A Rainbow's love

by Derplexity

Chapters

• Prologue
• Chapter 一
• Chapter 二
• Chapter 三
• Chapter 四
• Chapter 五
• Chapter 六
• Chapter 七
• Chapter 八
• Chapter 九
• Epilogue

Prologue

Rainbow Dash has never been what you would call a crying mare.

She didn’t even cry as she walked back into her cloud-made house after she broke up. Her first coltfriend was a strong, muscular stallion named Tesla Spark. But that was years ago, back to when Dash was still in Cloudsdale Flight School, so she didn’t recall a lot of events. She recalled that Tesla had once said to her that he could forgive her for not crying at his grandfather’s wedding. Since she only knew him for around a few months, and so couldn’t understand what a sincere and giving stallion he had been. But the truth is that not crying is part of Dash’s personality, she can’t feel her emotions. After a few months of going out, they eventually broke up. Rainbow didn’t recall why, but he went up to her one day and said sorry to her, and then the next day he left her. The last time Dash saw the stallion, she found that he has already found another mare. A few weeks later, Dash dropped out of Cloudsdale Flight School.

Dash proceeded to Ponyville to take on her job as weather control, and has kept that job ever since. A few months ago that she had made some true friends. They were friends that value each other, friends that treat each other equally, friends that were always there when somepony needed them. The first of the friends that she knew was this purple pony named Twilight Sparkle, who was a bookworm. Most of the purple pony’s schedule was taken up by reading. Dash always used to dislike reading, but that has changed recently.  The moment Dash became friends with those mares will never be forgotten, the memory was still fresh on her mind.

Six months ago...

Rainbow Dash was practising her usual daily routine, which is performing stunts. The reason for her performing in stunts is because she hopes to join the Wonderbolts one day. They were a group of some of the best fliers in Equestria, and she longed to be with them. The blue Pegasus freely through the air, speeding one way and the next, buzzing the treetops and racing the wind.  Dash was well known around the town of Ponyville, and also much respected by the younger fillies, they simply admire the Pegasus’ speed and agility. She climbed several hundred metres, and then dove downwards, going at least a hundred kilometres per hour. Seconds before hitting the ground, she, her wings flew open and she pulled back up into the air. She was flying only a few metres off ground as she noticed a purple unicorn in front of her. She was going at such high speed that she failed to stop and crashed into her, and they landed in a heap in a puddle of mud from the recent rains.

Dash chuckled and turned around to face the mud-soaked figure of the unicorn “Uhhh……Excuse me?” said Dash, with a smile on her face “Let me help you” And with that, she dashed away in search of a cloud, she kicked it with her rear hooves. Dash has the ability to force lightning and rain out of clouds; she turned the white, fluffy cloud into a rain-cloud and put it over the unicorn. Dash then jumped on the rain cloud, which forced the rain out of the cloud. But that only seemed to make matters worse;  she had completely soaked the unicorn’s mane, which had changed her hairstyle completely. The unicorn had a look of annoyance on her face. Dash smiled sheepishly and said “Uhhhhh…….Oh! How about this?”  Dash was an agile pony, and she circled Twilight with blinding speed, which created a curtain of rainbow around her. Nopony was sure how it really works, but it somehow dries the pony that is inside it, everypony called it the “rainblow dry”.  “No, no. Don’t thank me, you’re quite welcome” But when she looked at the unicorn, she can’t help but burst out laughing.  Her Rainblow Dry had puffed up Twilight’s mane, which made her look slightly stupid. Dash fell onto the ground laughing, tears were streaming from her eyes, and she hadn’t laughed this hard in ages now.  Spike had the exact same reaction when he saw her mentor.

“Let me guess, you’re Rainbow Dash” said Twilight

“The one and only” replied Dash “Why? You heard of me?”

“I heard your supposed to be keeping the sky clear” Dash looked at her questioningly, her eyes clearly asking Who are you? “My name is Twilight Sparkle, the princess sent me to check on the weather”  Twilight said simply.

“Yeah. Yeah. That’ll be a snap. I’ll do it in a jiffy” Dash said as she got herself into a comfortable position on a cloud. “Just as soon as I’m done practising”

“Practising for what?”

“The Wonderbolts!”  Replied Dash “They’re gonna perform at the celebration tomorrow. And I’m gonna show’em my stuff”

“The Wonderbolts?” asked Twilight “The most talented fliers in all of Equestria?”

“That’s them”

Twilight chuckled “Please, they’ll never accept a Pegasus who can’t even keep the sky clear for one day” , Jackpot, what have you got to say now, eh? Rainbow? Thought Twilight.

“Hey, I can clear these skies in ten seconds flat”

“Prove it” Dash looked down at her, unblinking. Wow, she obviously doesn’t know me. She’s definitely a newcomer. She decided that she will show this unicorn her true capabilities. She lunged towards the nearest cloud and kicked it, which disintegrated it instantly and moved on to the next one with lightning speed. In ten seconds she has cleared the skies of all clouds, the sun shined brightly in the sky, warming everything it touches.

Twilight was dumbstruck; she had never seen anypony with the ability to go at such high speed. “What’d I say? Ten seconds flat, I never leave Ponyville hangin” Twilight was stunned, she was still facing skyward, Dash’s speed was too fast for Twilight’s eyes to follow her. Dash chuckled as she noticed their reactions. “You should see the looks on your faces”  said Rainbow “You’re a laugh, Twilight Sparkle, I can’t wait to hang out with you”  And with that, she ascended into the sky once again.

Rainbow Dash would never forget that day. The day that she made those friends, the following night Pinkie Pie threw a surprise party at Twilight’s house. She dashed up into her bedroom; Pinkie said that she was “overjoyed that she was making friends”. But Dash thought otherwise, she thought that she was the shy type, much like Fluttershy. The bright moonlight shined down on Dash, the streets of Ponyville is empty, but would be crowded with ponies the next day. She didn’t want to wake up late, so she decided to go to sleep. She flew to her cloud-made home, floating a few metres above ground.

Chapter 一

The sun rose from the East and shined brightly at Dash’s estate. She rose from her bed and did her daily routine that she knew too well: brush her teeth, get outside, clear some clouds, and take a nap. One of the things that Dash likes most is napping. She has been a master of sleeping ever since she could remember; taking a nap everyday had become her tradition. She most commonly uses clouds, but when there are no clouds around, she usually selects a random tree and nap on its branch. Or she uses one of Applejack’s apple trees. Applejack’s apple trees aren’t very different from the other trees that Dash selects at random; she uses the apple trees so she could watch the hard-working orange mare. Her name was Applejack, the Element of Honesty and a mare that works hard in order to build her family. Rainbow Dash doesn’t remember her parents, not much was known about her childhood life. She might’ve been dumped in front of Cloudsdale Flight School one day for a reason that nopony knows, but that was another story.

A few months after she had met Twilight, Dash woken up to feelings that she had never felt in a long time. She knew the feeling from a long time ago, it was back in Cloudsdale Flight School, and she immediately recognized the feeling as love. She has had feelings for her for over three months now, and her love developed for Applejack around two months ago. It was during the winter holidays when Christmas was right around the corner. Dash was simply paying Applejack a visit in her cabin. But the blizzard chose that moment to go at its strongest, which made Dash unable to return to her cabin.

Two months ago, December 12

Rainbow Dash and Applejack were stuck in a cabin. The blizzard was still going strong outside. “Looks like you’re going to have to spend the night in here” said Applejack in her Southern accent. “Yeah, does this cabin only have one bed?”

“Yeah we’re going to have to share it” Dash’s face turned slightly red, but she tried to hide that. But Applejack can see through anything. “Aw c’mon, no need to turn so red, we’re just friends” This made Dash turn all the redder. But this time Applejack chose not to comment on that. I should’ve brought my sleeping bag if I knew that this was happening. Although she liked the orange mare, she didn’t feel comfortable about sharing a bed together, it seemed, she didn’t know how to describe it.

She has been crushing on Applejack for a long time, but never had the guts to tell her about her feelings. She didn’t want to lose a friend. She thought that she should give it a try right now. Without thinking, she simply blurted out “Uhh….Applejack?”

“Yeah?” Applejack replied instantly, it’s almost as if she had anticipated this, but she pushed that thought aside. What are you waiting for?! Tell her! Those words shouted at Dash inside her mind, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to. She should’ve thought twice about it before saying it, but it was too late to turn back now. She had already uttered those few words. “Thanks for letting me stay” That was all she could think to say “Even if I didn’t want to, I’ll still have to. Otherwise, where’ll ya sleep?” She said "otherwise" with her Southern accent, which made it sound like otha wahse.

The evening passed on agonizingly slow. Rainbow Dash had only intended to drop over for a minute or two. But it ended up turning into total isolation with Applejack. She was keeping herself occupied by thinking about what she could have said earlier today. One side of her mind told her that she should have told her about her feelings. While the other side, the opposition, argued back that if she did it, it could destroy or cripple their friendship. She didn’t know what she should have done, she thought about proceeding to Twilight for advice, but that would mean explaining to her about her feelings for their friend. “Rainbow? You all right?” asked Applejack all of a sudden “You look like you’re deep in thought about something” Dash’s train of thoughts were cut off as she struggled to find the right words to reply. She’s your friend, for Celestia’s sake! Just talk normally, don’t give anything away. Make it look like a normal conversation between friends. “Oh ummmm…….Yeah, I me-” …Normal conversation… The words rang in her mind again and again. “Care to tell me what it is?”

“Ummmm…..Nothing important, nothing you need to concern yourself about” And Applejack accepted that, which surprised Dash. She was expecting something like "I can tell from your look, Rainbow, what is it?" But Dash was glad anyway that she didn’t say it, since she wouldn’t be able to find a proper response except the truth.

Eventually the evening turned to night. The blizzard was still going strong at that time; it seemed like a miracle that the cabin was still standing. That night Dash found it impossible to sleep, the mare that she likes is just centimetres away from her. She thought if she was asleep, because if she was, she could kiss her lightly on the check, or the lips. After thinking that, she immediately snapped out of it Stop thinking about that! She’s your friend, just go to sleep. She told herself that over and over again. It was going to be a long night for her; but she fell asleep eventually, everypony does. But by then it was so late, it was almost early.

That other piece of memory was still fresh on Dash’s mind, one being that it happened quite recently, and the other being that that was the time her feelings for Applejack grown. She knew of  a fair number of quotes, popular ones. One of them being Sometimes there is no next time, no time outs, no second chance. Sometimes it’s now or never. It was another one of those popular quotes that somepony invented at some point. And then it became popular and was passed down generation after generation, and soon, everyone knew it and started quoting it. I kept thinking of the words It’s now or never… The feeling happened again, like it did at Applejack’s cabin. The feeling where there’s one side telling you to do it, and the other side opposing to it. Rainbow Dash never liked this feeling, it wastes her time by keeping her brain occupied in thinking about whether she should do it or not.

These thoughts were driving Dash crazy; she had no idea what to do. Twilight was the one who would obviously be of most help to her. And Pinkie Pie would be able to assist as well, with her ability to anticipate what she called “doozies”, she hoped that she can detect if Applejack was going to reject her or not. And Dash always feared failure, but this wasn’t just one of those competitions. This was reality, and also her love life. She didn’t want to proceed to anypony for advice, it would mean telling them her situation. She had thought about asking Twilight to research on the topic of love and how to ask another mare out, but it would only take her a second to figure out what she was on her mind. The same thing applies to asking Pinkie Pie to assist.

The two sides are still arguing like politicians in a debate. She didn’t know how much time has passed by. She had been sitting on her cloud all this time, thinking whether she should confirm her love. She eventually thought that sitting here was stupid. Dash had made up her mind, she was going to go to Twilight for advice. It will mean telling her everything, but she had to do it, what other choice did she have? If she went straight up to Applejack, she would end up with a tied tongue and would look stupid. Her mind was yelling at her “Don’t do it!” But she had already made up her mind, she’s doing it. And she’s hoping that she does it right.

Chapter 二

It was another normal of reading for Twilight Sparkle. She had just returned from her checklist for the morning. She lived a scheduled life, always planning ahead, which resulted with scrolls of endless things to do. Spike was the one in charge to write these lists down, as every loyal assistant does. But sometimes he simply gets too much. Spike usually counted the number of things she does in the morning, and the highest he has seen is around a hundred and eight in a single day. It was the days when everypony were preparing for the coming of Princess Celestia, she would usually go out and check on everypony. Twilight was also busy on Winter-Wrap up season, ever since she received her position as the manager. Spike was surprised at the amount of things Twilight can list for a day, but he wouldn’t mind if that list was reduced. Because then at least he wouldn’t always end up with a sore wrist every day.

Twilight was mesmerised in a highly interesting tome on the subject of the history of Equestria. But her daily reading schedule was interrupted by somepony knocking on her door. She sighed and placed her bookmarks inside the history book, and headed for the door. Twilight had a countless number of bookmarks. Because of all the time she has for her studies, she usually reads multiple books at a time and will need to use a huge amount of bookmarks. The largest amount of books she had read was over twenty, but she memorized what each one was about, thanks to years of experience from reading multiple books at the same time. But she usually never go over fifteen books at once, she was reading twenty at once for a special occasion.

Twilight reached the door and pulled it open, and there, standing at the doorway was Rainbow Dash. “Hello, Rainbow Dash, what can I do for you?” Remember, quickly and smoothly. Dash said to herself. On her way to Twilight’s house, her mind was still yelling at her to turn back, but it was too late now, she had arrived. “Hi Twilight” replied Dash “Can I come in for a sec? I need to ask you something”

“Sure, come in” Twilight said, opening her door fully for Dash to enter. “Take a seat” Rainbow accepted the offer and took a seat “Well?” Twilight said “What is it that you wanted to ask me?” Make it a quick story. Not too fast or slow. Rainbow Dash opened her mouth, and told Twilight everything. About the story in the cabin and the blizzard, and how her feelings had increased for her since then. Dash poured out everything to Twilight in her words, and how she needed advice on how to communicate to her.

Twilight simply stared at Dash. The Pegasus became increasingly nervous; she had never admitted her love to anypony before. But she wouldn’t mind if it was a stallion, but this was a mare they were talking about. She didn’t want to be accused of being a lesbian. Twilight sensed her nervousness and said simply “There’s no need to be like that” The Pegasus’ nervousness decreased a little “Wha…”

“I’ve seen a couple of other mares like you” said Twilight “Everypony has a different taste, that’s all”

“So….What is the best thing to do?”

“The best alternative is to go to her, admit your love for her” said Twilight

“What if I were to be rejected?”

“I honestly have no experience with love, you’ve asked the wrong person, sorry”  Dash thought about this for a moment, and said simply “Okay, thanks for the advice, Twi” And she trotted out the front door and ascended into the sky again.

Celestia’s sun is descending down towards the west, and Luna’s moon is ascending from the east. It had been several hours since her conversation with Twilight. It wasn’t as bad as she imagined it would be, but that was life, sometimes things turn out better than you imagine for it to be. She had tried to nap, but the words were still stuck in Dash’s head. Go to her; admit your love for her. That wasn’t much help to her, she just couldn’t do it. It might impact her friendship. Although sometimes things turn out better than you imagine for it to be, sometimes it also goes the opposite way. Should she ask Pinkie Pie? No. Pinkie has been known to tell people things that people wouldn’t want other ponies knowing about. But she’s a close friend, and she did say “Losing a friend’s trust is the quickest way to lose a friend” But she still didn’t want to, one knowing about it is enough.

Dash is frustrated with this situation. She sat on the ground, looking at the bright moonlight illuminate all of Ponyville. She heard footsteps behind her; she turned around and found herself face to face with the pink pony.  “Pinkie? What are yo-” Her words were cut off by Pinkie Pie speaking “You like her, don’t you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about”

“Yes, you do” Dash stared at her, after several seconds Dash finally asked “How did you know?”

“You know about my Pinkie Sense, I knew you were frustrated as soon as my…” Dash didn’t hear what she said, but she knew what she was saying. She was describing the combinations of movements that made her aware that Dash is frustrated with something. Dash had once tried to memorize which combinations meant this and that when she was bored, but that attempt was doomed to failure. “You should go admit your love to her, Dashie, just like Twilight told you to” said Pinkie Pie

“Stop calling me th-, how did you know?” Dash asked “Were you watching me?” Pinkie Pie ignored that question and said “It’s a good idea though, confessing your love to Applejack” said Pinkie “Have a think about it” And with that, the hyperactive pony hopped away.

Rainbow Dash was alone by herself once again. The situation, like she had said before, “Just got 20% more complex”. She probably should take her advice and go tell her. Maybe tomorrow. She thought. Yes, tomorrow, tomorrow will be fine. She’ll do it tomorrow, if she can, that is. But for now, she needs to get some sleep. She decided to walk rather than fly. The night is still young.

Chapter 三

Again Celestia’s sun rose from the east. Rainbow Dash got up slowly. Today’s the day. She thought. She was growing increasingly nervous, but she knew she had made up her mind about it. There was no backing out now. She only brushed her teeth and she went outside. She didn’t bother clearing the clouds, that can be done later. She headed towards Sweet Apple Acres, where Applejack would be helping out her family.  But there doesn’t seem to be anyone there when she arrived. She headed in and knocked on the door of the wooden estate. The door was answered by a red pony that she knew by the name of Big Macintosh. “Hi, is Applejack here?” asked Dash.

“Nope. She’s on a delivery” replied Macintosh

“To where?” Big Macintosh pointed towards east and pointed north “She’s going to some place called Lu Guo or something, it’s in this different language. Like her sister, Big Mac also speaks with the thick Southern accent. Just runs in the family I guess. At least everypony can still understand what he’s saying. “Ok, thanks for the info, Big Mac” And she hurried along towards the North road.

Applejack walked down the road. A foreign pony came last week and asked politely for a sample of their apples. They spoke with a strange accent; it’s as if they spoke another language, which they probably did. The kingdom that they live in isn’t even English. But they seem to like the apples and asked for a delivery and paid her in a currency that they called taels. They vary in different colours, gold and silver. Gold ones are obviously the one worth most while the silver ones are worth less. They said they would pay them a hundred silver and 50 gold taels for the delivery of apples. She pulled the cart of apples; she was used to doing this type of heavy lifting as she had done it numerous times before. Only half a kilometre to go. At that moment a pony ran up and pulled out a curved blade. She stared at the blade he was wielding, it had a curved blade. It looked like a katana and a Turkish Kijil combined together, she noted the tattoo of a dark cloud on her legs. She was guessing it’s a robber; the pony put an offensive stance whilst Applejack reached for her rope. She lashed the rope at the pony, but it deflected it with the sword. Another one soon joined his companion in the fight and said something to him in a foreign language “Ni hai zhai deng se mo? Sa le ta!” Applejack didn’t know what it meant, but they were definitely referring to her. They obviously had years of training with those weapons. She thought.

Rainbow Dash hurried along the road, dashing up as fast as she can. I should’ve asked Big Mac how long she has been gone for. She thought to herself. But she hurried on as fast as her wings allowed her to.

One of them lunged at her with the weapon with lightning speed, while the other one came in with an overhead slash with the sword. She managed to dodge both and swung her rope at their wrists in an attempt to disarm them, but they were obviously skilled with their weapon. They took another lunge, they seemed to be taking her easy. She dodged the second stroke. Normally a skilled fighter would immediately take advantage of its weaker opponent and finish it off as quickly as possible. But they seemed to be waiting for her to make her move, maybe they were inexperienced? She was going to find out. Time for the element of surprise.

Rainbow Dash ran through the road and spotted a cart immediately. “Applejack, there you a-” She suddenly noticed two ponies surrounding her, both turned to look at the newcomer. It was then that she noticed the two razor sharp blades they were carrying. By Celestia!

Applejack saw the opportunity to disarm them and swung her rope the third time at his wrist, this time it impacted down hard, and he dropped the blade. Applejack immediately lunged for the blade and picked it up to face her second opponent. “Da de hai man how de” her opponent said with a grin. The first one recovered almost immediately and stepped into an offensive stance. One hoof facing upwards and the other pointing towards her. Now this was completely foreign to the orange mare. She knew how to fight, but she had never seen this stance before in her life. The stance seemed advanced, now the element of surprise was gone; she only had a sword which she doesn’t know how to use.

Dash immediately saw the threat in front of her and lunged for the disarmed one, thinking it would be the easiest to defeat. She threw a punch at his head with her hoof but it turned around and blocked t with ease. It was then followed by a kick to the stomach, which sent her sprawling to the ground. Applejack lunged for the disarmed opponent, but that failed too. The second one came in and blocked the lunge. And followed up with a series of overhead slashes and side slashes, all delivered with lightning speed while Dash struggled with the disarmed one. Applejack managed to dodge all of them, but one eventually cut her ribcage. A small stream of blood ran freely from it, but Applejack had suffered worse than this. But a small wound was all he needed; he lunged towards the orange mare, hoping this stroke would finish her.

The cyan Pegasus was knocked to the ground again for perhaps the fourth time now, she tasted blood in her mouth. But she wasn’t going to let somepony like him kill her with bare hooves. She ascended into the air and dove down, hoping to land on top of her opponent and throw a wave of punches down and then go and assist her friend. The getting on top the opponent worked, but the punches didn’t. The opponent blocked the first punch and got up and had Dash in a painful lock.

Applejack dodged the lunge, missing her by centimetres and she looked across and saw Dash in the lock. “Rainbow!” she lunged towards the mare with her sword, the mare was taken by surprise, in order to dodge it; she had to let Dash go of her lock. He hoped that his companion would block the lunge, but he too was taken by surprise in his opponent’s sudden change of target. He raised his hands to defend himself and trapped the deadly blade with both his hands, but that gave Dash he chance she needed and threw a punch at her opponent’s face, sending him sprawling to the ground. And knocked him cold with a kick to the forehead.

Now it was two to one. But the last one was still experienced with his weapon. “I’ll attack from the left, you take the right” said Dash

“Rainbow, what are you doing?! He’ll hear you!” said Applejack

“So what? He doesn’t understand English” They both looked at him, he doesn’t seem like he understood. The opponent stared at Applejack, he thought that he was the one most likely to attack,, since she was the one that was armed. But he obviously underestimated the two mares, since Dash charged from the left towards the armed opponent. The opponent changed his stance to the left side, exposing his right side, which gave Applejack the opportunity it needed. Making the sword pointed towards his ribcage in her mouth, she lunged at him. Dash stopped mid-way for Applejack to make contact. Applejack’s sword made a slight wound on the mare’s ribcage while Dash kicked her rear hooves at his face, knocking him to the ground. Applejack finished him with a more forceful kick, knocking him out.

“All in a day’s work” said Applejack, as she tied those two opponents up with ropes. She stared at their cutie marks and their tattoos on their legs. The cutie mark is simply a dark cloud and the tattoo is also a picture of a dark cloud, but with two Chinese characters. They didn’t know what it says, but according to the tattoo and the cutie mark, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that it says dark cloud. “C’mon now, let’s get these apples delivered” said Applejack

“Yeah, OK, is your wound alright?” replied Dash

“It’s fine, I’ve gone through worse”

“There’s something I wanna tell you, Applejack…”

“Oh? What is it?” Dash looked at Applejack’s eyes, they looked like…Dash pushed that thought aside and focused on what she was going to say “Well…I  just wanted to tell you that I…I mean, you’re cool. Yeah, cool. And also my bestest friend, regardless if that’s a real word or not…”Dash said awkwardly

“Öh? Thanks, Rainbow” Again, Dash was surprised that she accepted that, but she didn’t allow her eyes to give anything away. Just like at the cabin. Dash thought. But she chose to ignore that again and continue on the path towards Lu Guo. “I think we should go ask Twilight about the dark cloud, maybe she’ll know, she knows everything” said Dash

“Good idea, we’ll do that right after this delivery”

A few hours later, the two mares were back in Ponyville and were heading towards Twilight’s house. They knocked on the door, and it was answered by Twilight. “Oh hi there, come in” The two mares came in and explained to Twilight all the events that had occurred in the last three hours. Twilight thought for a moment as she consulted some books. “Oh, by Celestia” Twilight whispered

“What is it?” asked both Dash and Applejack. “Those ponies you defeated today, they were part of a ruthless clan called Dark Cloud. Chinese bandits, very skilled in martial arts, the ones you defeated today were the easy ones, the ones that didn’t have much experience. They have a connection with a larger and deadlier clan called the Long Clan. They’re a ruthless group of assassin’s that will kill anypony that messes around with their other clans. They’re location is in this other place called Wei Guo” said Twilight “So basically, you just got yourselves into huge trouble” Dash and Applejack stared at Twilight, utterly stupefied.

A few metres away, a unicorn with a cutie mark of a red dragon held her phone to her mouth using her magic and spoke in Chinese “They know”

Chapter 四

A yellow Pegasus walked into the headquarters of the Long Clan. His cutie mark was that of a red dragon, his name was Wu Jiang Yang. He had come to inform his master of some bad news he received half an hour ago from a colleague. Before speaking, he put his right hoof out and then used his left hoof to cover over the right hoof. This was called the Wushu salute, used to respect elders, seniors and masters; it was a tradition that had been around for over a thousand years. They referred to their masters either as 夫子 (Teacher, Fuzi) or 兆大夫 (Teacher Zhao, Zhao Da Fu), in respect of his title. The yellow Pegasus advanced up to his master and spoke in Chinese “Fuzi, I’ve recently received news from a colleague, she has learned about us and our status”

“Send in three of the best men; tell them to watch them silently. And when they can, capture the orange mare and hold her captive. Which will let the blue Pegasus comes.”

“Nuo (Yes), what do we do then?"

"Kill the orange mare and leave her” said Fuzi. Jiang Yang did the Wushu salute once again and exited the room.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash stood staring at Twilight. “You have to watch yourselves out there, I recommend you staying in your houses”

“We will” they both said, as they exited Twilight’s estate and headed back into their house. Celestia dammit! She thought to herself. You had the perfect damn opportunity to tell her your feelings! And you blew it! She thought about the events before, and she thought about what it was in Applejack’s eye. She knew she had seen it somewhere but she couldn’t find it in her memory. But then she found it, it was right there in your memory, she knew it always. That was why Applejack had looked as if she had anticipated what she was about to say on the day in that cabin. Applejack knew all along. She knew that I was going to express my feelings for her, but didn’t have the guts to.  Applejack liked her, and she liked her back.

Three Pegasus’ crawled down on the ground, and they spotted the orange earth pony. “That’s her” one of them said in Chinese.

“Fuzi probably wouldn’t want you shooting that drugged crossbow bolt into her leg right now” But he ignored him “Be ready to pounce, get the bag ready” he instructed, as he pulled out a crossbow. “What are you doing?!” asked the third one “He told us to wai-”

“He told us to capture her when we can, killing and kidnapping is what we’re trained to do, now get that damned sack ready!” He aimed the crossbow at the mare’s knee, and squeezed the trigger. The bolt tore freely through the air and slammed into Applejack’s knee. She didn’t have time to cry out, a bag was put over her and the other two carried her away into the mountains. Within seconds Applejack the drug on the crossbow bolt begin to take effect. Applejack was asleep almost instantly. All that happened in under ten seconds. They also left a note by Dash’s door for her to find.

Rainbow Dash walked down the street towards her cloud estate that she knew too well. She found a piece of paper taped onto the door. As soon as she glanced it, she dashed away towards the South-eastern direction. It read:

We have Applejack.

Go to the Huangshan, on the south-eastern side,

Find a cave, its 3 kilometres from here.

We’ll be waiting.

Applejack opened her eyes; she was in a cave of some sort. She remembered only a searing pain in her knee then her world was black. There was a huge tub of water in front of her. She had no idea what it was for, but it didn’t seem like they were going to boil her. A yellow pony walked up to her, her cutie mark was that of a red dragon. “Ah, you’re awake”

“What are you doing you-” She was silenced as the pony shoved a gag into her mouth and slammed her into a cage and tied her up. “Your blue Pegasus friend shall get a surprise when she comes” the yellow Pegasus said “By the way, my name is Wu Jiang Yang, just so you can remember me” he smiled and walked away.

Rainbow Dash tore through the air as fast as she could go. Those ponies are not going to hold her captive! Dash said to herself. She soon spotted Huangshan, not far from the Wei province, where the Long Clan was born. She spotted a cave in the distance. It must be that one. Rainbow dashed right at the cave.

Applejack was stuck in the cage with no way out, but then she saw a cyan Pegasus appear in the distance. Jiang Yang must’ve seen it too since he called out “Ta lai le!, She’s here!” other yellow Pegasus’ took their positions high up and loaded their crossbows. Applejack looked in fear at those other assassin’s positioned high up with those deadly weapons trained on her as she flew inside. “Finally, you’re here” said a voice. Jiang Yang did the Wushu salute as Fuzi passed by “I’m glad you could make it, I was about to kill your orange friend here” said Fuzi in broken English, but Dash could just make out the what he’s saying. “You either fight or die” snarled Dash, but the pony addressed as Fuzi didn’t flinch. He simply said “I’ll let you two have a moment before I fight you. “Fang le ta” The two yellow ponies let Applejack go and removed her gag and untied her. The two mares embraced each other as soon as Applejack was released, Dash finally said “Applejack, there’s something I need to tell you that I’ve failed to tell you before” Applejack nodded for her to continue “I…I love you” Dash managed to whisper “I’ve always loved you, but I was never able to admit it to you” Applejack stroked Rainbow Dash’s mane and said “I know, Sugarcube, I loved you too. I always have” There weren’t any more words, the two mares seem to have completely forgotten the situation that they’re in.

They’re moment was suddenly and rudely interrupted by a kick from the Fuzi. The two mares toppled to the ground and he said three words “Sa le ta, kill them” Two of the yellow ponies held Dash down to the ground “Hey! I thought you said you were going to fight me!” she yelled. “You’re no match for me” said Fuzi Coward. That’s what Dash thought of him. “Since you even bothered coming, you shall have the pleasure of seeing your orange friend die” As he dumped her head into the water, Rainbow Dash yelled insults at Fuzi, but he simply ignored her. Dash had heard that drowning is a most painful way for anypony to die; she never knew she would witness the death of one of her friends through drowning. “Stop! I’ll kill you! You bloody coward!” Tears were streaming from Dash’s eyes, her insults for him continued towards Fuzi, but it was no use. Everypony eventually reach their breaking point when under water for too long, and they will eventually start inhaling the water, and Applejack is probably almost up to that poiny. The water will flood the lungs, rendering the victim unable to breath, which will kill them. Dash was crying now “Please…” she begged the Pegasus before her. What was once a proud and agile Pegasus that would allow nothing to stand in her way was now crying and begging for her friend’s life.

The most torturous minute Dash's life passed, and Applejack was finally dead. Her lifeless body lay before her. She would never speak again, nor will she share her feelings with the blue Pegasus. Her life had ended right here, in this cave, with this man called Fuzi. They released her and they moved out of the cave. Rainbow Dash crawled weakly up to the body of Applejack, her one and only love, and whispered over her dead body “I love you, Applejack, I always have. I know you will stay by my side regardless if you’re dead or alive” She stared at the body and done something she has rarely done before in her life. She sobbed. The sobs eventually turned to crying. Dash cried long and hard for what seemed like hours. She will never gain back what she has lost over here. She’s gone. And I watched her die.

Chapter 五

Twilight Sparkle has just returned from her daily routines, which left Spike with a sore wrist as it always did. This wrist would’ve killed me before I die of old age. Thought spike. Twilight exited her door for some fresh air when she sighted a cyan Pegasus in the distance, walking towards her.

How can I face anypony? Dash wondered as she carried the body of Applejack through the streets of Ponyville. Damned cowards, they’ll pay for her death. Each and every one of them. She carried the orange mare’s body and she saw Twilight emerge from her tree house. She continued anyway, Dash no longer cared about her surroundings. Tears were still streaming down her face as she walked on. It was a rainy day, the grey clouds above looking like a water balloon that is about to burst from it having too much water.

Twilight decided to greet Dash and ask where she had been. She ran up to her and said “Hi Rainbow! Where have you-” That was when she saw the body of the orange mare By Celestia! “What…” But it only took her a second to figure out what had happened, Dash nodded her head to confirm what she was thinking of. Twilight felt her hooves go numb as she fell to the ground “Oh god…” Twilight stared at the body of Applejack, stupefied. “No this can’t be real. This…this is impossible!” Twilight said to herself. But it is possible, and it’s real. Life is full of surprises, this is one of them. Some of them aren’t pleasant. Rainbow Dash was heading towards Sweet Apple Acres.

Big Macintosh was working on his own in the fields. But he never knew that from this time on, he will always be working alone, with Granny Smith being too old and Applebloom being too young. He spotted a cyan Pegasus walking through the gates of Sweet Apple Acres, he recognized her as Rainbow Dash. He went inside the Apple household to tell them of her unexpected visit.

Oh god no… Her intention was to tell only Big Mac, who would pass it on to the Apple family. She didn’t expect to tell the whole family. But it was too late to back off now; the red stallion had brought out the Apple family. She can tell from their expressions that they were shocked. She didn’t know if they were shocked at her crying, or the orange mare on her back, or both. But she went up to them anyway and said, choking back tears as she described the events that had happened. “…I could only stand and watch as she was drowned by him before my eyes” she said and dropped the body of Applejack on the ground and left. She ascended into the clouds to leave the Apple family mourn her loss. The remaining members of the Mane six, now the Mane five, chose to appear to Sweet Apple Acres at that moment after Dash left. She didn’t stay for their reactions, but it’s definitely sorrow.

Evening is descending upon the Ponyville. A grand funeral was being held near Applejack’s barn, where everypony attended. Applejack was one of the most well-known ponies around here. And everypony would be devastated by its loss. But as they have said before: “Every balance is gained through a loss”. Everypony took their seats as the priest stepped into the stage to give Applejack his prayer.

“We beseech Thee, O Lord, in Thy mercy, to have pity on the soul of Thy handmaid; do Thou, Who hast freed her from the perils of this mortal life, restore to her the portion of everlasting salvation. Through Christ out Lord, Amen”

A few metres above, Rainbow Dash stood on a cloud, glancing down at the funeral. Everypony was dressed in black clothing, which suited the mood. She kept her eyes closed as the priest continued praying. Tears were still pouring out of her eyes as she mouthed off a silent psalm of comfort to herself. “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: ‘When shall I come and appear before God?’ My tears have been my food day and night, while they say unto me all the day: ‘Where is Thy God?’ These things I remember, and pour out my soul within me, how I passed on with the throng, and led them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, as multitude keeping holyday. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why moanest thou within me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise Him for the salvation of His countenance.” After that, she left the funeral; she could no longer stand seeing those faces of sorrow. The rain poured down out of the sky and soaked Dash’s mane and everyone else’s clothing. But little did they care, for the loss of Applejack was too great an impact for anyone to care.

A few hours had passed, and everyone had already finished their last words for Applejack and had also stepped up to talk about her. The news of her death spread like wildfire around Ponyville, but the Apple family didn’t reveal the full story, only that Dash brought the body back. Applebloom didn’t know of the full story either. Dash saw the yellow little filly walk up to her and say “You were responsible for her death weren’t you?” she said in a quiet voice “I…” Dash replied, but she couldn’t finish the sentence, some ponies were gathering around Applebloom “Were you responsible for her death, Rainbow Dash? Did you stand and watch her die?” At this time Dash couldn’t say anything, tears simply escaped her eyes for the hundredth time that day. Her quietness was annoying Applebloom, and also making everypony around aware that this was probably true. Dash stared at Applebloom’s eyes, they were cold. Dash’s eyes once had a fiery lightning in it; you could tell she was competitive straight from her eyes. But now it’s gone, forever, there was nothing inside it; the fiery lightning had been extinguished. Finally Applebloom, finally unable to control herself shouted “Did you or did you not?!” Dash looked at the ground, she could hear some of the growing crowd whispering things such as “She did it” or “She definitely did it, you can tell from her movements” Dash attempted to speak, but she was interrupted again by Applebloom “How could you?! She was your closest friend! How could you kill her?!” Dash opened her mouth to speak, but that was interrupted again as a stone hit her lightly on the arm. Soon the rocks came in showers, and she took all of it, each and every one of it. A stone hit her on the side of the head and cut her, a light stream of blood ran down the side of her head, and she fell to her knees on the ground as the repeated shower of stones rained down on her.

The punishment eventually stopped, leaving Dash battered and bleeding. She gave a yell, the loudest yell she had ever done before and sobbed repeatedly Responsible…I was the responsible one… She kept on thinking that even though it wasn’t true. I’ll take revenge for you, Applejack; I’ll kill those that killed you. She got up and headed towards her home. But her home was no longer her home, not after this, she packed up and left a note behind. It read:

Goodbye,

I’m going to kill those who killed AJ

-Rainbow Dash

She knew what she was going to do; she wasn’t going to go straight to the Wei Kingdom. She was going to first pay a visit to Lu Guo. Where she’ll find a teacher to train her; she’ll get back at those who killed her friend, no matter what the cost. What is life when all that there is left is revenge? She took a glance back at Ponyville, this was the last time she was seeing this place. The place that she grew up in and had known all her life, now gone, she will never return.

Chapter 六

Twilight ran through the streets of Ponyville, towards Dash’s house, where a lot of ponies were gathered around it. She ran to the front of the house, to find the remains of the mane six staring at a note taped onto the door. “What is it?” Twilight asked as she shoved her way to the front, where all her friends were. But she got her answer as soon as she saw the note scribbled on the paper.

Goodbye,

I’m going to kill those that killed AJ.

-Rainbow Dash

Twilight looked at it in shock; there was a drip of blood on the side of it. “Wha…what happened?” the unicorn asked, looking at her friends. They didn’t say anything, Why is there blood on it? Celestia dammit, answer me! She turned to Big Mac “What happened?” she demanded. Big Mac looked up and said “I have no idea, Miss Sparkle. We only told them about AJ’s death, we didn’t say it was Dash that-” his words were cut short as Applebloom interrupted “She killed AJ; she stood and watched her die! So I had to tell everypony about what she did”

Dash looked around her; she was in a dark room of some sort. There were pink droplets of fluid on the ground; she didn’t know what it was. But she heard footsteps coming out from somewhere, she turned towards it “Come outta there! I’m not afraid of you!” She shouted at it defiantly, the footsteps stopped, and she heard a deep, rasping voice come from the thing. “You killed her, now it will haunt you…”

“Who the hay are you?!” shouted Rainbow. But suddenly she heard Applebloom’s voice inside her mind, shouting at her. How could you?! She was your closest friend! Those voices were followed by others, some she recognized, some she didn’t. She recognized Twilight’s voice, and also Applejack’s voice; all were yelling at her and screaming abuse. The words spoken by Applebloom rung repeatedly in her head. How could you?! She was your closest friend!

Rainbow Dash woke with a start, she curled up into a corner, her back impacting on the rock behind her. Her head darting around, but all she can hear nothing, all was normal around her. Celestia’s sun is slowly descending to the west. She began to weep quietly; the words that were so loud only a while ago were now distant echoes. But she will never forget the tone used by Applebloom, and what she said, it was all stuck in her head.

“You what?!” shouted Twilight “You told everyone that?!”  Despite the unicorn’s shouting, Applebloom kept a straight face and said defiantly “She watched my sister die! I had t-”

“Don’t say anything if you don’t know the true story, Dash was held down by-” said Big Mac loudly “Yeah take her side, will ya!” said Applebloom, interrupting her elder brother “You’re just taking her side because she’s your friend!” As she said this, she ran away, leaving a stunned stallion standing. They have already lost one member of the Mane Six, while another member simply walked off.

Rainbow Dash walked on, she had only walked for two hours, but to her it looked like it had been a year. She didn’t bring any provisions, Applejack had given her their share of the gold and silver taels, and she had them in her bag. She walked for what seemed like another year, and she finally found herself at the gate of the Lu Kingdom. The way these foreign ponies operate are very different compared to Equestrian’s. Unlike Equestria, they’re not a united nation. They constantly do battle with each other in a struggle for power, it’s not a peaceful community, and it’s basically a living hell. But right now Ponyville is basically a living hell as well, on the six hundred and sixty sixth level of hell. She entered the gates leading to the kingdom. She hoped that she will find somepony that can speak English and teach her how to fight.

A lot of the ponies living there gave her the “Who the hay’re you?” look, although they probably don’t use the word “hay” over in this foreign place. One of them was looking particularly at her and she said to him “What’re you looking at? Never seen a foreigner before?” He didn’t know what she said, but he can tell from the tone of her voice that she was making a threat to him or something “Ni suo se me ya?! Ni yow da wo ma?!” he shouted at her. Dash looked at him; she didn’t understand a word of what he said. So she simply backed away and said “Sorry, I don’t want any trouble”

“Ni shuo se me “sorry” ah? Gei wo da!” he shouted. Dash didn’t know what to expect as two males jumped on her and started kicking and punching her. “Eh, bu yow zhai da le!, stop fighting now!” shouted a elderly stallion, emerging from his shop “Chu si ba ni zhei ge low tou!, go fuck yourself, you old fart!” shouted one of the males attacking Dash and shoved him away. Another elderly man stood up and started advancing on the group attacking Dash, and spoke in Chinese “Stop fighting, Confucius said fighting never solved anything” The blows on Dash eventually stopped. And they advanced on the old man. She had already taken enough blows, and her vision was blurry, the wound on her head had opened again. She watched from the ground as the elder man took down each and every one of the stallions attacking Dash. After that, Dash’s world blacked out.

She awoke on the ground, her head resting on a pillow and a blanket over her. She walked over to the door to go outside, but found the elderly man. “Oh, you’re awake” said the elderly man in broken English. But he has spoken Chinese for almost his whole life, so it should be considered pretty well. “Thanks for saving me, uhh….”

“Pu Yi, you may call me Shifu”

“Oh, uhhh….. Ok.” Said Dash. “Have you heard of the Long Clan?”

“Yes, they ruthless assassins”

“Why is they’re clan called Long?”

“Long mean dragon in duh Chinee language” Dash looked at him, she thought about explaining her story to this elderly man “There’s something I kinda wanna ask you about” said Dash “Go ahead, always like good story” Dash didn’t explain about her love for a another mare and referred to Applejack as “the friend”. She described about the delivery and how the Long Clan got them back and now she wanted revenge. The master nodded his agreement and said “I will teach duh kung fu you for two year, that enough for you to master sword and hand movement” Dash couldn’t believe it, she was finally going to get revenge on the people that killed Applejack. “We start training tomorrow”

Chapter 七

Rainbow Dash stood in the middle of an ancient temple. She had never seen anything like it in her life, the detailed wooden carvings on the houses, and everything else, it all seemed new to her. Even Celestia doesn’t have rooms with such intricate carvings, and this is a normal civilian’s house. Her Shifu, Pu Yi, was first teaching her about the way of his ancestors. “Kung fu has been in my family for over five hundred year” Shifu told her “It is an ancient way that has been passed through the generations.” Rainbow Dash listened with interest and memorized every word he said. “Kung fu was introduced to China by an Indian monk named Ta Mo. He came here at the beginning of the sixth century to spread the teachings of the Buddha. While wandering in the mountains of Northern China, he stopped at a monastery called Shaolin. There he encouraged the monks to meditate and seek enlightenment. But the monks often fell asleep as they meditated, so the wise teacher gave them exercises to keep them awake. These became a meditation in themselves, but also very powerful fighting moves.” Dash looked at her Shifu, silently waiting for her to continue. “The moves Ta Mo taught helped them defend themselves as they travelled between monasteries, this martial art is called Tai Chi, the first form of martial arts I’m going to teach you” As he got up, signalling for Dash to get up as well. He gave her a wave of his hoof, indicating for her to follow him.

Twilight and the remains of the Mane six collapsed onto the ground. For one day they had searched all over Equestria, but have failed to find her. “She could be anywhere by now” panted Rarity. It was true; she obviously was no longer in Equestria “Well, then where could she be?” This took everypony to think about it “The world is huge, in one day, she could be anywhere by now” Pinkie said. But everyone already knew there was no hope in finding her, unless some miracle she returned

.

“This movement is called the pushing hoof” said Yi Shifu, shaping Dash’s hoof into a painful pose. “It is the basis of the kung fu exercise’s Ta Mo taught to the Shaolin ancestors” The next day was the same, and the day after that. Dash gradually learned to do the moves without the help of her Shifu. Tai Chi was now part of her daily routine. Every day she would go into that courtyard, and practice. “The way of the kung fu is much more than physical strength and fighting moves” Shifu one day explained “At the heart of martial arts is the chi. This is the life force we believe is within everyone and everything. To master kung fu is to harness the chi; through it you will become extremely powerful” She positioned Dash into a Tai Chi pose “Now focus on your breathing” he instructed sternly “This time focus on the chi within you” Dash didn’t know what he meant, but she tried focusing on her breathing. And with that, Yi walked away to leave Dash standing motionless for what seemed like an age.

One day after the Tai Chi exercises, Yi brought out a bucket of sand and put it down in front of Dash. What’s that for? Dash thought. Shifu punched his hoof into the sand to demonstrate what she has to do. “Your turn” Dash obediently used her hoof and punched into the sand, her Shifu looked at her, his eyes clearly saying “Again”. Dash made a second attempt and punched into the sand, but Shifu looked down at her, and he did another demonstration to show her what he wanted. He punched his hoof down into the sand, sending a shower of sand into Dash’s face. Again Dash punched it, as hard as she dared, but Yi didn’t look impressed at all. He walked away and commanded “Continue!” Dash opened her mouth, but knew better than to argue. This was a completely different world, with much more discipline required. And judging from his tone, he wouldn’t be in the mood to argue, he would probably just scrape her hoof into the sand until they bled. All she could do now was thrust her hoof into the sand again and again until they were numb. Only another day at the temple, I guess. She thought bitterly to herself, as she repeated the process.

Like the Tai Chi routine, this was done over and over again each day. But as the days progressed, her hoof were becoming stronger and stronger and her punches were finally spraying some sand up, which was definitely progress. The cuts from punching sand were healing over and rough callused were replacing soft skin. Shifu nodded slowly as he ran his hoof over Dash’s hoof “To be raised in the way of kung fu is a great honour” Shifu told her sternly “For you will be strong and self-disciplined and able to take great pain. And you will eventually be the master of your own body” As he finished speaking Yi emptied the bucket of sand away. Dash breathed a sigh of relief, but not loud enough for him to hear. But then, to her horror, the sand was replaced with gravel and the exercise continued.

Within a couple of weeks she found herself plunging her hoofs into both gravel and sharp rock. She was growing to hate the old pony, and that was good, it made her throw all the more energy into the punch. She didn’t know that her Shifu’s wasn’t primarily focused on helping her get revenge on the Long Clan, but it was also partly to gain his disciple’s respect. Although she doesn’t know right now, she will know one day. Each night she fell into bed exhausted, she was too tired to even think about the pain on her hoof and body. She hoped this would end soon, and she can have her revenge on those that killed Applejack. She spent hours staring up at the empty ceiling, but eventually she fell into an occasionally troubled sleep.

Chapter 八

One year later...

“To fight in competitions is good” said Pu Yi one day. Dash and her Shifu were on their way to the Jiangxi province. “But the true master of kung fu always expect the unexpected” Dash had heard this saying many times, but something made her suspect that Yi had a task in mind for her. She had fought many times in competitions, and her Shifu bets large sums of money on her, so she must not lose, or she will disrespect the old man. She used to hate the old man for the training sessions he put through her, but respect bonds all this together. In the one year, she had been able to pick up the Chinese language and was now almost fluent in speaking it. But she still has her English speaking skills, although it would be hard for her to continue speaking it in a non-English speaking place. She now trains for around for four hours non-stop and can do all the moves without the help of her Shifu.

It was growing dark, as Luna’s moon rose from the east while Celestia’s sun set into the west. Yi had led Dash deep into a city which he called Nanchang. There was a smell of decaying rice and fish. “Nanchang is well known for its street gangs. It is a lawless place where many have disappeared without trace. There will be trouble here, but you know how to handle them” With that, he took out a paper scroll, made to look like a tunic that the Chinese ponies sometimes wear. Dash uncurled the scroll, and stared in horror at the words written on it. “Put it on” said Yi. The scroll was joined in two pieces by strings, she had never written such language in her life. “What is this?” Dash asked “You question me again?” asked Yi angrily. Dash obediently placed it roughly over her head. The words “Death to your family” were written on her back, but that was all she read, there were far worse curses written on it. “Now walk” commanded Yi, gesturing towards one of the darkest alleyways.

Dash walked into the alleyway, and then she heard a loud crash as something fell to the ground. Dash immediately leapt into a defensives stance, expecting anything from any direction. A fighter immediately saw her and charged towards her direction and tried to high-kick Dash. Rainbow reacted with lightning speed, ducking the roundhouse kick and bucked the fighter in the face and finished him off by sinking her hoof into his groin and his stomach. Two more fighters appeared and saw their fallen comrade and went into their own stances, advancing towards her at a gaining pace, maybe a bit too fast. The alleyway was narrow, that was good, since that meant that they can only attack her one at a time. She looked around her opponent’s legs for a point where she can attack and finish him. He was advancing at a fast pace. And when advancing quickly, they always make mistakes in their leg position for a second or two. But a second or two was all she needed to make her move, but then she saw it. She swung a kick towards it with blinding speed, bringing the opponent to the ground; she jumped on top of him and twisted him into a painful lock until he passed out. That happened in less than ten seconds, the second fighter came at her with a Shaolin kung fu kick. Dash deflected it and kicked him bucked him in the face, sending him sprawling to the ground. And twisted him into the same painful lock until he passed out, which didn’t take long. She stood up, impressed with what she did; she had always wanted to fight like that.  She suddenly sensed somepony behind her. She didn’t hear it, but sensed it; it was a skill that comes along when you have improved your concentration. She turned around and leapt into an offensive stance, but she learned it was her Shifu, Yi. She did a Wushu salute, Yi’s expression remained its normal way, which was no expression. But she could tell he was impressed.

“Now has come the time for the ultimate challenge, my young disciple” said Yi Shifu on a bright sunny day after Dash had finished training. A shiver of anticipation ran down Dash’s spine “Do you mean by the Tar Shui, test of the tunnel?” asked Dash “Yes, indeed” The Tar Shui was the “ultimate test” that all disciples of martial arts have to take becoming true masters of their own art. Dash was excited and nervous by the same by this. “Is it true that some never come out of the tunnel?”

“Yes, only the true masters will succeed. Ever since what happened Nanchang, I had believed that you are definitely ready for it” Dash could hardly resist herself from saying out “Ohmygosh Ohmygosh Ohmygosh Ohmygosh Ohmygosh!” like she did when she won the Best young flyer’s competition using the Sonic Rainboom to save Rarity and all three members of the Wonderbolts.

The day came at last as Dash and Yi set off towards the long journey towards the Shandong Province, where the Shaolin temple lies. It took three days by train and on hoof. But they soon reached Tai Shan mountain, Dash’s pace quickened in excited anticipation. Dash looked up at the entrance to the tunnel. Pu Shifu fixed her a meaningful stare as she paid her respects and ventured into the cave.

Dash walked down the dim cave. As she walked on, she saw what seemed to look like little stars on the ground, and recognized them as pieces of glass. Easy shmeesy. She thought. Before, Yi had made her walk on nails and hot coals and similar, this is nothing compared to those. Deciding that the crane technique would be most suitable for this, she stepped onto the glass. One year of walking on hot coals and nails had toughened up Rainbow’s hoof, as she used the crane techniques to step over the glass, she might as well have been doing it with rubber boots. She barely felt a scratch as she moved through the glass.

The cave soon narrowed and a wooden-framed structure stood before her, blocking the path. Hundreds of spearheads stuck down from the top of the frame. As Dash examined it, she soon realised that only a few bamboo canes supported this whole structure, and in the middle was a whole maze of other canes. She knew that all it took was for her to shake one of the canes, and it would bring all the spearheads crashing down on her, and her life would end right there. Summoning her chi, she used snake styles and slid her body carefully between the canes. She eventually made it to the other side after what seemed like ages of sliding her body between the canes. She continued on towards the next obstacle.

She recognized the next obstacle as the blade. You had to walk on a balancing beam with the blades beneath. The beam was also coated in oil, so were the walls, making it all the harder, leaving her no choice but to walk unsupported on the beam. This required the super power of the chi, shutting her eyes, she walked on it. She heard a rush of noise coming from the tunnel, a wild and frenzied dog raced at her. “Do not react” she told herself instantly. The dog was simply a ploy to distract her. Sure enough, a chain held the dog back and stopped it a centimetre away from her. She remained calm and eventually walked to the other side, she smiled to herself as she continued to the next obstacle.

She recognized this as the final challenge. There was an acid burning smell. The final test of courage and bravery: the burning cauldron. She could see Yi right now, his expression was blank, as usual. The heavy cauldron had raised dragon emblems around its sides, which was white hot. She looked into the face of Yi, she remembered all the cruel and brutal training the old pony had given her, she used to hate him, but the way of kung fu bound the two of them together. Dash shut her eyes for a moment, and then opened them. Summoning all her powers, she placed her front hooves on the cauldron and lifted the mighty cauldron, and she heaved it out of the way and out into the open, where Yi was waiting for her. Blisters were now where the dragons had burned into her hoof, but that didn’t matter, they will heal. She looked at her master, and he did something so rare that it took her completely by surprise. Pu Shifu smiled. She did the Wushu salute to him and he did it back, it didn’t last long. But it was honourable enough; Rainbow Dash is now Rainbow Shifu, or Master Rainbow. She was now a master of her own art.

Chapter 九

Jiang Yang walked into the room he now knew so well. “She’s still alive” he said in Chinese. Fuzi knew what he meant; the Rainbow maned pony is coming for them. “Our spies in Lu Guo informed us of it, she went there to seek sanctuary from a Shifu called Pu Yi; and she has recently passed the Tar Shui; test of the tunnel” Jiang Yang only needed to say this much; Fuzi knew that she will soon be heading this way, towards them for revenge. “Have some of us set up some assassin have to cut her off” Jiang Yang did the Wushu salute with his hoof and exited, like he had countless other times.

Rainbow Dash flew into Ponyville; she hadn’t seen it for almost two years now. She was going to tell her friends that she was still alive. If only she could talk to them, will they still like her? Do they even remember her? What was the condition Ponyville is in after the death of Applejack? Those questions will have to be answered later on. She flew to Sugarcube corner; it seems that Pinkie still works there. She went down and attached a note down on the door of the cake shop. With that, she flew away, off into the Wei Kingdom, where she will seek revenge for her love; her one and only love. Dash had also trained with a Shaolin sword during her one year stay in the Lu Kingdom, those similar to the one the robber and the clan uses. She half-drew and felt the metal blade with her hoof, this will be the weapon used to take her revenge. As she can re-call herself saying “What is life when all there is left is revenge?” She was going to complete her final act of her life; revenge.

Jiang Yang was positioned up high; they could only set up one team to cut her off since she was advancing at a more rapid pace than they expected. He thought confidently .A Rainbow maned Pegasus wouldn’t be hard to spot; it wouldn’t be anything compared to the Long Clan’s other enemies. They’re other enemies used advanced camouflage to conceal them. But this one was special; she was trained by legendary master Pu Yi. So her fighting skills will be more advanced than most others; but despite these, she will still be heavily outnumbered. And that is what they will use to their advantage. In the distance, he can see a blue Pegasus, leaving a rainbow trail behind her as she flew at high speed. “She’s here! Conceal yourselves!” he shouted in Chinese to all the others. She was still quite some distance away, but she will be here. Soon.

Rainbow Dash flew towards the mountain; she remembered that path as the path where Applejack was attacked by those robbers. She can still remember the ghost of Applejack, walking up the hill, one year ago. But ghosts don’t exist, and Applejack will never be back, she’s gone. Forever. There’s not changing that, those assassins have scarred her for life. Killing them will only heal the wound, but the scar that is left is permanent, and will accompany her for the remaining of her life.

Jiang Yang smiled to himself as Dash was nearing “On guard!” he shouted, as he raised his crossbow, he told his men that he will take the first shot at her. And if she dodges it or he misses, then the remaining will charge up to attack. It would be better to use crossbows, but they prefer to kill with the sword. Carefully he took aim with the crossbow, aiming the crosshairs at her head. His target stopped, that is what he needed. He readied the crossbow, aiming it at her head.

Rainbow Dash anticipated something. Again, she didn’t need the see it to know, she can trust her instincts. There was something, in front of her. Even though Jiang Yang was also highly trained, Rainbow Dash had also been trained. It was then she saw the crossbow, suddenly emerging from nearby bush only metres above her. She leapt into the sky as quickly as she can while the bolt punched harmlessly into the dirt ground. She ripped out her sword as six other Long Clan assassins leapt out of nearby bushes and came at her. Although it was six against one, the distance of the bushes to her was different. So if she was fast enough, she would only be fighting two or one at a time. The first came at her with a side slash, which she deflected with ease and did an over-head with the sword, impacting the sword down on the assassin’s head. Two others came at her and she deflected their attacks and cut at them with her sword with ease.

Eventually all six of them lay dead on the ground, Dash looked down at them. They had fought for only seven minutes. She looked up to see Jiang Yang, walking slowly towards her, sword in his hand. Dash jumped up and flew into the bush in which Jiang Yang was hiding in before, and dug around it for the crossbow. She found the crossbow, it was loaded and ready to be fired, and she grabbed it. But she suddenly felt a heavy weight land on her, crushing her to the ground. “Todays the day you die now” said Jiang Yang in Chinese. “And for you too” snarled Dash. Jiang Yang was surprised, one year in the Lu Kingdom and she can speak almost fluently. Dash took this as an opportunity to get him off her. Raising her rear hooves, she thrust it with all her power and bucked Jiang Yang hard in the face. There was no time for the crossbow, she charged up to Jiang Yang and grabbed his poisoned dagger and plunged it into his stomach. She remembered Yi telling her that the Long Clan uses strong poison against their enemies “Even a mild scratch can kill”, she remembered him saying before she departed him.

Fuzi looked down at the rainbow maned Pegasus, he was mildly impressed. What was once a normal pony was now a skilled pony, capable of killing even his most qualified assassin, Jiang Yang. He cared little about those working for him; he treated them as tools, sending them all to die if necessary to win. He grabbed a crossbow with poisoned bolts and aimed at Dash; he targeted her and pulled down the trigger.

Dash was satisfied with what she had done, but then she felt a searing pain in her knee. The Long Clan always uses poison in their bolts, so there was no doubt there was in this one. The bolt has only grazed her, but like Yi had said “Even a scratch can kill”. The poison isn’t like normal poison, it doesn’t spread slowly, and it goes directly to the heart. She saw the person that had fired the bolt; he didn’t seem to care about concealing himself. She recognized him as Fuzi. “You’re dead, Fuzi” Dash yelled “Fuzi? No don’t call me that, call me Zhou” Dash still gave him the look of hatred. Zhou descended down with a sword and delivered a stab with his sword at her neck with lightning speed; she managed to deflect it at the last second, and thus began the final fight between the two of them.

They fought on for over ten minutes, Dash collapsed to the ground, already exhausted. Zhou was too powerful for her, it was impossible to defeat him. As Zhou was about to bring his blade down on her neck, the final slash that would end it all, the sword was levitated out of his grasp. Zhou stood there, stupefied for a second before he realized that it was magic that was controlling it. Rainbow took this as an opportunity and slashed at Zhou’s head, cutting it right off him. Dash looked down at his defeated foe; she had got what she wanted. She felt a sudden pain in her chest and she fell to the ground. A familiar purple unicorn rushed to her, a stream of blood poured from Dash’s mouth “Dash! Dash!” yelled Twilight “T-Twilight…” Dash began weakly “No, don’t waste your strength, Dash”

“Bury me…Bury me next to Applejack…my only love…” And with that she was gone, ascending into the heavens to join Applejack.

Epilogue

Twilight placed a flower on Dash’s and Applejack’s grave. It had been two years since their death. And all of Ponyville had been devastated to hear about it. She was a good friend, and she wanted everypony to know her. So she had written a book called “The fall of the mane six”, describing Dash’s and Applejack’s death and Dash’s heroicness. It was a bestseller across Equestria. She eventually became an author and wrote books that became bestsellers, her other friends had also gone to pursue their dreams. And they would come back to their grave. The world seemed lonelier without these two friends, and sometimes she would want to just stay at home because of her depression. But Rainbow Dash and Applejack wouldn’t want her like that; she wouldn’t want anyone like that just because they were dead. She would’ve wanted her and her friends to carry on, and deal with the loss. Twilight will start writing her final letter to Celestia as soon as possible, and after that, she will leave to pursue her dreams. She had already planned out her second story; it will be about the wonders of magic and what she had learned all these years of her life. So she will continue on with her life, for Applejack, for Rainbow Dash.