Twilight woke up early. She always woke up early out of habit. She’d picked that habit up when attending Canterlot academy and even though it had been over a year since she last visited there she was still waking up early.
Spike was still sleeping. Twilight didn’t really care about disturbing him and made plenty of noise as she got up. She got dressed and made breakfast for herself. She woke Spike but he just grumbled and went back to sleep.

The sun was only just rising and the air was still a little chilly in the early spring. Twilight enjoyed the nip as she wondered through town towards the little cottage that Kain lived in.

When Twilight arrived she immediately noticed one strange thing. The door was hanging ajar and the lock was broken.

She called out ‘Hello?’

She was worried that Kain may have been attacked by wild animals or something. Concerned she pushed the door open all the way and cautiously stepped into the doorway. The living room was in a complete mess with flipped over chairs and the smell of alcohol thick in the air.

‘Kain, are you here?’ Twilight called out again.

She heard a loud groan and something being muttered before some loud footsteps. Kain walked out of what Twilight assumed was his bedroom. He looked awful. Just awful. Twilight could smell him from where she was standing.

‘What are you doing here?’ He half whispered at her. He sounded awful too.

‘Good morning’ Twilight said in as chipper a tone as she could muster. ‘The princess sent this mail for you in the night.’

She held out her hand. In her hand was the scroll with the princesses’ seal. Kain walked forward and snatched it from her hands. He tore open the seal and mumbled the letter under his breath.

‘Dear blah blah blah. Alcohol may be a problem blah blah concerns over mental health blah blah blah come see me today.’ He dropped the letter on the floor and turned to Twilight ‘You whined to the boss lady about me?’ It was clear from his tone that this wasn’t happy news.

Twilight maintained her smile with some effort. His breath smelled like he had week old dead flesh caught between his teeth.

‘We were becoming concerned by your alcoholism and thought it might be best if she spoke to you.’

He thought about this for a second. It was clear he didn’t believe her but in the end it shrugged.

‘Fine. I needed to go to Canterlot soon anyway. Come in. I’ll draw up a plan for how you can practice while I’m away.’
Twilight followed him inside. Kain walked inside his room and she heard the sound of some closet doors being opened and shut before he came out wearing fresher and slightly less smelly clothes. He was carrying some writing materials. He stopped over a desk and scrawled some things on a sheet of paper. He then took out a new sheet and scrawled a few things on that.

He turned to her and said ‘Make sure everyone hears this’ he handed her one sheet ‘And make sure Applejack gets this.’ He handed her the other.

‘What do you want to say to Applejack?’ Twilight said taking the second sheet and quickly reading through the first.

‘It’s not private. Feel free to read it’ He then walked to the door and noticed it hanging ajar. He stared at it puzzled for a second before a look or realisation dawned on his face.

‘What happened to your door?’ Twilight asked curiously.

‘I was too drunk to get the key in the lock, so I kicked it open.’

‘Ohh.’ Twilight though that didn’t make much sense but decided not to give her opinion voice.

Kain turned to Twilight and said in a force full tone ‘Now if you’ll excuse me I have an appointment with the boss lady.’
He then all but shoved Twilight out the door and closed it behind him. Or he would have if the door hadn’t swing open because it had no lock. He shut the door and Twilight heard the sound of something being moved. The door then stayed shut. Twilight guessed that he’d leaned something against the door

Twilight walked away from the smelly cottage and back to her library. When she arrived Spike was still asleep.
---

It was around twelve when Twilight arrived at the clearing. All the other girls were already there. Twilight, out of respect for Applejacks’ privacy, had decided not to read the letter Kain had written for Applejack.

They must have already had some idea of what was going on. Applejack and Fluttershy probably explained it to Pinkie, Rarity and Rainbow.

‘So are we getting a new teacher or what?’ Rainbow asked when Twilight got in range.

‘I don’t know for sure. Celestia has summoned him to the palace.’ Twilight answered. ‘To be honest though I don’t think so. There isn’t anyone else who can teach us these skills. Equestria hasn’t seen full scale war for hundreds of years. Such skills aren’t really needed. The closest thing we have to blade masters are fencing clubs and according to the books I’ve read those really aren’t the same things at all. I think we’re stuck with Kain’.

Rainbow nodded in understanding ‘Well than is Celestia at least going to talk to him about some of the things he’s been doing?’

‘I think so Rainbow Dash. But in the meantime Kain has left us a lesson plan of sorts. These are his instructions:

“Girls I’ve been ordered to Canterlot by the boss lady so while I’m gone I want you all to face each other in a best two out of three sparing session. I want you to make sure that everyone verses everyone else in these sessions at least twice. When you win or lose I want you to consider what made you win/loose like you did. Also I urge you not to use flight or magic while my back is turned. Somebody could get badly damaged.”

And it’s not signed.’ Twilight finished reading it out. ‘Also Applejack he asked me to give this to you.’

Twilight handed the letter to Applejack.

Applejack took the letter and read it aloud.

“Applejack ah don’t want you to participate in the sparring today. Instead ah want you to watch and oversee the others to make sure no one gets hurt. I also want you to help correct any mistakes and to point out to them any mistakes they make.” This one’s also not been signed.’

Rainbow Dash crossed her arms ‘Why would he have you correct our mistakes?’

Pinkie answered ‘Ooh I know! I know!’ Pinkie hopped up and down on the spot ‘It’s because she’s better at it then us!’

Rainbow looked at Pinkie annoyed ‘No she’s not, both me and Fluttershy beat her a couple of times.’

Pinkie nodded enthusiastically and then shook her head just enthusiastically ‘Yeah but Applejack beat you twice for every one time you beat her. Also she never had to be shown the same drill twice and gets corrected way less often!’

Rainbow looked ready for an argument ‘Yeah but-’ whatever she’d been about to say was cut off by Twilight.

‘Girls!’ she shouted before resuming speech in a more level voice ‘Stop arguing about who’s better than whom and let’s just do what the letter says and so we can go home early and get a decent day’s work done! I don’t know about you, but all this training has left me behind in my studies and, I’m hoping to use today as a chance to catch up.’

Rainbow looked like she wanted to argue the point but in the end nodded and said ‘Fine.’
The girls then partnered off. Because of the odd numbers it was Pinkie vs Twilight and Rarity vs Rainbow while Applejack and Fluttershy watched.

Twilight readied her short sword and faced Pinkie. This wasn’t the first time they’d sparred. Twilight knew that facing Pinkie was strange. Pinkie always somehow seemed to know what was going to happen next and dodge or block any attack that you sent her way. She also had this strange effect where you could be fighting her and suddenly you would simply lose track of her. She wasn’t hiding or sneaking or anything but you just block a sword one moment and look straight through Pinkie the next and barely block the strike she sends your way from nowhere after that. Beyond that though Pinkie wasn’t a particularly fine swordsman. Her attacks were generally ill thought out, her blocks clumsy and her strikes, while surprising, where usually slow.

Twilight herself was just plain bad at it. True she’d only been using a sword for a few days now, but even in comparison to the rest of the class Twilight was behind. She was never fast enough or hard hitting enough. She was at the moment thought of as the worst in class by Kain.

Unsurprisingly Pinkie won the round. Applejack came in and pointed out to the two of them some of the mistakes they’d made and had them fight the round again. They completed their three rounds before being partnered off again.
It was only about an hour before every one had faced everyone without much incident other than a few sarcastic comments from Rainbow to Applejack which resulted in Applejack getting in a grumpy mood.

They all versed each other again for a second run through like the letter said and by that time it was two o’clock. By the end it was clear that Fluttershy and Rainbow where better than Pinkie and Rarity who were both better than Twilight. Applejack had plenty of small corrections for everybody and Twilight felt like she might have improved a little bit under Applejacks gentle tutelage.

As the group was walking away from the clearing Rainbow Dash said aloud ‘Hey girls, you know tonight could be the last time we get a night to ourselves? Why don’t we do something fun?’

‘Like what?’ Twilight asked.

Rainbow had apparently already though of the answer before the question had been asked ‘I want to go clubbing. We could all go! It’d be so badass!’

Pinkie immediately started bouncing up and down at the idea ‘Oooh that sounds like fun! I love clubbing! Clubbing is like a party but where all the music is like dooshka dooshka dooshka’ She paused for a deep breath before resuming the dooshka’ing.

‘I hardly think so.’ Rarity said. ‘I really don’t think such a place would be fun for all of us. Plus techno is really not my forte.’

Applejack nodded ‘Yeah ah gotta agree with Rarity on this one. Clubbing ain’t exactly mah thing.’

‘What about that time a few nights ago?’ Rainbow asked Applejack ‘You were willing to go clubbing then.’

‘That’s only ‘cause we were playing that dumb endurance game.’

Fluttershy weighed in ‘I d-don’t really want to go clubbing either.’

‘Oh come one guys!’ Rainbow shouted in frustration ‘Tomorrow Kain’s gonna come back and make things suck. Tonight may be the last not sucky night we have. This town is pretty small and there’s not a lot that we can all do together. So let’s just go out and try to have fun even if it’s not exactly what we all wanted. Besides, DJ P0N-3 is at the club tonight and she’s awesome.’

‘Who’s P0N-3 again?’ Applejack asked.

‘You know she used to live in Manehattan but she moved here. Her real names Vinyl Scratch and she always wears those sunglasses.’

Applejack thought for a minute ‘She the one with the blue hair?’

Rainbow nodded ‘Yeah that’s her.’

Applejack nodded in understanding. ‘Oh… Ah still don’t want to go.’

‘Oh come on!’ Rainbow vented in frustration.

Twilight decided to weigh in ‘Guys I think we should go. Ranbow’s right. This may be the last chance we have to do anything fun together. So let’s all just take this chance and try to have fun.’
---

Kain stalked into the throne room angrily.

He ignored the voice that introduced him to Celestia ‘Kain Artun. Soldier of the realm here at your request your highness.’

‘Thank you’ Celestia said evenly ‘but I thought I told you to send him in an hour. I’m currently in the middle of something.’

Celestia was actually in the middle of debriefing a soldier who had come to report a disturbing double murder his troop had encountered on the road. Kain didn’t care, he was pissed off.

He shouted at her ‘You drag my ass all the way from Ponyville and, that’s a trip that takes hours by the way, and then you make me sit in the lobby for two hours before this sad excuse for a soldier shows up and you let him right in!’

‘This soldier has important news. You could afford to wait. Now if you don’t mind I’ll get to you when the time comes’ Celestia said in a firm voice.

Kain ignored her tone and pulled up a chair ‘What sort of news did he bring? I didn’t know there’d be any news in this perfect kingdom of yours that’d need a soldier to deliver it.’

Celestia decided to let Kain in on the matter because it was related to him ‘There was a double murder by the roadside last night. The corpses had been skinned and one survivor was found.’

Kain grimaced for a moment ‘Sounds like Xath.’

Celestia nodded ‘I thought so too.’

Kain asked with concern in his voice ‘What did he do to the survivor?’

The guardsmen answered ‘The survivor had all his fingers and toes broken, Sir.’

Kain shook his head ‘You can bet he suffered more than that. When you get around to interviewing him, you’ll find that he’s been hurt in a lot more ways than just that.’

‘What do you mean?’ Celestia asked.

‘You’ll find out’ Kain promised her.

Celestia turned to the guardsmen ‘You can leave now. Stay in the palace for now. We may need to discuss this later in a less open setting.’

The soldier stood and bowed ‘As you command you grace.’ Before turning and leaving.

Once he was gone Celestia turned to kain.

‘Now to deal with the other brother.’ She said to no one in particular ‘Do you know why you are here?’ she asked Kain.

Kain shrugged ‘You said you were concerned about my health or something. I just skimmed the letter.’

Celestia repressed the urge to shout at the man ‘You’re here because I’m concerned about my student and her friends.’

Kain smiled at her ‘Well in that case you’ve got nothing to worry about. They’re fine.’

Celestia said to him ‘That’s not what they say. They say that you are clearly not in your right mind.’

Kains’ smile stayed firm ‘The young are always prone to exaggeration.’

‘Not this time. You’ve been drinking every night you’ve been in Ponyville correct?’

Kain hesitated before answering ‘Yeah but-’ He got cut off before he could finish.

‘My student reports that you’ve been abusing them and humiliating them in front of each other as part of their tutelage. Is that correct?’

‘Yes but-’

‘I’ve also been told that you deliberately implied actions of sexual nature when you ordered them to undress.’

‘I was just trying to get under their skin. It’s not like-’

‘Listen to me very closely Kain. I checked the history books. I know what you did during that “civil war”. You took part in the massacre of over a thousand innocent horned folk refugees. The modern word for that is genocide. I would have had you executed the moment I found out about that if you weren’t all the way in Ponyville. If I’d known that when I saw you in Ponyville three nights ago I would have killed on the spot!’

Kain crossed his arms ‘That “massacre” was justice. The filthy unicorn loyalists had done the same thing days earlier.’
Celestia snorted in derision ‘So you carried out your “justice” on an entirely different group of people? Your civil war divided Equestria. It was only on hearts and hands day hundreds of years later that the damage you and your ilk caused was finally repaired. Kain I don’t trust you. I would not put any act of violence past you. Simply put: if it wasn’t for the situation we’re facing I wouldn’t let you within a thousand metres of my student or her friends.’

Kain just glared at her and let the tirade wash over him. He honestly didn’t care about her opinion and he was confident that she needed him enough not to try anything. So he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms behind his head in a very deliberately casual and relaxed pose.

‘What are you trying to say exactly?’ he said with a sneer.

Celestia smiled at him and said one thing.

‘Catch.’

Celestia tossed a small metallic copper coloured ball across the room to Kain. Kain deftly caught it and examined it in his hands. He was suspicious of her smile. It was a small ball about the size of a dice that was copper coloured and had numerous engravings on it. It looked familiar but he didn’t know why.

‘What is this?’ he asked Celestia.

‘That’s the first half of the penance.’ She said.

‘What does it do?’ Kain looked at her.

‘This.’

Her horn flashed and the device in Kains’ hand burned like it was red hot. Kain yelped and let go of it but it stuck to his hand. It then burned its way in and under his skin. Kain was a tough man but he screamed in pain as he felt the ball burning its way up the inside of his arm. The ball made its way to his chest before rising up into his head. It felt to Kain like the inside of his skull was burning. His eyes were rolled back up into his head and the white of his eyes were visible as he fell to the ground writhing in agony.

Eventually the pain stopped and Kain resurfaced from the back of his mind. He was on the ground and spittle and white foam coated his lips. His burned hand was fine and there was no visible marking of the pain he had just experienced. He wiped his mouth and stood up. He drew his sword.

‘What the fuck did you just do to me you fucking whore!?’ he shouted at her.

Celestia shook her head sadly and said ‘Your language is unacceptable. From now on you will not curse or insult anyone like that ever again.

Kain snarled at her and said ‘Why the fu-’

He was cut off as red hot pain consumed the inside of his skull again. He fell to his knees but this time he fought down the urge to scream. His sword fell to the ground with a clatter.

Celestia got up off her throne and walked down to him ‘The penance is an artefact that was left over from an ancient civilisation well before your time. Its function is to enact justice upon a criminal, like you, while giving them a chance to serve a purpose greater than themselves. I would have used it on you sooner had I the chance. The rules are simple. Every time I give you an order made on morally correct grounds you will have to do as I say or the penance will punish you. The penance only works on the guilty. If ever you get to the stage were you become a morally upstanding individual than the penance will cease to work. For now though you must do as I say.’ Celestia raised her arm and showed a copper bracelet around her hand similar to the ball that was currently buried in Kains’ skull. ‘As the bearer of the second half of the penance if I were to tell you to do something based on selfish reasons or morals that I consider wrong, than I will be punished.’

‘You bi-’ Kain stopped himself before he tried to insult her again. ‘What right do you have to do this? Do you have any idea who you are fu… Messing with?’

‘Oh I know who I’m “fucking” with. Kain be seated.’

Kain got up and sat in the chair glaring daggers at Celestia.

‘Now then. You will never, drink alcohol again. You will never hurt Twilight Sparkle or her friends again. You will protect them with your life. That means physically and mentally. You will not deliberately start any fight either directly or indirectly unless it means following my previous orders. You may continue to spar with my apprentice and her friends but you will not hurt them or debase like you have in the last few days.’

Kain looked like he was resisting the urge to try and kill Celestia.

‘and you are not to try and harm me, or anyone I care about, in any way shape or form. You are also not to lie to me. Ever.’

She then walked up to and sat on her throne.

‘You may hate me for this. I certainly would in your situation. But I truly do believe in second chances and I truly want to give you that chance. But I cannot trust you. You’re too unstable to be relied upon completely. I want you to get to know Twilight and all her friends. I order you to spend time outside of practice with them and I order you to make an effort to get to know them better.’

‘Damn you.’ Was all Kain said.

Celestia ignored his statement.

‘Now you never explained to me certain details of your plan to deal with Xath. For example how do you plan on luring Xath to where you want him to be?’

Kain glared at her sullenly but knew if he didn’t tell her she’d just order him to and he’d have to anyway. He reached under the collar of his coat and took out a thin lead coloured chain. He raised it so Celestia could see it. Every link on the chain was engraved with some kind of writing and she noticed the chain itself sparkled too much for it to be made of real lead.

‘When my brother left during the war he never said where he went to receive his powers. After he went crazy I learnt from his journal that he’d travelled overseas to a strange land. I travelled to this strange place to find out what I could about where he’d gotten his powers. This land was inhabited by a strange race of striped folk. I learnt from some sort of… shaman or witch doctor or something like that, that my brother had come this way and that he’d returned as he is now. On his return he’d given this chain to the shaman. The shaman gave it to me and told me that it was called a “Pact”, that’s a close translation anyway; I had learned to speak their language during my stay, and he warned me that if my brother ever got his hands on it, the consequences would be catastrophic. He also told me that if ever a time came to try and defeat my brother I could “call”, a loose translation, I could call my brother to me by dripping folk blood on the chain. The first time I tried it I wasn’t ready and my brother almost killed me. He never learned that it was me who called him with the chain though. The second time I had the elements of harmony and you know how that turned out.’

Celestia beckoned him over ‘Bring it to me.’

Kain stood up and took it off his neck as he brought it up to her. She took it out of his hand and examined it.

‘I don’t know this language’ she said.

‘Neither do I.’ Kain said in a deadpan tone.

Celestia took the chain and placed it in her pocket ‘I’m going to keep this in the royal vault. I order you not to touch this until I give you permission.’

Kain glared at her but didn’t say anything.
---

Several hours later Kain was in the flying chariot back to Ponyville. While he’d been in Canterlot the queen had questioned him more about the details of his plan. She ordered him around some more and he had no choice but to accept it. He hated orders. He’d barely tolerated them during the civil war and those orders were coming from people he’d respected not some jumped up greater folk that had convinced the world to act all sweet and nice.

‘Damn her!’ he shouted out loud and slammed his fist on the chariots railing.

The winged folk who were pulling the chariot ignored this outburst and Kain settled back into a more comfortable position. Every single time he tried to disobey one of her orders his brain felt like it was slowly sizzling and when he did actually disobey her orders it would burn white hot until he did as he was ordered. For a few seconds there Celestia actually looked sorry for him.

History books? Who wrote them? Why would anybody bother to tell his tale? It was nowhere near as remarkable as that of his brother or sister. It was true that he’d earned something of a reputation during the war for being a cold and merciless killer but he’d never earned a high rank and he’d never done anything to earn more fame than his heroic brother. During the war Xath had been the embodiment of the ideals that they’d fought for while Kain had been its dirty poorly kept secret.
Who the hell would write about the Kull gorge massacre anyway?

Kain had spent some more time in Canterlot after his session with Celestia. He’d placed an order at the royal blacksmiths for a variety of new swords that the girls would use when they were ready. The smith had been surprised by the last thing on that order. Kain was surprised the man even new how to make one but the smith had proven it by bringing one out from the back of his shop. Kain knew fine workmanship when he saw it and was glad to know that at least one thing had gone surprisingly well that day.

When he touched down in Ponyville he ignored the winged folks polite fare wells and headed towards his cabin. But every step he took he felt heat growing inside his brain. He then remembered he’d been ordered to spend time every day with at least one of the girls. He would have cursed to himself if the Princess hadn’t forbidden it. He had to go and find one of the girls before the night ended.
---

The girls had gone out dancing like they said they would. The six of them walked onto the club floor together. They were all dressed sexily except Applejack who Rarity had been unable to convince to wear anything more than a well-fitting pair of jeans and a clean loose white shirt. Rarity was stunning as always and Fluttershy had been half bullied by Rainbow and Rarity into wearing something other than a turtleneck.

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were both regulars at the club and both were familiar with the various people that ran the establishment. The bouncer at the door greeted them with a warm smile and let the group of friends in without having to wait in line. When they entered they were able to get a table without any trouble.

They spent their night between the dance floor and resting at the table. The music was techno and dance but despite that everyone in the group had a surprisingly fun time. Pinkie was insanely (more so than usual) exited and enjoyed it more than anyone else. She kept dragging the people who tried to sit down for too long onto their feet and into the middle of another dance.

Rainbow also had a particularly good time. She was loose friends with DJ P0N3 and always loved the tracks she played. Rainbow waved at her friend up in her booth but Vinyl didn’t notice and Rainbow suspected her eyes were closed under her purple sunglasses. The DJ had both hands busy and she bounced up and down with the beat. Rainbow often wondered why she didn’t just use magic.

Rainbow felt a tap on her shoulder and she turned around. She was shocked when she saw the face of the person that had tapped her on the shoulder. Rainbows’ good feelings disappeared the moment she saw that face. Rainbow crossed her arms and stared at the source of her new found unhappiness.

‘What do you want Gilda!?’ Rainbow tried to shout over the music.

Gilda put a hand to ear and shook her head. She then grabbed Rainbows’ hand and jerked her free thumb at the exit. Rainbow looked at the exit and realised Gilda wanted her to go outside with her. Rainbow wasn’t worried that Gilda wanted to fight or something because if she had Gilda would have attacked already. Rainbow looked to see that her friends were watching her with concern on their faces. They recognised Gilda from when they met her a year or so before. Rainbow thought about it for a second before she nodded and let herself be led out of the club.

The Griffon led the way. Griffons looked a little like the winged folk in that they had wings but a griffons’ wings were larger than a sky folks and were almost always brown. Also rather than hair they had feathers growing out of their head and their hands ended in birdlike talons, but they still had opposable thumbs. They also had a long tail. Gildas’ feathers were white and her wings were brown. Like most Griffons she was taller than the average folk coming just short of being the same height as Applejack. Gilda was fairly brawny too but not all griffons were. She wore a plain white tank top and her wings were folded as small as she could make them.

They eventually made it to the exit and Rainbow noticed that Gilda was unusually gentle with the people who got in her way. They walked out the door and the bouncer nodded at Rainbow as she went by. The two girls made their way down the stairs and to the street.

They both stopped and stared at each other for a second.

‘So… how are things?’ Gilda asked awkwardly.

Rainbow didn’t want to put up with Gildas’ deliberate casualness and cut across her ‘what do you want Gilda?’

Gilda stared at the ground and shuffled her feat awkwardly.

It was a few seconds before she answered ‘I wanted to…’ she took a breath and said ‘I’m sorry.’

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at her ‘What? You’re sorry? Sorry for dragging me out of the club or sorry for not seeing me in a year or are you sorry because you abused my friends and me?!’

Gilda continued to stare at the ground during the tirade ‘I’m sorry for all of it… Look I know it wasn’t cool of me to not speak to you in a year or whatever and then to come back and expect us to be friends again but…’ she stopped herself.
It was a few seconds before Rainbow got frustrated with the silence ‘You were the one who dragged me out here. You do the talking or I’m going back to hang out with my real friends.’

‘All right then. Rainbow…’ Gilda paused ‘You are, or you used to be my only friend. And I honestly haven’t got any others. When we were at that summer camp we were best friends. And you always stuck by me even when I gave you shit or dragged you into some dumb stunt and we got caught or whatever. And when my parents kicked me out because I was a lesbian you gave me a place to sleep when I had nowhere else to go even though I was nothing but a... And when people started to call you a dyke for hanging out with me you ignored them and kept doing it anyway. When I started to go out with that bitch and you warned me about her I never listened. I always told you to fuck off or something. Then when you were right you didn’t say I told you so, you just welcomed me back even though I’d been horrible to you. And then last year when I needed a place to stay you were the first person I turned to.’ She took a deep breath.

‘I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m sorry for being such a useless fuck up. There it is. In this friendship I was always in the wrong and I just want to say I’m sorry for being such a god awful bitch.’

Rainbow Dash crossed her arms unimpressed. ‘Gilda… That’s not good enough.’

Gilda nodded and continued ‘I know it isn’t… Rainbow... You mean too much to for to just move on and I just really want to be friends again but-’

‘But what!’ Rainbow shouted at her ‘I gave you every chance. EVERY bloody chance I could. I knew you had shit tons of baggage and a really fucked up situation at home. So when you saw me last year and asked for a place to stay I said sure. I’ll give her a chance to meet someone nice. People that wouldn’t use her or abuse her and maybe could even become friends with her the way that I am. But then you…’ Rainbow visibly fought down her anger. She took in a deep breath before she continued ‘I’ve seen you get that angry before. I think if I wasn’t there you probably would have seriously damaged Pinkie. Now you’re standing there and asking me to give you another chance. Another chance to do what? Fuck up and kill someone this time? I can’t even rely on you to not do that!’ Gilda looked hurt but she didn’t interrupt or object. ‘I cared about you. And now I don’t. You fucked up one time too many Gilda. I think you should-’

A voice interrupted them.

‘What’s going on here?’

Neither of them had noticed Kain walk up.

Rainow sounded annoyed when she spoke ‘What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in Canterlot?’

‘The boss lady let me go early. What’s going on?’ Kain waved a hand in the direction of Gilda.

Rainbow sighed and uncrossed her arms ‘Kain this is Gilda. She was just leaving.’

Gilda objected ‘But-’

Rainbow cut her off ‘No Gilda. I wish we hadn’t met tonight. Go home.’

Gilda hesitated again. ‘Rainbow I-’

Kain stepped between her and Rainbow. ‘She wants you to go.’

Gilda shouted at him angrily ‘This isn’t your business. Go away. I just want to talk.’

‘She doesn’t want to talk. Leave now. Or don’t leave and someone can drag you to the hospital when I’m done with you.’
Threatening Gilda definitely wasn’t the way to get her to cooperate.

‘Are you threatening me?’ She growled at Kain the feathers on her head standing up.

‘Listen…’ Kain growled back except when he spoke it sounded much more dangerous ‘I’ve had a really REALLY bad day and I would be more than happy to de-stress by beating someone into the ground, so please for my sake, stay here.’

‘Kain!’ Rainbow exploded.

Kain turned around to face her.

Rainbow Dash was the element of loyalty and even if she said she didn’t she still cared a little bit about Gilda. Kain threatening Gilda like that was exactly what it took for Rainbow to side with Gilda. Kain threatening Gilda had changed her in Rainbows mind from being a potential source of trouble for her friends to a potential victim of someone she hated.

‘This is my own damn business. I don’t need your help. Fuck off!’ Rainbow said to Kain as firmly as she could.

Kain appraised her for a second ‘Do you want to talk to her?’

‘No I don’t but-’

Kain turned back around to face Gilda before Rainbow was done speaking ‘leave.’ He ordered her.

He started to unsheathe his sword.

‘Listen buddy. She doesn’t want you involved. This is her business. Go away and let us talk alone.’ Gilda said as calmly as she could manage but her voice still sounded aggressive.

Rainbow then realised Gilda wasn’t going to leave and that Kain was really going to hurt her if she didn’t. She realised that Kain was in his own weird way trying to protect Rainbow. She realised that the only way to protect Gilda from Kain was to convince him Gilda wasn’t a problem.

‘I want to talk to her!’ Rainbow shouted.

Kain turned back to appraise Rainbow.

‘I want to talk to Gilda’ Rainbow repeated less loudly.

Kain glanced at her and back at Gilda ‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes.’

Kain put a hand to his head and seemed to ponder her response for a second before he shrugged. Rainbow could have imagined it but she could swear that he suddenly looked relieved for some reason. He turned and walked up the stairs to the club, the bouncer let him pass without question. Rainbow had no idea why.

‘Who was that?’ Gilda asked.

Rainbow wrinkled her nose in disgust as she answered ‘Just some prick.’ She looked at Gilda and Rainbow just sounded just plain tired. ‘Gilda… Fine. Come over to my house tomorrow and we’ll discuss this then when I’ve had time to calm down and think it through a little.’

Gilda smiled at Rainbow ‘Are you saying-’

Rainbow interrupted her ‘I’m not saying anything. Come over tomorrow and well talk about it then. For now I just need to be alone.’

Gilda looked so relieved when she heard Rainbow say that.

Rainbow didn’t even bother saying anything to Gilda when she turned away.

Gilda called out a good night but Rainbow ignored her. She went inside the club and found her friends. She told them she was tired and wanted to go home. They knew she was lying but let her get away without any discussion.

Rainbow went outside and unfurled her wings. Gilda was gone. Rainbow flew up to her cloud house.
She showered and went to bed.