//------------------------------//
// Colors of Loyalty 
// Story: Misadventures of a Henchpony 
// by Big Saij 
//------------------------------//

Being a farmer was nice.

Well, it probably wasn't nice all the time. I was used to waking up at dawn already, but it certainly wasn't preferred. And I was pretty sure that there was more to it than just kicking trees. But personally, at least for the moment, watching the apples all fall into the buckets below was incredibly cathartic.

I was no Applejack, but I was adequate, and that was good enough for me.

Right, so maybe a bit of context on why I was working at Sweet Apple Acres was needed. After the revelations that were the pony on the other side of the book, things had remained quiet for a few days. And I don't just mean "quiet for Ponyville", I mean it was genuinely peaceful. The journal remained silent, which had been a bit disappointing, but there were also no crazy adventures that those mares were going on all the time. It was just us living our normal lives again, or about as normal as ponies like Pinkie Pie could live. But given how things usually went, I was just trying to relax and enjoy the peace as best I could before it was inevitably broken.

Unfortunately, such peace had forced me to come to a terrible realization of my own, that being that my bits stockpile was running low. Years of experience had allowed me to live a relatively frugal lifestyle, but even a resourceful and clearly brilliant adventurer like myself had to buy things sometimes. And with my henchpony and theft life over, I knew I couldn't just wait until the next job from the Doctor back in Tenochtitlan.

I would have to find actual employment.

That was a problem for multiple reasons. Under normal circumstances, it was obvious that I would make an excellent employee. My hours were flexible, I wasn't that lazy, and I had quick wits for any similarly-quick problems. However, there was still the glaring issue that jobs usually required the pony to be literate, which as I'm sure you know, was a bit of an issue in my case, particularly since I wasn't keen on the secret getting out.

So, the only options left to me were to find jobs that both did not require me to read anything to apply, and that did not require reading in the job itself. It was a bit difficult, to be honest. Why couldn't ponies think of the illiterate in society? I had to think of some task, some sort of manual labor that was simple and verbally communicated, that could be done by any sort of pony with four working legs.

A job where my earth pony skills could come in handy...

Yeah, I'm sure you can see where this was going.

Applejack had been fairly understanding about the situation. The farm had needed an extra hoof for a while, and even though she made clear that the pay wasn't much, the farmer knew how much I didn't want to just ask around and freeload for bits from friends. There technically was a case to be made that my entire last occupation was stealing from other people in Tenochtitlan, which is much worse than freeloading, but that was different. Those artifacts were just sitting in their temples, collecting dust. At least I, or perhaps a better description would be the Doctor was putting them to some use.

Use filling our bags of bits to spend on more important things! Fish gotta swim, ponies gotta eat.

But anyway, we had settled my new employment with a spit-covered hoofshake, which while slightly disgusting was what I assumed was an earth pony thing. Today was actually my first day on the job, and I was trying to make a good impression to the entire Apple Family.

However, as I carried the literal fruits of my labor back to a wooden cart nearby, my incredibly observant nature caught something strange. A cloud, roughly the size of a few ponies was floating overhead, alone. One which I could have sworn wasn't there before. I narrowed my eyes, my brain running through all the possibilities.

Acting on a pure hunch, I yelled out "I see you, Rainbow Dash!" There was a not-insignificant chance that I would just look like an idiot, but not this time. A pair of magenta eyes appeared above the white fluff, following a prismatic mane and teal coat.

"Is he gone?" she asked, eyes darting back and forth.

My expression was one of disappointment as I sighed. "If you mean Discord, yes, he's presumably gone," I answered tiredly. "Nice job leaving your friends out to dry back there, by the way."

"Hey, I'd do almost anything for my friends, but putting up with him when I don't have to isn't one of them." The only response I gave was a raised eyebrow. "What?"

"Element of Loyalty, huh?"

The look of exasperation I got could have won awards, and probably did. "Come on, are you really gonna-" She stopped for a moment, realization setting across her face. "This is still about the ring, isn't it?"

I shrugged. "I'm still a little annoyed by that, yeah."

Right, right, I hear you. More context. So, I'm sure you're wondering by now where Applejack herself actually was. The answer was in her bed getting over a sickness, and it wasn't one that was her fault. It was entirely on one creature, which I'm sure is obvious who.

If you guessed Discord, congratulations. Fluttershy had just left for some sort of important event elsewhere in Equestria, as part of the "Equestrian Society for the Preservation of Rare Creatures". Personally, I had never heard of it, but it sounded like something that would exist so I didn't question it either.

Initially, everything had been going well. She left without any major complications, Cadence arrived soon after to greet Twilight for a visit, I argued with Rarity a bit as usual, and Applejack was showing off her violently country mannerisms. The two Princesses had walked off to see a museum exhibit it took me about five seconds to forget about, and Applejack and I were just about to head back to the farm to start our work.

And then he arrived.

Discord turned out to be sick with something called the Blue Flu, which I had to admit was accurately named. He was definitely a shade of blue, or cerulean if you wanted to be particular like Rarity. We had wanted him gone and nowhere near us, but he didn't seem very keen on listening. The situation had only continued to escalate until Rainbow Dash had bailed on us, Pinkie Pie was distracted and ran off, and both Rarity and Applejack had caught the same sickness Discord had.

Seeing both of the mares blue was a bit amusing, it was true. What was less amusing was having to help Applejack get back to the farm without catching the flu myself, which did take a bit of effort. Rarity seemed to have better luck moving herself so I let her be, plus I didn't think she'd appreciate my assistance very much. Technically I should have been more worried about Discord going off after Twilight now, but that was her problem, not mine.

Still, you should get now why I was still a little peeved at Rainbow Dash.

"Come on! I thought we were over that by now!" The rainbow mare dropped her hooves in emphasis, letting them hang as she flew downwards until she hovered only a hoof or two off the ground.

I shook my head, a small reason why being disbelief. "Dash, you literally broke into my house and stole the one valuable thing I had. Just because we aren't enemies anymore doesn't mean I can just forget about it."

"But I was right!"

"Right about what?" I challenged. "That I was employed by somepony you didn't like? That I was paid to fight somepony you admired? We can't all be heroes, Rainbow Dash. We all need to live our lives, and sometimes that means being the villain in someone else's story." Wincing at my own statement, I quickly turned away, moving to continue moving the apples back towards the barn. "I'm working a normal job now, anyway."

The sound of hooves finally touching the ground emanated from behind me, as did the faint noises of hooves tentatively following me. "Speaking of that," she said hesitantly, which given that it was Rainbow Dash was a rare occurrence, "what are you doing working at Sweet Apple Acres anyway? And where's Applejack?"

Rainbow Dash's question only got a grunt out of me at first. "Sick in her room. After you left Discord got her. I'm getting paid to cover for and help her on the farm since I need the bits." I was mentally slapping myself the moment the last part fell out of my mouth.

"Oh." Not very tactful, but still a bit more than I expected out of her. "You need money? I mean, the weather team pays a lot, and I don't need all the-"

"I am not a freeloader," I said firmly, and perhaps a bit more harshly than I intended. I half-expected Rainbow Dash to recoil a bit from my response, but she took it in stride.

"Of course not! Look, I still owe you for the whole "ring" thing, so how about we go grab something at Sugarcube Corner? It'll be on me."

My first instinct was to reject it again, but I paused. A break at this point did seem a bit nice, and if she was paying for it... "Alright, fine," I finally relented. "Just let me finish up here and I'll take a break."

"Cool! See you there!" And in a single rainbow that trailed off into the sky, she was gone. Shaking my head, already getting the sinking feeling that I was going to regret this, I turned my head again and put my focus back on the task at hand.

The apples weren't moving themselves, after all.





"Here you go!" Pinkie Pie cheerfully handed both of us our drinks before bouncing off, grabbing more food to pass out to other customers. It seemed that she had already completely forgotten about the incident from earlier today, instead being her normal, crazy self without a single red balloon in sight. I wasn't too fazed by it; all my attention was solely on trying to make sure things didn't get awkward between me and the mare across the table.

On her part, Rainbow Dash was very much failing at trying to remain normal in many senses of the word. I could occasionally catch her fidgeting as she held her milkshake in her hooves, her eyes torn between rapidly looking everywhere but me and staring at me.

I paid her no heed since personally, I didn't care how the conversation went. I was just in it for the free drinks.

"So..." the teal pegasus finally said, for once clearly out of her element. "How was it?"

"How was what?"

Rainbow Dash waved a hoof around in a circle, finding the right words. "You know... being an adventurer! Getting to fight Daring Do and all that. Was it exciting?"

Now that question required a bit more than a simple yes or no, even if it would have technically been adequate. Proceeding to take a large sip out of my chocolate milkshake, at least twenty percent of my brain activated as I thought up a vaguely satisfactory response. 

"Well, having you watch as I got my flank handed to me wasn't very enjoyable," I started, leaning backwards in my chair as I tipped my hat up. "And given the stories that she's probably written, you've probably figured out that it happened often after she and Doctor Caballeron started fighting over artifacts. But other than that..." Staring off into the distance, I lost myself in the moment for a while. "Avoiding traps, dodging boulders... yeah, it was fun sometimes. When you're actually exploring one of those temples, there's never a dull moment. It got a bit old, which is why I'm here now, but it was exciting while it lasted."

"Cool." She rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof, her wings ruffling themselves a bit. "Sorry about cheering for Daring Do back in the Fortress of Talacon too. Guess I was just too excited getting to see her, you know?"

I blinked, confused for a second. "Oh, that," I said, finally realizing what she was referring to. "To be honest, I had completely forgotten. It was kind of strange seeing you around there, but I didn't know Daring Do had actually written books about her adventures too."

"What, are you gonna write your own?"

The sheer absurdity of the question made me break into a smirk, despite Rainbow Dash not knowing why I found it humorous. "Believe me, I'm no writer," I said back, more honesty in those words than most would expect. "And I like living in the present, not thinking about the past. Can't get stuck in mistakes we've made, especially since I've made a lot of them."

Rainbow blinked. "Like what?"

"Like accidentally finding a secret part of a library and reading a book that doesn't belong to you but then you spill ink all over it and you don't want anyone to find out so you just take the book and hide it somewhere but it turns out it's Princess Celestia's and now you can't give it back because you're afraid she'll be mad at you?" Both of us looked at Pinkie Pie with various levels of incredulity. I hadn't even noticed she had come over again.

"Where did you get that idea from?!" I asked, perhaps a little too defensively to not be suspicious.

Pinkie only shrugged. "Just a guess!"

Meanwhile, my multicolored pegasus friend nervously laughed. "Ha, nice one Pinkie. But it's not like Jungle here would ever steal from Princess Celestia of all ponies, right?" She looked at me, evident on her face that she hoped I would agree with her, that it was all wrong.  And I wanted to tell her what she wanted to hear, I really did. But Pinkie saying the truth out loud already made me want to just come clean, at least for these two. There was still absolutely no way I was going to tell Twilight, at least not yet. I wanted to keep all my limbs intact. But maybe if I got two of her friends on my side at least, when the time inevitably came for her to find out, I could soften the blow a bit.

I sighed. Life was hard. "Well... I didn't do it on purpose," I responded, much to the absolute horror of Rainbow Dash.

"You WHAT?!"

"Listen, it was a total accident and I didn't know what else to do-"

The pegasus was too busy hyperventilating, looking at me with an equal mixture of shock, terror and anger. "You can't just steal from Princess Celestia! Do you have any idea what could happen? She could be looking for you right now!"

"Well technically it's the Royal Guard that's looking for it-"

"That's not any better!" I had never seen Rainbow Dash look so frustrated before. I had seen her angry, back during the ring incident, but this was something else. It was like she was at her wit's end with me. "What kind of book did you even take?"

I instinctively reached back for my saddlebag, only to realize that I had left the book back at my house. It was the sane and logical thing to do, but I guess I had just gotten used to its weight that I still expected it to be hanging there. After a second of annoyance at myself, I thought up a way to explain. "So, have you heard of a pony named Sunset Shimmer?"

"Uh, yeah. Duh." Her attitude shift was a bit insulting, with how I had just found out who she was, but I brushed it aside given the circumstances. "She stole Twilight's crown and went into some portal that Twilight had to chase after her for. But what does she have to do with a book?"

"Everything. It turns out she was a former student of Princess Celestia, and that they used this book to talk to each other while she was away. She can see whatever I write in it, and I see anything she writes from across the portal."

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes, looking more confused and intensively thinking than annoyed for a moment. "Well why didn't Twilight get one of those, then? Oh wait, Spike." Her momentary lapse in thought resolved, the mare turned her attention back to me. "You're gonna tell Twilight about this though, right?"

My head shook rapidly in denial. "Are you crazy?" I asked, which looking back was probably not the best question in that situation. "Twilight would go straight to Celestia assuming she doesn't kill me first, and I'd rather not have to explain how I ended up with a stolen book."

"But you have to tell her eventually!"

Eyes faltering, I looked down at the table, finally starting to break down from the argument. "I know," I said, conceding a bit of ground. "I can't keep it a secret forever. You taught me that well enough. But she doesn't need to know yet, and I'm not ready to tell her. I was barely even ready to tell you, and Pinkie practically said the whole thing for me!"

Said party pony waved excitedly at me from a few hoofsteps away, a wide smile plastered on her face. "You owe me anyway," I continued on, regaining steam and pointing a hoof at Rainbow Dash. "If you promise to keep this a secret until I'm ready, I'll forgive you for the ring thing."

Groaning loudly, Rainbow threw her hooves up into the air. "Fine!" she finally said, giving up. "I won't tell Twilight unless it's an emergency. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." The last phrase was accompanied by its own movements, a hoof crossed across her chest before covering an eye with a hoof.

"What are you doing?" I asked out of confusion.

"It's a Pinkie Promise!" Pinkie Pie bounced over to our table, finally putting full attention on our conversation. "And you can never ever ever break a Pinkie Promise! That's how you lose a friend forever!" She mimicked Rainbow Dash's movements, only this time shoving an actual cupcake into her eye.

Alright then. I guess it was another one of those "Ponyville" things. Or maybe a 'Pinkie Pie and Friends' thing. Either way, she sounded serious about it, so it was probably good enough. "I'll take it," I said while shrugging before getting out of my chair. "Well, I would say it was nice talking with you two, but... yeah. Probably should get back to work on the farm."

"Oh, and Rainbow Dash?" The mare looked up at me expectantly. I gave a smug smirk back at her. "If you ever need the real stories instead of those Daring Do books, feel free to ask me sometime. I can tell you an adventure better than that 'hero' ever could."

She only responded with a smirk of her own. "We'll see about that, Jungle." That smile plastered on her face almost made me do the same, until I saw it quickly fade as she looked behind me, eyes widening. "Uh oh..."

I looked behind me to see a very angry and a very no-longer-blue Applejack. 'Uh oh' was definitely the right term for that. "Just what do y'all think you're doing?!" she asked, mostly to me. "You think me catching a cold means you can skip out on helping the farm?"

"It'sherfaultdon'tblameme!' I said quickly, pointing at Rainbow Dash trying to throw her under the bus. It didn't seem to work, as the farmer's dirty glare remained fixated on only myself.

"You're the one supposed to be helpin' out, not her! Now come on, break time's over!" With a single swing of her lasso, she caught both of my hind legs and pulled me to the ground, tugging and dragging me across the earth away from Sugarcube Corner. I tried waving a hoof at the two slowly receding ponies before my chin hit a rock and my vision immediately started blurring.

The last thing I saw was the vague outlines of teal and pink shapes waving their hooves back at me, one much faster than the other.