//------------------------------//
// Rainbow Dash 3: Ruminations on Loyalty 
// Story: Upheaval: Journeys 
// by Visiden Visidane 
//------------------------------//

Upheaval: Journeys

Rainbow Dash 3: Ruminations on Loyalty

Rainbow had expected the morning to be explosive; something to hearken to that day she first saw King Fenrir. Of course, she wasn't expecting to encounter Arugek, but she thought she'd wake to a scramble with shouts for an imminent attack. Instead, she was up to a cold, dull, and gray morning. Upon realizing that there was a greater force awaiting them than anticipated, the plan shifted. The Legion was going to engage these ursans, and probably Hassyth. It was best to wait for reinforcements for now. Let the Legion engage the bulk of the forces around Willow Manor, then get in there to get what was needed. 

She stretched her legs out, then her neck and back. Sleeping in leathers was one thing. Mail was another. The weight left her a little stiff, and the links occasionally pinched her wings. How Applejack slept in her plate and chain since the beginning was a mystery. And Vanguard Clash in that nightsteel...ridiculous.

Most of the villagers had fled for Clearspring Valley, a fortified town and the closest settlement. That left a lot of vacant houses, which the volunteers agreed to let her and the others sleep in. Anticipation of a big fight didn't let her get too much sleep, though. That along with these lumpy mattresses and low ceilings. What was it with earth ponies and compact homes? She'd have slept on the roof if she wasn't worried that some ursans might start chucking rocks and smash her to a pulp while she snored. That and freezing to death. It was warmer here thanks to being farther south, but it was still quite cold. 

Outside, things were shaping up a bit. The trenches were deep and spread out. They even got some of the fallen watch towers up and occupied. There was a large gathering by the village square. Judging from the smell of vegetable stew wafting from that direction, the reason was obvious. The rumbling in Rainbow's belly also made her response to that smell quite clear.

"Hey, Rainbow!" Scarlet called out from a roof by the square. He was holding a bowl in his front hooves while thick droplets of stew glistened around his chin. "You better hurry! These lancers chow down like wolven!"

Rainbow took off. Sure enough, there was an enormous cauldron at the center of the gathering attended to by some of the volunteers. She hesitated a moment. There was no way these villagers could sustain feeding so many, especially with winter still on. These villagers were putting it all on the line for the Legion. There had to be a way repay them. She approached Razor Beard, who was sitting among the other lancers.

"Legionnaire Dash," Razor Beard said. He tapped the lancer next to him who produced a bowl of stew for Rainbow. "Heavy sleeper, are we? Don't tell me the Northern Legion's softening up." His gaze fixed on Rainbow's flank. Some of her cutie mark's colors still showed through the mail. "Or is that more of a chosen thing?"

"Neither," Rainbow said. She slurped up some of the stew: salty, a little thin, light on the leafy vegetables, and plenty of mountain potatoes. "Besides, better late in the morning than late for a fight."

"Aye," Razor Beard said with a sheepish chuckle. "It's a poor start to a mission, but we'll finish strong."

"You're not going to rely on the village for food the whole time, are you?" Rainbow asked. "They're going to run out for winter."

"Supplies are on the way," Razor Beard said with a snort. "Southwind will be repaid for this. Did you mistake us for a swarm of locusts just devouring everything in sight, Legionnaire Dash? The Western Legion takes pride in its good relations with civilians."

"You better," Rainbow muttered as she finished off her meal. She looked around a bit. The rest of Flight Shatterspine was finishing up. They buckled on their barding, splashed water on their faces, and set their lances. It must be impossible to use those incredibly long things in any enclosed space. Even a slight turn would catch onto obstacles. The "swooping blades" strapped to their sides wouldn't be useful either. They were heavy, curved blades, made for deadly slashes as lancers swooped; a tactic they fell back on once their lances splintered. For close quarters, it looked like their only resort was their tramplers. She imagined that she'd have to resort to the same thing in the same situation. That wasn't good. She hadn't exactly been working on fighting up close. The last time that happened, Applejack pinned her to the ground, then beat her snout in. Not exactly a shining display of her prowess.

'Why am I even thinking so hard?' Rainbow asked herself. 'The enemy is Oceanus. We're obviously going to fight him in the wide open abyss, not inside a broom closet."

Of course, the reason gnawed at the back of her mind anyway. This big mission started out more as something to distract from the fact that she had no clear path to improving herself. Sure, killing Hassyth might make her feel safer and better, but it had nothing to do with gaining strength. Longstride mentioned finding something in the manor, but that was obviously a long shot. Rainbow nearly snickered over the term, much to her chagrin. As much as she hated thinking things through instead of doing something, it was clear that she had to do more of it to get anywhere.

Her light crossbow was useful for taking out wolven, and possibly those ophidite things, but the biggest fights in recent memory required  a Sonic Rainboom charge into the enemy. Slamming her head into her foe would be obviously dumb, and she shouldn't always rely on Twilight's protective spells. A lance on the other hoof...yeah, a lancing stab empowered by her Sonic Rainboom would be an improvement. But even as she relished the notion, the weakness she discovered in using either a crossbow or a lance came to her again. Foal of a nag...when had she become such a worrywart?

As she continued to look around, Rainbow finally found the other thing she was looking for. Longstride was stitting atop one of the watchtowers, gazing southwest again. In a second, she was landing just a few feet away. "Hey," she said. One of his ears perked, likely the only gesture he'd make to show he heard her. Otherwise, he continued to scan the horizon.

"Do you need something?" Longstride finally asked.

"What do you do when your targets manage to get up close?" Rainbow asked. She recalled their encounter in Mount Unicornia. He may be resilient and strong, but he wasn't a close quarters fighter.

"I'm normally at great distances if I'm actually engaging in combat," Longstride replied. "It will take an extreme situation for me to find myself in close quarters witht the enemy."

Rainbow smirked. "You mean like that time on Mount Unicornia?"

"Yes, the extreme idiocy of my mark does count," Longstride replied. "But if I am in danger of being attacked up close, I'd prefer to fly away preemptively. Barring that, I have Sablesteel's needle mines set up when I can, or I request emergency remote teleportation from either Blue Moon or Black Rose, or I retreat reactively. If cornered, I will rely on close combat techniques.' His eyes narrowed. "You scoff because of a single incident, Rainbow Dash. I had no intention of harming anypony at that time. Don't think you'll get the same results each time. Sablesteel's lessons are thorough, and I've seen her murder three stallions with a darning needle."

It was only after those last words that Rainbow realized two things. First, she had stopped hovering and taken a seat near Longstride. Second, she distinctly heard her name instead of "stupid mare", and she had purposely annoyed him too. "So you rely on your friends most of the time," she said.

"Of course," Longstride replied. "Even the best equipment and training can only do so much. Do you find it odd?"

Rainbow snorted. It was the best she could do to hide a smile. "Of course I do," she said. "I mean everything about you screams 'I'm a grumpy loner'. Anypony would find it weird to hear that you rely a lot on your friends!"

Longstride was silent for a while. He stopped scanning the distance, but he stared off anyway. "You said that twice now...friends," he said as he focused on her. "The other thorns were my squadmates, comrades. 'Friend' would not fit how I work with them."

"Oh, come on," Rainbow said. "What's with the stupid semantics? How many years have you spent fighting next to these ponies? You even stuck yourselves together somewhere to come out alive after hundreds of years!"

"We were all agents of Black Rose," Longstride said, his voice very slightly rising. Rainbow considered herself slowly improving on noticing that. "What we did, we did out of duty--"

"You just said that the best equipment and training isn't enough," Rainbow snapped. "I'm not going to believe you now when you say that you did all those incredibly difficult things just out of duty."

"Believe what you want," Longstride said with a sigh. He spoke again after another moment of silence. "I suppose I have come to rely on Sablesteel and Blue Moon more so than the others. If you must agitate yourself about this, then they may fit being my 'friends'."

"See?" Rainbow was beaming inside for some reason. "You do have friends." This felt like a win. A very small, probably pointless win, but she loved winning.

"And I thought you were being earnest by discussing tactics," Longstride said. "If you're done with your frivolity, let us try to attend to this mission."

"I wasn't being frivolous," Rainbow said. "And I'm not done!"

Longstride stared at her, his irises spinning lazily. "What else do you need?" he asked.

"Uh..." Rainbow looked around the watchtower. That put her into the spot. Finally, her gaze landed on the enormous bow that lay in front of him. "Hey...can I take a shot with that bow?"

That was incredibly stupid and Rainbow knew it the moment it left her mouth. She braced herself for a withering stare from those weird eyes followed by a blistering rebuke. "I-I mean, I'm trying out different weapons, maybe--"

"You may," Longstride replied. "The matter of 'can', however, remains to be seen." He lifted the bow, the strange runes covering it glowing at his touch, strung it, then offered one end to her.

"Really?" Rainbow's eyes widened. She reached out for the weapon, but stopped short of an inch of it. "This thing isn't going to curse me or anything, is it?" she asked.

"Its magical properties will not function for anypony but me," Longstride replied. "But it will still function as a bow. As for magical defensive measures, there aren't any. Make no mistake, Camellia will punish you for any inept archery you display."

Rainbow looked at the weapon. That would be pretty cool, having a fancy weapon then giving it a name to really make it stand out. Outwardly, she merely wrinkled her nose. "Camellia, huh," she said. "That's kind of a lame, girly name for a bow. I thought it would be something cool like 'Horizon Shot' or 'White Death'."

"If Horizon Shot or White Death made the bow, then it would be called Horizon Shot or White Death," Longstride replied.

"So somepony named Camellia made this bow for you?" Rainbow asked. "Were you friends?"

Longstride's irises stopped their spin. His voice lowered when he spoke. "Here," he said, offering an arrow from his quiver. "Aim at a tree over there, away from anypony. Pick a big one."

"Uh...okay," Rainbow repied. She cursed at that misstep, but she was hardly to blame. How was she supposed to know what subjects got him mad or just mildly annoyed?

The glowing runes dimmed the moment the weapon left Longstride's hooves. The bow didn't look like it was made from just one type of wood given the layering of reds and browns that a closer inspection revealed and it was oddly warm despite the chilly air and being an inanimate object. It was also surprisingly heavy. Rainbow picked a large tree at a distance, let out a couple of exhales, then took aim.

"Foal of a nag..." Rainbow grunted. She threw a quick glare at Longstride to warn him off trying to assist. The sinew felt like a bar of solid steel when she first started pulling on it. The arrow shook as she tried to keep it nocked. It must be some kind of faint defensive enchantment on the bow Longstride didn't mention. She eventually got it to somewhere close to a full draw. No time for a lot of aiming, though, it was as if the bow was fighting her every step of the way. She pointed it in the general direction of the tree, then loosed.

A sudden, horrible pain struck Rainbow's left foreleg. She cried out and grasped it before crumpling to the wooden floor. The bow clattered next to her. Her left foreleg stung so badly that it felt like a snake just bit her there. She nursed the injury, already pushing back the groan welling up from within. A strange, alien sound came from nearby, somehow familiar and not all at once. It was a faint, brief thing; a few short "hm"s in rapid succession. It sounded like...oh, that's it.

Upon realizing that it was a chuckle she just heard from Longstride's direction, Rainbow's agony swiftly turned to indignation. She flew up, still nursing the foreleg, and glared daggers at him. "It is cursed!" she yelled. The sight of him hurriedly slipping back the stoic mask mollified her a bit. 

"There was no curse involved," Longstride replied. "The bowstring struck the inside of your foreleg when you let it go; a common mistake by beginners. I told you Camellia will punish any inept archery."

Rainbow looked at the angry welt forming on her foreleg. Oh good. By noon, it was probably going to ripen into a patch of mottled black and blue. "Oh, forget this," she groused. "A bow was a bad idea anyway. It's not like I need more ways to attack from a range."

"As you wish," Longstride said. He unstrung his bow, then went back to watching the distance.

"And...uh..." Rainbow lowered her voice. "Thanks for letting me try anyway."

When he didn't reply, she took off. She hadn't gotten far when a splotch of red caught the corner of her eye. "Scarlet," she said. True enough, Scarlet hovered a short distance away, a sly, knowing look on his face.

"I saw that," Scarlet said. "That was pretty smooth."

"What are you talking about?" Rainbow asked. She found herself on the defensive for some reason, despite his cheery grin. She had nothing to hide as far as he was concerned, but the things he said whenever he was in this mood didn't have a good track record for her.

"Good job buttering him up," Scarlet said. "This way, his guard will be down when you approach him for his beating."

Rainbow's eyes widened. "Approach him for his..Scarlet, why would I do that?"

Scarlet raised an eyebrow. "Why? Why not? He shot our flanks and got us captured, didn't he? We owe him a bloody snout at least. Maybe a few broken bones. And some black eyes. I know we're on a mission, but once we deal with Hassyth, we're free to do some stuff."

Rainbow crossed her forelegs. "Scarlet...that's insane and really stupid."

"What?" Scarlet threw his forelegs up. "Why? Seems pretty straightforward to me. He hurt us, we beat him up. Look, he hasn't even bothered to apologize. If we can crack a few bones, he'll be begging for forgiveness."

Rainbow pressed a front hooves against her head. Again, the thoughts came anyway. It was nothing new too. It wasn't like she hadn't considered this before. It crossed her mind as early as before even crossing the abyss. That was a terrible time to bring up the matter with him, though. They were in a difficult situation and needed to help each other. If she had started something, everypony else would have been annoyed with her. "No," she said. "Scarlet, that's just dumb."

"What's so dumb about it?" Scarlet asked. His grin twisted into surprised indignation. He was volatile, she knew that. He wasn't going to do anything though. For one thing, she knew he was better than that. For another, she was ready. He'd probably get an arrow somewhere too if things got hairy.

"What do I get out of it?" Rainbow asked. "I've got who knows how long to have something to show the others, and they're off to improve themselves. Even killing Hassyth just makes us safer not stronger." She looked back to the watchtower. Hopefully, Longstride didn't have hearing to match his sight. "Longstride's got something to help me. Attacking him just makes things harder."

"He nearly had you enslaved by ophidites!" Scarlet said. "Doesn't that count for something?"

"It does," Rainbow muttered. She faltered briefly, remembering that humiliating trek southwards. That horrible night under that ophidite with her whip and poisons, surrounded by ponies that showed her the fate that waited in Ophidus. Then that stay in the cave...Longstride did owe her. More so than that beating he got in Mount Unicornia.

'No, loyalty,' she thought. Yes, that was where she was going. Hopefully. "But I've got bigger things to worry about. I got into that trouble to begin with because I was worried about a stupid race that nearly got us killed. I can't keep thinking about stupid little personal grudges."

"Pff," was all Scarlet could say for a while. "Fine," he muttered. "We'll not beat him up then."

Rainbow let out a harsh sigh when Scarlet disappeared in a red streak. Loyalty, huh? Where had that come from? She sat on snowy roof of a nearby house. Maybe it was a good thing that this wasn't the explosive morning she had thought it would be. 'Stupid Longstride..." she muttered. His constant mocking made her hesitate, made her think things through so she didn't look like an idiot. At least Scarlet was always supportive, and honestly believed that she was awesome. All Longstride did was snipe at her with either annoying observations or actual arrows. Just getting him to stop calling her "stupid mare" was a challenge each time they spoke.

Then there was that stuff he said on the airship. What kind of answer was she supposed to give to that? When did Loyalty become this complicated anyway? Loyalty was supposed to be the element of not doing things. She had never betrayed her friends. At least, not without some kind of mind-affecting spell or something. She had always done her best not to leave them when they were in need. What more was there to it? Why did she have to ponder things like the rightness of Longstride reviving this project of his. Or if it was right for her to get some personal revenge when it was better for Equestria and her friends if she didn't.

Rainbow sighed. 

'Am I doing the right thing?' 

She asked the question mentally, but she was looking towards the watchtower.





Half the day passed without incident. The lancers dug in with the volunteers while maintaining their weapons. Longstride stayed in his watchtower, though he flew off briefly a couple of times. Rainbow busied herself practicing her aim, exercising, and restlessly waiting for something.

Another group of lancers, the rest of Flight Shatterspine, arrived by noon. They had brought with them the bulk of the flight's supplies, which included food, water, and a large number of extra lances. Shatterspine's vice-captain reported that ground troops were on the way as well, including earth pony skirmishers, crossbows, "bear skewers", and unicorn magi.

"I can't believe I'm going to get to see an entire lancer flight in action!" Snow Feather said. He hopped in place excitedly and stretched out his white-feathered wings. "There's no doubt now. I'm joining the Legion by spring!"

Peach Leaves frowned at this, somehow evenly distributing her disapproval towards the lancers and Snow Feather. "Just what we needed," she said softly. "A massive battle tearing our village apart." 

Snow Feather and Peach Leaves were siblings and part of the group of volunteers that stayed in the village. Rainbow had chatted them up during the morning, and they were happy to talk to "an actual chosen". Snow Feather, a white pegasus with a dark blue mane, had volunteered in hopes of impressing the lancer flight, thus making a name for himself before he joined the Legion. Peach Leaves, a pink unicorn with a dark green mane, volunteered in hopes of getting this incident over with as quickly as possible so Southwind's idyllic days could return.

"What do you think, Legionnaire Dash?" Snow Feather asked. "How big will this battle be?"

"Uh..." Rainbow tapped her chin with a hoof. "Pretty big if they got all the big weapons." She glanced at the worried Peach Leaves. "But if they're setting their arrays here, that means the fight will be a long way away, right?"

"I hope so," Peach Leaves said. She sighed before continuing. "Our ancestors founded Southwind in this remote location so we would not be in the paths of any extermination campaign or slaving routes. Yet, here we are now, thrust into the fighting anyway."

Snow Feather snorted. "There's no escaping the fighting," he said. "It's just like the great Yargh said 'you can run from your troubles, but you will always tire before they do'."

"Who is this 'Yargh'?" Rainbow asked. "That doesn't sound like a pony's name."

"But he is a pony," Snow Feather said. "His actual name has been lost to history, but he chose to call himself Yargh."

"Imagine the bloodcraze it takes to name yourself after your war cry," Peach Leaves added.

Snow Feather pushed his sister with a hoof before continuing. "He was one of the 'Four Lances of the West', and the greatest captain of Flight Gore Howl. I swear, I will follow in his hoofsteps as a great lancer."

"He was so reckless that he tried to lance an envy dragon," Peach Leaves said. "Is that how you want to end up too, dear brother?"

"By the Prince, yes!" Snow Feather said with a stomp of his hoof. "Going out in a blaze of glory under the Legion's banner. I'll take that over dying in my sleep after a hundred years of farming vegetables."

"You're really a big fan of this lancer, aren't you?" Rainbow remarked. She remembered all that time she spent gushing over the Wonderbolts. She supposed Barrier Lands ponies also went through the same thing.

"He grew up on stories of Yargh," Peach Leaves said. "He's the big local legend here because he died where Willow Manor was built."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "You don't say?" she said. "Was this after--" she caught herself before she mentioned "Longstride Project". "Was this before or after the manor was used?"

"Before," Peach Leaves said. "Willow Manor was built over the lair of the envy dragon that Yargh died fighting."

Well, that was something to think about. Did Longstride know that? He probably did. 

"Say, they're bringing unicorn magi as well, Peach," Snow Feather said. "Maybe you can show your skills."

Peach Leaves shook her head. "I'll be happy to stay in this village," she said. Before, she could say more, Scarlet's loud cry broke through their conversation.

"Rainboooow!" Scarlet shouted. He landed hard on his hooves, sending bits of snow flying.

"Scarlet, what?" Rainbow asked as she shook herself clean of snow.

Scarlet grinned. "Time to move, Longstride just spotted a small group of ursans making their way here."

"Small?" Rainbow asked. "They're not serious, are they?"

"Probably negotiations," Scarlet said. "Longstride says they've got a matriarch on the way."

Rainbow nodded and looked towards the southwest gates. Before she could fly, however, Scarlet put a hoof on her shoulder and leaned in. "You just say the word if you change your mind, Rainbow," he said. "I got your back."

With a snort, Rainbow took off.