Once she returned home Rainbow spent much of the night nursing her injured ribs and trying to sleep. However the thought of what she had to do made sleep next to impossible. It was early the next morning and the sun was not scheduled to come up for another half hour. So Rainbow figured now was as good of a time as any to get her mission for Itachi done. She strapped a pack to her back and under the cover of darkness Rainbow crept into the now abandon Sugarcube Corner. She eyed the entrance to Pinky's torture chamber. The feeling of fear started to build in her body again.
"Get it together Rainbow Dash you're no scaredy cat." She said in her head. Rainbow decided it was best just to get it over with and quickly flew down the flight of stairs and landed. Her muscles quickly tensed up and her ears perked up. She was listening for any sound and scanning the darkness the best she could for any movement. After a few minutes went by and nothing moved she calmed down. Rainbow turned on the light and the torture rack appeared in front of her. Seeing that made Rainbow sick, she felt her breakfast moving up her throat.
"Huughck," Rainbow threw up. She breathed heavily as she spit out the last bit of bile.
"It was all a dream none of it was real." She said to herself trying to make herself feel better.
"What's just a dream Dash?" Rainbow quickly looked up, Pinky was standing in front of. Rainbow flew backwards quickly, slamming her back into the wall. Rainbow grunted in pain, but quickly got ready to fight for her life. However she quickly realized she was along in the room. The Pinky hallucination was gone. Rainbow let her body go limp against the wall.
"What's happening to me?" After a few minutes Rainbow calmed down enough to think clearly. Rainbow looked at the pile of throw up. She cringed but knew she needed to destroy any evidence that anyone was there. She noticed most of the liquid was flowing into a large drain in the floor. Rainbow looked in the other direction and used her wing to move the pile into the drain. Once the unpleasant task was done she walked over to a wall and wiped her wing off, then she took the time to scan the room. The grotesque decorations and corpses had been removed, the only thing that remained was the torture rack and empty shelves. Rainbow searched the area, but found nothing. She did not want to stay any longer then she had to so it did not take much to get her to leave. She turned off the light and walked up stairs. On her way out she noticed the Sugarcube Corner files were laying on the main counter.
"What have I got to lose?" She said to herself and started to go through them. Most of it was normal recipes and orders, but then she saw a folder titled "Pinky's Parties" she opened it. The most recent one was a list for Scootaloo's party, balloons, candy, fireworks, Rainbow cupcakes (LOL).
"That sick freak!" Rainbow screamed as her body filled with anger realizing what Pinky had planned to do. She tore the page out with her teeth and ripped it. She was about to toss the book when she noticed the next party title "Party for O." The guest list was ten earth ponies, forty pegasus, and one hundred unicorns.
"Hello." A quite voice said. Rainbow quickly closed the file and put it into her pack. Fluttershy walked up to the entrance of Sugarcube corner.
"Is anyone there?"
"GAAA." Rainbow screamed playfully behind her. Fluttershy screamed and leaped into the air. Rainbow started laughing. Fluttershy looked at her hurt not appreciating the joke.
"Come on pal don't be upset, I was just having some fun."
"It's ok." Fluttershy said in a forgiving voice. "What happened to your head?" She asked noticing the bandage on it. Rainbow thought of a lie quickly.
"The doctor wanted me to wear it just in case something was wrong. Well I have a lot of training to do catch you later."
"Training?" Fluttershy said confused.
"For the Wonderbolts if I ever want to join them I need to practice new tricks." Rainbow flew into the sky and was about to fly to Itachi's hideout when she heard Twilight's voice. Rainbow rolled her eyes as she landed. "Great more questions."
"Morning Rainbow." Twilight said happily.
"Hey, what's up?" Rainbow replied not as trilled but tried to act happy.
"As you know Scootaloo's birthday is today and since Pinky is not with us anymore." Twilight said in a sadden voice. Rainbow glared at her a little. Twilight did not understand what she did to make Rainbow upset but continued. "I was wondering if you could help out with the decorations, and maybe think of some small party jokes to play."
"I was actually planning on training all day, but I'll show up when the party starts, later."
"Wait, Rainbow what happen to your head and ribs?" Twilight asked noticing the bruising on Rainbow's ribs.
"I was trying a new stunt and hit the ground, I'm ok thought." Rainbow said quickly and flew off. Rainbow kicked it into full speed and a few minutes later she arrived at Itachi's hideout.
"Hey you in here?" She asked. She stepped into the cave and heard a sound like a guitar string, before she could reacted she was taken off her feet and hanging upside down by the one foot.
"Hey let me out of this!" She yelled as her wings flapped and her teeth and hooves tried to loosen the wire.
"You let your guard down again." Itachi said as he stepped into the cave light.
"Well when I'm visiting a friend I normally don't worry about getting killed." Rainbow said trying to keep what little bit of pride she could.
"In this type of situation it can be hard to tell who your friends and enemies are, plus it is good practice to learn to always keep your guard up." Itachi pulled out a kunai and cut the wire. Rainbow flipped around and landed on her feet which made her feel a bit better.
"Did you located anything?" Itachi asked.
"I might have." Rainbow replied pulling out the file from her pack. "This looked strange but I really do not know if it is anything." Itachi took the file.
"I will look this over. Start training on your charka control."
"How do I do that again?" Rainbow asked.
"Sit down and try moving your charka to your month. You are not trying to do a jutsu, just learning how to control charka."
"Again how do I do that? Give me some more instructions at least."
"There is no way to do that." Itachi replied. "You need to control your own charka on your own. You will know when you are making progress." Rainbow grunted in frustration and sat down while Itachi looked over the file.
About an hour had passed. Itachi had finished going over the file. Most of the papers he tossed, but a few were interesting.
"Rainbow come over here." Itachi said. Rainbow was bored and frustrated because she was getting nowhere with the charka control, so she was glad he wanted her for something.
"Did you find something?" Rainbow asked as she walked over and sat next to Itachi. Itachi placed two pieces of paper in front of her.
"What does this information mean to you?" Itachi asked. Rainbow looked over at the paper which was the party list for O.
"Well I guessed O stands for Orochimaru that's why I brought it, but I don't know what the rest of it means." Rainbow looked at Itachi hoping he could shed some more light on it.
"You're correct the O stands for Orochimaru and the guest list is really a victims list." Rainbow eyes widen with fear when she heard that, but she quickly tried to hide it.
"What does he want with all of them?" Rainbow asked not sure if she wanted to know the answer.
"He is using them for some type of experiment, but what kind I cannot be certain. Although it's very possible he is studying the charka of this word which explains why he wants so many unicorns."
"Did you find out where he is hiding?" Rainbow asked.
"No, there was nothing about his location, or the meeting point."
"So, what are we going to do for the rest of the day?" Rainbow asked curiously.
"This information did not tell us everything, but it was useful. So, as promised I will train you."
"Great!" Rainbow said excited. "What are you going to teach me?"
"How to use kunai." Itachi replied.
"Um I can't really hold those." Rainbow said waving her hooves. "And admittedly it was hard to use a kunai when I had it in my mouth." Itachi pulled out six kunai with straps on them.
"Open one of your wings." Itachi said. Rainbow thought that was strange but did as he asked. Itachi strapped three of the kunai onto the three feathers that were attached to bone. The kunai were on tightly and longer then her feathers. Rainbow smiled widely.
"This is so awesome!" She yelled excited as the blades reflated from the sun light.
"You put on the other three." Itachi said. Rainbow picked up one of the kunai with her mouth and brought her wing in front of her face. It took her a minutes or two but she managed to get the kunai on and then use her teeth to strap it into place. Once Rainbow had all three kunai on she brought her wings into eyes site admiring her new weapons. She felt invincible.
"What now?" Rainbow asked.
"Take them off and put them on again. Keep doing that until I get back."
"Hun?" Rainbow said. "Where are you going? Aren't you going to teach me some tricks with these bad boys?"
"Before you can use them in combat you need to get them on. It took you far too long to get them on. You love to brag about speed so learn to get them on fast." Itachi leaped off the mountain ledge and into the forest below. Rainbow ran over to see where he went, but he was nowhere in sight.
"Great just leave me here." she said in a disappointed voice as she took off the kunai.
It was late afternoon and against her better judgment Rainbow had spent the entire time working on getting her new wing kunai on and off. She was getting more comfortable handling them and putting them on.
"Have you improved any?" Itachi asked. Rainbow gasped due to his voice startling her.
"You have to teach me how to sneak up on people like that." She said.
"Put on your kunai and come with me." Itachi said. Rainbow quickly got the kunai on and looked at Itachi for approval. "You made progress I see." He complimented.
"Thanks." Rainbow replied trilled to hear it. The two of them walked for about an hour until they reached a dirt clearing.
"What are we doing here?" Rainbow asked. Suddenly the ground started to shake and three diamond dogs came out of the ground. They growled and snarled as they surrounded there victims. Rainbow was a bit fearful at first, then she remembered who was with her.
"Give us gems or you're dead." The lead diamond dog said as he scrapped his claws against a rock. Rainbow smiled confidently and looked at Itachi knowing in a few seconds he would shoot a ball or fire or pull out his sword.
"Better run while you still can." Rainbow taunted. Itachi put his hands together. "Any second now." Rainbow thought. Itachi's body become a flock of crows which flew off before Rainbows eyes who was now standing alone, surrounded my three diamond dogs.
"Um um" Rainbow said worried. The three diamond dogs charged her. Rainbow was quickly trying to think whether to fight or run. A few seconds before the dogs were on top of her she flew into the air. Despite her fast speed one of the dogs managed to grab ahold of her tail and pull her to the ground, and then leap on top of her. Rainbow pushed on its head which only angered the dog. He swiped his claws across her shoulder leaving huge gash marks. Rainbow screamed in pain and slammed her wing at his head and neck. The kunai cut through his neck severing the jugular vein. Blood spilled onto Rainbow's face as the dead diamond dog fell to the ground. The other dogs charged in rage. Rainbow's body was filled with adrenaline. She flew full speed at them, she turned to her side when she was near one of the dogs spreading both wings to her left cutting him in half. Doing that caused her to loss control of her flight and she hit the ground forming a small dust cloud. The final diamond dog leaped into the cloud. He snapped at Rainbow. She kicked him in the face and started to fly around him causing a small tornado. Screams from the diamond dog were heard from inside then nothing. Rainbow stopped and landed. The mangled body of the diamond dog hit the ground.
The fight was over and the adrenaline feeling was leaving her body. The reality that she had just killed was starting to sink in. Rainbow spit in her hoof and rub it against her face trying to get the blood off. Suddenly Rainbow was struck hard across the back. She hit the ground screaming in pain.
"Time to die pretty pony!" A crazed diamond dog screamed as he ran at Rainbow with a large log. Rainbow tried to move but her body had not recovered from the blow. Rainbow could only look in horror as he raised the log for a final blow. Before he could swing a sword come through his month. His body convulsed for a few seconds and hit the ground. Itachi stood behind him.
"I could have gotten killed! why did you leave me?! Rainbow screamed.
"You wanted to learn how to fight. These creatures were good practice. Itachi replied wiping the blood off his sword.
"Can you please give me something to wipe this blood off my face?" Rainbow asked in a sicken voice. Itachi tossed a cantina of water at her. Rainbow opened it with her month and poured it over her face. A few seconds later she spit out the few drops of bloody water that found its way into her month.
"Clean your wound while you're at it." With everything going on Rainbow nearly forgot she was had gotten cut in the fight. She looked at the three claws marks, they were deep but nothing life threatening. "You're going to need to get that stitched up." Itachi commented.
"Ya thanks captain obvious. I can have my friend Rarity sow it up." Rainbow replied. Rainbow looked at the three dead bodies again.
"Does killing always feel like this?" Rainbow asked still feeling guilty about what she did.
"Your first kill is always the hardest, but if you didn't kill them you would be dead now."
"Do you mind if we call if quiets for today?" Rainbow asked. "I just want to clear my head and get over this feeling."
"You did well today Rainbow Dash. Go home and get some rest." Itachi replied. Rainbow smiled when she heard that.
"Ok same time tomorrow?"
"If you wish to continue training." Rainbow sighed and started to think if she really wanted to go down this path. A minute or two had gone by but to her it felt like forever. She looked at Itachi and shook her head yes.