//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Like Ivy and the Wall // Story: Through Loyalty and Love // by Damocles23 //------------------------------// Through Loyalty and Love By Damocles 23 Chapter 2: Like Ivy and the Wall 6 Hours before the Incident. The day was a blast. She was a blast. Everypony knew she was a blast. The blast was a blast. There was any doubt about it? Rainbow Dash was working non-stop since her little talk about Pinkie’s plan, kicking every cloud out of the sky preparing for the scheduled sunny day, slipping unseen every poor lonely raincloud she happened to see with a mischievous smile, hiding them just about everywhere she could find some room: nooks and crannies in Ghastly Gorge, an abandoned barn her friend Applejack asked to demolish when she had some time (Curiously she noticed that she never seemed to ran out of old barns, even though she rarely saw a new one being built. Maybe she just missed all of them…Or perhaps magic was involved, who cares!),even in her own house. Focused on her task, she spotted Pinkie several times, wandering through the village going through her normal routine and, more importantly, placing every kind of junk she managed to gather in strategic spots over Ponyville, following some kind of bizarre symmetry. She saw large tubes of iron concealed in the rooftops, various kind of strings cleverly placed in deserted alleys and going even though some houses, forming some kind of demented web and even some typewriters, whole carts of typewriters even, which Pinkie provided to move around regularly before somepony could make any question. She could’ve swore to have saw even some fancy calculus scribbled in the ground or hastily drawn with chalk. But the thing that surprised her the most probably was how confident she seemed of her bizarre preparations for pranking. At various occasion she spotted the Pegasus intent on watching her arrangements, only stopping to wave affectionately at her and winking at Dash as if to say: “Don’t worry, everything is going super-duper okay “( if the super-duper wasn’t included she wouldn’t be Pinkie),with absolutely no care in the care in the world In her twisted logic, the pieces of the plan were falling into their places like a symphony, even if the elements were incomprehensible for, saying a normal mind would be cruel…for somepony any other than Pinkie. She still couldn’t figure how the hay all of this was supposed to work, mind you, but one thing she had to admit about the pink pony was this: She never gave up. No matter how weird she seemed to others, how insane the situation was, how unlikely the set-up was, even if the entire world was against her she never backed down. No, not even then. I said no. Which part of “no” you don’t understand? She saw a lot of herself in Pinkie for this reason, nopony could stop them, no matter what. Together they truly were a force to be reckoned with Both careless, headstrong, a bit obsessed about their passions..Fanatically obsessed about their passions. She couldn’t hide the fact that sometimes she could be very annoying for this very reason. Well maybe that’s a strong word, but Pinkie surely wasn’t somepony everyone could handle easily when you didn’t know her well, but then again so was Dash. It didn’t seem but she was very aware of the fact that something her brashness could be seen as bad temper, and her competitiveness was something grating, and the less we talk about her constant fighting to keep her image of tough pony, the better. Before meeting the other girls, she wouldn’t never admitted something so “uncool”, but the time spent with them surely helped to soften the most hard-edged part of her personality, gave her some depth, forging a bond with every single one of her closest friend, as if some kind of all-knowing , even if not always benevolent, distant intelligence carefully planned the recent developments of her life for the purpose of providing her personal growth for obscure purposes…Perhaps a character with hidden depths provided more entertainment than a mere stereotype… Unfortunately, the art of internal monologuing was an ancient and complex tradition and Rainbow Dash wasn’t a master of it since she became so lost in her existential questioning that she didn’t notice that Luna’s Moon was already high in the sky. Dash looked around her, dumbfounded: “What the h…” Now… The skies above Ponyville were almost split half by a cyan meteor, flying so fast that the air itself looked it was almost bisected, like a hot butter knife was passing though. She was flying faster than she ever did, flying so hard that she started to feel the wind in her face like hundreds of tiny needles. Her muscles were so tense that it looked like they were about to snap as little twigs. She was moving so fast, not even trying to slip unseen into the night, that you could’ve mistaken her for a glimmer in your eye, never to be seen again except for a single moment. She summoned to force to slow down only when her destination was near. Her own house, to be precise. Once she settled down her hooves, she slammed the already open door behind her as she entered, and sat on the cloudy floor, keeping her head between her hooves, shouting the vilest epithet her language ever conceived. After a few seconds like that, she calmed her down and began to, once again, ponder. She left Pinkie Pie just a few minutes ago, told her to go to her place and grab everything she could find useful for their journey. Travel light, she said, bring everything necessary, and when I say necessary I mean strictly necessary! Don’t even think of the cannon, we can’t drag that thing down for all of Equestria! She almost regretted of saying her that, after all that cannon had some uses. Just ask those Changelings. Oh, wait, you can’t! They’re gone, so buck them. She started scouring her own house, taking everything she seemed necessary, following her own advice: a couple of saddlebags with her favorite saddle, the one with the Wonderbolts symbol embroided in, for which she did very unkind things to get her hooves on the last one available, every single bit she managed to keep for the emergencies, not much but it was a start, some food, simple stuff which she didn’t count very much on the long term, her shades, because you always need some shades and a towel, she read in a book you always need a towel. Near her bed, she took a glance at a large pile of Daring Do novels she borrowed from Twilight. After all, she read those ones only a couple of times and she probably wouldn’t see a copy for a long time… Near the pile, she noticed a pen and a lone piece of paper. She could leave a message, she thought. Something inspiring, something meaningful, a last message from the great Rainbow Dash so that posterity may not judge her too harshly about the recent events, something of such a great beauty to inspire a generation of poets to write about her as a tragic figure. She grabbed the pen and quickly scribbled the following words, without thinking twice: “Buckbuckbuckbuckbucknuckbuckbuckbuck” And here it is. The last words to the world of a deranged mind cursing her fate, or a diabolical riddle that could be decrypted by a certain orange coated farmer. Dash facehoofed because she couldn’t think of anything better than but that wasn’t important right now. Pinkie was waiting for her at the outskirts of the Everfree Forest…One of the most dangerous places in Equestria. Nopony sane of mind would possibly look for them in there. Yeah…Speaking of Pinkie… Even if she had to keep her cool for her friend’s sake, a part of her was extremely angry because of the pink pony. A kind of wrath that she didn’t know it was in her. This time she crossed the thin line between harmless shenanigans and being downright irresponsible for the sake of everypony. You could’ve called her in fancy terms like “delightfully quirky” but what she did was dangerous. Simple as that. She couldn’t believe how thoughtless Pinkie could get, and for what? For a dumb prank? A prank so dumb that probably even bucking Pinkie didn’t figure out? Something so awesomely retarded and dangerous that forced them to be on the run, like common criminals? And not even THAT common, since there wasn’t anything common about what they did. And she even encouraged her. That was the worst part, the one thing that ticked Dash off the most. Without a second thought she took part of her crazy plan that condemned them both to a life on the run, without even considering the consequences. She was a pony of action but even a speed demon like her had to draw the line…somewhere. Did she even care that Princess Celestia was there? Of course not, good old Pinkie Pie without a care in the world with that big dopey smile on her face wants to have fun? Well, she had her bucking fun, alright! Moon jokes aside, she had at least the sense to believe that their benevolent ruler couldn’t always be benevolent. Even if everypony they met probably didn’t know, didn’t care or just plain forgot, she and Pinkie were the bearers of the Elements of Harmony but after betraying the Princess’ trust in such a spectacular way probably nullified their efforts, as she rationalized before. They basically alienated everypony with their recent antics, even her friends… And obviously Dash had to take the blame as well, after all in her little pink mind they were partners in crime, alone against the world like an extremely cheap adventure novel, and didn’t had anypony else that could help. And neither did Dash…Alone…But together in their loneliness… Who said that it had to be this way? After all even Pinkie said it. She had little hoof in it, nopony could prove otherwise. The pony responsible for all of this was right there and only she knew where to find her, and, more importantly, at the start of this Pinkie was ok with confessing everything. She outright said she didn’t want Dash to take the blame… Her life would’ve continued normally, she had a future ahead, a bright new future, she could’ve entered Princess Celestia’s favor by turning in a dangerous criminal. That meant influence, admiration, respect, fame… Wonderbolts… The Element of Loyalty called: it says that you’re a douchebag, Rainbow Dash, and if it ever sees you hopes it gives you tetanus. She immediately fell on her haunches on that thought. She hated herself more than she could imagine, she felt a disgust so profound that a part of her simply died. For a brief, painful moment, Rainbow Dash forgot all the happy moments she spent with Pinkie, the joy and happiness they gave each other, every single beautiful moment they built their friendship on, the fun she had every single day they spent together, the simple fact that her friend always had time for her if she ever felt sad or simply had a bad day, all for the pettiest reasons… Not, not simply forgotten. Threw them away like trash… After this horrifying betrayal of her own Element, thankfully not very long lasted, Dash had no excuses anymore. She decided to help Pinkie, and that was it. Because she was her friend. Because it was the right thing to do. Because that’s how the Dash rolls. If she was willing to save a filly in a well, she shouldn’t even have thought about helping Pinkie. After taking everything she could from her house, her last thought before flying away from home forever went to Tank, left in the loving care of Fluttershy the day before. She hoped that he could forgive her at least. She still was angry with the pink pony, mind you. Loyalty or not loyalty, they still had to make a long talk about how they made each other’s life a mess because of her silly plan, made by a silly pony, for silly ponies…And a even sillier pony helped her, let’s not forget that. But that wasn’t the time. At least not now. Now, Rainbow Dash had to take care of a friend in big, fat, trouble, because that’s what friends do for each other, right? Don’t answer that… And maybe Pinkie had her reasons for doing that. Silly reasons, obviously, but at least she wanted to hear them. She owed her at least this much. Who knows, maybe that’s just a big misunderstanding and In a few months they’ll laugh about it. She also tasted like cupcakes and Earth spins on its axis to give us day and night. She gazed for the last time at her belongings and with a sigh, parted forever with her old life, once slamming the door. As she flew over Ponyville, she noticed the village was still bearing the scars of the disaster. Town Hall was gone, completely gone. The only thing left was probably the basement. No traces of grass around it, the flames had their way and reached the nearby buildings, although they weren’t in such a bad shape even though most of them looked bent, dangerously leaning toward the ground, oozing what looked like jam from windows and doors. She could even notice a typewriter or two scattered through the rabbles, still wondering how did they get there. No sign of the Princess obviously, although she still could spot some of the guards continuing their search. The commotions also ended, ponies were going back to their daily lives to start rebuilding the village the next day. She noticed a purple unicorn, talking with a couple of guards standing among some rubbles. Twilight, obviously. She saw them, she thought. Or she didn’t saw them. Like that made any difference, their absence was an evidence in itself. Twilight had to say everything she knew, the guards will feel suspicious about those two crazy ponies who notably didn’t show up, they’ll put two plus two and bam! Now they’re officially outlaws. No turning back from that. She took this news surprisingly well. It was only a matter of time. Inevitable. Cliched, even. No signs of her other friends, she hoped that they didn’t hurt them in some other ways. With their rotten luck, even Sweet Apple Acres could be in ruins as far as she knew. She finally reached the designated place, the lonely, brown road that led to the Everfree Forest. She noticed some sick kind of symmetry in this: The road that started their new lives in Ponyville with their friends was also the beginning of the end of their old lives. A detestable pink blot was already waiting for her on the road, waving at her. She had some saddlebags, a couple actually, and a big, dumb smile on her face. “HEY DASHIE! I’M HERE! CAN YOU SEE ME! WOHOOOO!” she shouted. With no description cut whatsoever, Dash found herself immediately silencing her by practically shoving her hoof in her mouth. She was still able to ramble, though. “Cut it out, Pinkie! We’re gonna get busted if you do that again!” she angrily retorted. Removing her friend’s hoof from her mouth she replied: “I’m sorry, Dashie! I’m just ultra-excited for the whole running away stuff! I’m kinda nervous, “ she giggled. I took only the indisp-indispendab-whatever we needed the most, just like you said! I wanted to bring Gummy, but I couldn’t shove him into a boring, gloomy saddlebag. It’s so dark and scary in there, poor dear! I hope Mr. and Mrs. Cake can take care him, and the twins play with him so he wouldn’t feel lonely. Like I said, I’m so excited and scary for this thing, but I trust you Dashie! We can’t go back after that, just like the song says: Run fast for your mother. Run fast for your father. Run for your foals, for your sisters and your brothers. Leave all your love and your longings behind. You can't carry it with you if you want to survive. But I’m not so scared because I still got you, Dash! Let’s go now, partner! In crime I mean, hihihi.” Even if she still was a giggling, fast-talking , randomly singing pink blob she knew, Dash wasn’t fooled by her comedic routine and noticed something that simply didn’t match. During her rant she was shaking on her hooves and her smile cracked more times than she could count and she could’ve swore to hear her voice cracked, too. She was still angry, she repeated herself, but in what she would’ve described as “a moment of weakness” Dash wrapped her wing around Pinkie like a fluffy, blue blanket, to stop the shaking and make her feel warm and cozy, pulling the pink pony closer to her so that their flanks were touching. Dash blushed and felt very conflicted while doing this, but she kept her friend close. She would’ve found new ways to hate herself later. Pinkie instantly calmed down, the shaking finally stopped, and looked in her friend’s eyes with a determined look, giving her an affectionate but unnoticeable nuzzle. Dash nodded and the two ponies walked down the road, with an uncertain future ahead. Author’s Notes: Second chapter already! Thanks for all the favorites, guys. Didn’t have any hope when I started writing this, honestly! I was planning to release chapter earlier but blame the DLC pack for Asura’s Wrath for that. Writing Dash for this chapter was very fun and I know some of might disagree but I noticed this: in fanon , Pinkie is the one who breaks the fourth wall very frequently. In the show Dash has her personal “Dun-dun-Duuuun” and pauses for dramatic effect so I thought that a Dash somehow aware of living in a story was plausible. I’m still thinking she was a geek before the Daring Do episode only much more closeted. And before you even ask, yes. Pinkie listens Florence + The Machine, please forgive me.