//------------------------------// // 14) Loyalty Explains // Story: Equestria and the Machine // by SapphireRose87 //------------------------------// {Rainbow Dash} Apparently, I was given some medicine. Either that or I fell asleep. I was starting to come to when I felt something tugging on my pony ear. “Clara!” I said. “Get out of my room! You said hi, now good...bye?” I heard hearty laughter and I looked to see Oliver and Finn by my side. “Great,” I said to myself, “I’m doing stand-up comedy in my sleep! Really! I’m glad I’m entertaining, Zach! Would you knock it off already!” “Okay, okay,” Oliver said, “we’re back at the Sixth, you can call me Oliver again!” “Well, at least I didn’t crash into a wall this time!” I said. Finn raised an eyebrow and stopped laughing, “Crash into a wall?” “Yeah,” said Oliver, “apparently she sleepwalks when she’s human, and she flys in her sleep when she’s a pegasus!” “Good thing my wings are tied down,” I said, “or I’d probably crash into a wall here!” Finn and Oliver fell over backward laughing so hard they couldn’t breathe. “Knock it off already!” I growled. “Don’t you dare call me Rainbow Crash just so I can do a crash landing and take out a Firewall! That was Agent Grace's bright idea and according to her it almost worked!” After I said the word Firewall, Finn went from laughing to being serious in the blink of an eye and Oliver did the same thing. “Okay…” I said. “What’s going on?” “We came here immediately because we found out that you got hit by a Copper,” said Finn, “if an agent gets hit by one it’s game over! However, agents do recover but lately, a handful of agents have died from getting hit! One hundred agents have died to be exact and you were almost added to the body count. Huh, interesting…” I looked down to see Loyalty still on her necklace hanging around my neck. “Is that what I think is?” Finn said. “Oh yeah! This is Loyalty!” I said. “Or at least that’s what she prefers to be called!” “Honestly Rainbow Dash!” Loyalty said. “Did you forget all about our talk when I saved you? I am a stone, so I’m an it! Duh! And it’s nice to meet you, Finn! That is your name, right? Oh and nice to meet you, Oliver! Did I get your names correct?” When Oliver and Finn heard Loyalty talk they jumped about a foot in the air and the funny thing was they were sitting down. They almost knocked over their chairs in the process. That was when I started laughing but I couldn’t laugh for too long because it made my chest hurt. “I would say take it easy Rainbow Dash,” said Loyalty, “but knowing you, you’re probably going to find some way to get out of bed! I mean you wanted to walk home after getting injured for crying out loud! I completely understand because you are Rainbow Dash after all.” “Why exactly are you talking to us?” Finn said. “I thought the elements of harmony couldn’t talk!” Loyalty giggled, “That’s because the others don’t talk to anyone except their connections, or bearers if you please. But that is their choice. If you ask me, they’re kind of stuck up for doing so! On the other hand, I love talking to other people besides my connection. I want to know about you two the most, especially you Oliver!” “You want to talk to me because why?” Oliver said. “Because you’re the most important person in Rainbow Dash's life!” Loyalty said. I could tell Loyalty was really excited to be able to talk to Oliver. The look on Oliver’s face was priceless. Finn heard this and went into laughing again and I joined in, at least as much as my wounded body could handle. “Uh, Loyalty?” Finn said. “Yes, Finn?” Loyalty said. “Rainbow Dash goes by RD now,” Finn said. “She doesn’t like people calling her real name.” “She doesn’t seem to mind when I do it!” Loyalty exclaimed. I put a pillow over my head pretending I didn’t hear what Loyalty just said. Loyalty cracked up, “Oh Rainbow Dash! You shouldn’t be ashamed of your own name! It’s part of who you are! If you ask me, it’s a pretty name. There’s nothing wrong with it at all!” “Yeah,” said Oliver, “I’m not sure she’s going to accept that anytime soon!” “Why’s that?” Loyalty questioned. “Because she doesn’t like her name number one,” said Finn, “and she didn’t want to change back into a pony too!” “Yeah, I’m not surprised!” Loyalty said. “She’s a stubborn one isn’t she?” “Hey!” I said. Finn and Oliver went into uncontrollable laughter after that. Honestly! If I do stand-up comedy one more time… “I hate that stupid Machine for keeping me away from Rainbow Dash! I was watching her fight, Firewall Eli! I can’t believe he would joke about what happened between Rainbow Dash and Silas!” Loyalty said. “He did what!” Oliver and Finn gasped. “Yup,” I said, “he’s about as bad as Apple Liar!” “Apple Liar?” Finn said. “Now I know that’s not true!” “What?” I said through gritted teeth. “Because she’s the element of honesty? I finally remember what Applejack said after what Silas did; she teased me about being pregnant with Jude!” “Yeah,” said Loyalty, “Honesty told me itself! It tried to reason with her and get her to stop but she’s as big a knucklehead as Pinkie Pie!” Finn’s jaw dropped. “Well, that changes things. But because I just have your word against hers, I doubt anyone’s going to believe you or me!” “That’s true,” said Loyalty, “because everyone’s going to say the same thing you thought Finn. She's the element of honesty! I mean why would people believe that she would tell a lie? Only us elements and you guys can confirm it. That’s why Honesty and Kindness have gone silent to not just their connections but to everyone else for that matter. When an element of harmony does that, there’s no way they do their job as protectors! And we elements take that job very seriously! Just like the Sixth takes its job of working to shut down the Machine seriously too! "One reason why an element would stop talking to their connections is because they’ve gone evil, or the element can no longer connect to their power. That’s what’s happening to Honesty and Kindness now. Honesty can no longer connect its magic to Applejack and Kindness can long connect its magic to Fluttershy! "Another reason why an element would go silent is that they do it as a warning to their connection that there is someone that is evil and wants to harm others. If an element does that then it means bad news! "I’m glad I can talk to Rainbow Dash again! I couldn’t talk to her because I couldn’t connect with her magic thanks to that stupid Machine! So I had to be silent because of it! Now that I am reunited with her I no longer have to be silent. Now I can warn her about evil people like Silas coming around! But she did try to protect herself from him to the best of her ability. If I had been there I could’ve activated her magic and she would’ve fought and possibly killed Silas! That’s more than enough reason for that stupid Machine to be shut down! "But the other elements and I have seen two visions of the future…” “Vision?” I said. “Yup,” said Loyalty, “two visions to be exact! One vision where the Machine is shut down. There’s a sort of happy ending involving the Machines ruler, but I can’t say who it is. And the other vision is dark and not a happy one for sure! In that vision, the elements of harmony get destroyed! There's also a part in the visions where another one of the elements of harmony bearers becomes an alicorn. I can't tell anything about how that happens." "Exactly, how can there be another alicorn?" I asked. Loyalty choked on what I just asked and it gave a nervous laugh, "Oops! Uh, slip of the stone! I don’t know about you but I really don’t want the second vision to come true! But, if Kindness and Honesty can't reconnect with their bearers or find new ones it's very possible that the horrible vision might just happen!” I thought it was interesting that Loyalty said something it shouldn't have and played it off like it didn't. “What are you talking about when you say activate my magic?” I said. Loyalty didn’t respond to that question but it said something else, “Quiet time for me happens now, a pony with possible evil intent is coming!” “Who is it?” I said. “It’s Princess Twilight,” said Loyalty, “Magic’s connection! It’s considering going silent to her too! I’ll answer your question about activating your magic later!” I could see the look on Finn’s face, he looked stunned that his Ex-girlfriend could possibly have evil intent. The reason for it probably was that Twilight helped build the Sixth and place its location! Not to mention, she is the Princess of Friendship on top of that! When Twilight entered the room she smiled at me. “I’m glad you're okay Rainbow!” Twilight said. “When I heard you got hit by a Copper, I was sure you would pull through! You’re a strong pony, and you have a strong will to live! Speaking of strong wills, Fluttershy's like that too! I thought I heard her voice when I came around the corner. Is she here? She's been out on assignments for such a long time! I just thought it’d be nice to visit her along with you. I could kill two birds with one stone so to speak!” Twilight searched all around the room. She must’ve thought Fluttershy was hiding underneath the bed when she checked there I tried my best to hold in my laughter. “Drat!” Twilight said. “I was so sure she was here! Oh well, I guess I’ll have to-" Twilight saw Loyalty hanging around my neck, her ears dropped on both sides of her head, and looked terrified. “How did you get Loyalty?” “I met it when I got hit by a Copper!” I said. Twilight lit up her horn and out of thin air came a brown paper bag. She started breathing into it to calm herself down. To tell you the truth it looked really comical to me and I tried my best not to laugh again. “I don’t see what the problem is,” I said, “Loyalty is a fellow element of harmony! If I hadn’t met it after I got hit by the Copper I’d be dead right now! If I recall correctly, you need all six of the elements of harmony to be able to shut down the Machine! So what’s wrong?” Twilight finally calmed down and regained her composure. She cleared her throat. “Yes, yes, I was just surprised to see Loyalty! Since we haven’t seen Loyalty in eight years, we just thought we’d never see it again!” I narrowed my eyes at Twilight, “Uh-huh then why are you freaking out?” “Oh that,” Twilight said with a nervous laugh, “like I said it was just a shock to see Loyalty and all. I’m glad you’re okay, well I really must be going!” “Are you coming to visit again?” I said. Twilight sighed, “I can’t Rainbow, this is the only time I can visit! It’s been very hectic ruling Equestria and all. So I’ll see you around. Later!” As fast as Twilight came she practically ran out of the room. After seeing Twilight's behavior, Finn and Oliver's jaws dropped and it looked like Finn’s jaw dropped the most. I almost laughed at it but I chose not to. As soon as Finn and Oliver picked their jaws off the ground, Loyalty started to talk again. “See,” said Loyalty, “she sounds like a rat to me! And I don’t like the way rats sound! And Magic feels the same way but I can’t speak for the other elements!” * * * {Firewall Eli} As soon as Rainbow Dash was hit by the Copper and her element of harmony saved her, there was nothing that I could do except retreat to AI’s castle. I was given the order by Lord Jude himself that if something like that happened I was to return to AI’s castle immediately, especially if Rainbow Dash was the one that got hit. I had no clue why Rainbow Dash was so important to Lord Jude but the only thing I could assume was the fact that she gave birth to him. I wasn’t really surprised by this because what kid would want to see their mother die? As soon as I entered the throne room I bowed to Lord Jude while on one knee like Lord Jude required of me. Lord Jude motioned for me to stand and I gulped at what he was going to say to me next. “I’m sorry Lord Jude,” I said, “but Rainbow Dash’s element has been broken out of AI now.” I was definitely terrified of Lord Jude especially when it came down to matters concerning Rainbow Dash. Even if Lord Jude was upset about something that happened to Rainbow Dash he would hide it by being a total monster to me. But actually seemed he was a monster to me just to be spiteful. I have no idea what I did to upset Lord Jude so much. As always when I bowed to Lord Jude he would hiss at me as if he were scolding me. “Stand up straight and look at me, Firewall Eli!” Lord Jude hissed. I really didn’t want to look Lord Jude in the eyes because this involved Rainbow Dash, and I used the Copper on her. “Show me the video, Firewall Eli!” Lord Jude barked. I flinched. Every time that happened it scared me silly. I did as I was told. Lord Jude actually looked panicked when he saw the video. That puzzled me; I expected him to be angry. I didn’t dare show my confusion. If I did that would annoy Lord Jude even more. As soon as I handed over the video Lord Jude gave me a dismissive wave. “That’s all Firewall Eli, you can go back to repairing the 7th Gate. I will summon you if those pests of the Sixth decide to pop up again.” “Yes, your highness…” I said. I couldn’t wait to go back to doing my job of repairing the 7th Gate. * * * {Jude} When Firewall Eli left, I got up and paced back and forth. Servant Ivy gave me a look of concern. I raised an eyebrow, “What?” “I would think,” said Servant Ivy, “that you find it amusing that Firewall Eli’s afraid of you!” I smiled, laughed, and felt a little calmer. "It’s just too much fun messing with the guy. Too bad Firewall Molly has thicker skin. I can’t pick on her like First Mother does to me.” “Is that why you’re a monster to him?” Servant Ivy chuckled. “Oh yeah,” I said, “but it still doesn’t take my mind off of protecting my mother. I don’t think she’s a threat to AI, if anything she’s a threat to herself. But that’s just like her, she can’t help herself for some reason. And why are you giving me that look, Servant Ivy?” As she had many times before she sat on my lap. This time when I looked into her eyes, I felt different about her and I had no idea why. “You do realize I’m your servant right?” Servant Ivy said. “Ah…” I said. I wasn’t sure what she was talking about. That is until Servant Ivy kissed me. She didn’t do anything else. She just smiled at me and put her head on my chest. I had been thinking about her as much as I had been thinking about how to protect Rainbow Dash. I was happy that at least he had Servant Ivy around and I didn’t have to protect her at least not yet. * * * {Rainbow Dash} When Twilight left, Loyalty started to talk again. “So what happens now?” Oliver asked. Loyalty answered, “just keep an eye on Princess Twilight for now. It's all we can do until Magic decides that it needs a new connection. Do you want to tell Oliver and Finn about the issue that’s been an ongoing problem with Laughter's connection?” “You mean that knucklehead Pinkie Pie?” I said. “What is Loyalty talking about?” Oliver said. “Did you hear what Pinkie said about that engagement she had for me?” I said. “That’s right,” said Oliver, “I remember that nut saying something about that!” Finn tilted his head. Hearing about an engagement from Pinkie Pie to me was news to him. “Why would Pinkie Pie have an engagement ring for you RD?” Finn said. “I’m getting some of my memories back and unfortunately when it comes down to Pinkie Pie,” I said, “I think I remember our relationship very clearly.” “What?” Finn gasped. “Yeah, I know,” I said, “why did I get together with her in the first place, your guess is as good as mine! I should’ve broke up with her the day before that stupid engagement party when there was no engagement until the party took place! I wish that she did it in private. But nooooo! She just had to do it in front of everyone! The joke was on me when I said no to her. And of course, everyone was busy consoling her and didn’t even worry about how I felt! So I left Ponyville and stayed gone! But it wasn’t until I was gone for a while that everyone felt bad that they didn’t look at my side of the story and urged me to come back. Why I came back after that I have no idea. "The funny thing was, that was right before we found the elements of harmony! I’m surprised her element even worked even if she did laugh away fear to help Twilight and the others out. Honestly, the main reason why I became the connection for Loyalty is because I tied that stupid bridge so everyone could get to The Castle of the Two Sisters safely. I didn’t have the heart to leave my so-called friends. If I had done that then I guess wouldn’t have fit the bill for what loyalty was! To tell you the truth, at the time I should’ve just left that bridge hanging and left everyone behind!” “Wow!” Oliver said with his jaw dropped. “Yeah, I’m glad I broke up with that nut! She probably would’ve done the same thing to me!” “But that wasn’t your fault!” Loyalty said. “Pinkie Pie isn’t just a nut, she's a knucklehead! Not to mention you were sending her signals long before that! Actually, you’re not remembering things clearly but us elements do!” “What are you talking about Loyalty?” I said. “Six months before that stupid engagement party,” said Loyalty, “you told her that you two were over several times! But Pinkie Pie doesn't know how to take no for an answer! That’s probably because no one’s ever said no to being her friend! Us elements can only think that Pinkie Pie would never believe the element of loyalty’s bearer would never say no to a proposal. And on top of that, you were her best friend! Even though you said that you two weren’t together several times, she still believed that you never abandoned a fellow element! And the other bearers felt the same way! "You want to know why she wanted to be with you in the first place and keep you off the ‘market’ so to speak? It’s because you were famous for your legendary sonic rainboom! And you were a Wonderbolt on top of that! She only wanted you for your status!” “That’s a nice story and all Loyalty,” I said, “but I’m not that famous! Although for some reason everyone just seems so eager to meet me.” Finn and Oliver went into fits of laughter and Loyalty joined in. “I don’t get it,” I said, “did I miss the punchline in a joke or something?” “Yeah, you missed the punchline alright!” Oliver said. “Do you not hear a word people say about you around the Sixth or are you that naive?” “Huh?” I said. “Oh, brother! Give me a break!” Oliver said. “Do you remember what Gilda kept saying when she and I were teaching you to do the blood barrier?” “Yeah I know,” I said with annoyance. “I’m tough, I’m fast and I’m the definition of the word awesome… I still think that's a big fat lie!” Oliver and Finn just can’t seem to help themselves when I say something that they think is funny. They doubled over in laughter again and Loyalty just had to join in. “Would you guys knock it off!” I said. “Actually,” said Loyalty, “what Oliver just said is completely correct!” “Huh?” I said. “Come again?” “Now that I have reconnected you,” said Loyalty, “your magic has been activated again! When all of the elements except for Magic were stuck inside that awful Machine our connection was severed and the that they had before they were stuck inside the Machine disappeared! "We got turned back into what we were before we got destroyed by King Sombra. The elements that make up the new tree of harmony are our descendants. "But that's not the point here anyway. When a bearer is connected to one of the elements that bearer sometimes needs more magic to keep the connection going. All of the elements except for one of us have to give their magic to their connection to keep it strong enough for the element to do its job! There is one element that has a connection strong enough where the bearer doesn’t need to be given magic! All that element needs is to be connected to its bearer's magic! You wanna know which element doesn’t have to do that? Well, do you?” “I’m gonna take a wild guess and say it’s Magic with Princess Twilight as the bearer?” I said. It looked like Oliver and Finn already knew the answer to the question because they were barely holding back their laughter. Nope, I’m not guessing again, nope not at all! I totally don’t want to know! Loyalty started laughing hard, I would say that it was laughing so hard it couldn’t breathe but I don’t think the elements of harmony need to breathe. “I’m not playing twenty questions anymore!” I said. “Nope! No way! I don’t want to know!” Oliver and Finn couldn’t take it anymore, they doubled over in laughter. By this point, their laughter was getting really annoying. Since I was back in my pony form at the moment I wished I could’ve flicked my tail in annoyance but that probably would’ve made everyone laugh even harder. “Oh come on Rainbow Dash!” Loyalty teased. “Helloooo! Sonic Rainboom! You did that before you even met me! None of the other bearers could even come close to that type of magic! Not even Princess Twilight! Even Magic has to help her! And even people think Pinkie Pie’s magic is strong. Laughter helps her too! Pinkie Pie is just weird.” “But Twilight's an alicorn for crying out loud!” I said. “She fixed all of the elements of harmony and returned them to the correct bearers and became an alicorn because of it! I didn’t do that, she was the only one who didn’t have her cutie mark messed up! If I recall correctly my cutie mark was definitely messed up that’s for sure. I didn't like what happened except for being untied after those stupid woodland animals tied me up! I guess I was the butt of that joke!” Loyalty laughed pretty hard again. “I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, but you guys didn’t know what was going on behind the scenes!” All of us were puzzled by what Loyalty just said. “Say what now?” I said. Loyalty answered, “a powerful wizard by the name of Star Swirl the Bearded created us and he wrote a spell that would keep us elements working properly so we could do our jobs as protectors. The spell that the wizard wrote had two parts to it. The first part was to mix our connections up so we can’t work anymore! And us elements still have no idea why a wizard would write something so stupid! "The second part of the spell was to fix our connections when the first part was cast. He wrote the spell in a book and implanted it inside of each of us. That way if something happened to him or the book we would know how to do both parts of the spell. "Right before Discord showed up in Equestria, Magic decided to play a prank on us. It told Princess Celestia how to do only the first part of the spell. So when Princess Celestia cast the spell it mixed us up big time! "That’s how Discord was able to rule over Equestria for a short period of time. Once we were able to reason with Magic, it gave Princess Celestia and Princess Luna the second part of the spell to switch us all back! Princess Celestia cast it and we were able to help them turn Discord into stone and save Equestria! "Sadly, we lost our connections with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna when we were used in banishing Princess Luna to the moon! That’s why we didn’t work for a long period of time after that!” “Okay,” I said, “I still don’t get how I’m the strongest bearer of the elements of harmony!” “I’m getting to that Rainbow Dash,” said Loyalty. “When Princess Luna was sent to the moon, Magic and the rest of us felt it was best to erase the spell from Princess Celestia’s memory. Even back then when we were connected to her my connection to her was still the strongest one. "A short while after becoming connected to you and your friends, Magic decided it was time to play the prank again! So Magic left its stone, found Princess Celestia, told her the first half of the spell, and said to send it to Princess Twilight. Princess Celestia wrote it in a book and sent it to Princess Twilight as a test to see if she would be able to fix it with the ‘power of friendship’ so to speak." “But if Star Swirl the Bearded wrote the spell down in the first place why didn’t Magic just tell Princess Celestia where the spell was?” I said. “Because shortly after we were created, Star Swirl and the others that helped create us disappeared and the written spell disappeared along with them. And it didn’t reappear ever again even when Star Swirl and the others came back from where they had disappeared to!” Loyalty said. “So why did you connect to us if Princess Twilight didn’t figure out the spark of friendship to do it?” I said. “Remember when I told you that elements connect to someone or somepony that fits the bill?” Loyalty said. “When all of us were searching for new connections, you and your friends showed up! So even if Princess Twilight didn’t find the ‘spark of friendship’ so to speak we would’ve connected to you anyway. And I called dibs on you and we became the strongest connection again! If I had a tongue I’d have stuck it out at Magic!” This time all of us couldn’t control our laughter at the thought of elements being jealous of each other. “And the whole ‘spark of friendship’ thing,” said Loyalty, “that was Magic’s idea so it could make a ‘grand entrance!' If you ask me, Magic is a drama element!” “And I thought Agent Rarity was bad!” I said. “Yes we know,” Loyalty said, “the whole fainting couch thing, it’s funny after the first couple of times but after a while, it gets really old! And it’s not funny anymore! And it’s still not funny! It’s just plain annoying!" “Why would Magic confuse tell only the first part of the spell anyway?” Oliver said. “Like I said,” said Loyalty, “Magic is a drama element! And possibly because its jealous of me for being the strongest element and having the strongest connection! At least that’s what the rest of the elements thought when Magic did the prank again. But this time, Magic actually felt remorse because the rest of us elements wanted to banish it to the moon just for that alone! But we don’t think sending an element to the moon is even possible, unfortunately. So after it felt remorse about the prank it played on Princess Twilight, it told her how to use the second part of the spell and fix things. This put our connections back together! "After finishing the spell, Princess Twilight went to what us elements call the ‘magic realm.’ That’s where us elements go when we don’t have a connection, to keep us safe until we can find a new one. We don’t know why Princess Twilight was sent to our dimension. Magic told Princess Celestia where Princess Twilight was. Since Princess Celestia was a powerful pony she was able to go and retrieve Princess Twilight! Somehow going to the 'magic realm' the side effect of that was Princess Twilight becoming an alicorn! "Just think Rainbow Dash, if I had done something like that--and trust me, I’m not that stupid--if I had played that prank you would’ve become the alicorn instead!” “I'm glad you didn’t do that Loyalty because there’s no way I want to be an alicorn!” I said. “Nope! No way!” I growled at Oliver and Finn because they seemed to think that this story was really funny. “Knock it off already!” I said. “It’s not funny!” “Yeah, I’m glad I’m not that stupid too!” Loyalty laughed. “Do you remember the first time you did a Sonic Rainboom?” I almost choked and punched my chest and the feeling went away. “What’s wrong?” Oliver said. “Oh yeah, I remember alright!” I said. “It was called a tale that one would tell around a campfire for a reason! Nopony had been able to pull it off! Except me... That’s how I got my cutie mark! And it was in a race to stand up for my friend, Fluttershy!” “See? You were loyal even back then!” Loyalty said. “That's the reason why I called dibs on you to be your connection!” Oliver chuckled, “That’s funny a stone, called dibs on you!” “Very funny!” I said. “If you start laughing again, I’m going to get out of this bed and buck the both of you!” “You know,” said Loyalty, “it’s kind of funny that all of the element bearers wanted to date you! And you did date three of them after all!” “Don’t remind me!” I said. “Don’t even think about it!” “You’re just way too funny!” Oliver said. “We can’t help but laugh!” “Yup,” I said, “sure you can’t!” “Anyway,” said Loyalty, “I think that’s enough story time for today. I think Rainbow Dash needs a break from you guys laughing at her! Although she is pretty entertaining!” “You called it Loyalty,” I said. “If I get laughed at one more time…” Finn looked down at the watch he had on his wrist and there was a green button blinking on it. “It looks like I have to greet some more agents that have been sent into Phase 2,” Finn said. “Yeah and I have to do our original assignment,” said Oliver, “I’ll swing by for a visit later and hopefully Pinkie Pie will stay in the Underground. That is until she can get her head screwed back on straight!” I would’ve laughed at that comment but when you think about it. It’s not funny…