When Rainbow awoke she had temporarily forgotten Gilda. It was fairly late in the morning and Rainbow had over slept. This was unusual for her. Rainbow decided that she’d gotten enough exercise with all the sword practice she had to do anyway and it wouldn’t matter if she missed her morning routine just this one time.

Rolling out of bed and on to her feet Rainbow rubbed sleep from her eyes. The sky folk had fallen asleep wearing only her underwear and it smelled pretty bad because of it. On a whim she went downstairs and stepped out the front door of her house onto the cloud porch. She surveyed the view of Ponyville and smiled to herself softly.

She extended her wings to full span and stretched contentedly. This stretch brought on a yawn and she didn’t bother to cover her mouth but instead held her arms out to either side of herself. Joints popped satisfyingly as she arched her back. Finished stretching Rainbow returned to a normal position feeling contented.

‘Nice.’ A voice Rainbow recognised said from her right hand side.

Rainbow turned to her right and saw Gilda standing there to the right. The griffon had been standing there the entire time apparently and she had a faint smile on her face. Rainbow hadn’t seen her when she was stretching. Memories of the night before returned and Rainbow remembered that she’d invited Gilda over.

Rainbow shrugged and said in a deliberately uncaring tone ‘Nothing you haven’t seen before.’

It would be lying if Rainbow she said she wasn’t a little worried Gilda had seen that display. If Gilda was attracted to her then she wasn’t the first person, and Rainbow was proud of her body, but still it was unnerving. Rainbow tried to not show how uncomfortable she actually was.

Gilda nodded her head and said ‘Yeah but it’s still a nice view.’

Rainbow walked back inside and Gilda followed her in.

‘How long had you been standing there?’ Rainbow asked.

Gilda shrugged ‘About ten minutes. I was just trying to decide whether waking you up would make things worse or waiting at your door would seem more pathetic.’

Rainbow nodded and said as uncaringly as she could ‘I’m going upstairs to change.’

Rainbow started up the stairs, without waiting on the griffons’ response, and came back down a while later in her usual attire. Gilda was sitting on the couch and awkwardly tapping her feet. She looked nervous to Rainbow but the moment Gilda saw her coming down the stairs the tapping stopped and the casual air returned. Rainbow could still see how nervousness her houseguest though really was though.

Rainbow ignored her and went into the kitchen and made herself a bowl of cereal. It was a high nutrition low flavour brand grain mix. She hated it but it was cheaper than any other brand and being the weather folk of such a small town really didn’t pay that well. Plus the job wasn’t exactly a fulltime position. The weather didn’t need to be constantly managed. More often than not they just let nature run its course.

Rainbow came out and sat on the couch and began eating her food. Gilda remained seated and tried awkwardly to maintain her casual air that Rainbow could see straight through. Rainbow enjoyed the discomfort she was causing Gilda. It was a little revenge for Gildas’ massive perv from earlier.

After she was done Rainbow went into her kitchen and put her bowl in the sink and left it there. It could be cleaned later.

The sky folk turned to Gilda and said ‘Alright.’

Gilda looked hopeful ‘Alright what?’

‘I’ll give you another chance.’ Rainbow said.

Gilda broke into a huge grin ‘Awesome… I mean, you know, cool and...’

Rainbow crossed her arms ‘Don’t try to act like this doesn’t mean a lot to you. You made it pretty clear last night that you pretty much need me.’

Gilda looked at the ground and shuffled her feet.

‘Now. If you want to be friends with me, you need to be friends with my other friends. I’m not going to put up with it if no one else can stand you.’

Gilda looked a little daunted at this ‘that’s not gonna be easy. I don’t think any your friends will want to be friends with me after last time.’

Rainbow shrugged ‘I know. But that’s your problem. Just remember that this isn’t just your second chance here Gilda. I’ve stuck my neck out for you in the past and pretty much every time I did you messed it up. This is your last chance. I’m asking you stick your neck out for me for once.’

Gilda nodded in understanding. ‘Who are your friends again? I remember that Pink one…’

Dash rolled her eyes ‘Her name’s Pinkie. You met my all my friends at that party she threw, remember?’

Gilda nodded ‘I remember meeting them but I don’t remember any of them.’

Rainbow sighed ‘Alright. Before you meet any of them again you should apologise to Pinkie. I mean a sincere apology. I’m not going to be there to hold your hand so you’ll have to do it for yourself. You can find her at sugar cube corner. If you don’t know where that is you can ask anyone for directions. After that you can meet me back here at about half past eleven. If you can handle that we’ll see about reintroducing you to my other friends.’

Gilda nodded ‘Kay. I can do that. Sounds easy.’

Rainbow snorted ‘Gilda, if it were anyone else I’d agree, but seeing as how it’s you, I got the odds counted at about fifty fifty.’

With that Rainbow turned and flew out the door without saying good bye.

Pinkie hated manning the counter. It was the absolute most boringest part of her job. Well that wasn’t completely true. It could be really-really super boring in the mornings when almost no one came in but during lunch and afternoons it could be uber fun. But at the moment it was early morning, so it was boring.

Because of her afternoon training sessions Pinkie now only ever had the stupid morning shifts. She much preferred to be in the back baking with Mr or Mrs Cake but today was her day on the register so she had to man the dumb machine.
Pinkie was banging her head was on the counter and when the shops’ door rang open. The pink haired girl looked up with a smile, hoping to see one of her friends but was disappointed to see Kain stepping in through the doorway.

Pinkie didn’t like Kain. Not at all. Normally she was given to love and tolerance but Kain was just really mean. The man hurt people and didn’t see anything wrong with it, he was rude and aggressive, he wasn’t nice to anyone and worst of all he abused Pinkies’ friends.

The hopeful smile vanished off her face entirely as the man approached the counter. There was no reason to bother pretending to be happy to see him. Kain stopped at the counter and a tense silence was in the air for a second while the seated Pinkie stared up at the larger man.

It was Pinkie who broke the silence ‘What can I get you?’ she asked in an uncharacteristically flat voice.

Kain seemed undecided about something.

Eventually he spoke ‘I’m not sure what it’s called.’

Pinkie was interested to hear this. Even if she didn’t like Kain she still loved to help people.

‘That’s silly. How can I help you if you don’t even know what you want?’

Kain thought about it for a second ‘I’ve only had it once. It’s a… roll or something that’s filled with custard and has chocolate on top.’

Pinkie thought about this description for a second. The pink haired baker went over to the arrayed baked goods and selected a box of the described treats. Pinkie came back, placed it on the table and opened the lid.

‘Is this it?’ she asked.

Kain smiled and nodded. It wasn’t one of Kains’ normal smiles where he was laughing at you silently or just plain old smirking at you; rather it was a simple smile of genuine happiness. Pinkie had never seen him look like that and she beamed the smile back at him. It was obvious this particular treat had some meaning to him.

‘It’s called a Profitto Roll. What’s so special about it?’ Pinkie asked and was genuinely curious.
Kain ignored her question and asked his own ‘how much are they?’

Pinkie knew the price off the top of her head ‘It’s just five bits for two.’ Kain reached into his pocket for the money. ‘But if you tell me why it’s so special to you… I’ll throw in a third one for free.’

Kain thought about it for a second.

He shrugged and answered ‘It’s a fairly long story.’

Pinkie waved a hand at the empty bakery ‘I’m not super busy right now.’

The man thought about it for a second before he said ‘Alright then.’

Kain placed five bits on the bench and took three of the rolls.

Walking over to an empty table Kain sat down comfortably in one of the chairs. A bite was taken from one of the rolls and his eyes glazed over. The rolls were delicious Pinkie could guarantee that.

Pinkie put the coins in the register and sat in the chair opposite him. After he finished the first roll he began his story.

‘It was the largest battle in the entire war. It happened before the winged folk joined the rebellion. I was younger back then but already a veteran of a fair few battlefields. We earth folk outnumbered the opposition drastically but they had better tactics and magical support. It was a miracle that we won at all. We fought for a city on the coast. It was called Haven. The battle would later be called The Battle for Hopes Coast. Haven was the second largest city in the land. It was the one city that the rebellion managed to take from a greater folk before Xaths’ change.’

‘The battle lasted five days. I was on the frontlines the entire time. I have a clear memory of that first day. After that everything fades together into a series of assaults and raids and temporary defences and counter attacks. It was hell. The mystic folk rained fire down on us and the winged folk made retreat impossible. I was awake constantly for all five days. I took part in the final assault on the cities palace.’

‘That greater folk there killed damn near a hundred men before he was put down. The man that killed him died doing the deed. When he fell we declared victory. Everybody cheered except the men who’d been there at the start. Very few soldiers who went in on the first assault survived to see the end. I didn’t cheer. My sword arm was numb from hacking through armour and limbs, my vision was blurred, my legs hurt from near constant running and marching, my ears were ringing, blood and sweat mingled together to stain my skin and armour and I had thousands of bruises and scratches that made every movement painful.’

‘Instead of celebrating I just wandered out of the palace into the ruins of the burning city. I wandered alone for hours before I eventually found a bakery.’ His voice took on a more nostalgic tone ‘The building was beautiful. Large two stories and made of stone. It looked like a rock in the storm. I went inside and found that it had been ransacked. All the food had been wrecked or eaten by rats. All but one jar sitting untouched and perfectly preserved in a pile of broken glass and rotten food. I picked up the jar and opened it. Inside were four, just four of these’ Kain raised one of the rolls in his hand. ‘They were stale and a little off but I hadn’t eaten in over two days. There used to be a saying that hunger is the best seasoning. It’s true. To me they tasted like… Words don’t describe it.’ He indicated the rolls on the plate ‘These are beautiful but they… They were perfect in every way.’

‘I think to this day that I’ve-’

The story was interrupted when the bell on the door rang. They both turned and saw Gilda enter. Pinkie stood up from her seat and walked over to behind the register.

Gilda walked towards the counter purposefully. Pinkie smiled at her widely. Kain watched and quietly chewed his food but Pinkie noticed him wrap his free hand around his sword handle.

Gilda arrived at the counter and began to speak ‘Hi-’

She was interrupted by Pinkie who shouted out excitedly ‘hey Gilda! Long-time no see. Well actually I saw you at the club last night so it wasn’t very long for me but I don’t think you saw me so it was a long time for you. Are you here to apologise to me?’

Gilda was a little overwhelmed by her exuberance but she managed a hesitant answer ‘Um… Yeah. How did you know that?’

Pinkie giggled ‘It’s pretty obvious. You want to be friends with Rainbow again. Rainbow wouldn’t be friends with someone her friends hated. You were mean to me last time you were here so obviously the first thing you’d do would be to try and make it up to me.’

Gilda blinked seeming confused. She decided to push past the oddness that was Pinkie.
‘I’m sorry.’ she said as plainly as possible.

Pinkie smiled and reached forward and grabbed Gildas’ hand. She started shaking it enthusiastically. It took all of Gildas’ willpower not to jerk her hand away from the overly enthusiastic earth folk.

‘Apology accepted!’ Pinkie said exuberantly ‘Any friend of Dashie is a friend of mine.’
Gilda only heard the most important part of that sentence ‘Wait… Dashie? Did you just call Rainbow Dash?… Dashie?’
Pinkie nodded ‘Uh huh.’

Gilda laughed ‘Dashie?’ her speech was broken up by fits of laughter ‘Oh man I wish I knew that was her nickname before! Hah! If you tried to call her Dashie in flight camp she’d probably have killed you!’ Gilda shook with mirth.
Pinkie didn’t understand what was so funny about that name but she laughed along with Gilda purely because she was the element of laughter.

‘Anyway’ Gilda continued when she had better control ‘I gotta go see “Dashie” and tell her how this went. See you around Pinkie.’

Gilda turned and walked towards the door.

‘Okay then. Bye-bye Gildie!’ Pinkie called exuberantly after her.

Gilda heard the “Gildie” part of that and her posture stiffened visibly. The griffon very slowly turned and stared at Pinkie. Gilda opened her mouth like she was about to say something but she stopped herself closed it, turned and walked out the door.

Pinkie walked back over and sat at the table with Kain who took his hand of his sword.

Kain picked up the conversation ‘Do you always deal with Rainbows’ exes?’

Pinkie blinked at him confusedly. ‘Huh?’

‘I mean do all Rainbows ex-girlfriends come through here?’

Pinkie shook her head and said ‘Oh… No Gilda isn’t Rainbows’ ex.’

Kain looked confused ‘Than what was with that lover’s argument I overheard last night?’

Pinkie shook her head ‘I don’t know but Rainbow and Gilda never dated.’

‘Are you sure?’

Pinkie nodded again ‘Yeah. Rainbows not into girls for one thing.’

‘Rainbow’s not gay?’ Kain asked confusedly.

Pinkie nodded slowly ‘Yeah… Why would you think she is?’

Kain shrugged ‘Well with the hair and that voice and her being a tomboy… Also when I overheard those two arguing last night I sort of assumed.’

Pinkie was horrified ‘That’s stereotyping!’

Kain shrugged. ‘Whatever. Are you sure she’s not gay then?’

Pinkie shook her head ‘No she’s not and it’s wrong that you would assume she is because of something like her hair.’

Kain rolled his eyes ‘I don’t care. Who is this Gilda to Rainbow anyway?’

‘She’s one of her old friends from high school’ Pinkie answered.

Kain tilted his head at her ‘Wait… You’re saying Rainbow’s… educated?’

Pinkie looked at him oddly ‘Yeah. So am I and pretty much everyone who lives in Ponyville.’

Kain reacted to this strangely. ‘Huh… Things have changed.’

‘What do you mean?’ Pinkie asked.

‘Back in my time only people born rich could afford an education.’

Pinkie giggled ‘Well that’s a bit silly. You mean you never went to school?’

‘Sort of. I went through blade training and in order to do that I learned about the history of warfare and in order to do that I was taught to read and write.’

Pinkie nodded though she was still a little confused. Old times were weird.

Kain continued the conversation ‘I’m actually really good with languages. I can speak four different tongues on top of this one. Funny how this language stayed the same after all these years.’

Pinkie was glad to hear Kain had some talent other than hurting people ‘Huh… What other languages do you know then?’

Kain seemed a little sad when he spoke ‘Well they’re dead languages now but I spoke in the tongue of the striped folk, high and low Troteerian and Kambi.’

Pinkie was curious ‘What are those?’

‘The tongue of the striped folk is pretty obviously the language the striped folk spoke, or at least they used to, I don’t know if they do anymore. Kambi was from eastern Grazia and Troteerian was from my home land. It was broken up into two sub dialects, high and low, to help distinguish social status; they were both practically different languages. The high born folk refused to learn low and the low born were not allowed to learn high so the differences grew even more over time.’

Pinkie nodded in understanding. Normally she didn’t care or history but talking to someone who was actually part of that history was way more interesting than any of Twilights books or lectures.

Kain had finished the last of his rolls so he stood up.
‘Thanks for the meal.’ He said to Pinkie. ‘I’ve got to get today’s session ready.’

Pinkie wilted visibly at the mention of the upcoming and sure to be painful session. Kain left the bakery without saying goodbye.

When Rainbow left Gilda she didn’t honestly have anything to do so she just flew around town for a while. Rainbow loved flying and this morning couldn’t have been better for it. The sky was clear, the sun was warm, the wind was low and the view was spectacular.

Rainbow flew around like this for a while until she spotted something a little unusual; sitting alone at a café was a certain blue haired mystic folk.

Vinyl was rarely seen during the daytime. The career path and life style she followed meant she was all but nocturnal. To see her awake before lunch time though… that was just unheard of. Maybe she might drag herself out of bed at about four in the afternoon but never would she be awake this early in the morning.

Overcome by curiosity Rainbow landed in the street near Vinyl. The two of them were loose friends so it wasn’t all that unusual for Rainbow walked up and said hi to Vinyl. That said the two of them were in the middle of an awkward phase and Rainbow had been nervously avoiding talking with Vinyl for some time now.
When Rainbow said ‘hi’ and Vinyl looked around and saw her.

With purple sunglasses in place over her eyes Vinyl grinned her trademark daredevil grin at Rainbow. In one hand she had a steaming cup of coffee and in her other hand she had a photo that Rainbow couldn’t see. As Rainbow approached Vinyl sipped her coffee and put the photo in her pocket.

‘Hey Lover’ Vinyl said to Rainbow once she got closer.

Rainbows jaw tightened when she heard Vinyls’ terrible nickname for her but she tried not to give Vinyl any indication she was displeased by it and sat down in the seat across from Vinyl like nothing was wrong.

‘How’d you enjoy last night?’ Vinyl asked before Rainbow had a chance to speak.
Rainbow shrugged ‘It was alright. Your music was better than usual.’

Vinyl shook her head and her grin widened ‘Only alright? I thought it would have been better than that.’ Her voice dripped with suggestion.

Rainbow cocked her head in confusion ‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean I saw you get picked up by that griffon chick. Nice… very exotic dude. Never been with a griffon before. What’s it like?’

‘No-no-no.’ Rainbow shook her head ‘That was just Gilda, she and I-’

‘So you remember her name? You plan on seeing her again I take it.’

‘No! She’s not-’

‘Nice catch dude. Brawny and tall ain’t usually my thing on a chick, but I’m sure you can live with being the bitch in bed.’

‘Vinyl!’ Rainbow shouted in frustration.

‘Course I ain’t one to judge.’

‘Shut up!’ Rainbow snapped.

Vinyls’ talking ceased but it was clear from the grin on her face she was enjoying the reactions she was getting from Rainbow. Rainbow couldn’t even remember why she ever wanted to talk to Vinyl in the first place.

The DJ continued ‘I’m a little hurt Lover.’ Rainbow cringed at the nickname. ‘I thought you came to see my show and instead you walk out at the first pretty tail that comes your way.’

‘It’s not like that and you know it isn’t. Gilda is an old friend-’

‘Ohhhhh. I get it. She’s your ex.’
‘No she’s-’

‘Nah it’s cool. I understand now. She wanted to pick things up with you and you turned her down to spare my feelings. I’m flattered really.’

Rainbow decided not to say anything, because anything she did say could and would be used against her.
Vinyl continued undaunted ‘But seriously Rainbow you gotta get over me. I mean, I know I rocked your world but come on, you gotta move on.’

Rainbow rolled her eyes. She decided to change the topic ‘What are you doing up this early?’
Viny shrugged and her grin dropped. ‘Don’t change the subject, were talking about you Rainbow.’

‘There’s nothing to talk about.’ Rainbow said vehemently.

‘You know there is.’ Vinyl grinned once more.

‘Nothing happened.’

‘Nothing we can talk about in good company.’

‘For Celestias’ sake Vinyl! WE DID NOT SLEEP TOGETHER!’ Rainbow shouted louder than she probably should have.

Some of the folk they were sharing the outdoor Cafe with stared at her in surprise. Rainbow looked down sheepishly. Vinyl laughed openly at Rainbows outburst.

Vinyl picked up the conversation when she was done laughing ‘I’m not teasing you now dude, but we totally did it.’
Rainbow was frustrated by that memory or rather the lack of that memory. She went dancing one night and got really drunk. She woke up in the morning sharing a bed with Vinyl and having no memory of the previous night. Vinyl also had no recollection of what happened. For some reason Vinyl wasn’t wearing anything above her waist other than her sunglasses which she was still wearing. Rainbows’ bra was missing even though she was otherwise fully dressed. Since then Rainbow had found things between her and Vinyl really awkward. The DJ however laughed her ass off at Rainbows’ discomfort, teased her relentlessly about it and gave Rainbow the awful nickname of Lover. To this day Rainbow said they hadn’t slept together and the DJ insisted that they had.

‘Dude. If you shared a bed with me then we did it. That’s just the way I work.’

‘But it’s not the way I work.’ Rainbow argued ‘I wouldn’t have slept with you.’

Vinyl shook her head ‘We’ve had this argument before dude. I say we did it, you say you wouldn’t have because you’re straight, I say you’re as gay as they come, you say “no I’m not”.’

‘Because I’m not!’ Rainbow said loudly.

Vinyl sighed and resigned herself to repeat the old argument ‘Who was the last guy you dated?’

‘You know the answer to that.’ Rainbow answered angrily.

Vinyl asked the follow up question ‘Who was the last guy you slept with?’

‘You know the answer to that too.’ Rainbow retorted.

Vinyl continued her argument ‘Never happened on both accounts. Who was the last girl you dated?’

Rainbow shook her head and said ‘No one.’

‘Who was the last girl you slept with?’ Vinyl asked.

‘I’ve never slept with anyone’ Rainbow grumbled.

‘Other than me.’ Vinyl said sassily.

Rainbow ground her teeth in frustration.

‘You hang out with five other girls all day and you never go after any guys. You’re totally crushing on one of them. I just don’t know who yet.’

Rainbow gave up ‘I’m changing the topic. I don’t want to talk about this again.’

‘Fine dude. However you deal with your feelings.’

‘Why are you up so early?’ Rainbow asked.

‘It’s not that early.’

‘For you it is.’

‘Fair enough. I’ve got a gig in Canterlot next week so I’m trying to get into a better sleep pattern.’

Rainbow shook her head ‘That doesn’t make much sense. You can go all day and all night if you have to’

‘As you know from experience’

Rainbow ignored the irritating interruption ‘sometimes you actually play better when you’re tired as hell.’

Vinyl shrugged ‘Alright then. I guess its cause I’m meeting someone and want to be fully awake for it.’

‘Who?’

‘Musician.’

‘Who?’ Rainbow repeated the question.

Vinyl waved her hands in a vague way ‘Some classical player named Octy…. Oct something. I didn’t really pay attention.’

‘If you don’t even know her name then why are you trying to make a good impression?’

Vinyl just grinned at Rainbow even more widely than before.

‘Wait… You want to?... Do her?’

Vinyl nodded and took out a photo ‘This is her.’

Rainbow looked at a picture of a beautiful but severe looking woman in her early twenties. She was staring at the camera with a serious expression and wearing a pink bow tie.

‘Come on Vinyl that’s just ridiculous. You’ve only seen a photo of her and you’re determined to screw her? You don’t even know if she’ll swing that way.’

Vinyl shrugged nonchalantly ‘I like a challenge. Besides, if she turns me down then I’ll just pick up some lucky guy or girl at a club.’

‘Have you ever even been to Canterlot? I have and there aren’t any places in Canterlot like the clubs you’re used to.’

Vinyl looked at Rainbow curiously ‘Rainbow. Are you jealous of my soon-to-be hot date?’

Rainbow sighed in frustration and stood up. ‘That’s it. I can’t deal with you anymore. I’m going.’

Vinyl said laughing ‘That’s not a denial.’

Rainbow rolled her eyes ‘Because that’s not even worth a response’. With that she turned around flew away.

Rarity was waiting in the clearing with everyone else. These practice sessions were loathed by her. Most of her work was behind because of them. Constantly coming home muddy and bruised and having to deal with Sweetie Bell and the cutie mark crusaders didn’t help things. The thing she hated most of all about the sessions was the teacher.

Kain was rude, aggressive, unsympathetic to anyone and worst of all he made an impressive effort to make these sessions as unpleasant to everyone involved as humanly possible. Yesterday when he hadn’t come Rarity had wanted to leap with joy but her carefully maintained composure had prevented her from doing that.

Also hated was the fact that they were being taught to kill. In the end that’s what this was; a dedicated effort to kill one man. This clashed with her moral values to say the least.

Rarity was already in a bad mood when Kain walked into the clearing with a wooden sword on his hip. The mood was worsened when five minutes later Rainbow followed him in with Gilda at her hip. Rarity definitely wasn’t happy to see Gilda. Kain wasn’t either apparently.

‘What the fu…’ he stopped himself ‘what is this?!’ He yelled the moment he saw her.

‘This is Gilda. You met her last-’ Rainbow answered and was cut off.

‘I know who she is! What I want to know is why she’s here!’ He looked really angry.

Rarity was worried that he was about to force Rainbow into a ring.

‘What’s with this douche?’ Gilda asked Rainbow out loud.

Everything in the clearing quieted. Kain looked ready to murder. He stepped forward towards Gilda in a very threatening manner.

Then something happened that made the situation worse, So much worse.

A ‘whump’ and a flap of wings rang from behind the assembled folk. Kain turned around looking ready to shout at the source of that noise. Whatever he was about to say was never vocalised.

Standing there grinning evilly was a man with two curved horns on his head and two large black leathery wings growing out of his back. The man was above 8 feet tall and was just as tall as Celestia herself and garbed in nothing but a pair of badly stitched leather pants. The man was well muscled and in very good physical condition. Where Kain had lean but functional muscles this man was brawnier and was also unarmed.

Rarity made the logical leap that this was Xath and she suddenly felt quite scared.

‘Hello brother.’ Xath said loudly enough for everyone to hear.

‘Everybody get behind me.’ Kain ordered the group.

Rarity complied and stepped behind Kain with the others.

‘Trying to protect the woman and children?’ Xath laughed ‘I’ve never known you to be so noble.’

Kain didn’t respond. Everyone was now standing behind him. Kain had a wooden sword in his hands. Everyone else in the clearing drew their wooden swords as well. Rarity knew the swords be useless and the wood in her hands did not reassure her at all.

‘I see two winged folk, two horned folk and two earth folk. Let me guess… The bearers of the elements of harmony right?’ Xath giggled a bit ‘This scene is familiar. I remember last time. ‘Course these ones don’t have the elements with them so…’ he shrugged indifferently.

He started forward across the clearing and everyone else stepped back.

Gilda spoke up ‘What the hell is with this guy? What the fuck is going on?’

‘Gilda, shut up.’ Rainbow answered the tension causing her voice to crack.

‘A griffon? What are you doing here? You’re not a bearer.’ Xath tapped his chin thoughtfully ‘You’re a long way from home little bird.’

He was toying with them. His steps were slow and deliberate. The way he smiled at them playfully frightened Rarity and she couldn’t help it, she shivered.
The sadistic smile suddenly disappeared and was replaced with a look of absolute fury.

‘Where is it?’ Xath asked more quietly then before.

Kain didn’t respond.

Xath suddenly leapt the rest of the distance between him and Kain. Moving so fast he blurred. swinging his sword Kain tried to hit Xath. Catching it with his hands Xath yanked the blunt wooden object out of Kains’ grip. Tossing the sword away contempt fully Xath slammed an open palm against Kains’ chest. Blocking it Kain was launched off his feet through the crowd of girls knocking Rainbow Dash, Gilda and Applejack to the ground. Rarity barely had time to bring up a magical barrier before Xath slammed himself into her. Thrown across the clearing Rarity landed on her head and was briefly knocked out.

When she recovered and sat up Xath was the only person on his feet. Rainbow and Gilda were both unconscious with blood trickling down the side of their head, Pinkie was face down and not moving, Applejack was on her back and Xath was currently holding Fluttershy in a stranglehold.

Pulled herself to her feet Rarity charged to her friends’ aid, she wasn’t the only one. Applejack also climbed to her feet and charged. Xaths’ horns darkening, Rarity felt something wrap around her ankle and she was swung violently into Applejack. Applejack was knocked over. Raritys’ face hit the ground and she lost track of everything again.
When she recovered Applejack was on the ground with Xath standing over her. His foot was pressing her face into the mud and he had a hold on her arm.

‘You’re a strong one aren’t you?’ He chuckled.

Xath wrenched her arm sharply and a thunderously loud crack rang out across the clearing. Applejack screamed in pain. Rarity was still dazed from the fight and Applejacks’ scream sounded like a distant nightmare. She tried to get to her feat but fell to the ground.

Leaving Applejack Xath walked to where Kain was just starting to stand up. Reaching out one handed and grabbing Kain by the throat Xath effortlessly lifted him off his feet.

Applejack had stopped screaming and was now sobbing under her breath. The farmer kept trying to climb to her feet but kept slipping and falling back into the mud broken arm.

‘Where’s the Pact?!’ Xath shouted at Kain. ‘I can smell it all over you.’ Kain couldn’t answer with his airway being blocked as it was ‘You used to have it but someone else has it now. Who has it?!’

Rarity saw Twilight disappear from where she was on the ground in a flash of violet light. She reappeared next to Applejack and both she and Applejack disappeared. Reappearing near Rarity, Twilight teleported herself and Rarity into Twilights’ library.

Twilight started disappearing and reappearing. She teleported in with Rainbow Dash and Gilda then Fluttershy finally with Pinkie. Everyone except Kain. Disappearing one last time Twilight reappeared a few second later. Kain wasn’t with her.

Collapsing to her feet in exhaustion Twilight clutched her head. Rarity knew using so much magic like that was extremely draining.

Applejack had stopped sobbing though tears were visible in her eye; she was clutching her broken arm to herself and trying to stand up again. Fluttershy rushed over and forced her to sit back down then went about attending the wounded arm.

Pinkie seemed mostly unhurt but she pulled herself into the foetal position and cried to herself. Rainbow and Gilda both remained unconscious. Twilight appeared mostly fine but looked like she was having trouble standing up. Rarity was still woozy from being thrown at Applejack like that so she stayed seated.

Twilight shouted out ‘Spike! Spike!’

Spike came running down the stairs ‘Twilight what’s wrong?’

‘Go get the guards.’

‘Why what happened?’ he said looking around at the battered bunch.

‘Spike, go get the guards, right now!’

Spike hesitantly nodded and ran outside.

Rarity was the first one to speak after he’d left ‘Where’s Kain?’

Twilight shivered ‘I couldn’t get to him.’

‘Why not?’ Rarity asked.

Twilight shook her head and shivered ‘When I got close he did something to my spell. It teleported me back here and now I can’t use magic.’

Rarity then realised the full weight of the situation. Kain was alone with Xath at Sweet Apple Acres. Sweet Apple Acres was too far to get there quickly even for Rainbow Dash. Rarity looked at Rainbow and saw that she was completely unconscious along with Gilda. The two of them were their fastest fliers. So in effect Kain was stranded alone with a psychopathic supernatural mass murderer in a remote field at Sweet Apple Acres. There was no way they could reach him in time and even if they could there was no way they could rescue him from the murderer.

Rarity hated herself for her next thought.

It’s a good thing none of us will miss Kain.

And that’s chapter 7.

Sorry about the end completely losing its formatting. My computer chose that time to screw me over.