Loyalty in One Direction
Rainbow Dash sat on the slope of a hill several paces away from the Noble Jury. She faced east, a brown horizon that stretched like mudwater against the dim gray sky. As gust after gust of wind blew at her mane and the waves of grass around her, she shivered slightly, but maintained her composure. Night had come and gone, and she had barely slept.
Most of the time was spent flying. Some of the time was spent pacing. Almost all of the time was spent thinking.
Now, her mind was blank, drinking in the dreariness of the landscape in spite of the charming village that lay below her.
There was a slight rumbling to the north. Rainbow’s left ear twitched, taking in the sound of distant thunderstorms rolling over the skystone mountains. Regardless of the frequent gusts of wind, the lake water was remarkably still, and Rainbow could detect a faint hint of glitter along the lapping edges from the sunlight blossoming over the eastern mountains.
It was this sort of prolonged, melancholic silence that Roarke inadvertently disturbed with her heavily plodding hooves.
“They appear to be having a communal breakfast on board the Jury,” the Searonese mare droned. “Eggs and toast, I do believe.”
Rainbow Dash’s nostrils flared. “I don’t see why that should matter. Don’t you have more weapons to test out?”
“I only mentioned it because you seemed to enjoy partaking in the morning ritual so much.” Roarke trotted to a stop behind her. “And as for the latter, it would appear as though I have slightly less ponies to take care of during the next leg of our journey.”
Rainbow sighed. “Yeah… imagine that…”
Silence.
Roarke tried not to fidget. “I take it that you didn’t get any sleep.”
“What’s the point?” Rainbow muttered. “I have less awesome things to wake up to now.”
Roarke blew a metal-ringlet’d braid out from her brow. “Well, if you’re going to be a little sourpuss about everything, I’ll leave you be with the pea soup morning glare.” She swiveled about.
“Darn it, Roarke…” Rainbow growled slightly. The snarl turned into a breathy exhale halfway through. She turned to gaze thinly at the former bounty hunter. “Don’t pretend as though this wasn’t a hard choice for me.”
Roarke’s eye-lenses pistoned outward. “So long as you don’t pretend as though you haven’t made the choice before.”
Rainbow bit her lip. “Yeah, well…” She gazed down at the ground and fiddled with blades of grass. “That was different.”
“Because fate made the decision for you?” Roarke asked. “I must admit, even for Searonese, it’s easier to honor the dead than the living. There’re less mistakes made.”
“What is it that you want me to say?” Rainbow frowned. “‘Cuz I know I’ve lectured you left and right about loyalty before.”
“I dare say it’s why I’m here,” Roarke droned. “You beat the ever living snot out of my heart just as much as my skull.”
“Yes, well…” Rainbow rested her chin on her forelegs. “It ain’t easy. Being loyal, I mean. One way or another, you gotta make a sacrifice, and it isn’t one you’re gonna be cool with.”
“Was this really a sacrifice?” Roarke asked. “In the long run, I mean?”
“To have been able to spend more time with Belle and Pilate?” Rainbow murmured. “To have personally assured their safety with each leg of the journey? To have taken them as far as the next continent, the Grand Choke--heck--even the edge of the world?”
Roarke stared in silence.
Rainbow exhaled heavily. “Awwwww, who am I kidding? I’m gonna kick the bucket long before then.” She murmured into her forelimbs. “Mmmmfff… guess I’m just saving them the heartache.”
Roarke nodded quietly. A minute passed, and she trotted forward, squatting down at Rainbow’s side.
Rainbow couldn’t help it. The pegasus turned with a raised eyebrow aimed at the mare.
“If I’m to recall the facts correctly, you were the single instrumental factor in freeing Bellesmith and her breeder from Blue Shelf.”
“Yeah…?”
“And you were paramount in retrieving their adopted child, Kera, from the clutches of Xonans, shapeshifters, and a horrible chaos dragon.”
“Your point…?”
“It would seem to me that their hearts--for whatever one is willing to hold stock in them--were spared from many a terrible fate. One could venture to say that you gave them the very opposite of heartache through the sheer act of saving them several times over.”
Rainbow blinked at her.
“I cannot imagine just how thankful they are to you, in spite of your unavoidable schism,” Roarke said. “One reason is because--well--I am me.” She turned to look at Rainbow Dash specifically. “The other reason is because you gave them a slice of hope that most ponies on this continent haven’t had the grace to experience.”
“Is that what I gave you, Roarke?”
“Hmmm?”
“Hope,” Rainbow Dash said. “Cuz you certainly don’t look like a pony who could easily get starry eyed.”
Roarke opened her mouth, but hesitated.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow.
“I am… curious about what lies ahead of the mountains,” Roarke said. “It could be something dreadful, for all we know. After all, the shapeshifters still loom--”
“Presumably.”
“The shapeshifters still loom, and there’s no telling what this ‘Lounge’ is that I keep hearing about.”
“Right…”
“Assuming we even make it across the Frozen Sea without dying of madness or hypothermia.”
“Pffft…” Rainbow rolled her eyes and gazed towards the east again. “Thanks for the pep talk.”
“I simply mean to convey that I’d never have had the chance to expand my horizons, to reexert myself, and to avoid certain oblivion at the hooves of Terra and all of her conspiring agents back in Searo’s Hold,” Roarke said. “Your interference gave me a new lease of life, for better or for worse. At least it didn’t involve me reaching a mundane end. It’s even more curious that you didn’t have to pull any weight whatsoever in Searo’s Hold to begin with. The same can be said of your involvement in Blue Shelf, Blue Nova, and Deep Ridge.”
Roarke looked up, her eye-lenses softly retracted.
“So you see, Rainbow Dash, your sacrifices mean something. They accomplish wonders with very little effort, something I’ve never seen another mare do. I can only hope that whatever death that you have in store for you--that it is a glorious one, befitting a warrior.”
Rainbow stared at her. At last, she squinted, murmuring, “You’ve changed, Roarke.”
“I hardly think so,” she droned.
“Oh, believe me, you’re still a bitch.”
Roarke’s teeth clenched.
Rainbow smirked. “But you’re different, all the same.” She shook her head. “I can’t put my hoof on it. But there are times when I think nobody will be able to figure out you, much less why you stick around with a bunch of stiff-necked weirdoes like the Jury.”
Roarke’s ears twitched. She fumbled with the soil beneath her. For a moment there, she looked ready to open her mouth and say something--when something glinted off her lenses. She flinched, glancing east.
A sliver of clouds had broken open, just in time for uninterrupted beams of golden sunlight to pierce through along the horizon, kissing the moist fields of the valley for the first time in days. The hillside the two mares were on grew a bit warmer, and a glitter swam across the waves of wind-shaken dew.
“I don’t understand what you see in it,” Roarke muttered, shaking her head slightly. “It’s bright, annoying, and an easy way to blind yourself to incoming bogeys. It confuses me why you would constantly fly towards it.”
“Simple, girl.” Rainbow smirked aside, breathing warmly for the first time in hours. “It’s hope.”
Roarke’s brow furrowed. “Hmmph.” She stood up, pivoted about, and marched back towards the Jury. “And you call me a ‘bitch.’”
Rainbow watched her trot away, then leaned forward, smiling into the golden glow. The slit in the clouds parted even more, allowing a few more minutes of the luscious shine. Rainbow passed the time deciding whether to smile or cry, ultimately deciding on both until the shadows returned.
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It was a nice moment.
Until Rainbow called her a bitch,then the moment was ruined.
So Rainbow thinks of the rising sun as hope. There's something about Celestia that could tie into this, but I can't put my finger on what.
You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you, Rainbow Dash?
It's hard, making a conscious choice that separates you from those you've cared about, influence, affected, and whom have affected you in return. Rainbow is positive she'll never see them again, which is as much a death as anything in this world or theirs. They stop being real, and when they stop being real, they can... slip away.
As the old saying goes, "Everyone dies twice. First when they are laid in the ground. Then again when their name is spoken for the last time."
I think Rainbow is afraid that this will be both, and while you can be happy for what you had... hope for the future is sometimes all you have left.
THE FEELS!!!!
3982022 As in how she reacted to Celestia waaaayyyy back at the end of Austraeoh?
Oh, so she was just brooding. I sorta thought Rainbow might be on a mission of some kind when she flew off. But brooding works, too.
A nice moment, even with the insults.
1) i3.ytimg.com/vi/1Ah_kXuaLjQ/0.jpg
You have done well, young padawan
2)
3982022
fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/p480x480/296232_656720907676906_871715048_n.jpg
3) Did he just call the Jury weirdos?
Roarke really has changed. For the better, too.
Has Rainbow sworn before? This is the first time I recall her blatantly swearing
...that only helps solidify my RainbowxRoarke ship
HOPE HAS ARRIVED! Such a heart wrenching chapter...
Roarke, I'm glad Rainbow has beat the ever living snot out of your heart. You're a much better pony for it. If you keep this up, you'll be the Jury's therapist in no time which is good as they need one badly. Especially Zaid.
Ah the feels, but this was the good feels, this brightened my day a bit.
Rourke the Valkyrie prepares to ride once more. Until the end.
Yeah, there's a reason Roarke is one of my favorite characters.
Her heart? This could lead to something.
~Basso
Oh Rainbow,,,if only you knew...you still have nine more books to go! XD
Did Roarke just admit she has a heart?
And that Rainbow is beating the crap out of it?!
The bittersweet story arch continues.
And the Rainboarke ship keeps sailing.
3977079 Well that's no good! They're supposed to be going east! =(
did roarke kinda admit she has a thing for rainbow? who knows. lovely chapter and I hope these 2 get closer during the next leg of the journey.
I'm gonna miss Belle, Pilate and Kera soo much...
And in the spring I shed my skin
And it burns away with the changing Wind;
The waters turn from blue to red
As towards the sky I offer it.
They didn't lie when they said there was a lot of wind in Lerris - and it seems like quite a few people hear it howling.
If I didn't know better, I'd say Roarke ist starting to grow a heart and the sanity to go with it. But I do.
This is gonna be the dumbest thing ever said, but it literally just struck me, like, jolt up in bed in the middle of the night with this realization, that "wait a minute....Bellesmith (who I've been reading about for months) is named Belle, just like the Disney princess Belle that Skirts talks about in every single one of his posts and his user icon"
I....um. Yeah.
Wow.
....
586 chapters late to the punch on that one
Man, my rereading of Austraeoh crashed and burned at chapter 30. It wasn't that I wasn't enjoying it, it was just that I wanted to draw pictures for chapters as I went along, but I just didn't have time to do it well, and still don't now that my art skills have significantly increased. I'm not sure if I want to struggle with Austraeho or just binge read this until I die or get caught up. I just don't know... one thing's for sure, I will read this whole thing. No doubt in my mind about that one.
did we ever find out what kept Roarke alive during the book's anti-magic attack thing? cuz I think someone said that it wasn't the backup manacore that kept her alive...
3983450
Unless that is a grand fake-out on the part of the author.
3986042
Also, consider what the Disney Belle's father did.
3982318 Reminds me of this song
3993961 That would be pretty fucking evil.
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
Well, tender little moment here. I guess. The scenery was nice, too...I guess. Ech.
Uh.
Also, yes, Roarke has changed. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. From family issues to a terrible sickness I was kept from you. But now I return!
P.S.3982060 gimme back my mask
-Spirit
3986042 that never occured to me either
even after those split second glances at IC's profile pic on the way back to thi story from some other website 
DURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Roarke . . . I like her.
That scene at the end was beautiful.
Aw, so tender
you bitch
I ship them so hard.
Dark clouds and hopeful skies await.
6041439
If you wrote that ship I'd so read it.
They really are shipable. Well Those two and Props. A proper Menage a Toi of Awesomeness.
What, the band?
Awwwww
Even the weather ships it.
Oh, and speaking of kissing...
I love Roarke dearly, I wish her all the glory she desires, and happiness.
Seeing her so thoughtful makes me smile.
Hmm but will the peace last… i mean even if the chancelings are gone? WW1 kept going even after Serbia was defeated.