Chapters The midday sun shone through the branches of the apple tree that Applejack was resting under. She had spent the whole morning bucking apples from the trees of her family’s orchard and had decided to take some time for herself. Just as her eyes began to drop, an enormous gust of air knocked the tan Stetson she wore straight off her head.
“How do you expect to beat me at the next iron pony competition if you can’t even handle this orchard?” asked the cyan Pegasus with the hexachromatic mane.
“Okay then Rainbow, but make it quick, ah’ve got work to do.”
“OH MY GOD! RAINBOW!” Applejack screamed as she galloped in the direction of the impact. When she got there, it took her a second to take in the scene. The tremendous impact had created a crater and forced apple trees and rocks to be destroyed in the impact zone. Then Applejack saw what was at the centre of the crater, a broken and bloody Rainbow Dash, having more punishment thrust upon her by a large griffin that Applejack suddenly recognised.
“Gilda! What in the Hay are you doing! That there is Rainbow Dash, ah thought she was your friend!” she screamed, too stunned to move against Gilda.The enraged griffin looked up, Rainbow’s blood dripping from her talons.
“Good” growled Gilda and leapt at Applejack, talons raised, Applejack focused intently on the task at hoof, ready to defend both herself and Rainbow. Just as Gilda began her murderous descent on Applejack, a giant red mass appeared in front of her and caught Gilda’s talons in his hooves.
“You would risk yourself for these lamos?” Gilda asked, not taking her eyes off Big Macs.
“Ah’m goin ta let you up and give ya a chance ta leave. But just know that if ya ever threaten ma family again, ah will not be so merciful.” Gilda, knowing she could not compete with Big Mac’s strength, nodded begrudgingly and as Big Mac relaxed the pressure on her throat; she shot out from under him and flew off as fast as she could.
“AJ, How’s she doin?” asked Big Mac, walking over to the grim scene. But the look on Applejack’s face said it all.
“Yes she is AJ, but it’s weak, so is her heart beat, quickly, help me get her onto my back.” Big mac instructed, and together, they hoisted Rainbow Dash up onto Macintosh’s back and carried her to the nearest hospital. Applejack all the while hoping against hope that Rainbow would be okay, just so she could look into those magenta eyes once again, and regretting that she never told Rainbow about the feeling she was having.
“Please be okay,” cried Applejack.
Rainbow Dash awoke in her cloud bed, after a night full of confusing dreams and restlessness. She rubbed her eyes and looked at her clock.
‘What! I’m never up this early on my days off,’ she thought, but she knew that it wasn’t true; for the past few months she had been struggling to sleep and even not wanting too at all.
‘I-I need to tell Applejack about this,’ and with that thought in mind she opened her wings and flew at top speed out of her house, leaving her signature rainbow trail behind her. She never got tired of flying, the speed, the adrenaline, the unerring freedom, but today she had trouble enjoying herself, not with this huge weight hanging on her shoulders.
‘Okay Rainbow, focus, how are you going to say this’ she thought, clearing her throat for a practice run.
“How do you expect to beat me at the next iron pony competition if you can’t even handle this orchard?”
“She’s just…so beautiful,” said Rainbow. “Maybe I can make her see me the way I see her.”
“Hey Rainbow!” yelled a voice from beside her and she turned just in time to see a huge mass of feathers coming straight at her.
“Always had to be the hero, didn’t you Dash,” Gilda yelled as she slashed at Rainbow’s body with her talons. “Always had to be weak like them.” Rainbow struggled to keep conscious, but the pain was too much. As she passed out, she heard Applejacks voice, first softly, and then right next to her a few moment later.
Applejack had barely slept since that fateful date two weeks ago, when the cyan pegasus Rainbow Dash, Element of loyalty, friend to all, and secret love of Applejack’s, had been brutally attacked by a former friend of Rainbow’s; Gilda, a griffin. Since then, Rainbow had been fighting for her life in the Ponyville general hospital. Applejack had been at the side of her comatose friend since she was admitted, and refused to leave under any circumstances.
“Ah just can’t leave Rainbow alone, she needs me, don’t you understand Twilight?” Applejack told her friend, the unicorn Twilight Sparkle.
“Twi, there’s something I gotta tell you, I-I’m in love with Rainbow Dash,” she told her. She couldn’t meet her eyes, worried that she would be met with disapproving looks.
“Okay AJ,” Twilight relented. “Yell if you need me okay?” Applejack just nodded and Twilight left the room, worrying about her friends. Before she left, Twilight stopped in to see Rainbow’s doctor; a grey earth pony by the name of Doctor Neuron.
“Well, the injuries she sustained have mostly healed up, except for the wing of course, that will take months of healing and rehabilitation before it’s usable again. But the coma, that’s another story entirely. Rainbow seems to be…not…wanting to come out of the coma,” he explained and the look of puzzlement on Twilight’s face was enough for the Doctor.
“Hey, don’t mistake this as not serious, she IS fighting for her life. Her mind is so far retreated into itself that it has become almost completely separated from the body. Miss Twilight, the body cannot live when the mind is not there to help. Look, we are keeping her on a steady drip of stimulants, in the hope that she will wake up, and that orange pony has been talking to her.”
“Applejack has been talking to her?” Asked Twilight, unsure of how that would help.
Back in Rainbow’s room, Applejack was singing softly to her friend, in the hopes that her voice would bring her back.
The endless sky opened up, the wind was strong, but not so strong as to throw off any flying. Rainbow Dash smiled as she looked at the ground below, Equestria, in all of her timeless beauty lay beneath her. Rainbow saw Ponyville in the distance, as well as cloudsdale and the royal city of Canterlot which was a dot on the side of a mountain. She dropped into a steep dive, placing both hooves out in front of her, gathering speed. Rainbow felt the intense pressure build up inside her head, then, when it seemed like it was too much, Rainbow broke the sound barrier and the pressure subsided. The sonic rainboom tore through the sky, vaporising any clouds that it hit, while behind the cyan Pegasus, a beautiful and perfect rainbow was drawn. Using this, Rainbow quickly started her complex pattern; zigzags, loops and flips. When the trail ended, Rainbow flew down to the stage on the ground, striking a pose as the replica of her cutie mark branded into the sky shone in the light of the sun. The crowd screamed her name;
“RAINBOW DASH…WONDERBOLTS…RAINBOW DASH…WONDERBOLTS”. The show now over, Rainbow’s wife Applejack ran onto stage and planted a huge kiss on her. The crowd cheered even louder, as Rainbow allowed herself to melt away her exhaustion in the embrace of her beloved. The kiss ended, with Applejack whispering the nights ‘activities’ into Rainbow’s ear, making her blush.
Rainbow looked up and saw Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria walking up the stage toward her, followed closely by her sister; Princess Luna. The wonderbolts, Applejack and Rainbow all bowed, showing their respect for the alicorns.
“Thank you, your highness, but I have everything I always wanted right here. My dream of flying with the wonderbolts, my friends are all happy, and I’m with the mare of my dreams, I don’t need anything else.” Rainbow told Princess Celestia.
“Are you absolutely sure there isn’t anything Rainbow Dash?” asked Celestia, almost pleading for Rainbow to ask for something. Rainbow looked at Applejack, and a thought occurred to her.
“Stand back Rainbow, this will take a lot of power,” warned Luna. A single spark shot out of the end of Celestia’s horn, hitting Applejack square in the chest. She was lifted into the air, a shining white aura surrounding her and her eyes glowing white. Celestia concentrated as power flowed into her horn, making it glow brighter and brighter. Finally, after about two minutes, a beam shot out and hit the floating Applejack, who screamed out in pain. Rainbow took a step forward, concerned for her wife, but then noticed small lumps growing out of Applejack’s back. They kept growing, slowly becoming recognisable as wings. The beam stopped and Applejack was slowly lowered to the ground by Princess Luna. Applejack opened her eyes and looked up at Rainbow, who was completely speechless. Applejack stood and inspected her wings, which were a slightly darker orange than the rest of her coat.
“Thank you so much your highness,” said Rainbow eventually.
“What’s wrong AJ?” asked Rainbow. “Come and take the grand tour, it includes the bed.” Rainbow smiled seductively. Applejack licked her lips but didn’t move.
Applejack’s eyes were red from crying, and her mane was dishevelled and unwashed. She ran her hoof through the mane of a comatose Rainbow Dash, her true love and best friend.
“So the girls told me that Big Mac and Fluttershy are getting close, which is good, they both deserve to be happy,” Applejack told her, hoping that her voice would bring Rainbow back into reality.
“Applejack! Applejack! Guess what! I think I may have found a way to bring Rainbow back to us,” she smiled, a look of pride upon her face. Applejack sat up straight and looked at Twilight in disbelief.
“Well, the doctor told me that Rainbow is just trapped in her own mind, and if she’s not willing to wake up herself, we would have to go get her. Even though I think he was joking, it got me thinking. So I searched the whole library, nothing, but then I asked Zecora and she had the book that explained it all!” Twilight said, talking almost too fast to make sense.
“Dream walking AJ,” Twilight exclaimed, before explaining at Applejack’s behest. “Okay, so when a unicorn uses this spell on a sleeping pony, it allows them to astrally project themselves into the subconscious of the pony in question.”
“Do what! Eat cake! Where’s my cake?” The girls turned to see their friends enter Rainbow’s room; The party obsessed Pinkie Pie, fashionista and drama queen Rarity and finally, The yellow Pegasus Fluttershy, followed by her coltfriend and Applejack’s brother Big Mackintosh.
“No Pinkie, ah’m going to be the one to bring Rainbow back,” Applejack explained to the group.
“Okay then, let’s get started” said Twilight, and the group began making preparations for the event. They had another bed brought into the room, and the lights dimmed, as Twilight explained exactly what Applejack was in for.
“What happens after the two days?” Applejack enquired, unsure if she wanted to know the answer.
Twilight sat between the two beds and concentrated. Applejack’s and Rainbow’s heads began to shine with a purple aura and for a minute or two, nothing happened, but then a bridge of purple light connected the two ponies. Applejack grunted as she felt her mind shift and merge with Rainbow’s. She closed her eyes as it started to hurt, but then the pain stopped and when Applejack opened her eyes, she found herself not at the hospital, but instead in the barn on Sweet Apple Acres. It looked the same, but there was something off about it, it was brighter than usual and nature seemed to be moving faster than it should. Applejack looked around for something to disguise herself with, and decided on a hood and cloak that covered most of her face and discarded her Stetson.
‘This place is really creepy, everything is too… happy’ she thought, beginning the long walk into Ponyville that didn’t follow the main road. Upon getting there, she started searching the town for signs of Rainbow. She became uneasy around the other ponies, they seemed too artificial, soulless, and whenever she asked about Rainbow, using her upper class Manehatten voice so as to not make them suspicious, she always received the same answer.
Applejack began to grow frustrated with the ponies, all except Derpy, who strangely enough, was very similar to her real life counterpart. Derpy told Applejack that Rainbow Dash spent most of her time in her cloud house just outside of Ponyville with her wife Applejack. Applejack’s grew wide at this latest revelation.
“Ah’m married to Rainbow?’ she thought, completely shocked as she left Ponyville and started the walk to Rainbow’s house.
Applejack came to the unfortunate realization that there was no way for her to reach the house, she tried concentrating, like Twilight said, but just couldn’t get her head around the fact of flying without wings, so instead, she tried the only option left to her.
“Rainbow Dash! Hey Rainbow Dash! Ah got a message for you” Applejack yelled at the top of her lungs. After a few moments, Rainbow Dash shot down from her house and landed in front of her.
“I found this imposter trying to trick me, didn’t do a very good job did she babe?” Rainbow said pressing harder on Applejack. “Forgot MY wife has wings huh?” Applejack struggled against Rainbow, but she was stronger than in real life.
“Shut up! You come here, try to impersonate my wife, and then try to tell me that my whole existence is a lie. How dare you!” she shouted and continued to lecture Applejack, yelling at her, telling her that she is going to hurt, that she’s going to suffer because of the insult. Applejack started to get frustrated, then angry and finally, when she had enough of Rainbow’s verbal assault, she got to her hooves, opening her mouth and yelled.
“RAIN-BOW-DASH!!!!” But it wasn’t what she expected; instead of just interrupting, Applejack’s voice hit Rainbow like a speeding train, and threw her backwards. It gouged a trench into the ground as Rainbow was forced onto her back. Applejack’s throat burned as though she had been yelling for days. Rainbow stood, taking up an aggressive stance and stareing daggers at Applejack.
Rainbow Dash stood enraged against the imposter; an exact duplicate of her wife, in all ways but the dark orange wings that Applejack now had. What was worse, the imposter had attacked her at her own home, an act of war in Rainbow’s book.
“Oh IT…IS…ON,” threatened Rainbow, the imposter was rubbing her neck after the strange attack that had knocked Rainbow onto her back.
“What do you mean dead?” asked the imposter, her eyes had widened and she began to back away from Rainbow.
“It’s okay sugarcube, we all understand why you did it, and we love you for it,” said Applejack, giving Rainbow a kiss on the cheek. Rainbow cleared her throat, stood up straight and looked at the imposter.
Applejack’s heart had sank, Rainbow refused to believe that she was in a coma and what was worse, was even willing to attack her to protect this dream reality. Applejack remembered what Twilight said;
“Things might be completely different to the real world” Applejack realised just how true this was when Rainbow revealed the news about Pinkie and Gilda.
Rainbow gave Applejack a choice; to leave, or get hurt. Applejack decided on coming back when she had a more tangible and solid plan. She ran off in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, thinking to hide in the barn until she could come up with an idea. As she used a shortcut that cut through the orchard, she was suddenly stopped by the Pegi-jack.
“Ah know what you’re doing here, you are tryin to take Rainbow back, but she can’t go back, it’s too dangerous out there. She needs to stay in here where it’s safe,” said Pegi-jack. Applejack looked at her in disbelief.
“Well then, if you’re so smart, you should know that she is perfectly safe to wake up, the dangers over,” said Applejack, her voice full of venom as the Pegi-jack hovered above her.
“You just don’t get it do you. Ah love Rainbow! More than you ever could!” said Pegi-jack. Applejack yelled at the top of her lungs, no words, just noise. The same strange vocal power came out, cutting sections out of the trees on either side, but Pegi-jack didn’t move. Instead, she let out a laugh that cut deep into Applejack’s soul.
‘But ah love Rainbow,’ she thought to herself, and allowed her mind to wander through the memories of her and Rainbow; competing in the running of the leaves, spending time helping each other do work, and the time they told each other how their parents had died, secrets they had never told anypony else.
Rainbow laid down on her cloud bed, depressed over the day’s events. The imposter seemed so sure that she was Applejack, her eyes had seemed more honest that her wife’s had ever been. Applejack walked into the room and lay down next to Rainbow.
“What’s wrong sugarcube?” she asked, nuzzling into Rainbow’s neck.
But she did remember. Almost every night, Rainbow had been plagued with dreams about Gilda somehow returning and brutally attacking her, but she always woke up before Gilda finished her off. She wanted so hard to believe that her life was perfect, but the truth was, she hadn’t been truly happy for a long time. The guilt that killing Gilda had brought haunted her waking hours and her dreams, so she kept retreating into Applejack’s arms as it got harder to bear. Applejack was the one who had encouraged her to try out for the Wonderbolts, had cheered the hardest when she was accepted and came to every one of her shows, regardless of her duties on the farm. But still something felt wrong, and Rainbow couldn’t shake that feeling.
Rainbow broke off the kiss and told Applejack that she was going for a fly, to try and forget the day’s mess. She stretched her wings and dove off the balcony, letting herself glide for as long as possible before actually beating her wings. She flew gradually higher and higher, where the air became thinner, and it was more difficult to keep aloft. She landed on one of the light, wispy clouds that form at that height, and started to think as she surveyed Equestria below her.
Applejack sat in the barn eating an apple as she talked to her unlikely ally; Derpy Hooves, the grey mail-mare of Ponyville. Derpy explained that she was actually Rainbow’s courage and loyalty, the very traits that make Rainbow an element of harmony.
“But how can Rainbow’s intelligence be the strongest thing in here then?” asked Applejack, confused and feeling sick, the dream apples tasted nothing like real ones. They tasted more like pears.
“She just thinks she is because she knows how to manipulate others, there are much stronger constructs in here than her or myself even, Rainbow’s rage for example,” Derpy explained. She talked nothing like her real life counterpart, but looked exactly the same.
“You could have just asked,” said Applejack in an annoyed tone.
She finally broke down and cried openly, letting all of the emotions that had pent up during her stay in Rainbow’s mind come out in full. Derpy walked over and hugged Applejack, stroking her mane.
Rainbow Dash woke up on the wispy cloud she had come to rest on, with Celestia’s dawn sun warming her back. She dropped down from her high perch and flew back to her cloud home, and to her wife, Applejack. On the way there, her mind went back to the day before, and the imposter that had tried impersonating Applejack. The news that the imposter had brought her was troubling, distracting and hard to swallow. The imposter had told Rainbow that her whole world was a lie and Rainbow was beginning to doubt herself. The imposter had seemed so sincere, so genuinely concerned about Rainbow that she couldn’t get her out of her mind. She arrived at her home to find Applejack making a batch of Apple pancakes, Rainbow’s favourite.
‘Yuck, I wanted blueberry,’ thought Rainbow for a fleeting moment. She sat down and ate without talking to Applejack. Applejack however, talked the whole time; about the girls, the farm, how much she loved Rainbow. Rainbow was only half listening, her mind was still thinking about the imposter.
‘Not imposter, the real Applejack,’ Rainbow’s thoughts jumped again. But it sounded different, the voice was hers, but deeper, and talked faster.
‘Don’t fight me Rainbow, you won’t win,’ said the new voice. Rainbow excused herself and went to her bathroom. There she stared at the mirror, suddenly wondering who she was.
“No…No, you’re lying, I’m just going crazy, that’s all,” Rainbow told herself, laughing meekly.
Applejack woke up early along with Derpy and began to train in empowering herself in Rainbow’s mind.
Applejack nodded and closed her eyes, thinking back to the Canterlot rodeo, it didn’t help; Rainbow had helped her through that. Then she thought of the time Sweet Apple Acres was almost taken by the Flim-Flam brothers, but even that had turned out well. She decided that the only way to go was to think right back, to what she considered her first memory; the death of her parents.
It had been a difficult time; Applejack’s father had died protecting Applejack’s heavily pregnant mother from a trio of vicious griffins while in Manehatten. They had gone there to see a specialist, Applejack’s mother was having a very difficult pregnancy and they were checking to see if the foal was safe, as she had begun to vomit blood a few days earlier. At the funeral for her father, Applejack’s mother started to go into labour, and after a twenty hour birth, Applebloom had been born, with her mother just getting time to name her before her body gave out from the strain.
Applejack was crying as she remembered to pain of the moment, and then she reared up, bringing her hooves down onto the ground hard and it cracked at the impact zone. Applejack then kicked out at the side of the barn, the wood splintering with the force.
“Righto, so sadness equals super-strength,” said Derpy. “Okay, let’s move on.” Applejack took a deep breath and pushed the sadness back, focusing on one thing; Rainbow.
They spent the rest of the morning going through the various emotions and Applejack only had a physical reaction to five of them; Anger gave her a mighty voice, sadness gave her super-strength, happiness allowed her to run at super speed, fear gave her ability to teleport and hate charged her body with electricity. Emotionally exhausted, she laid down on some hay, tired and out of breath.
“Take a quick rest AJ, Don’t forget, we only have until midnight to get you and Rainbow back out,” Derpy reminded her. Applejack barely managed to nod before passing out from exhaustion.
Rainbow woke up in her bed, lying on her back, tied to the bed with Pegasus rope; she struggled against it but knew that it was no good. Pegasus rope was the strongest in Equestria, made from hundreds of cloud strands all coiled together and compacted until it became hard as diamond, but as light as a strand of hair.
“Applejack, Applejack,” she called out, scared and confused. Applejack walked in, sat down on the bed next to Rainbow and stroked her mane with her hoof.
“So what are you going to do with me?” Rainbow asked, absolutely terrified. Applejack turned to her and smiled malevolently.
“My parents, I…I don’t know, I don’t remember them at all,” Rainbow said, tearing up, “What did you do with my parents?”
“Would you like to know how they died? Your father… was a drunk and one day, he got particularly intoxicated and decided to go for a fly. Unfortunately, he was too out of it to know how to even use his wings and fell out of Cloudsdale to the ground below. Your Mother on the other hoof was a lot nobler. She was a royal guard, protecting Princess Celestia from any threat that stood in her way. Until one day, when a group of Minotaur trying to undermine Celestia’s rule attacked the castle. Your mother was the last one of her platoon left standing after killing six of the Minotaur. She stood still prepared to fight the horrid beasts, but she was stabbed in the back by young private who the Minotaurs had paid off to let them into the castle. Princess Celestia showed up and vaporised the whole party of Minotaur, as well as the young private. Which is why your father started drinking and you ended up all alone.” Rainbow was crying now, and continued to struggle against the ropes.
Rainbow Dark lay on the ground, the surprising strength of the orange pony had caught her off guard, and now she was hurting because of it. She looked up to see the pony’s accomplice, a grey Pegasus entirely clad in silver armour, come hurtling out of Rainbow Dark’s cloud mansion and crash in front of the orange pony. Following her was Rainbow Dark’s wife, Applejack, her mane and tail ablaze.
‘Oh you two are going to get it now,’ she thought, smiling to herself. She looked down at the orange pony, who suddenly vanished and reappeared in the air next to Applejack. The orange pony punched Applejack, who fell to the ground, followed by an enormous bolt of lightning that seemed to come from the orange pony’s hoof. The light was blinding and Rainbow Dark had to turn away to protect her eyes and when she looked back, the orange pony was on the ground, one of her front hooves was blackened from the heat of the lightning. Rainbow Dark stood, ready to charge at the orange pony, who looked at her and then ran in the direction of Applejack. Rainbow Dark began to follow but was stopped by the grey Pegasus.
“Fine! If that’s what you want, so be it!” she told Rainbow Dark and began throwing punches herself. A complex martial arts pattern that Rainbow Dark was barely fast enough to dodge or block, a few of the punches hit her and she was surprised at the intensity of the pain she was feeling. The grey Pegasus ended the pattern with a swipe from her bladed wings and Rainbow Dark managed to get her hooves up to block her face, but even then, the blades cut deep into her forearm, making her cry out in pain. Rainbow threw one last desperate punch at the grey Pegasus, which got contact just under the chin and sent her reeling.
“What do you want?!” Rainbow Dark yelled, bleeding profusely from the wounds in her arms. The grey pony checked her bleeding lip and told Rainbow Dark;
“Loyalty,” she breathed. Rainbow Dark began to feel sick at the energy started to course through her body, some of her memories started to come back, flashes, nothing coherent. On the outside, her eyes slowly faded from blood red back to the natural magenta, but her coat stayed dark blue.
Applejack was suddenly right next to the Pegi-jack, hanging in mid-air; the Pegi-jack’s astonished look was taken away from her by Applejack.
Hate. Applejack punched Pegi-jack, feeling electricity course through her limbs. Pegi-jack’s head snapped back and she started to fall, a tiny spark of electricity clung to her face, which grew and grew as the Pegi-jack fell, becoming a massive bolt of lightning. Applejack’s hoof glowed red from the heat, but there was no pain. The Pegi-jack hit the ground and bounced slightly. Gravity began to take hold of Applejack, fear of falling allowing her to teleport back to the ground. Derpy was there waiting, watching the awesome display of power.
“Impressive,” she said, smiling. “But like I was saying, that construct is actually Rainbow’s deceit, her ability to lie to herself or to others. Which is where you come in, the element of honesty is probably a bit more geared up to fight deceit than I am. So what we have to do now is switch opponents.”
Applejack nodded and looked at Rainbow before charging at Pegi-jack. The Pegi-jack stood; half of her face had been scorched off by the bolt of lightning. Muscle and bone showed on the right side of her face. Blood wasn’t flowing due to the heat of the lightning cauterizing the blood vessels.
“Wow! You are one mess of ugly,” Applejack said, laughing at Pegi-jack. The Pegi-jack rose up into the air above Applejack.
“That’s the great thing about being a Pegasus, we have spent so much time in the air over the centuries, that we evolved to a point where we don’t need much oxygen to survive,” said Pegi-jack, gloating over Applejack as she started to turn blue. Applejack struggled, throwing random punches as her vision went black. The struggling stopped; Applejack’s arms went limp at her sides. The Pegi-jack smiled and let go of Applejack’s lifeless form.
Derpy watched as Applejack fell, an idea quickly forming in her mind. She grabbed Rainbow Dark, a contorted mix of her good and evil selves and forced her to look at the free falling Applejack.
“That’s Applejack Rainbow, save her,” she whispered into Rainbow Dark’s ear. Rainbow stood, and with an enormous gust of air, she blasted upwards, hooves stretched outwards, reaching for Applejack and when she was a mere twenty meters off the ground, Rainbow caught her and slowly descended to the ground. Rainbow laid Applejack down, she was completely motionless. Tears formed in the corners of Rainbow’s eyes and small cracks appeared all over her body. She pushed on Applejack’s chest, trying desperately to get her heart beating as Derpy flew over, but to no avail. The cracks started to get larger as she remembered her friend and with a cry of anguish, she gave up.
Crying openly now, she bent down and gave Applejack a kiss on the lips. But something was different; this was nothing like kissing the other Applejack. Rainbow kissed harder, before breaking it off and whispering into Applejack’s ear;
“Ah love you too…Sugarcube,” Applejack said, still breathless but her voice was full of love and joy. A pain shot into Rainbow’s chest and she released Applejack before letting out a cry of pain. The cracks that had appeared on her body now began to break off. Scales of dark blue fell off her as though a porcelain cup was breaking and with one final scream, the remaining pieces were blasted off by some unknown light that came from within Rainbow. She panted heavily, before looking at Applejack, who smiled. They kissed again, but this time, it was as though they became one pony, like nothing else mattered in the whole world.
“Oh you have got to be kidding me!” screamed a voice from above them. Rainbow and Applejack broke off the kiss once again and looked at Pegi-jack. “How did you steal her from me?” Rainbow stood and stared angrily at Pegi-jack.
“Arrgh,! Well it doesn’t matter, there is no way that you can get out of here alive. Ah am going to crush you into dust with my bare hooves, and then burn the dust,” Pegi-jack ranted. Rainbow sighed, before turning and tearing one of the blades off Derpy’s wings. She hurled it at Pegi-jack, the blade embedding itself in her throat.
“And I DID make it, that’s what’s important,” said Rainbow, helping Applejack up.
“And don’t worry, when you wake up, all this will be is a bad dream.” There was a flash of light and Applejack felt herself separating from Rainbow’s mind and once again, just as the pain became too much, it stopped. Applejack opened her eyes and looked over at Rainbow, whose eyes snapped open and she sat upright.
Applejack jumped out of bed and landed on Rainbow’s, who smiled with a light that Applejack had never seen. It was then that they shared their first REAL kiss.
‘Apples,’ thought Rainbow.
Applejack was shaken awake by Derpy, who had clad herself in shiny steel armour. Her cutie mark was made of gold and her wings were bladed.
“Wake up AJ, it’s time to go,” she said, with a seriousness in her voice that unnerved Applejack.
“Derpy, what happens to you if you don’t survive this fight?” she asked, suddenly becoming worried when she saw Derpy’s head dropped.
“Not as dramatic as that, just maybe a little more likely to run away from a fight. The worst thing about it all is that she may not represent the element of loyalty anymore,” Derpy explained, before taking a deep breath, straightening up and saying; “Okay let’s move out.”
Rainbow Dark snorted as she surveyed her wife’s kingdom, the happy ponies that were everywhere made her angrier than she already was.
“Sugarcube, I feel bored, pleasure me” she ordered and Rainbow bounded over to her with an angry passion. Kissing her and stoking her with her wings. Applejack giggled with delight, she liked this new Rainbow.
They spent the morning together, releasing the full might of pent up energy and lust onto each other. Eventually they wore themselves out and just lay there, looking at each other. Rainbow Dark looked into Applejack’s eyes. They were different to how she remembered, but it was Applejack all the same. Rainbow Dark got out of bed and went back over to the window.
‘Please leave me alone, you vile voice,’ thought Rainbow Dark, responding to the voice.
‘Fine! I will, let yourself die while you stay trapped in this dream world, see if I care!’
“What are you looking at?” she yelled. The brown pony just looked at her with a calm expression and said;
“You have to remember me sugarcube,” said a voice behind her softly. Rainbow Dark turned to see an orange pony with a golden mane. The look on the pony’s face was one of concern and an emotion Rainbow dark was not expecting; Love.
“Why?” asked Rainbow Dark, shocked when the pony said her name.
Applejack watched as this twisted version of Rainbow stared at her, the Pegi-jack beside her, coaxing her into fighting.
Happiness. Applejack super speeded to dodge Rainbow Dark’s attack, dashing around behind her.
Anger. She let out a piercing screech, throwing Rainbow Dark backwards. Rainbow Dark quickly recovered and came at Applejack again, slamming into her and knocking her down, beginning to hoof punch Applejack, who started to cry with the pain.
Sadness. Applejack put her hooves on Rainbow Dark’s chest and pushed. Rainbow Dark was forced into the air. Too shocked at the display of strength, she forgot her wings and fell to the ground hard. Both ponies lay on the ground, groaning with pain. Applejack looked up and saw the same silver flash coming the other way, being forced to the ground. Derpy crashed next to Applejack, turned and told her;
“Good news, it’s not Rainbow’s intelligence we’re fighting, it’s her deceit. So we already have the upper hand.” Applejack gave her a confused look.
Fear.
