//------------------------------// // 394/399: Loyalty - Part I // Story: Thirty-Minute Pony Stories // by Silvernis //------------------------------// 394/399: LOYALTY – PART I “Tell me, Fluttershy,” begged Twilight. “Please. Don’t make this harder than it has to be. Just tell me.” The pegasus trembled in her shackles, but said nothing. “C’mon, Flutters,” said Rainbow Dash. “Stop it. Just tell her.” “No,” said Fluttershy. Her voice was a faint, ragged whisper, but Rainbow Dash could still hear the steely determination in it, the same determination that the normally meek pegasus had once used to talk down dragons and minotaurs. The alicorn stepped closer. “Fluttershy . . . please. The sooner you tell me, the sooner we can end this rebellion and restore peace to Equestria.” “Yeah,” said Rainbow, flashing Fluttershy an encouraging smile—or at least, she hoped it was encouraging; she was woefully out of practice. “Just tell her, and we can stop all this stupid fighting once and for all.” “No.” Twilight reached out a platinum-shod hoof. “Please, Fluttershy. I know you want this to be over just as much as I do. Tell me. Please.” Fluttershy shook her head and shrank back from Twilight’s hoof. Suddenly, the alicorn’s face contorted with rage. “TELL ME!” she roared. Black and violet magic boiled around her eyes and horn. “TELL ME WHERE APPLEJACK IS HIDING! NOW!” “No!” Fluttershy shouted. Lifting her head, she shook her dirty mane aside and glared at Twilight, her eyes ablaze with the Stare. “Stop this right now, Twilight Sparkle!” Like quicksilver, Rainbow was between them, rearing back on her hind legs and spreading her wings to shield her princess. The blades mounted on the leading edges glinted in the candlelight. “Cut it out, Fluttershy,” she growled, meeting the other pegasus’s eyes with her own. She could feel the Stare pushing against her, trying to break her will and make her obey, but Rainbow just gritted her teeth and stared back. “How dare you?” yelled Fluttershy, struggling against the chains. “How dare you? Twilight, you were supposed to fight monsters, not become one! Rainbow Dash, you—” Rainbow’s armored hoof smashed into Fluttershy’s face; the other pegasus cried out and crumpled to the damp stone floor. “I’m Loyalty,” she growled, tears running down her cheeks. “I’m gonna stand by Twilight no matter what.” She felt a familiar muzzle rub tenderly against her neck. Looking back, she met Twilight’s warm, grateful smile, and suddenly her heart hurt a little less. The alicorn turned her gaze back to Fluttershy. “Tell me,” she demanded again, her voice sharp as an amethyst blade. “Tell me where Applejack is.” “No,” whispered the trembling, curled-up pony on the floor. “Fluttershy, I don’t have time for this.” Twilight stepped around Dash and leaned down towards the other pegasus. “This is your final warning. If you don’t tell me, I’ll hurt you until you do. Do you understand?” Fluttershy whimpered and nodded. “Then tell me where Applejack is hiding.” “No.” Twilight stamped a hoof; the ornate shoe clanged loudly on the stone. “So be it,” she spat, backing away. “Dash . . . break her left wing.” Rainbow’s eyes went wide. She glanced at Twilight, but the anguished-looking alicorn nodded once and turned away. Rainbow saw silvery tears slipping down her princess’s face, and her heart throbbed painfully in her chest. She hated those tears. Hated them. She would do anything to make them stop. Anything. Damn the cost, damn her soul, damn her friends, damn Equestria—she was Loyalty, and she would do anything to make the pony she loved happy again. “I’m sorry,” she murmured to Fluttershy as she bent over the other pegasus and took hold of her left wing. Pegasus wings were remarkably flexible, but Rainbow had learned firsthoof that there were certain ways the joints were simply not supposed to bend. “No!” squeaked Fluttershy. “No no no! Please, Rainbow Dash, please don’t please don’t please no no NO—” The loud snap and sight of bone protruding through bloody yellow feathers sent a jolt of nausea through Rainbow’s belly, but she didn’t budge, not even as Fluttershy shrieked in agony. Anything, she reminded herself, holding down the writhing pony. Anything. “Tell me,” said Twilight, talking over Fluttershy’s screams. “Tell me, and I promise it will stop.” The pegasus managed to shake her head. “N-n-no! I w-wont!” “Fluttershy, may I remind you that you have another wing, not to mention two eyes, two ears, four hooves, four legs, and one tail?” “N-no . . . ” Twilight was still crying, but she nodded at Rainbow. Rainbow moved her hooves to Fluttershy’s other wing. “No!” said Fluttershy. “Please, Rainbow Dash!” “Then tell her!” shouted Rainbow. “R-rainbow, please, I c-can’t, you know I can’t—” The other wing snapped, then snapped again. Anything. “PONYVILLE!” howled Fluttershy, losing control of her bladder. Rainbow stepped clear, trying not to be sick. “Ponyville! She’s in Ponyville! Don’t hurt me! She’s in Ponyville! Please, don’t hurt me anymore!” “Thank you,” said Twilight. Her horn glowed, and two glimmering clouds of violet magic wrapped around Fluttershy’s wings, swiftly knitting the ruined appendages back together. The pegasus’s screams subsided into choked sobs as she curled up into a shuddering ball in a puddle of her own piss. After a long moment, Rainbow tore her gaze from her broken friend and moved to her usual place at Twilight’s side. “So AJ’s back in Ponyville,” she said quietly as they walked out of the cell, the door magically swinging shut behind them. “Guess we shouldn’t be surprised.” Twilight nodded, looking shaken. “Applejack always did like her traditions, and you know what they say about taking the farm out of the pony.” The alicorn chuckled mirthlessly. “I guess that doesn’t change even if the pony is organizing a rebellion against the Crown.” Sighing, she wrapped a large lavender wing around Rainbow. It shivered a little; Rainbow pressed closer and nuzzled her princess. Twilight nuzzled her back. “I want you to do it now,” she whispered. “Before she can run again.” “So . . . no more trying to get her to surrender?” “You really think she will?” asked Twilight, arching an eyebrow. Rainbow sighed and rubbed her mane. “Probably not. Finish her, then?” Twilight looked away, then turned back and nodded. “Yes. Cut off the head of the serpent, and the body will die soon enough. Once the rebellion fizzles out, we’ll have peace again.” Rainbow saluted smartly. “Consider it done, Your Highness.” Twilight smiled, leaned in, and kissed her softly. “I know I can always count on you, Dashie.” “Forever and always, Twi.” Twilight kissed her again. Rainbow kissed her back, smiled, then flapped her bladed wings and rocketed down the hallway and back up into the castle proper. Bursting through the nearest window, she soared higher and higher, relishing the heat of the midmorning sun on her outstretched wings. She got her bearings and pointed herself towards Ponyville with the ease of a pegasus who’d made the flight hundreds of times, then went hurtling on her way. Flying, she reflected, had been more fun when she didn’t carry weapons and armor and a terrible ache in her chest. Still . . . She thought of Twilight’s smiles, and of the warm kisses, and of the tangled sheets and legs in the night, and of those terrible tears, and she set her face in a fierce grin. She would do anything for her princess. Anything, forever and always. Ponyville was dead ahead.