Upheaval: Journeys
Rainbow Dash 10: Without Falter
"I hate losing. That includes friends."
She said that to him with full confidence, the sort that came when one didn't really think of what they were saying. Rainbow remembered that moment as clearly as if it had just happened a minute ago. She had been proud of that line. She may not have thought it over before saying it, probably because she was getting pummeled by Scarlet when it happened, but she judged it to be a pretty cool line afterward.
What garbage.
What trash. What crap. What complete and utter swill. She looked like an idiot, promising things she had no way of accomplishing. The words tasted like ashes in her mouth, and felt like weights on her heart.
The bone thing was having none of her grief. It wrenched her forward like an angry, savage dog might yank on its leash. It wasn't just doing so physically. Its presence pulled away from her thoughts, as if embarassed to be around them. 'Kill everything,' it shared. 'That will protect my friends. Kill everything that might take them away.'
Rainbow's thoughts went to Hassyth. The bone thing had a point besides the one it killed things with. If she had killed Hassyth sooner, Scarlet would not have needed to push himself to the death. She should have finished Hassyth quickly. She had the power and speed for it. She hesitated. She could see that now. She hesitated at the sight of Hassyth's magical power. She spent too long fleeing and dodging. If only she had been faster. If only she tried harder.
The ursan matriarch loomed ahead. She pulled down an overconfident lancer from the air, ripping him in half before he even hit the ground. The matriarch kept her head low, eyes averted from Longstride's general direction. He had put several arrows through the gaps along her neck and back, but her thick fur and hide allowed for little penetration. Rainbow couldn't even tell if he was drawing blood.
Longstride circled around. He likely didn't have a lot more chances. He may have a magic bow to hit at any distance, but not a magic quiver to give him an endless supply of arrows.
'If I ever have to fight him again, I'll prolong the encounter and make him waste arrows, then kill him,' the bone thing shared.
'I'm going to make Longstride miss over and over am I?' Rainbow thought, more to shut the bone thing up than anything else. Also to shut the bone thing up further, she picked up speed and dove for the matriarch. She didn't have to aim for gaps in the armor. She just had to pierce. The bone thing would penetrate for sure; whether it was metal plate, bone, or flesh. All the better for it. She wanted to be done with this. Her aching heart was all too eager to put this place behind her. Unfortunately, the matriarch saw her approach early. It was hard to miss a blazing glob of blackness after all. Especially one that was rapidly approaching.
For such a massive, heavily armored beast, the matriarch was swift on her paws: turning on a dime, doing a short hop, and raising her long, sharp claws to intercept.
Those claws looked hard and sharp enough to rip dragonscale open, and big enough to do so to an adult dragon. Even just one would cut Rainbow in half, and she had five coming her way from the side at a frightful quick swipe. Instinct told her to break her dive and shift direction. The bone thing and her building rage encouraged the gamble of swooping past the swipe with more speed.
The decision had to be made in less than a second. Indeed, when the massive claw swooped past Rainbow, she was still unsure. The rest of her body had gone ahead regardless. The bone thing surged on with Rainbow right behind it. No hesitation now. No fear of a sudden magical attack or weird mind games.
The matriach was no pushover, though. Perhaps, she had already heard of what happened to the things struck by that spear when she had to deal with the loss of her titan. She stepped to the side, forcing Rainbow to adjust. This was far from her first encounter with a lancer. Up close, Rainbow caught a passing glance at the long scars under the matriarch's protective face plate, right before those frightful jaws pushed forward for a quick bite.
The hot stink of pony gore, both fresh and old, crashed into Rainbow's senses, enough to make her eyes water and her throat tighten. Those enormous yellowed teeth dripped thick gobs of drool and blood, and the cavernous maw behind them looked like a bottomless hole. A pony's hind leg appeared stuck between the back teeth. Rainbow nearly faltered as her mind flashed back to Fangbreaker Fortress, where she had also faced a giant maw.
"No more!" Rainbow growled. She thrust the bone thing into the matriarch's face, much to the thing's elation. Its tip tore through the edges of the matriarch's face plates, cutting through steel like it was paper, and leaving a great gash from snout to cheek. It would have found an eye, but the matriarch was quick to turn away. Blood dripped down from the torn face plates as Rainbow flew back, not to retreat, but to ready a second charge.
A second swipe was already coming at Rainbow. The matriarch was relentless, and surprisingly disciplined after Longstride's initial taunts. Perhaps, with her forces dwindling and Hassyth dead, her fury had tempered to a grim edge. Rainbow sucked in a breath sharply. She had put a lot of effort in that backward flap to obtain some distance. There was no time to change directions.
The matriarch roared and pulled back the giant paw in pain. Several arrows jutted out from between its second and third digits. Another had plunged directly beneath one nail and into the unprotected flesh within. Rainbow didn't need to look. Longstride continued to circle around the fight. He wasn't the only one.
Some lancers, including Razor Beard, charged at the opportunity. One of them went off mark, his lance grazing solid steel plate hard enough to send sparks flying. The matriarch backhanded him with her injured paw, sending him flying into some nearby trees. He didn't come flying out straight away, or at all. A second one drove his lance between the gaps of the matriarch's shoulder plates. He buried his weapon deep enough to draw some blood, but the head remained stuck. He was quick to fiddle with his harness, but the matriarch's practiced response to stab wounds proved quicker.
Those enormous jaws moved like lightning; an instinctual move that the matriarch herself likely didn't even notice. They snapped shut and tore away, leaving a red splotch on her armor.
Razor Beard fared far better. His lance buried itself nearly a foot into a gap between the matriarch's left shoulder blade and her torso. He was gone before she could retaliate. Barely. A claw swipe passed close, enough to rip off a few pieces of metal from his armor and leave a large gash underneath. He faltered for a moment, but managed to remain aloft.
Rainbow wasn't interested in seeing more. She dove in again, this time aiming for throat. The fight had gone on for too long. 'Longstride will cover me,' she thought. ''He's down to his last arrows. I'm his best shot.'
That sort of sounded like something the bone thing would arrogantly suggest, but Rainbow recognized the thought as her own. He could keep the matriarch's paws away long enough. Rainbow just needed a perfect, driving strike. Her path seemed much clearer upon considering that. Her wings lighter, and her forelegs ached less. One uninterrupted charge. He could give that to her at least once. The first few shots to the matriarch's paw was his way of showing it. She didn't need to look at him to confirm, or hear him say so through his magic pin.
With a long inhale to gather both courage and energy, Rainbow charged. She maintained the straight line, despite instinct warning her that she would be swatted away. She aimed for a gap between the neck and the shoulder plates, just above the collar bone. She was pretty sure that the bone thing could pierce the armor anyway, but this charge had to be right.
The matriarch saw Rainbow's approach, and knew straightaway what was happening. She tucked her head close, keeping her neck compact in a defensive posture. Her jaw hung low, ready for a quick counter if Rainbow made one mistake. That was the danger of flying towards the neck. The mouth was only a little way away.
She nearly paused, nearly, when Longstride came into view. When had he been that close? She was sure that he was at a distance, waiting for another good shot from out of range. That was what snipers did, right? Yet, here he was even farther ahead than her, his bow taut, his eyes focused. He was at eye level with the matriarch. There was no way she could move her head away without exposing her neck.
A roar of pain quickly echoed Longstride's shot. His arrow flew for a few feet, then lodged itself into the matriarch's right eye. The matriarch's head went up out of reflex, as did its uninjured paw. There was the neck, ready for a stabbing. Rainbow was still in her charge. That paw was coming up to shred Longstride, though, and he was flying far too slowly to move. Rainbow slammed into him, the bone thing slipping past between his torso and foreleg. Up close, she could hear his confused grunt and the sudden intake of his breath. Her push brought both of them past the counterattack.
The bone thing found its target with a brief mental sigh followed followed by an uproarious surge of emotion. It punched through tempered steel, thick fur, a thicker hide, and heavy musculature. It even grazed a collar bone as it stabbed up, and instinctively searched for the right vein to sever.
Longstride, momentarily pinned between Rainbow and the matriarch, squirmed free and flew away from the clash.
The feel of the bone thing come alive in her grasp by twitching and spasming nearly made Rainbow let go so she could recoil in disgust. The goo poured into the wound it created, pushing back damaged flesh to let more blood out like gruesome tendrils. The shaft of the spear even bent slightly to worsen the wound.
The matriarch let out a long, burbling moan, the best she could do with the horrific wound in her neck. She reared up, dragging Rainbow upward as well. Her claws coming up on instinct, the last attempts, not to win the fight at this point, but to drag her killers down with her.
Mentally, the bone thing was "laughing" maniacally. The joyous sensations felt like a horrible intrusion, especially with Rainbow's thoughts still lingering on Scarlet. Furious, disgusted, and impatient for a resolution for this too long fight, Rainbow wrenched the bone thing out. At once, her shoulder tore out from the strain, followed by an agonizing spurt of pain shooting through her right foreleg, and radiating into her torso. Her hoof went limp from both the shock and pain. The bone thing would have dropped if it wasn't stuck to her. She faced a bigger problem, though. Her right wing refused to move. The muscles around it seized up and failed to respond. With the bone thing free from the matriarch, Rainbow had nowhere to go but a downward spiral and a hard landing. That is, if the matriarch's claws didn't just shred her before she could fall, and those claws were coming. She closed her eyes, still trying and failing at a last second miracle at flying.
No claws came, however. Longstride's --she just assumed it was Longstride's-- hooves encircled her torso, briefly lifting her and bearing her away from the coming attack. They made it for a few feet when the draft of ursan claws ruffled Rainbow's feathers. All of a sudden, Longstride's unsteady flight turned into a sudden descent.
"Longstride!" Rainbow cried out. Before she could do anything, they tumbled onto the ground. He had been descending, and they weren't far up anyway. All Rainbow had to endure was a bit of a hard tumble. Even then, Longstride shifted his weight to take the worst of the impact.
Behind them, the matriarch crashed to the ground with the loud bang of metal crunching stone and the echo of a dozen or so lancers cheering.
Warm sticky liquid got onto Rainbow's back again, slowly seeping into her fur and feathers. She squirmed out of his grasp, an easy enough task as his grip had significantly loosened. She was on him at once, drawn to the sickening splotches of crimson just below his left shoulder.
The whole wing was gone. A jagged stump of bone, obscenely white and naked, poked out of Longstride's torso, surrounded by brown fur blackend by blood. He was breathing hard, and wincing in pain, but not even a moan escaped his lips.
"Longstride!" was all Rainbow could say. She could barely breathe herself and her heart was about to burst. Not this again. Not this again! She hovered over the wound, her free foreleg trembling, wanting to do something but not knowing what while the other foreleg held the bone thing out as far as possible. Longstride was still awake, and struggling to rise.
'He can't fly anymore, it will be easy to divebomb him,' the bone thing suggested.
Rainbow slammed the bone thing's side against a nearby rock. Its shocked protest ground against her mind, prompting her to slam it again until it squirmed. She pulled out a knife and pressed the blade hard against her aching right foreleg. "Let go of me, damn you!" she growled. "Fight's over! Let go of me or I'll cut the whole leg off and nopony will ever use you again!"
That was a stupid threat and she would have been backed into a corner if the thing called it, but it squirmed some more before retracting its goo, then plopped to the ground. It was back in her pack instantly. With that out of the way, she focused on Longstride.
"Call for aid, stupid mare..." he whispered harshly. It was likely as far as he could go. Still, he may as well have had thunder for a voice. His words jolted her out of her useless panic just as well. "I'm about to faint..."
No more time to waste. The battle had ground to a halt with the matriarch's demise. Rainbow frantically waved down the surviving lancers, desperately hoping that they had a medic with them.
Rainbow stared at the entrance flaps to Longstride's tent.
A bunch of things happened for the Western Legion once the camp and the manor was cleared out yesterday. Rainbow didn't really care to find out. She was lucky that there was a lancer who was good enough at first aid and had some supplies with him. He was able to keep Longstride alive until the unicorns moved in with their healing spells shortly after the fight. They had tents set up quickly for the wounded. No digging graves though. Instead, a lot of talk in the background about identifying remains and sending them all to Legion's Rest.
Well...there was one thing the Western Legion brought up that caught her attention.
"I'n sorry about Legionnaire Scarlet Rabbit," Razor Beard had said. He was nursing several deep gouges along his torso, just more scars along his already damaged body. He spoke softly and somberly; a far cry from his joyous shouts when the matriarch fell. "He fought well and he gave his life to slay a coatl. An honorable and glorious end. We will transport his remains to the Northern Legion's tombs within Legion's rest. If you can tell us of any relatives and friends to contact, we would appreciate it. As would they."
Rainbow couldn't answer. If Scarlet had any relatives, they were probably slaves in Ophidus. As a friend...there was only Vanguard Clash, not counting herself, and he was somewhere in the Southern Barrier Lands at the moment, on some secret mission with Applejack. Rainbow made her mind up at that moment. She would be the one to tell Vanguard what happened.
'Honorable and glorious death, huh?' Rainbow thought. Scarlet was her friend. Despite everything that had happened, from his insane race to his berserk revenge, this was true. Still, she doubted that his death had anything to do with his honor or glory. She raised her right foreleg, holding back a wince when her bandaged shoulder protested with a burst of fresh pain. She wasn't going to be flying for a while.
Rainbow sighed. At least she'd be back at flying at some point. Finally, she mustered the nerve to push past the tent's flaps.
Longstride was awake and up. The bloody bandages that covered what was left of his ruined wing had just been replaced. His bow was in his hooves and he was sweating profusely. It didn't take much to figure out what he had been trying to do.
"Are you nuts?" Rainbow snapped. She was by his side in an instant, already taking Camellia away. He didn't even have the grip strength to resist her. "You're in no condition to shoot!"
"I know that," Longstride replied. "I just tested the extent of it. The loss of flight is obvious, but the shoulder has also been compromised. With some rehabilitation, I should be able to regain its use."
"You could have found that out later, you stupid stallion," Rainbow groused. "We're both grounded and we're not going anywhere."
"Scarlet Rabbit," Longstride said. He looked at her quizzically. Well, he couldn't have known after all.
"He's dead," Rainbow replied softly. The wound still stung. The tears had come last night, along with a long, uncontrollable bout of sobbing. She was lucky to have been given her own tent, and she made sure to keep it shut all throughout the night. It was only now, later in the morning, with her eyes less puffy, that she could bring herself to face Longstride. She braced herself for some harsh, judgmental retort from him. It would be like him to say he expected it or something infuriating. Or mock her for crying.
"I'm sorry," Longstride said.
Rainbow's eyebrows were already meeting when she spoke. "Hey--! What?"
"I said that I'm sorry," Longstride said. "He was your friend. I'm sorry for your loss."
"Yeah...uh..." Rainbow wasn't quite sure where to go from that. She looked at him a little more closely, to check for even slight traces of scorn or sarcasm. His gold eyes spun slowly when he held her gaze, revealing nothing but sincerity. "Sure..." she added. "Um...I'm sorry about your wing."
Longstride look to his the injury impassively, as if he was just checking a splinter. "A setback," he said. "I can still serve. We can still continue with your journey if you want."
"What?" Rainbow asked wide-eyed. "We should head back to Canterlot! Princess Luna can make it grow back!"
"We will make the return trip if you insist," Longstride replied. "But the wound will have closed by the time we make it back. Healing magic works with the body. Her Highness might be able to mend the torn muscles and complete the wound's sealing, but I doubt that it will grow a new wing. If she could, she would have regrown her brother's horn and wing, I would think."
Rainbow crossed her forelegs defensively, stifling a squeak of pain when her shoulder ached again. "We'll try it! Stop being such a downer!"
"I will," Longstride replied. "Now, can we both get back to resting?"
"No more archery!" Rainbow snapped. She grabbed a hold of Camellia, looking at him to see if he would challenge her. When he didn't, she walked out. Only to pause and look back at those tent flaps. For a split second he looked like he was smiling. But was he? Probably a hallucination caused by the pain.
A couple more days passed. Rainbow had hoped to get Longstride to Canterlot while the wound was fresh, but they were both grounded and the return walk to the Great Delve would have probably killed them. Flight Shatterspine promised a lift back to the Delve, but only after a few more days of recuperation, out of fear that the flight would severely worsen their injuries regardless.
The Western Legion had moved into the manor, slowly exploring it with their camp by its grounds as a base. Rainbow listened in on reports mostly to alleviate her boredom. It turned out that Hassyth had scattered traps all along the halls of the manor and this was in addition to older security measures used by the original occupants of the place. Progress was slow and halting. More than a few legionnaires had to be carried out due to injuries.
Longstride, for his part, didn't seem to mind having the Western Legion moving into his old home. He watched the proceedings without emotion, doing his best to advise legionnaires on the manor's layout. It was probably because he knew that the research he hid wasn't in the manor itself.
Seeing him involve himself, despite his serious injury, left Rainbow restless. Her shoulder still hurt. Even walking was agony. Yet, Longstride was already making better use of his time. She stared at the flaps of her tent. Any sort of lancing practice was out of the question. It wasn't like she could help with the wounded like Fluttershy, or do research like Twilight, or run off on the whims of a weird rock like Pinkie. What could she--
The flaps to her tent opened, and Longstride stepped through. Rainbow nearly jumped at the sudden intrusion.
"How are you feeling?" Longstride asked. "Can you walk short distances on moderately rough ground?"
That was obviously a challenge. Even if he didn't say anything to that regard, Longstride pretty much meant that he was able to do that much. For Rainbow to be unable to match him when he had the worse injury would be humiliation.
"Of course, I can!" Rainbow said with a snort. "I can even walk long distances on super rough ground!"
She stomped a hoof on instinct for emphasis, barely stopping herself when she realized what she was about to do. Her hoof hit the ground at a slight impact, enough to send bolts of pain across her torso. Rainbow had to bite down on her lip just to keep a straight face.
"Let's go then," Longstride said. "Give me Camellia." His tone brooked no argument. Rainbow didn't mind, he looked fine and he wasn't a complete idiot. With his weapon back, he walked back outside with Rainbow following shortly behind.
"Where are we going?" Rainbow asked.
"Quiet..." Longstride replied in a harsh whisper."It's time I retrieved the Project."
Rainbow swallowed a lump after hearing that. All of a sudden, the legionnaires around them left her a little worried. What would the Western Legion do if they discovered the Longstride Project? Would they demand that it be given to them? She could almost imagine Flight Shatterspine eagerly trying to get those special body parts to be better lancers. How far would they go? It was best to keep this quiet for now.
They walked past still busy legionnaires, who saluted when they were close, and towards a still forested area behind the manor. It had been lightly snowing last night so their hooves scrunched against a fresh layer of frost on the ground. Nothing too bad. Rainbow didn't even need the layers she had on. They had to go up on a slight slope over hard, rocky ground and some fallen timber. It was a fairly simple walk.
Rainbow was sweating and panting by the time they made it to whererever they were going, though. The pain was mild for the first dozen steps with her injured foreleg. Then, it worsened with each one after that. Her jaw ached from the constant clenching just so she didn't make a single pained grunt. She was hiding a tremble too. Clearly, she had overestimated her recovery, but she'd be damned before she told Longstride that.
Not that Longstride fared much better. He was sweating and panting as badly. He had to lean against a tree to catch his breath and his forelegs clearly trembled. Rainbow looked worriedly at his bandages, afraid that fresh blood would start seeping through them at this rate. He seemed fine, though.
As for the spot they were in, it didn't look particularly special. Overgrown with hardy weeds capable of surviving the cold, surrounded by trees...it was just another patch of wilderness. Rainbow supposed that was the point. If one was to hide something really important, then a place that didn't stand out would be a place nopony would bother to look into.
Longstride looked around once he had rested a bit. He had an odd look about him again; eyes distant, lips seemingly on the verge of a wistful smile. Perhaps he was seeing this place as it looked like all those centuries ago, taking in any familiar landmark. Rainbow couldn't imagine finding anything familiar in any place after such a long time, but those eyes of his might. He rummaged through some undergrowth, pulling away vines and shrubs. With a sigh, and upon seeing that some of those plants had small thorns that were jabbing into his forelegs, Rainbow joined in. The nod of appreciation from him was a mildly pleasant surprise.
It took a while along with a few splinters, but they cleared the spot out. Under all that hardy undergrowth was a bare patch of hard ground. A few sweeps of Longstride's foreleg cleared a thick coating of dirt from a large, flat rock.
"All this time," Longstride said softly, tenderly even. "Hello again, Camellia. I promised a visit, didn't I?" He fiddled with one of his packs, then pulled out a folded piece of paper.
Though she felt like an intruder, Rainbow stretched her neck out to get a look. She expected something like a magic invocation or a special symbol or something of the sort, but all she caught a glimpse of was a pressed flower; the many pink petals of a camellia forming a circle. She pressed her lips against each other tightly. Why did he even bother to bring her here then? This was clearly a personal matter.
The wistful mood around Longstride seemed to slowly dissipate, like so much morning fog. He pressed a hoof against the flat rock, then concentrated. Something flared up with bluish white light where he touched. Slowly, as if somepony was inscribing something on the rock with a burning, sparkling pen, the picture of a five-petalled rose formed on the rock. Even Rainbow recognized the symbol of the Thorns. "Black Rose," she said.
Longstride shook his head. "Blue Moon. This is an old enchantment. The Project rests next to Camellia through Blue Moon's magic. The retrieving enchantment will only recognize me or him."
"I thought Black Rose was the sort to just use the Project straightaway," Rainbow remarked. "She seemed the type."
"I thought so too," Longstried replied. "But she ultimately left the handling of the Project's remains to her brother, and he then left it to me." His eyes narrowed in thought. "Perhaps, neither of them found the Project that important, especially with the cost."
"Maybe they were just thinking about you," Rainbow suggested. "You went through the ordeal. Maybe they did think you should get to decide what happened to it."
"My feelings on the matter are irrelevant--" he caught himself "--were irrelevant." He was quiet for a while when he spoke again, Rainbow could have sworn there was a sigh before he started. "I never understood the mistress. Of the six of us, I knew her least. I was far more content when she just assigned my targets."
"That's the easy way out," Rainbow scoffed. "She obviously thought you were better than that."
The spell finally completed, and a set of books appeared before Longstride. They were in remarkably good condition. Rainbow guessed that was part of the spell too. The infamous Longstride Project...all that horror and power written on some ridiculously plain books. They looked like they could contain pie recipes or tax records. "What are you going to do with it now?" she asked.
"What do you think?" Longstride replied.
There was the question. Rainbow stared at Longstride, still half-expecting him to sneer, then laugh before she said anything, scoffing at the notion that he would take advice from a "stupid mare". She'd prefer that actually. Just make this whole thing a terrible prank on his part. Of course, that wasn't the case. He looked to her sincerely. For a moment, Rainbow wondered if Black Rose ever felt like this, being called on for some wise words by all these grim-faced super soldiers like Longstride and Sablesteel.
"Take it," Rainbow finally said. "I say we take it back to Canterlot."
"You know the cost that this research will take," Longstride replied. "You will pay that price?"
"No," Rainbow said. "We'll do it better this time. Slow and steady..." she paused. She couldn't believe she just advocated being slow and steady at anything. "Safety first, and no crazies like Twenty-Four. We can do this, Longstride."
"You would trust Equestria to stay true to being safe?" Longstride asked. "That no ruthless pony will throw lives at this for the glory of being the one to perfect the process? That colts and fillies won't be taken from their homes to live and die for the sake of creating more like me?"
'He was going to argue no matter what I said, wasn't he?' Rainbow groused mentally. No, even she wasn't dumb enough to think that. Maybe there was somepony out there just eager to just give everything for the Project. The more she spent time exploring the Barrier Lands and learning its history, the more she noticed ponykind's tendency to keep taking it too far. "No," she replied. "Not really. I don't know everypony in Equestria."
"Then, why bring out the Project again?" Longstride asked. "When so many have paid the price?"
"I..." Rainbow considered giving up. Just throw her hooves up and say "whatever". Why was he being so argumentative? It was his choice to begin with. He got her involved in this. That was shallow resentment though, she bitterly admitted to herself. "Look," she said. "I get it, okay? I mean, I sort of get it. Obviously, I didn't go through the whole thing like you did and--!" She shook her head. "They made a mistake, okay? They were nuts, these ponies that ran your Project, they did a bunch of things wrong. I'm sure, if we sat around just picking at everything they did, we can list down all the things they got wrong. They...they...!"
Rainbow put her front hooves on her head and paced about a bit, kicking up a bit of snow and dirt. Why was she making speeches? She was terrible at speeches. This was Twilight's thing. Longstride continued to stare. He wasn't laughing despite her awful attempt at wisdom. She lowered her voice. "They did you wrong. I get that. But ponies get things wrong all the time; whether it's your friends, your team, your nation...but you stick with them anyway. You don't give up on them even if they're screw ups. What I mean is..." Rainbow let out a sigh. She had a point for sure. She had it in her grasp, but it kept trying to slip away. She was getting distracted by Longstride's intense stare and how embarrassingly smug she must sound. Still, she pushed it all down like a bad breakfast. "I think you should give Equestria that chance. That's loyalty for you. But you can't just hang back and watch what they do with that chance--!"
Rainbow hung her head, her chest aching yet again. "I had to learn that the hard way just recently...so I..."
Longstride's hoof touched her neck, just above her shoulder. He must have been about to touch her shoulder only to remember that it hurt. "Enough stammering," he said. "I've heard enough. I will hold on to the Longstride Project. It will not be lost to Equestria, but I will only give it when I see for myself how it will be used."
Rainbow looked up in time to hold Longstride's gaze. "Really?" she asked.
"Yes." Longstride looked back to the flat rock. "They will not have died in vain after all." His eyes focused on her again. "Thank you for helping me settle this business."
Rainbow made a dismissive wave, more to hide her smile than anything.
"What are your plans after Canterlot?" Longstride asked.
"Like I said, get better with my new lance. Damn thing nearly got me killed." Rainbow's eyes narrowed. "I want to check out this Dar-Sa-Haf thing. I don't like the sound of her."
"What about your friends?"
Rainbow shrugged. "I dunno,' she said. "We'll all meet up again, I know that much. I don't have to start chasing after them as soon as possible. I can play it cool."
Longstride nodded, seemingly to himself. "I have lost my ability to fly, thus reducing my ability to create distance and vantage points, but I would still accompany you if you let me."
Rainbow scoffed, turning away when their staring went on for too long. "Oh, come on," she said. "Like that's a problem. I'll just carry you to a good spot you pick out before charging in."
"As you wish," Longstride said. He was about to walk ahead when Rainbow's eyes hardened and she held him by the shoulders.
"Don't start with that 'as you wish' thing," Rainbow said. "I'm not going to be your new Black Rose, telling you what to do so you don't have to figure it out. That's easy loyalty."
"Don't get ahead of yourself, stupid mare," Longstride said. The implied sneer in his tone was a bit infuriating, but Rainbow actually liked it after that long, heavy moment between them a while ago. There was no sting to it. It was't even genuine scorn. "You are nowhere near the mistress in any way." Longstride let out a snort. "I suppose you can take that as both praise and insult."
Rainbow snorted as well, then quickly placed his foreleg around her for support. "Come on," she said. "This place is too depressing."
"You're injured too," Longstride replied.
"Still better than you!" Rainbow shot back. Though he snorted his scorn at the notion, he did not pull away.
With the Project in hoof and their answer to its question made, they slowly made their way back.