hand. Rainbow looked at her funny but held out her own hand, gently placing it in Applejack’s.
“I like this,” Applejack said curtly, brushing her fingers against Rainbow’s, “this is pretty alright.”
“I don’t hate it either,” Rainbow coughed, and clenched her fingers around Applejack’s.
“Oh hey,” Applejack said suddenly, just remembering something she wanted to ask and definitely not wracking her brain to come up with an excuse to keep talking so she didn’t have to let go of Rainbow’s hand just yet, “I just remembered, you switched classes! After all this hubbub, it’s kinda a shame we won’t be classmates anymore.”
“Right, that,” Rainbow said, looking away from Applejack, “I wanted to tell you about that. I was actually gonna do it today… but that’s what I said yesterday too, and the day before that, but I kept losing my nerve every time.”
“It’s not like I wasn’t gonna catch on eventually,” Applejack laughed, “though it took me a lot longer’n I’d like to admit. So why the change? Was that just a part of you tryin’ to get away from me?”
“No,” Rainbow said firmly, looking Applejack right in the eye with an intensity that made Applejack blush. “The opposite, actually. Two Squires become two Knights, become two Captains, lead two squads. Squire and Lancer graduate into the same squad.”
“Oh,” Applejack said, the implications of Rainbow’s statement taking a second to dawn on her, but when they did, Applejack’s whole face brightened up. She beamed at Rainbow before yanking her into another hug.
“Yer a sweetheart, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack ruffled Rainbow’s hair with a big ol’ smile on her face. “A little troublemakin’ gremlin, but a sweetheart.”
“Thanks,” Rainbow muttered, leaning into Applejack’s hug with a soft sigh.
Rainbow ran her thumb across the surface of a flat stone as it glistened in the moonlight, her eyes narrowing at the river in front of her and only for like a split second did they wander over to Applejack sitting nearby. She was gonna skip this stone across the river so hard and Applejack was gonna be so impressed.
Rainbow closed her eyes and breathed in. She winded back and achieved the perfect throwing stance. She was just about to let it loose when—
“Good luck, sugar!” Applejack said in a beautifully sing-song tone, totally throwing Rainbow’s concentration and causing her grip on the rock to slip, tossing the thing into the nearby bridge where— of course— it bounced off and hit Rainbow square in the forehead.
Rainbow stumbled back, totally sure that she could salvage this by striking a cool pose, but then she caught her foot on a rock and slipped, falling right on her ass with a spine-shuddering thud.
“Oh gosh, Rainbow!” Applejack stood up immediately and ran to Rainbow’s side, kneeling beside her and grabbing her hand; so even if Rainbow’s pride was a little damaged, her fall wasn’t a total loss. “Are you okay, hon?”
“Yeah, of course!” Rainbow scoffed, batting her hand at Applejack before poking her on the nose. “But you can’t throw off a girl’s concentration like that! Sheesh, what were you thinking!”
“I was thinkin’ I wanted to see you blush,” Applejack smirked ear to ear, and if she hadn't already succeeded at that goal, she sure had now. “Yeah, just like that.”
“Alright, alright!” Rainbow stuck out her tongue and pushed Applejack away, flailing her arms at Applejack until she stood up.
Rainbow planted a hand on the ground to lift herself up, but she’d tweaked her tailbone a little and let out a pained hiss as she tried to stand. Before she could think of how to better leverage herself, an orange hand appeared in front of her, and she looked up to see Applejack smiling down at her, hand extended.
Two weeks ago, Rainbow would’ve smacked Applejack’s hand aside, even knowing that it would be a stupid, terrible thing to do. But two weeks ago, Rainbow wouldn’t be hanging out with Applejack well into the evening after class, because the Rainbow of two weeks ago was a big cowardly jackass who couldn’t even be honest about how much she enjoyed AJ’s company.
Well, she was still that, but at least now she could take Applejack’s hand and let Applejack help her to her feet, with only a second’s hesitation and mild embarrassment. Which was progress, at least to Rainbow.
“It’s startin’ to get late, sugarcube,” Applejack sighed, putting her hands in her jacket pockets. “I guess we’d better getcha to the station, huh?”
“Yeah,” Rainbow looked away from Applejack, up at the full moon. She shook her head and sighed, “I guess I’d better head home.”
Usually Rainbow took the early evening train back to Fillydelphia alongside Fluttershy, but in the last couple weeks she’d started going back and forth between commuting with Flutters, and staying late to hang out with Applejack, and taking the more expensive night train home by herself.
And she couldn’t have been more thankful to her roommate, Fluttershy, and even Applejack, for all helping her out when she didn’t have the money for the night train.
“Mind if I walk to the station with ya?” Applejack asked, bumping her body against Rainbow’s.
“Uh, are you sure?” Rainbow asked, walking up the grassy hill onto the bridge and making sure to stay ahead of Applejack so she couldn’t see just how red Rainbow’s cheeks were. “Isn’t your place like in the total opposite direction?”
“I got strong legs,” Applejack chuckled, “I can use ‘em.” Applejack smirked and tapped Rainbow’s arm as they walked over the stone bridge, “I guess you could say it’s ‘no biggie’.”
Rainbow snickered and looked down at her feet. It’s not like she could just say no to Applejack’s offer, right?
“No,” Rainbow said, sticking her tongue out at Applejack and keeping pace even as Applejack stopped in her tracks. Rainbow walked a few steps before stopping to turn and look at Applejack’s bewildered expression and grinning at her. “I’m kidding, AJ. I’d love it if you’d walk to the station with me.”
“Don’t play with a girl’s heart like that!” Applejack shook her fist and caught up to Rainbow, who was cackling at AJ’s flustered reaction.
Rainbow and Applejack didn’t really talk as they walked to the train station, but Rainbow didn’t mind. They’d spent like the whole evening talking, so just walking next to each other, keeping each other company even without words, it was… exciting, somehow.
It felt really gratifying to know that Rainbow could just exist next to someone without trying to act cool, or be nervous about how she might be screwing things up. And it wasn’t just AJ either, she was starting to feel a lot more comfortable with her roommate and Fluttershy too.
It was like, ever since she met Applejack, she just had this drive to be a nicer, less bitchy person. And that was cool; she liked the person she was becoming. She wasn’t ready to get rid of all the bitchiness though; what would even be the point of having a relationship where she couldn’t rib her friends? It’d be boring!
“Welp,” Rainbow put her hands in her pockets and rocked back and forth on her tiptoes as she and Applejack stood on the train platform, waiting for Rainbow’s train, “I guess this is it. You should probably head home, huh?”
“Nah,” Applejack sat down on a steel bench and put her arms on the back, “I’ll wait for the train with ya. No one else is even here, I’d hate for you to feel lonely.”
Rainbow couldn’t be sure if that was a tease or a genuine sentiment, so she turned to face the tracks so Applejack couldn’t see her bite down a smile.
“I ain’t leavin’ ‘til the train does either,” Applejack yawned, and Rainbow really wished she hadn’t because it reminded her that she hadn’t slept a full night’s sleep in like three days, “just so y’know.”
“What, you’re just gonna wait here on that bench so you can wave at me through the window?” Rainbow said sarcastically, though when she looked at Applejack, she was just nodding her head quietly. Rainbow looked away, buried her hands in her pockets, and muttered “I appreciate that, thanks.”
“No problem, hon,” Applejack stood up and stretched her arms over her head, trying to keep herself awake.
“I thought I was the one who was supposed to have sleeping problems?” Rainbow chuckled, and even though she was just kidding, the lack of sleep was starting to catch up to her like a cheetah in the savannah. Are cheetahs savannah animals? Whatever, you get it.
“Don’t fret sugarcube,” Applejack put her arm around Rainbow, who seized up at the sudden closeness, “I ain’t gonna fall asleep on ya or nothin’.” Applejack perked up and looked down the tunnel at the light glaring in the distance, “Looks like I ain’t gonna have to, neither. Your ride’s here.”
“So it is,” Rainbow took a deep breath through her nose. She didn’t want to get on the train, she just wanted to keep standing there with Applejack’s arm around—
Wait what no I don’t that’d be weird it’d almost be like I have a crush on Applejack which I definitely do not have at all nope.
The train rolled into the station and Applejack kept her arm around Rainbow until she begrudgingly tore herself away to get on the train. She turned to look at Applejack— who waved and smiled at her— only once before heading inside the train and finding a spot by the window, where she could see Applejack still waving to her.
It made her heart warm, and made the ride home feel a lot less lonely.
****
Rainbow took deep breaths and bit down on her thumb as she admired herself in the mirror, looking super awesome in her new uniform. She’d been at the academy for two months now, and today was the day of her very first field test!
The first time she’d be seeing real combat, having real adventures, being amazing and a sight to behold for real! Well, not entirely real; it was basically just a training drill, and the route was predetermined by the instructors, and she’d only be fighting people who were hired by the Academy for this test, but still! It was a step in the right direction!
And more importantly, she looked awesome in the Cross’ official military student uniform; the dark blue and gold accents looked super rad on her.
“Rainbow Dash, are you still in the bathroom?” Rainbow’s roommate knocked on the bathroom door. “C’mon, all this extra estrogen is making me pee like crazy!”
“Yeah, just a sec!” Rainbow flashed one last snazzy grin at her reflection before bouncing from the bathroom, heading over to the living room and waiting for the roommate to finish using the bathroom so they could leave together.
Rainbow sat on the couch and tried not to grind her teeth together, but she could hardly sit still! A field test was a pretty big deal, especially since it was a team exercise, which meant she’d almost definitely be spending the whole time with Applejack, and Fluttershy too!
She just couldn’t wait, but before she could stomp all the way to the bathroom to give her roommate a hard time for needing to pee, the roommate wandered into the living room.
The lavender skinned, indigo haired girl yawned and took off her glasses long enough to rub her eye, before poking herself in the eye with the glasses as she tried to put them back on.
“You okay, Twi?” Rainbow asked, and Twilight nodded groggily.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Twilight sighed, sounding anything but fine. “How do I look?”
Twilight was dressed in a dark blue suit, tie and coat included, with her long hair tied behind her in a neat ponytail. She looked like she was going to a wedding or a fancy dinner, but Rainbow figured that was just the sort of Look that was expected of Twilight on the rare occasions she was seen in public.
If people saw the sister of the Holy Knights’ Commander dressed in her usual hoodie and cheese-stained sweat pants combo, they’d probably freak.
“You look rad,” Rainbow jumped over the couch and slapped Twilight’s shoulder, Twi giving a half-smile in return. “Not quite as rad as me, but pretty close.”
“Wow, that’s high praise,” Twilight said drolly.
“I know!” Rainbow beamed, throwing her arm around Twilight, who smiled, but Rainbow could feel her shoulders slump. “Twi,” Rainbow rubbed her fingers against Twi’s arm, “if you don’t wanna do this…”
“What? If I don’t want to do this, what?” Twilight barked. “I have obligations, Rainbow. I have to be here to watch this field test, because Shining and everyone else still thinks his dropout sister is going to inherit command someday, somehow.”
“Geez, could you imagine?” Rainbow asked, trying to change the subject for Twilight’s sake. “Commanding the entire Equestrian military?”
“Just the thought of it makes me ill,” Twilight groaned. “If I wanted to be a soldier, I wouldn’t have dropped out of the Academy. I just wish Shining would accept that already so we could both move on with our lives.”
“Well, today’s gonna suck for you,” Rainbow slapped Twilight’s shoulder, and she just croaked at Rainbow in response, “but I’ll buy you a cider tonight, okay? Will that make it a little better?”
“I guess,” Twilight grinned in that way Twilight always did when she thought she was about to be clever. “I suppose today won’t be all bad if I get to meet your girlfriend.”
“She is NOT—”
“Hey Rainbow time’s wasting!” Twilight chirped as she bounced out the door. “What’re you waiting for?!”
“You’re the worst, Twilight Sparkle!” Rainbow shouted, forcing herself to hold back a laugh.
“That’s not what your mom said!” Twilight cackled, Rainbow throwing her face into her hands as she followed Twi out the door.
It wasn’t long after Rainbow and Twilight had left their house that they ran right into Fluttershy; or rather, Twilight almost ran right into her if Rainbow hadn’t yanked her away by the arm first.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Fluttershy gasped, cupping her hands against her mouth. “I didn’t hit you, did I?”
“N-no, I’m fine,” Twilight fretted with her bangs and couldn’t look at Fluttershy, probably a mix of social anxiety meets embarrassment from nearly crashing into someone. Luckily, Rainbow was there to do all the talking.
“She’s fine cuz I saved the day,” Rainbow flashed a gleaming grin and pointed at herself.
“Right,” Fluttershy rolled her eyes with a smile. “Good morning, Rainbow. It’s nice to see you, and you look really sharp today.”
“You too, Fluttershy!” Rainbow gently poked Fluttershy’s arm, getting a giggle out of her. Fluttershy was dressed in the soldier’s uniform just like Rainbow was, though the outfit for the Chemist class was dark green and bronze, and had a skirt instead of pants.
“Who’s your friend?” Fluttershy held her hands in front of her and smiled at Twilight, who just looked away awkwardly and rubbed her neck. Rainbow chuckled, finding it funny that Fluttershy was being the outgoing one here.
“This is Twilight Sparkle,” Rainbow put her arm around Twilight, which didn’t seem to help her nerves, “she’s my roommate, I’ve told you about her before.”
“Oh! It’s nice to finally meet you, Twilight Sparkle!” Fluttershy held out her hand, and Twilight—after getting a helpful push from Rainbow—took Fluttershy’s hand and shook it in the most clammy, awkward, uncool way possible.
Fluttershy’s smile had faded and she started rocking back and forth on her tip-toes, at a loss for what to say, and Rainbow felt like she was literally going to choke on the secondhand embarrassment.
“So anyway!” Rainbow loudly cleared her throat, walking toward the Fillydelphia station and dragging Twilight along by her arm. “You excited for the field test, Fluttershy?”
“Um, yeah,” Fluttershy coughed as she walked beside Rainbow. “I am very excited. So thrilled. Yay.”
“Wow you sound pumped,” Rainbow said flatly, arching an eyebrow at Fluttershy. She snickered and gently punched Fluttershy’s arm, “C’mon, you’re gonna be with me and Applejack! There’s no reason for you to be worried!”
“Oh, um, about that,” Fluttershy murmured, and Rainbow’s enthusiasm went down a notch. “I actually can’t team up with you or with Applejack. My brother’s in my class too, and I can’t, um… it wouldn’t be right, for me to leave him all by himself.”
“He doesn’t have anyone else he can partner up with?” Rainbow huffed. “What’re you, his nanny?”
“You haven’t met my brother,” Fluttershy sighed, slumping her shoulders. “He’s sensitive, and I’m worried that if I’m not there to help him with the field test, his other teammates won’t be able to put up with his… idiosyncrasies.”
“Meh, sounds like you should just dump him,” Rainbow shrugged, ignoring Fluttershy’s appalled gasp. “If he can’t handle himself, you shouldn’t have to babysit him.”
“It’s not that simple,” Twilight said firmly before Fluttershy could respond. “With family, it’s never that simple-“ Twilight locked eyes with Fluttershy “-isn’t that right?”
“It is,” Fluttershy nodded, and Rainbow just crossed her arms and puffed up her cheeks.
Rainbow didn’t understand any of it, but she wasn’t gonna try and talk Fluttershy into doing something she wasn’t comfortable with, so she just had to deal with the fact that Fluttershy wasn’t gonna be on her team this time.
“Eh, I guess that’s too bad,” Rainbow said casually. “Still though, I hope you and your brother do an awesome job on the test today!”
“Thank you,” Fluttershy said, “and I hope you and Applejack pass with flying colors too.” Fluttershy blinked at Twilight, who was walking beside Rainbow now instead of behind her. “What about you, Twilight? I haven’t seen you taking the train with me and Rainbow before.”
Rainbow and Twilight exchanged glances, and Twilight just closed her eyes and shrugged.
“Twi’s coming to watch me be amazing,” Rainbow said proudly, putting her hand on Twilight’s shoulder.
“She’s dressed pretty sharply for a cheerleader,” Fluttershy giggled, and Rainbow wasn’t sure if she was trying to pry or just making a joke.
“My brother is Commander Shining Armor,” Twilight said coldly, and Fluttershy stopped dead in her tracks, “he wants me to watch the field test, so I’m watching it. That’s it.”
“Oh,” Fluttershy took a deep breath, “I see.”
“But mostly she’s just going to watch me be awesome,” Rainbow grinned, and Twilight laughed.
“Right,” Twilight rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t hide the smile on her face.
Rainbow stretched her arms over her head and arched her back as she and her two friends walked up to the Academy building. Sitting still for the whole train ride always made Rainbow so antsy, and every time she was super glad to be done with it.
This ride was more awkward than usual, since nobody said a damn word the whole time, with Twilight and Fluttershy both too awkward to talk to each other, and Rainbow didn’t have the patience or the energy to do the talking for all three of them.
Still though, now they were at the Academy, which meant the field test was almost about to start!
“Alright, I’m off,” Twilight muttered as the trio reached the front gate.
“Yeah? You’re not going into the Academy with us?” Rainbow asked, hands held behind her head.
“No,” Twilight shook her head. “I have to meet my brother as soon as possible, and if I walk through the main courtyard… it’ll cause a scene.”
“Riiight,” Rainbow groaned.
She always forgot that Twilight wasn’t just her friend and roommate, that other people might actually recognize her if they saw her. And here at the Academy she also had the baggage of being a dropout, and some of the third-years were first-years when Twilight dropped out; they’d recognize her for sure, and that’d be a huge mess.
“I’ll catch you later, Twi,” Rainbow clasped Twilight’s hand, giving her a thumbs-up and a winning grin to help bolster her confidence. “And I’ll treat you to a cider like I promised!”
“I’ll hold you to it,” Twilight smiled. She bit her lip and poked her head past Rainbow to look at Fluttershy. “Um,” she coughed, getting Fluttershy’s attention, “if I see you at the cider thing that me and Rainbow are doing later, uh, I’ll introduce myself properly. I promise. Sorry I didn’t do that already, you seem, uh… nice.”
Twilight cleared her throat, and Fluttershy just blinked at her. Rainbow meanwhile was trying not to suck air through her teeth.
“Anywaybye!” Twilight said loudly before taking off like a shot in the opposite direction, practically leaving a trail of dust in her wake.
“Yikes,” Rainbow grumbled under her breath. “I didn’t expect her to be that awkward.”
“It’s okay,” Fluttershy said. “I hope this is alright to say, but it actually felt nice to not be the weird one for once.” Fluttershy giggled, and Rainbow let out a little chuckle of her own. “I would like that proper introduction though, and I’ll definitely need a cider after the field test.”
“It’s on me,” Rainbow flashed a winning smile and pointed at herself proudly.
“We can split the tab,” Fluttershy chirped.
“You’re the best!” Rainbow grabbed Fluttershy’s shoulders and bowed her head. Despite Rainbow’s pride, she really couldn’t afford to buy everyone drinks, at least not more than one round.
“I know, I know,” Fluttershy laughed and pat Rainbow’s head. “Now, don’t you have somewhere to be? You don’t want someone else to snatch up Applejack before you get to her, do you?”
“Wh—she wouldn’t let someone else snatch her up!” Rainbow huffed, throwing her arms straight down at her sides.
Fluttershy bit down a giggle, “You’re probably right, but you should still hurry up and find her.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded. “Good luck, Fluttershy.”
“I won’t wish you good luck,” Fluttershy said, “because I know you don’t need it, but I hope you, um, nail it. Is that okay?”
“That was great!” Rainbow gave Fluttershy a tight hug— which Fluttershy warmly reciprocated— before charging off into the courtyard to find Applejack.
Everyone in the courtyard was in uniform now, so it wasn’t hard to pick the Squires out of the crowd, what with their red and silver outfits. Even more than that, Applejack was way taller than almost anyone else in the Academy, and she had that ugly straw hat that clashed horribly with her uniform. Rainbow found her in ten seconds flat.
She thought about calling out to Applejack, but saw that she was talking to some other girl; some girl whose black trench coat also went hideously bad with her red uniform. It wouldn’t be cool to interrupt Applejack while she was talking, at least not without making a scene first.
So instead of calling out, Rainbow ran at full gallop toward Applejack and jumped onto her shoulders, lifting her legs off the ground and wrapping her arms around Applejack.
“What in the—” Applejack shrieked before turning to see Rainbow’s big grin and responding with the flattest scowl of bemusement Rainbow had ever seen in her life. “Oh. I should’ve figured.”
“Rainbow Dash, right?” the golden-haired girl Applejack was talking to laughed.
“The one and only!” Rainbow beamed. “Happy to see me, AJ?”
“Just beside myself, hon,” Applejack rolled her eyes, but she didn’t actually make any move to get Rainbow to get off of her, so Rainbow just… didn’t. “Rainbow, this is my pal, Lightning Dust.”
“Oh yeah,” Rainbow said, “she’s the girl you were fighting the day we—uh, that time. That other—uh, two weeks ago, right?”
“That’s correct,” Applejack wheezed, sounding as uncomfortable as Rainbow felt. She cleared her throat, “But yeah, you were there for that fight, so you saw me wallop Lightning somethin’ fierce!”
“Ha, that was two weeks ago,” Lightning scoffed, “if you think I’d still lose to an old-timer like you—”
“Old timer!?” Applejack sputtered. “We’re the same age!”
“Pfft, details,” Lightning shrugged, and Rainbow chuckled, taking utter delight in Applejack’s unimpressed frown.
“So hey,” Rainbow said, “Fluttershy’s not gonna be able to team up with us, she’s kinda wrapped up somewhere else. So we need a third, AJ.”
“Gee, where are you gonna find one?” Lightning grinned ear to ear.
“I dunno,” Applejack shrugged, “I was thinkin’ I might ask Caramel or somethin’.”
Lightning’s face turned bright red, and even though Rainbow was enjoying clinging to Applejack’s shoulders, it was worth getting down so she could pound AJ’s fist after that solid burn.
“Lightning, you wanna team up with us?” Applejack said, reaching her hand out to Lightning Dust.
“Uh, yeah I do!” Lightning firmly grabbed Applejack’s hand, the two girls beaming at each other. “The two best students at the academy on one team? And also Rainbow Dash is there I guess? We’re gonna leave every other team in the dust!”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way, honestly,” Applejack said confidently.
“Applejack,” the voice of Flash Sentry caught Rainbow off-guard before she could snipe at Lightning for dissing her. Judging by Applejack’s concerned frown, she wasn’t sure what to make of the instructor calling her out either.
“Somethin’ wrong, sir?” Applejack asked.
“Not at all,” Flash shook his head with a smile, and Rainbow grinded her teeth because just looking at his smug, bearded face made her mad. One of the biggest perks of transferring out of the Squire class was not dealing with that chungus anymore. “There’s someone who wants to speak with you before the field test begins. It can’t wait, so if you’ll please come with me.”
“Ooooooohhhh,” Lightning Dust cooed, and Rainbow found it annoying even though she was thinking of saying the exact same thing.
“You’re not in trouble,” Flash chuckled.
“Why would I be?” Applejack rolled her eyes. “I’m a perfect student.”
“Please,” Lightning batted her hand dismissively, “if it were something really important, they’d wanna talk to me.”
“Sure, sugarcube,” Applejack grinned snidely at Lightning before walking off with Flash, leaving Rainbow and Lightning Dust alone in the courtyard.
Rainbow put her hands into her pants pockets and sized Lightning Dust up. She seemed pretty cool, and if she was friends with Applejack, she couldn’t have been all bad. But there was something about her that Rainbow really didn’t like.
“What’s the matter?” Lightning gave a smug little corner-of-her-mouth smirk. “You afraid I’m gonna steal Applejack from you or something?”
“What.”
Why does everyone keep assuming I have a thing for Applejack?!
“C’mon,” Lightning chuckled, “problem child keeps picking fights with the super talented girl, then transfers into the Lancer class so she can graduate into the same squad with her new ‘friend’, not to mention you two always taking time to spend together—”
“We’re friends,” Rainbow said through gritted teeth. “Why’re you making this weird?”
“Then what was that thing you did with the tackle hug just a minute ago?” Lightning arched an eyebrow and cocked her head. “Admit it Dash, you’re in lesbians.”
“Your mom is in lesbians!” Rainbow snapped, stomping toward Lightning Dust and pointing a finger at her.
“Why so defensive, Dash?” Lightning asked, leaning her head back and putting her hands in her coat pockets. “If I were wrong, wouldn’t I be the one getting all heated? If it was just a misunderstanding, why’re you making it weird?”
Rainbow’s cheeks burned up and she faltered for a second. She really didn’t have an answer for that.
“Whatever,” Rainbow sighed and turned her back on Lightning. “Think whatever you want.”
“Or are you mad because I’m the number two student in the Academy,” Lightning said coldly, “and you’re just a distant third, nowhere close to where Applejack is?”
Rainbow flicked her tongue against one of her canines, her fingers twitching in her pocket. She had her knives on her, it would be so easy to—
No. Not doing that shit again.
“It’s fine if you wanna be number two, Lightning Dust,” Rainbow hissed, turning her head to send a piercing glare into Lightning’s heart, “because I’m gonna be number one. Not you, not Applejack, me!I’m gonna be the Commander of the Holy Knights. So you take as much pride as you want to in your title of ‘second best’, because to me you’re just a stepping stone.”
Lightning grit her teeth into a snarl, that quickly morphed into a sinister grin.
“I guess we’ll just have to see who kicks more ass on the field test,” Lightning shrugged.
“Guess so,” Rainbow walked off.
As Rainbow walked away, a bitter and gross feeling sinking into her gut, all she could think was that she totally was not buying Lightning Dust any cider.
06. So Many Flavors of Anxiety and Righteous Protective Anger
A bead of sweat dripped down Applejack’s brow as she took a seat in the headmaster’s office. She had a bad feeling when Flash Sentry had told her that’s where she was needed, but she still wasn’t prepared to see the ghostly white-skinned man sitting behind the desk waiting for her.
Her blood ran cold as he smiled at her, batting a lock of his long blue hair off his shoulder.
She couldn’t believe what she was seeing as she swallowed a lump of anxiety.
The man sitting behind the desk, staring her down, was none other than the Holy Knight of Sorcery, and supreme Commander of Equestria’s military; Commander Shining Armor.
This wasn’t the first time Applejack had seen Shining Armor; he was a friend of her family, even fighting alongside her parents during the Scarlet Rebellion. They had exchanged a few words— pleasantries and formalities mostly— but this was the first time she’d really met him face-to-face.
Also, it was the first she’d seen him since her transition, and she just had to hope that he wouldn’t make things awkward on that front.
“Long time no see, huh, Applejack?” Shining wore a big doofus grin on his face, and for a moment Applejack almost forget that she was looking at the Commander of the military. “Last I saw you, you were the size of a bean sprout!”
“Don’t lie,” Applejack chuckled leaned back in her chair, “I’ve always been big and you know that.” Applejack cleared her throat. “Anyway, sir, what is it that you called me to talk to me for?”
Applejack gave a serious, albeit awkward and shaky, salute. Shining Armor just sighed and rested his cheek in his hand, his elbow propped up on the desk.
“C’mon, Applejack,” he said wearily, “there’s no need to be so formal. Far as I’m concerned, you’re an old family friend. You don’t have to treat me like I’m some big shot. I’m just Shining Armor.”
“With all due respect, sir,” Applejack said, trying to make eye contact with the Commander but too nervous to look anywhere other than directly over his shoulder, “I’ve been taught since I was a kid to treat my commanding officers with respect, and it don’t get more commandin’ than the Commander. It’d be dishonorable to treat you as anything less. Sir.”
Shining Armor chuckled and leaned back in his chair. “Yeah, I figured you’d say something like that. You’re way too much like your old man for your own good, if I’m honest.”
“Pa was a good man,” Applejack said, “so I’ll take that as a compliment, sir.”
“Pear Butter would’ve just clapped her hands in my face and told me to get to my point already,” the Commander chuckled, and Applejack presumed he was just reminiscing, though she couldn’t pretend it didn’t sting a tad to hear about her ma; Applejack still missed her and her pa every day.
“Then with all due respect, sir,” Applejack cleared her throat and put her arm down on her thigh, “why’d you call me in here, sir?”
“Mostly I just wanted to wish you luck on the field test,” Shining Armor smiled. “But also, I haven’t had the opportunity to meet you in person before, and I wanted to rectify that. I’ve heard good things.”
“I’m flattered, sir,” Applejack nodded, though she didn’t feel as flattered as she claimed. More than anything, she felt anxious.
She didn’t like the idea that the Holy Knights were keeping tabs on her progress, but she also knew it’d be naïve to think that they weren’t. Her family had a longstanding history with the Knights after all, and it’d be pretty natural for everyone to have eyes on her to make sure she lived up to that legacy.
“I hear you’re gunning for your brother’s spot as the Knight of Strength,” Shining Armor shot Applejack a sly grin, which made her eye twitch. “And judging by your grades, and commendations from the instructors, it sounds like you’re on the fast track to do just that. Someday you and I will probably fight together as Holy Knights, and I guess I figured I’d like to get the inevitable introductions out of the way sooner, rather than later.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Applejack took a deep breath as she stood up, and she straightened her stance and gave a firm salute to the Commander. “If that’s everything, sir, I have a train to catch. Thank you for takin’ the time to meet with me, it was a real honor.”
“Lying doesn’t suit you, Applejack,” Shining Armor’s tone was pleasant and jovial, but Applejack could feel an underlying tension to his words that she couldn’t quite shake.
“I know it doesn’t, sir,” Applejack felt another bead of sweat start dripping down her cold skin, “that’s why I don’t—”
“Applejack,” the pleasant pretense was gone, and Shining Armor’s words cut into Applejack like an icy knife, “cut the crap.”
Applejack’s hand fell to her hip. If there had been a strained smile on her face before, it was gone now. She blinked, and scowled— sneered at him.
“How’s yer sister, Shiny?”
Shining Armor took a deep breath and steepled his fingers.
“Is that what this is about?” he said irritably. “That why you’re standoffish with me?”
“Honestly, sir,” Applejack shrugged, “what I toldja before wasn’t a lie. I was raised to show my commandin’ officers respect, but I can’t deny there’s a lot of personal baggage where you’re concerned. If I’m ‘standoffish’, it’s only cuz I ain’t ready or willin’ to deal with all that yet.”
“Well,” Shining Armor sighed and stood up himself, and though he was tall, he didn’t quite reach Applejack’s height, “since you mentioned Twily, you might be interested to know that she’s gonna be watching the field test.”
“At your insistence, no doubt,” Applejack scoffed and repetitively flicked her fingers.
“Of course,” Shining Armor straightened up his suit. “It’s important that she see with her own eyes the pride of Equestria’s military, and there’s no bigger pride to the Cross than its students.”
“Funny,” Applejack allowed herself a cocky grin, knowing full-well how her comment was gonna get under the Commander’s skin, “I didn’t think a dropout’d have too much use for the military’s pride.”
“Her dropping out was a mistake,” the Commander said through gritted teeth.
“Her enrollin’ was a mistake,” Applejack took a step toward the Commander’s desk and put her palm on it. “I was there, Shiny. I saw the tears as y’all tore her away from her ma— oh, how is Velvet, by the way?”
Applejack lurched back; she knew she’d crossed a line even before the intense change in Shining Armor’s aura froze the room around her, and she let out a slow breath that she could see clearly with her eyes.
“Sorry,” Applejack said nervously, wondering if it’d be a court-martial or an execution in her future. “That was over the line. I apologize.”
“I’m sorry too,” the Commander grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck, and Applejack breathed a sigh of relief—which she could not see this time—as the room’s temperature went back to normal. “I shouldn’t have pushed you like that. I just don’t want there to be bad blood between us, y’know? Bright Mac was my idol, and I just—” the Commander sighed. “I want things to be okay. For everyone.”
“Then why’re you pushin’ Twi into a dead end?” Applejack said with a distinct frown. She wasn’t sure it was a good idea to push her luck, but if Shining really wanted to clear up any bad blood between them, honesty was the only way to do it. “You know she ain’t gonna join the military. Not unless she’s forced to.”
“I know,” the Commander took a slow, deep breath as he paced back and forth behind the desk. “I know that. And this is the last time I’m going to push the issue with her. I want her to see—”
The Commander bit his lip, and his hands rifled around in his pants pockets.
“It doesn’t matter. I want her to see this field test, and if it doesn’t convince her how much the Cross could use her help, then I’ll just… have to let it go.”
A stagnant pause.
Applejack wanted nothing more than to just leave and get on with her field test, but she didn’t know how to bring that up in a non-ugly way, so she just waited for the Commander to speak again.
And waited.
And… waited.
“Commander?” she said after what felt like a decade of watching the Commander stare off into space. “I got a train to catch.”
“Right, right,” the Commander shook his head and slapped himself awake. “Sorry, just kinda zoned out for a second there.”
“No biggie,” Applejack shrugged, and she felt a blush stinging her cheeks as she realized how much she sounded like a certain someone. “I’ll just be goin—”
“Hold on,” Shining Armor cleared his throat and put a palm on the desk, and Applejack grit her teeth behind a strained smile. “There is one more thing I need to say to you.”
“Go ahead,” Applejack gave a half-hearted shrug.
“I want you to remember,” the Commander said sternly, piercing Applejack with his icy, blue-eyed stare, “the Cross fights for Equestria, soldiers fight for the Cross. When you’re out there, remember that you have a family legacy to uphold, and you’ll be fighting with the pride and honor of the Cross on your shoulders.
“Knights aren’t just soldiers, we’re beacons who shine the Cross’ values all across Equestria. Never forget that.”
“Don’t worry, sir,” Applejack put a fist over her heart, “I’m gonna be a Holy Knight someday, and I know what that means. All you have to do is watch me and be impressed.”
“Fair enough,” Shining Armor nodded with a half-smirk on his face, and gave a salute, “you’re dismissed, Applejack.”
Applejack returned the salute, then nodded and turned to leave. She knew that “remember the Cross’ values” junk was just Shiny’s way of telling her not to make the military look bad to his sister, but she couldn’t give a fat flank about his whole thing with his sister.
She wasn’t lying when she said she’d impress him though; it just wouldn’t be for his sister’s sake as much as for her own. Hell, she wasn’t even as interested in impressing him as much as she was in warning him; letting him know without a doubt the type of Knight Applejack was going to be, that she was going to take her rightful place as a Holy Knight and nothing and no one was gonna stop her.
She was still nervous about him watching her and judging her performance, but she’d be damned if she didn’t pass this test with flying colors after all that, and that tension just made her want to fight even harder.
This was gonna be a great day.
****
Rainbow’s nose curled as she leaned against the window of the train as she and Applejack slunk by the train door, away from their private cabin and Lightning Dust so that Applejack could share her story about Shining Armor with Rainbow, and just Rainbow.
“I’m gonna punch that guy,” Rainbow muttered, and Applejack laughed.
“It’s not that bad, sugarcube,” Applejack said, idly brushing some hair out of Rainbow’s face. “Just a little scuffle between family friends is all.”
“Yeah, you say that,” Rainbow clicked her tongue and looked away from Applejack, out at the rolling plains through the window, “but I still think the guy’s a jerk. I already wanted to punch him for everything he puts Twilight through.”
“Eh, he’s just lookin’ out for her,” Applejack shrugged, “in his own bass-ackwards way.”
“Why are you defending him?” Rainbow asked in disgust, Applejack taking a step back and blinking twice. “You were just telling me how much he was getting on your back, now you’re sticking up for him? What’s that about?”
“Sorry,” Applejack rubbed her forearm and looked at the ground, “force of habit, I s’pose.”
“I’m sorry too,” Rainbow crossed her arms and puffed up her bright red cheeks. “I didn’t mean to snap at you just there. Sorry about that.”
“Don’t sweat it, hon,” Applejack chuckled and put her arm around Rainbow, pulling her into a headlock and ruffling her hair. Rainbow tried to protest at first, but quickly realized it wasn’t actually that bad being rough-handled by Applejack.
“Anyway,” Rainbow playfully shoved Applejack away and looked back out the window with a big grin, “I’m excited the field test’s taking place around Fillydelphia! That’s my terf! I wanted to take you and the girls out for drinks after the test, and I know this great little hole in the wall place—”
“’Hole in the wall’?” Applejack arched an eyebrow and gave a smug smirk. “What’re you, a tour guide now?”
“Whatever!” Rainbow stuck out her tongue, trying to hold back a chuckle for a sec before she let it free thanks to Applejack’s gleaming smile. “Anyway, it’s a great place. They have awesome cider, you’re gonna love it! It’s super chill too, so Fluttershy and Twilight are gonna have a great time.”
“Twilight’ll be there?” Applejack said, turning pale.
Rainbow turned to see the stricken look on her face and arched a confused eyebrow. “Is… that okay? Like, I know you have some beef with Shining Armor, but Twilight’s cool, so don’t worry about that.”
“I’m not, I just—” Applejack shook her head, “How do you know Twilight?”
“She’s my roommate?” Rainbow cocked her head, totally lost on what Applejack was reacting to. “Why, do you know her?”
“Not especially,” Applejack bit her thumb. “But like I said, Shiny’s a family friend, so I’ve met Twi on a couple of occasions, mostly big formal get-togethers.”
“I’m sure she was the life of the party, right?” Rainbow rolled her eyes, cringing at just the thought of poor Twi having to put up with a big formal party.
“Heh, yeah,” Applejack chuckled nervously, but then cleared her throat and drew herself up. “Y’know what, it’ll be real nice to get to meet Twilight—like, actually meet her. I’m lookin’ forward to it.”
“Awesome!” Rainbow beamed and punched Applejack’s arm. “You two are gonna get on great. You’re both big nerds!”
“Hey! I am not—”
Applejack’s protests were cut off by Rainbow’s snickering, and Rainbow glanced over to see Applejack was turning bright red and fuming.
Suddenly, Applejack closed the distance between them and looked dead-on down into Rainbow’s eyes, grabbing Rainbow gently on the back of the neck and pushing her into Applejack’s chest.
“Uh, w-woah, AJ,” Rainbow stammered, her whole face turning red as she lifted her hands and suddenly realized there was nowhere to put them on AJ’s chest that wouldn’t be weird, “what’s this abou—”
“And yer easily flustered,” Applejack grinned ear to ear as she stepped away from Rainbow, leaving her a bright red and huffy mess.
“C’mon, what the hell!” Rainbow shouted, ignoring the weird looks she was getting from the other train-goers. “Don’t play with a girl’s h—uh, well anyway! Don’t just do weird stuff like that! People are gonna get the wrong idea!”
“Who’s gonna get the wrong idea?” Applejack put a hand on her hip and smugly rolled her eyes.
Applejack bit her lip. “Y’all got into a fight, didn’t you?”
“I don’t like her,” Rainbow huffed. “She’s not invited to the drinking party.”
“Ugh, I was afraid this’d happen,” Applejack slapped her hand across her face, slowly dragging it down until she pinched her fingers around the bridge of her nose. “Lightning’s cool, Rainbow, I promise. Plus she’s trans like us, so will you please give her another shot?”
Rainbow grumbled under her breath.
“Look, I’ll talk to her about fightin’ with you,” Applejack sighed. “I mean, I already did talk to her about not buttin’ heads with you, that’s what we were discussin’ when you jumped on my back earlier.”
“Doesn’t sound like she was listening,” Rainbow muttered.
“I guess not,” Applejack said bitterly, “but everyone makes mistakes. I’ll talk to her, get her to apologize, and then will you give her another shot? For my sake?”
Rainbow looked at Applejack’s pleading smile, and the hands she held clasped in front of her, and thought to herself that she couldn’t resist such a pretty lady’s request, before immediately smothering that thought in the dark recesses of the Vault Of Things We Don’t Think Or Talk About.
“Yeah, okay,” Rainbow sighed dramatically. “If you’re that desperate for me to like her, I guess I can give her another shot.”
“Thank ye kindly, Rainbow,” Applejack wrapped her arms around Rainbow and brought her into a hug before she even knew what was happening, and judging by the sudden tensing of Applejack’s body, before Applejack realized what she’d done.
Applejack pushed Rainbow away and cleared her throat, and Rainbow snickered.
“Looks like I’m not the only one easily flustered,” she said with a sharp grin, and Applejack rolled her eyes and tried to look unimpressed, but she was obviously forcing back a smile.
Applejack and Rainbow returned to their private cabin, where Lightning Dust was lying on her back looking at the ceiling, though she jolted to her feet when the pair arrived.
“There you guys are!” she laughed, and Applejack felt a knot in her stomach as she realized Lightning was completely dense to the frustration she and Rainbow were projecting. “Thought you were gonna leave me hangin’ the whole train ride!”
“Lightning Dust,” Applejack said exasperatedly, “Rainbow told me y’all got into a fight. I left y’all alone for like five minutes! I told you not to butt heads, Lightning!”
“Look,” Lightning Dust shrugged, “it’s not my fault if Rainbow Dash can’t handle a little good-natured ribbing or a few friendly jabs without taking it personally.”
Applejack said nothing; just frowned and raised her eyebrow.
Lightning rolled her eyes and groaned loudly. “Alright fine,” she said, like a child being forced to eat their vegetables, “I’m sorry, I guess. Sorry you took my jokes way too seriously, Rainbow Dash, geez.”
Applejack’s mouth hung open. She’d never heard a worse apology in her life.
“Wow, that was awful,” Rainbow said in utter amazement. “Like, I don’t believe a single word of that. That was so unbelievable, I’m almost wondering if you’re like a mannequin crudely pretending to be a human being. Yikes.”
Lightning just shrugged, with an irritatingly smug grin on her face.
“Look, I’m sorry you got mad,” she said, “but I can’t apologize for being extremely—”
“Lightning Dust,” Applejack said firmly, snapping the young woman to attention. “I asked you not to butt heads with Rainbow. We were talkin’ about it literally seconds before Rainbow showed up! And you immediately picked a fight soon as I turned my back! You’re my friend, think about how that makes me feel for a darn second!”
Applejack breathed heavily, hands clenched into fists at her sides as she glared at Lightning. She was mad on so many levels, but more than that she was anxious; she’d already been worried that two of her only three good friends wouldn’t get along, but Lightning promised her that it wouldn’t be an issue, and to see that promise broken minutes after it was made hurt Applejack deeply.
Rainbow stood back, one hand in her uniform’s pants pocket and the other’s thumbnail between her teeth as she slowly shook her head. She looked almost as upset as Applejack felt—
No, if anything she looked even angrier, like she was just itching to start a fight on Applejack’s behalf right then and there. And while that sentiment oddly warmed Applejack’s heart in a way, it was also the last thing either of them needed right now.
Lightning took a step back and blinked. Applejack’s outburst had, if nothing else, at least wiped the smugness from her face.
“Eh—I, um—” Lightning cleared her throat. “I’m sorry, Applejack. Like, really sorry.” Lightning scrunched up her face and flicked her fingers at the window. “Like, I didn’t mean to tick you off—eh, no that sucks, lemme try again.
“I did promise you that I wouldn’t be a dick to Rainbow Dash,” she sighed bitterly, like it was physically hurting her to release her ego, “and I totally went back on that promise. That was pretty lousy of me, and you didn’t deserve that. Neither of you did, so yeah. I’m—I, uh—”
Lightning loudly cleared her throat, like she was a cat hacking up a hairball. She quickly bowed her head before rising just as fast, drawing herself up and giving a salute.
“So yeah, I’m sorry, you guys. My bad.”
Applejack’s eyes widened and she just blinked, at a total loss for what to say. She turned to Rainbow, hoping that she was just as impressed by that apology as Applejack was, and was relieved to see a bright smile on Rainbow’s face, Rainbow even giving Applejack a thumbs-up for good measure.
“Water under the bridge, Lightning Dust,” Rainbow stepped forward and held out her hand, and Lightning didn’t think twice before shaking it. “Let’s just pretend that whole mess never happened and start fresh.”
“Sounds good to me, Dash,” Lightning nodded firmly, and Applejack breathed an incredible sigh of relief.
“Thank you, Lightning Dust,” Applejack gave a warm smile, and Lightning replied with a cocky grin and bat of her hand.
“Don’t worry about it, AJ,” she said, and Applejack put her arm around Lightning and dragged her into a friendly headlock.
And for a moment, Applejack wondered why she had ever worried about her friends at all; they were pretty alright.
Rainbow, Lightning, and Applejack were gathered around a table in the food car, with Rainbow and Lightning piling up food onto their plates; they couldn’t totally nail the field test on an empty stomach, after all!
Applejack had a much more ‘modest’ portion, and most of it was fruits and junk, cuz she was a boring lamer who didn’t have the cool guts that Rainbow had. Or Lightning, for that matter, who Rainbow was starting to slowly warm up to, she guessed.
“So Lightning,” Rainbow said as the two sat back down at their table with a third helping of meat, while Applejack still poked around at her first helping of like applesauce or some other gross thing for weirdos, “Applejack says you’re a cool trans gal like me and her!”
“Hell yeah,” Lightning raised her fist, and Rainbow pounded hers against it, “trans pride for life.”
“You have a pretty sick name,” Rainbow beamed, “come up with it yourself?”
“Sorta,” Lightning leaned back in her chair with her hands behind her head. “To be honest, I just named myself after the two coolest things I could think of.”
“I mean,” Rainbow snickered, “that’s pretty much what I did too. Not sure that gross dirt fog is ‘cool’ though.”
“Ha, no,” Lightning scoffed and shook her head. “My last name’s taken from Diamond Dust.”
“Diamond Dust?” Rainbow asked, her mouth full of fried chicken.
“Rainbow,” Applejack sighed, “don’t chirp with your mouth full.”
Rainbow had half a mind to stuff her whole mouth with food and then ‘chirp’ right in Applejack’s face, but instead she chewed quietly and swallowed before talking again.
“Who’s Diamond Dust?” she asked.
“Uh, who’s Diamond Dust?” Lightning asked incredulously, practically spitting out her food. “What, have you lived under a rock for ten years?”
Rainbow’s eye twitched and she was about to tell Lightning Dust off, but Applejack chimed in instead.
“Diamond Dust was a hero in the Scarlet Rebellion,” she said. “Youngest student to ever graduate the Academy, he joined the frontlines at eighteen, and was invincible with a sword in his hand.”
“Woah,” Rainbow smiled and tapped her nails against the table. “Sounds like a real badass.”
“Yeah he was!” Lightning pounded her fists on the table and grinned ear to ear. “He was the coolest! Dude couldn’t be beat at all! As soon as he hit the field, the enemy knew they were done for! I wanna be that cool!”
“Damn,” Rainbow leaned back in her chair and bit down on her thumbnail. “This guy really all he’s cracked up to be, AJ?”
“Absolutely,” Applejack nodded, smiling proudly. “Never met him myself, but Diamond Dust was a good friend of my parents. They fought side by side for a good deal of the Rebellion, and my parents both always said he was the only swordsman better’n they were, and comin’ from them that is some high praise.”
“Huh,” Rainbow almost felt bad that she’d never heard of this guy before, but she didn’t like to think about the Rebellion very much, and she couldn’t be bothered to learn about historical figures anyway. “So if he was so tough, what happened to him?”
“Who knows?” Applejack shrugged. “Disappeared near the end of the Rebellion. Some say he died in battle, others say he turned traitor, but only thing that’s certain is he was never heard from again.”
“So he’s definitely still alive,” Rainbow smirked, and Lightning’s own smile widened as she nodded her head.
The sudden blaring of the train whistle interrupted any further train of thought, and Rainbow was on her feet instantly as a jolt of excitement rocked her body.
This was it. it was finally time to prove herself, and she couldn’t wait.
“Welp,” Applejack smiled broadly as she stood to her feet, adjusting her hat, “looks like this is our stop.”
“Hope you’re ready to kick some serious butt, you guys,” Rainbow clapped her hands and rubbed them together.
“Born ready,” Lightning grinned wickedly.
“Then let’s go ace this thing!” Rainbow held out her fist, and Applejack and Lightning Dust pounded theirs against it.
Applejack had figured the field test her team was taking part in was pretty simple; students would compete in groups of ten teams, with each team starting on the Fillydelphia bay and making their way to a nearby lighthouse to reach the instructor there.
To get there they’d have to climb through a man-made labyrinth of crags, mountains and cliffs, all while fighting against soldiers specifically chosen for this exam, and also the other teams.
It was all well and good, but that premise sure did leave Applejack feeling mighty antsy when, after twenty minutes of walking through the bayside cliffs, her team hadn't encountered a single other person.
No instructors, no soldiers, no other teams.
No one.
Applejack walked onto a plateau; she could see the bay in the distance, but it was a fair way down, and the plateau was surrounded on one side by steep cliffs, and all others by towering mountains and crags, except for the lone way forward through a narrow corridor between two mountains.
Rainbow Dash walked onto the plateau right behind her, and Lightning Dust was nearby, kneeling with her palm flat against the ground and using her magic to search for nearby enemies.
“I’m telling you guys,” Lightning groaned as she stood up and joined up with the others, “there’s no one here.”
“Are you sure?” Rainbow griped, and Applejack pursed her lips and looked around, because she couldn’t believe it either. “You sure they’re not just, like, super good at hiding?”
“As long as they’re connected to the ground,” Lightning Dust explained for the umpteenth time, her patience thinning with each repetition, “I can sense them with my magic. Even if they tried to slink up a tree or a pole of something, I’d still feel ‘em.
“So either these guys are using like crazy advanced magic, or—”
“Or there really ain’t no one around,” Applejack said firmly, biting her lip.
“Yup,” Lightning shrugged. “And while I’d love it to be the first one, I got a feeling the Academy’s still using kid gloves on us, so I think we really just got a bad run of luck and haven’t run into anyone yet.”
“So what the heck is up then!?” Rainbow threw her arms into the air and tapped her foot. “Where is everyone!?”
“I dunno,” Applejack whispered, her eyes darting up the crags ahead in desperate search of anyone, “but I ain’t got a good feelin’ ‘bout none of it.”
“Eh, it’s fiiiiiine,” Lightning chuckled and tapped Applejack’s forearm, other hand in her pocket, “we’re probably just running a little slow cuz of Rainbow Dash, other teams probably went by here already.”
“Hey what!?” Rainbow balked, and Lightning snickered.
Applejack was glad those two didn’t seem as nervous as Applejack felt, and she wished she could share in their casual banter, but something just felt off to her. None of this was the way it was supposed to be so far, and ever since Applejack set foot on the bay, she’d had this feeling of her hair standing on end.
Nothing to do but move forward though.
“Alright, let’s keep movin’,” Applejack said, steeling herself. “if we don’t find anyone ‘fore we reach the lighthouse, we’ll just have to ask the instructors what went wr—”
Desperate panting and the clacking of hurried footsteps on stone rang in Applejack’s ears, and she looked to see a woman running through the corridor, and her eyes widened as she recognized the girl.
“Fluttershy!” she called out, and Fluttershy locked eyes with her and sped up her pace.
“Applejack!” Fluttershy cried as she threw herself into Applejack’s arms, Applejack wrapping them protectively around her and looked to see if she was being followed, with Rainbow and Lightning both taking position in front of them to watch for attackers as well.
A moment passed in silence, where the only motion was Fluttershy’s shuddering in Applejack’s arms, and then Lightning Dust clicking her tongue.
“Rats,” she shrugged, “I thought there was gonna be someone following her and we could finally get some action today.”
“What’s goin’ on, Fluttershy,” Applejack gently took Fluttershy by the shoulders, tilting up her chin to look her in the eye. “What happened that’s gotcha runnin’ scared?”
“M-my team was attacked, and I—” Fluttershy took a few haggard breaths to try and steady herself, and then planted her feet firmly on the ground even as they still trembled.
“Applejack!” she squeaked. “I need your help! My team came across another group. We thought they were another team competing in the field exam, but we were dead wrong. They’re not like any students I’ve seen at the Academy, and I’m scared they might—they might actually ki—”
Rainbow put her hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder, which got the pink-haired girl to jump and quickly turn around to see Rainbow’s grin and thumbs-up.
“Relax, Fluttershy,” Rainbow said, “I don’t who these guys are, but we’ll teach ‘em a lesson about messing with our friends!”
“Couldn’t’ve said it better myself, Rainbow,” Applejack grinned, and her smile only widened when she saw the look of relief that washed over Fluttershy.
“Ehhh, I guess I’ll throw my hat in too,” Lightning tugged at her trench coat, “after all, you guys would be pretty lost without me.”
“What about you, Fluttershy,” Applejack asked, “what do you wanna do?”
“I want to help,” Fluttershy whimpered, “I-I know I’m n-not much of a fighter, but I can heal… if you can get me to my teammates, I can make sure that they’re—that they don’t—”
“Okay,” Lightning chimed in, “so we bust in there, the three of us beat up the bad guys, and Fluttershy does cleanup? Sounds good to me, what’re we waiting for?”
“Let’s do it to it,” Rainbow added, slapping her fist against her palm.
“Y’all ready for a real fight?” Applejack pumped her fist, and the collective cheer from her teammates, and even Fluttershy’s shaky but determined nod, filled her with strength.
Applejack’s team hid behind a rocky outcropping as they spied the three women who attacked Fluttershy’s team hovering over the unconscious bodies of the two students. The women hadn't seen them yet as far as Applejack could tell, so she took a moment to get a good look at them.
The three were all dressed in shabby clothing and had messy, uneven hair. They were all various shades of grey-skinned, and two of them had dark hair, with the third—a grumpy looking woman irritably tapping her foot—having stark white hair that had been jaggedly cut short on one side, and left to grow long on the other.
“You’re done?” the white-haired woman spoke in a gravelly voice, aimed at one of the other women who was sitting on the ground inspecting the injured members of Fluttershy’s team.
“They’re still breathing,” Lightning Dust whispered, palm flat against the ground.
“Good,” Applejack murmured back. Wait a tick, she thought, are they healin’ them?
“Mm-hmm,” the kneeling girl stood up and nodded her head, clasping her hands in front of her. She was dressed in a scarf, and baggy clothes, and her demeanor distinctly reminded Applejack of Fluttershy.
“Finally,” the white-haired woman sighed. “Still got the thing?”
“Mm-hmm,” the demure girl nodded.
“So, we doing a sneak attack or what?” Lightning Dust whispered, an eager grin on her face.
Applejack propped her arm in front of Lightning. “No, we ain’t doin’ that. Those girls seem pretty eager to leave, and I have a mind to let ‘em. We came to save Fluttershy’s team, and if we can do that without any pointless bloodshed, that’s fine by me.”
“What? Are you serious?” Lightning croaked. “What’s wrong with you, Applejack? Your spine get replaced by a cis guy’s or something?”
“Shove it, Lightning Dust,” Applejack growled, shooting Lightning an irritated glare. “My top priority as team captain is to make sure no one gets hurt. And I ain’t about to pick a fight with a buncha strangers if I don’t have to.”
“AJ, I’m with ya and all,” Rainbow bit her thumbnail, “but don’t you think this is a little odd? These weirdos show up nearby here when we’ve been walking through empty cliffs this whole time? I dunno if I’m ready to chalk that up as a coincidence, y’know?”
“Yeah, I do,” Applejack said, peeking out from behind the outcropping at the three women, “and that’s another reason why I don’t wanna fight ‘em. If they are responsible for takin’ out all the people we’ve been s’posed to see ‘til now, then either there’s a lot more’n three of ‘em, or they’re strong as hell. Either way, not a fight I wanna get into.”
“Then what do we do?” Fluttershy whimpered.
“I think—”
“Hey,” the gravelly-voiced woman called out, and Applejack’s blood ran cold, “how long you plan on hiding? You’re not doing a great job.”
Lightning Dust jumped out into the open with a huge grin and pointed her fingers at the three women, and Applejack was just fast enough to jump in front of her and grab her hand before she did something stupid.
“Sorry ‘bout that, y’all!” Applejack said politely. “We’re a little bit tense, on account of our field test today!”
“Uh-huh,” the white-haired girl crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow.
They were close enough for Applejack to make out the intense and stony features on the woman’s face, but just far enough that she still didn’t feel good about engaging at this distance. Rainbow might’ve been able to get to them before they could attack, but with three of them to worry about, Rainbow’s speed wouldn’t be enough of a strategy.
“If you don’t mind,” Applejack said as Rainbow walked up beside her, “we’d like to just grab our comrades and make sure they’re alright. We don’t want no trouble with y’all.”
“How’d you even know we were back there anyway?” Rainbow asked. “We weren’t that bad at hiding.”
“Doesn’t matter,” the white-haired girl shrugged with a proud smirk and pointed at the third woman, standing behind her, who Applejack barely even remembered she was there due to how easily she faded into the background, “you can’t hide from Maud.”
The girl’s smile vanished as she took a step forward and cracked her knuckles. “Anyway, I’m not about to let you bastards just—”
“Limestone,” Maud spoke bluntly and calmly as she put her hand on her comrade’s shoulder. “We have somewhere to be.”
Limestone groaned and gritted her teeth so hard Applejack half expected them to crack, but then she let out a harsh scoff.
“Fine,” she said. “Marble, you ready to go?”
“Mm-hmm,” Marble nodded.
“Then let’s bail,” Limestone sighed, and she took her two companions and walked away, up a nearby hill and away from the injured teammates.
Applejack put her hand over her heart and breathed a sigh of relief. Looked like they were out of the woods.
And then she heard the crackle of electricity in her ear.
By the time Applejack turned to see Lightning Dust poised to shoot, and yell a warning to not do it, Lightning had already fired a bolt of magical electricity at Marble, who let out a piercing shriek as she hit the stone ground, writhing with her arms wrapped around herself as her body coursed with electricity.
“You didn’t think we were just gonna let you parasites leave, did you?!” Lightning screamed, a bloodthirsty smile painted on her face.
Applejack had half a mind to clobber Lightning herself, but she suddenly had much bigger priorities.
“Maud! Is Marble—”
“She’ll be fine,” Maud responded calmly, and she pumped her fist in Lightning’s direction.
Lightning gasped and Applejack turned just in time to see Lightning’s feet suddenly sink into the ground. She tried to pull them out but it was like the ground had moved to keep them stuck.
“Shit, Dash!” Applejack called out and pointed a finger at Maud. “Can you get her?!”
“Leave it to me!” Rainbow roared and charged toward the hill Maud and Limestone stood upon.
“Well this sure went south in a hurry,” Limestone clicked her tongue and jumped from the hill to meet Rainbow, and Applejack who was just behind her.
Limestone moved to stop Dash first, punching for her stomach but just grazing her ribs as Dash danced out of the way. Rainbow didn’t stop to fight, her eyes focused solely on her target as she jumped up to meet her.
Limestone looked up at Rainbow and grimaced, and Applejack took this opportunity to go for a punch right at the girl’s face, but Limestone wasn’t nearly as distracted as Applejack thought, and deflected Applejack’s punch with a backhand, sending Applejack stumbling awkwardly to the side as she was carried by the momentum.
Applejack tucked into a roll to avoid a counterattack, and she spied Lightning—still stuck in the ground—preparing another shot. Limestone scoffed at this and lurched forward, propelling herself incredibly fast, no doubt with magic, and landing with a grunt right in front of a shocked Lightning’s position.
“Maud!” Limestone screamed as she grabbed Lightning Dust by the collar.
Applejack looked over to Maud, who was engaged in a scuffle with Rainbow, that Dash appeared to be on the losing end of. Applejack couldn’t quite tell, but she did know that Maud wasn’t distracted enough by Rainbow that she couldn’t offer an assist to Limestone.
The earth around Lightning Dust’s legs eased as Limestone dragged her up by her shirt collar and lifted her over her head with one hand, before throwing her into a newly formed chasm in the ground— just a few inches deep— that Maud’s magic had made.
Once Lightning had been thrown into the hole, it was sealed over like a coffin.
“Lightning Dust!” Applejack screamed as she ran to Lightning’s coffin, charging magic into her fist to try and break through the earth and rescue Lightning.
Applejack threw her fist into the ground only to be blocked by Limestone’s kick, though the two attacks met with equal force and stopped each other.
“Heh,” Applejack grinned and shot an icy glare at Limestone, “how’s yer shin?” she asked, knowing that Applejack’s spell probably shattered the bone it had hit.
Limestone responded by stomping her supposedly injured foot onto the ground, shocking Applejack, and pushing herself into the air to throw a lightning-fast kick at Applejack’s head. It felt like she’d been hit by a brick as it sent her flying and crashing into the stone ground, and Applejack groaned as she struggled to her feet.
“How’s your face?” Limestone spat.
Applejack wiped some blood from her cheek and let her eyes dart for only a second up the hill toward Rainbow’s battle, breathing a small sigh of relief that it looked like Rainbow had gotten some measure of control back.
She’d just have to trust Rainbow to take care of herself; Applejack had to focus on Limestone, and not let her hurt the still-in-hiding Fluttershy or the injured men lying unconscious behind Applejack.
Applejack had an idea of what Limestone could do, but she wasn’t about to bet other people’s lives on a half-baked theory, so her first step was to get more info.
She charged forward and threw a jab, and Limestone deflected the attack by thrusting her wrist into Applejack’s and pushing her arm away, then Limestone threw a punch of her own that Applejack blocked with her other hand before jumping back.
Limestone had her eyes trained like a hawk onto Applejack, barely moving a muscle as she waited for Applejack to make the first move. Applejack took a firm step forward and saw Limestone tense up as she waited for the inevitable attack.
So she’s mostly defense, Applejack thought. I can work with that.
That said… Applejack looked down at Limestone’s shin, which should have been broken by their exchange of attacks before, yet Limestone seemed to have no problem keeping up with Applejack. But when Applejack took a second look, she saw that Limestone’s stance was off-balance just a hair, because she was trying not to put weight onto her broken shin.
So if Limestone was affected by Applejack’s magic, but not enough to disable her in one hit, then repeated attacks with the spell would probably wear her down to the point where her defenses would collapse and Applejack could deal the knockout.
At least that was the theory; now it was just a matter of putting it into practice, and she’d better do it fast if she wanted to save Lightning Dust.
“Lose your nerve?” Limestone growled, and Applejack just smirked.
“Hardly.”
Applejack got ready to charge but was quickly taken off-guard by a sudden wave of energy that shook through the dirt and stone at her feet, and she jumped back to dodge it. Limestone pumped her fist and another wave came at Applejack, and though she dodged it, this would put a bit of a wrench in things going quickly.
Her magic’s a lot stronger’n I thought, Applejack bit her lip and charged forward regardless. Oh well, nothin’ ventured, nothin’ gained!
Limestone sent two more shockwaves barreling at Applejack, and while it was a trick to dodge both, she managed to get into striking distance unharmed. She smirked as she readied an uppercut, being sure to stay on the side of Limestone’s injured leg…
…which meant she didn’t expect said leg to rise up and hit her in the groin.
Applejack hacked and staggered back a step and Limestone threw a punch. Applejack managed to move her head out of the way, but the motion left her way off-balance and Limestone had no trouble taking advantage of that by grabbing Applejack by the hair and throwing her head down as Limestone’s knee rose to meet it, bashing Applejack square in the nose.
Limestone threw another punch that Applejack blocked with both hands, grabbing Limestone’s wrist and yanking her closer to Applejack, delighting in the hiss of pain Limestone made as she was forced to put weight on her bum leg.
Applejack uppercut Limestone in the jaw, then landed two hard punches square on each cheek before Limestone stomped her foot on the ground and the shockwave of her magic made Applejack stumble just long enough for Limestone to jump out of Applejack’s range.
“I gotta admit,” Applejack flicked her nose, “I ain’t never fought anybody like you in the Academy.”
“The Academy?!” Limestone snapped. “No shit, headass! A goddamn school doesn’t teach you how to fight! Fighting teaches you how to fight! And if your only experience with combat is in a motherhumping schoolyard, then you’re gonna die on a real battlefield!”
Limestone’s eyes pulsed with rage and her grimace twisted into a fierce snarl. Applejack mentally took back her comment from before, because now she was reminding Applejack of someone she’d fought in the Academy; Rainbow Dash.
And that gave Applejack an in.
“Got a problem with the Academy, Limestone?” Applejack scoffed and affected as smug a grin as possible. “What’s the matter? Couldn’t get in?”
Limestone’s eye twitched and she fumed with rage, and that was exactly what Applejack needed; in the second that it took Limestone to process Applejack’s taunt, she was able to close the distance and wind up a punch.
Applejack’s hit connected and slammed Limestone’s cheek hard, but her legs wouldn’t budge. That was a little ominous but it wasn’t a huge deal, and Applejack just landed a punch right into Limestone’s nose.
Limestone hissed and stumbled a step back, which was Applejack’s cue to charge magic into her leg and stomp on Limestone’s shin, shattering whatever bones were still left unscathed in it.
Limestone let out a sharp breath and Applejack charged magic into her arm, throwing a punch at Limestone’s face before stopping herself just short; if she’d hit Limestone’s head with her magic, it would kill her, and that’s not at all what she wanted.
Granted, hesitating in the middle of a fight would get her killed, so she quickly switched up her attack and hit Limestone in the nose with her elbow instead, then smacked Limestone’s ribs with the spell and shattering them, before finishing her attack with an unmagical uppercut to Limestone’s jaw that knocked her off her feet and onto her back.
“What’s the matter, Limestone?” Applejack cracked her knuckles. “Losin’ yer nerve?”
“It is pissing me off,” Limestone growled as she struggled back to her feet, and Applejack just rolled her eyes and figured this gal should know when she’s beaten. “It’s really pissing me off how you think you’ve gotten the upper hand, just cuz you were able to land a few hits!”
Limestone screamed and steam poured from her body as she was enveloped in a thick layer of translucent green energy.
“A bastard like you who just devours whatever lies the Cross puts in front of them,” Limestone shrieked, “will NEVER beat ME!”
The wall of energy subsided, though the steam continued to rise off Limestone’s grey skin, which was now healed of all the bruises Applejack had left on it. Limestone stomped her leg— the one that’d been hurt— onto the stone and didn’t flinch. She was back at one hundred percent.
Applejack wasn’t one to give up, but she knew when she was beaten.
A gulp of anxious anticipation was the only reaction Applejack could muster in the time it took for Limestone to make her move.
Applejack didn’t even register that Limestone had moved until she felt Limestone’s fist against her cheek, and she wasn’t entirely convinced she hadn't gotten hit by a train instead. Applejack staggered back, but before she could even think about countering, Limestone slammed her fist into Applejack’s nose, sending her flying back.
Limestone jumped up and stomped her foot into Applejack’s stomach, crushing her against the stone ground as Applejack let out a helpless wheeze. Limestone dragged Applejack off the ground and smashed her against a stone wall, and then just wailed.
Limestone landed punch after punch, screaming like a maniac the whole time, and before even a few seconds were up, Applejack could barely see through swollen eyes and felt her throat being choked up by blood.
Applejack fell on her hands and knees and threw up blood, and she could barely see the stain it left on the stone through her blurring vision. She let out a quick, haggard breath and looked up to see Limestone’s foot hovering above her face.
Sorry, Rainbow. Guess I gotta leave this to you.
****
Rainbow kept her eyes on the ground and was starting to feel pretty good about her chances. She’d gotten a decent handle on how Maud’s spell worked; she opened up little pits in the ground to try and trap Rainbow’s legs, but Rainbow figured she was faster, and after a few failed attempts to trap Rainbow and Maud backing further and further up the hill, it was obvious that Rainbow was right.
That said, if Rainbow wanted to win she’d actually have to land a hit, and that was a lot harder.
She’d gotten the hang of avoiding Maud’s pitfall spell; watch the ground and her own feet, and she could easily jump out of the way of the trap, even multiple traps in sequence cuz she was just that good. But the few times she felt confident enough to actually take a swing, she nearly got grabbed cuz Maud’s defensive perimeter was something else.
So basically, there was no safe way for Rainbow to make an attack.
Which just meant Rainbow would have to abandon the concept of ‘safe’ altogether. She could work with that.
Rainbow ran straight at Maud fast as she could and jumped when she got into Maud’s ‘death range’, figuring Maud wouldn’t be able to easily dodge an aerial attack.
She was wrong, as Maud quickly proved by sinking her own feet a few inches into the dirt, and ducking, so Rainbow’s jumping strike just went right over her head, leading Rainbow right into a crag that was opening up like a coffin inviting her inside.
“You’re too predictable,” Maud said flatly, and Rainbow smirked and clicked her tongue.
“Yeah, you too!” Rainbow spread her arms out and grabbed either side of Maud’s ‘stone coffin’, pushing herself off it and onto the ground.
Before Maud could open up another pit, Rainbow threw her knife at Maud’s cheek, expecting Maud to dodge and then she could close in. Instead, Maud didn’t even move as the knife struck her cheek and stayed embedded into her face, blood leaking from the injury that Maud didn’t even seem to notice.
Rainbow could work with that too.
Rainbow felt the ground opening under her feet and jumped just in time; she knew she’d have to do this quick and she’d have only one shot, but she excelled under pressure!
She jumped toward Maud and grabbed the knife in her cheek, slashing it across her face until a bloody gash was left where the knife had been, then slashing across the bridge of Maud’s nose.
Feeling the ground under her feet shift, Rainbow jumped to Maud’s side, slashing her arm in the process, then she dodged Maud’s next attack and slashed the back of Maud’s shoulder blades, then her cheek again, then her arm.
Maud, covered in little cuts and gashes, stumbled back while Rainbow grinned, finally feeling like she was the one in control of this fight. She charged forward and jumped into a flying kick, and Maud sank into the ground to dodge, just like Rainbow expected.
Rainbow hooked her ankle into Maud’s shoulder and threw her weight down onto Maud’s body, holding Maud’s head between her thighs. She mustered up as much strength as she could and jumped back, carrying Maud along for the ride and slamming her into the stone.
Rainbow jumped to her feet and stomped on Maud’s spine, hearing a gurgling hack erupt from the woman’s lips. Rainbow took a step back and watched the ground, but Maud didn’t move. Rainbow went pale as she worried for a second that she’d accidentally killed Maud, but the woman moaned and just barely lifted her head.
Rainbow still had a knife in her hand. She could kill Maud if she wanted to. And after all, Maud was an enemy. She wasn’t just an opponent, this woman had attacked her and her friends for real. Rainbow had no idea what happened to Lightning Dust, if she was still alive or what.
It was sickening to think about, that one of her comrades might have just up and died on the battlefield, but that was a feeling Rainbow knew she would probably have to get used to.
And maybe Limestone and Marble had better get used to it too.
Rainbow walked toward Maud’s just barely conscious body as she struggled to hold herself up. Rainbow flicked the knife in her hand and pointed it at Maud.
Applejack wouldn’t like it. Fluttershy wouldn’t either, and neither would Twilight.
But more than any of that, Rainbow wouldn’t like it.
“This fight is over,” Rainbow said coldly. “Stay down, or I will make you stay down.” Rainbow let out a pitiful sigh, “Please.”
“Marble…” Maud croaked, and Rainbow looked over toward the foot of the hill where Marble’s body was laying, Rainbow’s heart thundering in her chest as she approached, though her frantic heartbeat chilled a bit when she saw Marble was still breathing.
“She’s okay,” Rainbow grunted as she picked Marble up. “If I know anything about magic, I’d say she’s just gonna be stunned for a couple hours or something. No biggie.”
Maud had propped her back up against a short stone wall, and Rainbow laid Marble comfortably beside her, Maud instinctively grabbing the girl’s hand.
“You’re not going to kill us,” Maud said, phrasing it more as a statement than a question, and Rainbow shook her head.
“No way,” she said. “If I did that, I wouldn’t be able to proudly call myself a Knight.”
Maud arched an eyebrow. “What are they teaching you in that Academy these days?”
“I dunno,” Rainbow shrugged, “I sleep through like half the lectures. But to be honest, I don’t really care what the Academy says about how I should deal with my fights. If I killed an opponent who wasn’t an immediate threat, how could I be okay with that? As a Knight, it’s my duty to protect everyone, not just obedient servants of the Cross or whatever, y’know?”
Rainbow could barely believe what she was saying. Before she came to the Academy she barely even thought about being a Knight. Not anymore anyway, not since that dream kinda gotten beaten out of her. She went to the Academy so she could become strong and return those beatings tenfold, but along the way she started to remember why she wanted to be a Knight in the first place.
“It’s my privilege to help others,” Rainbow declared, pointing proudly at herself. “Not everyone has the means, energy, and desire to help others, and as long as I do have them, how could I live with myself if I didn’t do everything I can to protect everyone?”
“If I had beaten you,” Maud said, “I would have killed you.”
“Then I’m glad you didn’t beat me,” Rainbow shrugged and took off back down the hill.
She knew it was a gamble, leaving two enemy combatants still breathing even if it looked like they were down for the count. It could really bite her in the ass later, but she couldn’t bring herself to take someone else’s life like that.
At least that’s what she thought, but all that moralizing and rationale crap went straight out the window when she saw Applejack lying bloodied and battered on the ground.
The other girl, Limestone, was standing over Applejack and panting; she didn’t look like she had a lot of fight left in her, which was about to be really bad news for her.
Rainbow didn’t say anything, just let the loud crack of her knuckles get Limestone’s attention.
“Wh-what the hell happened to Maud?” Limestone’s eyes widened in horror as she turned to face Rainbow, though she quickly let the fear pass and be replaced by anger.
It didn’t help her.
Rainbow’s fist collided with Limestone’s cheek in the time it took Limestone to blink, and in less than half that time her other cheek had become well acquainted with Rainbow’s other fist. Rainbow grabbed Limestone by her hair and smashed her head against a stone wall, barely even noticing the hacking gasp Limestone released.
Rainbow didn’t stop to think as she wailed on Limestone, landing punch after punch after punch on the girl’s face. Rainbow couldn’t tell if Applejack was still breathing—she had to be, since it was Applejack after all— but she couldn’t let go of the thought ‘but what if she wasn’t?’.
Rainbow’s barrage of punches left Limestone’s face a blood-red, pulpy mess as she slid down the rock wall, still just barely breathing. The only thing that stopped Rainbow was a gentle hand pressed against her boot. It was Applejack’s.
“Fluttershy!” Rainbow cried out as she held Applejack’s cheeks in her hands, not even sure if Applejack was fully conscious by the glazed look in her eyes. “I need healing, now!”
Fluttershy stumbled a bit as she ran out of her hiding place, but she was on her knees by Applejack’s side in no time, taking out some kinda weird ointment or something and caressing Applejack’s face with it, and if Rainbow had thought to herself in that moment that she was jealous of Fluttershy getting to put her hands all over AJ’s face and take care of her that would be weird so it’s a really good thing she definitely didn’t THINK THAT MOVING ON.
Rainbow stood up and looked around, feeling both uneasy about the quiet, windy atmosphere, but also glad that nothing was attacking them right now.
She had a gut feeling that wouldn’t last though. Something or someone was definitely coming out of the woodwork for them sooner or later, and as much as Rainbow relished a fight, she’d rather live to see another day than fight another match that close.
Rainbow turned on her heels as she heard Applejack groan and saw AJ standing up and Fluttershy applying her healing juice or whatever to Limestone’s face. Rainbow suddenly realized she only had a fuzzy memory of engaging with Limestone, everything happened so fast; granted, a cursory look at the blood covering Rainbow’s hands was a pretty clear indication of what went down.
Applejack stumbled past Rainbow, and while Rainbow had half a mind to stop AJ from overexerting herself, she also remembered that Lightning Dust was still trapped and she couldn’t break her out on her own.
Applejack collapsed to her hands and knees and placed her palm on the ground, the stone cracking and shattering from Applejack’s magic and revealing an unconscious and very dirty-looking Lightning Dust, but one who was no more worse for wear than that.
“Fluttershy,” Applejack said weakly, but Fluttershy was already on her way. “How is she?”
“She’ll be just fine,” Fluttershy pulled Lightning out of the chasm and looked her over. “She just over-exhausted her magic, probably trying to free herself. She’ll be out for a little bit, but then be as good as new.”
“And the others?” Applejack asked, lying flat on her back. Her gashes and stuff were all closed up, and she didn’t look like a blowfish anymore, but her face was still pretty swollen and messy and she looked totally exhausted.
“I think… I think we’re in the clear,” Fluttershy curled up into a ball. “My teammates are both sleeping off their injuries, and they were healed by the time I got there, and Limestone’s going to make a full recovery too.”
“Well then,” Rainbow laughed and held her hand out to Applejack, “I’d say we nailed it!”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Applejack wiped some blood from under her nose and then gave a soft chuckle, “but I’ll call it a victory at least.”
Applejack clasped Rainbow’s hand and Rainbow pulled Applejack back to her feet. She let her hand linger on Applejack’s for a moment, and she thought about how surreal it was to see Applejack so badly hurt.
She’d never seen Applejack like that; hell, she’d never seen Applejack lose a fight, period!
Rainbow didn’t want to let go of Applejack’s hand, because a part of her felt like if she let go, Applejack would fall back into that bloodied up place or something; Rainbow just wanted to appreciate that Applejack was still there with her, because she so easily could’ve not been.
And just as Rainbow was starting to loosen her grip, a knife came out of nowhere and pierced right through the girls’ hands.
Applejack’s eyes widened in shock and was utterly stunned. She faintly heard Fluttershy gasp, as she looked up at the hill she fought Maud on and saw a woman standing there.
The woman had a pair of kitchen knives in her hands, just like the one going through Rainbow and Applejack. She was a pink skinned woman with long, long pink hair that was worn totally straight and flat and fell down to her back. Her eyes were as gloomy and dead as if Rainbow was looking right at a corpse.
The girl threw another knife, headed right between Rainbow’s eyes.
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.
