//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: End of Loyalty // by SteffaniStar //------------------------------// “No! Oh no, you won’t take my friends away! Hang in there, girls!” Rainbow reacted, getting an urge to just bash the door and save them, but she remembered to keep quiet. She couldn’t do anything that could help them, but just imagining that monster even getting close to them triggered her, but it also made her guilt grow. She still blamed herself for the fight, and the events later on. Maybe if she just wasn’t… “No, stop thinking about it! You’re not going to help them by blaming yourself, you’re just going to make things worse!” she thought, still not able to speak, but her thoughts kept chasing her no matter how hard she wanted to run away from them. She leaned her head to the stone wall and sighed. She finally let all the thoughts to flow. She finally gained the strength to face them and accept them. “It really is my fault. If I wasn’t so stubborn, maybe all of this would’ve been avoided in the first place. I explain them everything, they comfort me, we face the problem together, find something happier to think about and BOOM!, everypony lived happily ever after. But NO, I had to be such a coward to even admit my feelings. If I did, we would now be in Sugarcube Corner, all together, but instead we’re held by this sick monster! Nice try, Rainbow Dash, you always have to mess everything up. Maybe we could warn Celestia sooner about Deathmist, and all this mess would’ve never happened. Well, nice try, Rainbow Dash, you always have to mess everything up. What a great friend I am” Rainbow shut her eyes, letting tears slowly flow down her cheeks and her heart shattering to pieces. She finally let everything out, but her tears didn’t wash away the guilt. The only thing that could wash away her guilt was a miracle that would get them out. “Maybe if I stayed with Celestia and Luna, we could come up with a solution together. Instead, I just HAD to ruin everything again and just thoughtlessly jump into the shadows. Now I only made things worse. Now Celestia and Luna have to save me too… and Deathmist could easily get rid of them now, using us against the Princesses. Why do I have to always ruin everything?” Rainbow quietly sobbed, but her ears twitched when she heard cell doors open at the place where her friends are. Where is Deathmist taking them? ----------------------- „Quiet!“ loud voice was heard, and a very strong blast of magic followed it, making Twilight and the rest hit the wall behind them. Their heads hit the hard stone, which made their vision blurry and their headache so painful they almost fainted. With their hooves still numb and weak, they could barely drag themselves up again. Suddenly, they were dragged out of their cells. Even if they wanted, they couldn’t struggle or provide any resistance. Dark blue aura had too much magic and held them too hard. They were apparently going to the other side of the castle, heading upstairs. Twilight could finally feel her blood rushing from the sudden heat wave. She could feel a bit of warmth in her wings and in her hooves, but she still didn’t have her magic back. Even if she did, she was still too weak to face it on her own. She slowly turned her head around, but she could only turn it just enough to see Pinkie on her left and Applejack on her right. Pinkie looked tired, her eyes staring at the floor and her look emotionless. She’s given up. She realized all the struggle was useless and just accepted the fact nopony could help them. She was slowly breathing, closing her eyes. Twilight’s heart was breaking, knowing that once cheerful, crazy Pinkie, was now just an emotional wreck, broken spirit with no hope. She couldn’t stop the tears, but she also couldn’t stop angry thoughts and plans of revenge against Deathmist. She was just hoping Celestia and Luna will figure the way to defeat this twisted monster. Applejack wasn’t much different. The same look, the same broken will of once hopeful, strong earth pony was showing. Twilight didn’t want to sadden herself more, so she closed her eyes, her tears soaking into her fur. Suddenly, a black unicorn approached Deathmist. It spoke loudly, in a commanding voice. “Where is the rainbow one? Was I not clear that I asked ALL of them to be brought to the tower?!” loud voice was stabbing Twilight’s ears, but she got a small glimmer of hope in her soul. Rainbow might get enough time to get out, or at least try to. She might be the one that gets them out! “Y-yes, but we spotted something that we w-wanted to inform you about” unicorn said, avoiding to look his master in the eyes. He feared his response. “What is it?” Deathmist said, impatiently looking at his loyal subject, while Twilight and the rest were shivering, fearing the response. “We spotted the Princesses moving towards us, but they’re still far away. They might be here in about 15 minutes, which is more than enough that we need. However, we must hurry, and we could only destroy one of them, because we don’t have much time to collect the maximum power” unicorn said, standing still, waiting for the next command. “Alright then, go and start with the preparations. Start immieiately after everypony is ready” Deathmist said, and after the unicorn was gone, turned to Twilight and the rest, who were still kept by the dark blue aura. “You’re lucky your princesses care about you. Your rainbow friend might still have the chance to escape, but don’t think we won’t come back to make up for this shortened trip” Deathmist angrily spoke to them, but still keeping that evil grin on his face. He enjoyed watching fear in their eyes, but he remembered they must hurry. When they went to the tower of the castle, they entered one large room, full with black unicorns who were shooting blasts of magic to the one who was larger than the rest, then fading away. In the centre were four large chains, just in front of the larger unicorn. Twilight then realized what was their plan. “Put Twilight in the chains and hold the others. Let’s get this over with” Deathmist commanded, and Twilight was dragged to the chains in the middle of the room. Her friends struggled and screamed, but Deathmist’s threats silenced them. “Proceed as planned” he commanded, and unicorn kept shooting magic blasts out of their horns. “Celestia, please hurry up” Twilight though. Tears were washing her cheek while chains held her in place. She remained calm as she watched her terrible death approaching. “I’m sorry, Rainbow. I know you can’t hear me now, but I’m sorry, for everything” Twilight thought, turning her head to her best friends, and giving them sad, but comforting smile and nod. She closed her eyes and turned back to the unicorn. Rainbow waited until she couldn’t hear hoofsteps, and made her decision. “Now it’s my chance” she thought and kicked the half open bars with all strength she saved. She was getting stronger with each kick, but she couldn’t tell was it because of the anger, or guilt, or maybe the pressure she was under to save her friends. After the last kick, the bars finally broke. Rainbow took a few seconds to catch her breath, and then she rushed through the hallways searching for her friends. Celestia and Luna were flying as fast as they could, but it wasn’t enough. They were too slow. “My sister, we need to hurry up! Who knows what Deathmist is up to, and with every passing second, we’re giving him the precious advantage he could use against us” Luna spoke to her sister, who was flapping her wings as fast as she could, but she couldn’t fly any faster. “I know, Luna, but I can’t go faster. We might not be able to save them!” Celestia screamed and landed on the grass below them. She started sobbing loudly. Luna gave her a warm hug. “Please, sister, we’re almost there. Hold on for just a little bit more. Don’t let panic take you. Please, Tia…” Luna calmly whispered to her. She could feel her magic slowly fading away, which meant they were getting closer. Celestia still sobbed, thinking about all the past horror Deathmist has done, making herself worse. She made a few deep sighs, and managed to get up. “I know you didn’t fly this much in a long time, but you’ll have to hold on. We will save them and everything will be fine, you hear me?” Luna placed her hooves on her sister’s shoulder. Celestia lifted her head, looking at Luna’s eyes. She wiped off her tears, and hugged her sister once more, before taking off to the sky again. Rainbow still couldn’t shout, but she tried to follow every single sound she heard, which eventually led to discovery that there are a lot of rats at this place. Rainbow almost vomited when she saw one. Celestia knows how old is this place. For some reason, there were no guards either. When she turned and searched every single room there is in three hallways, she collapsed on the floor and sobbed. She is never going to find them like that. “They could be anywhere, and this castle is huge. If I don’t save them now, this would all be for nothing…” she thought, and looked through the window, hoping to see Celestia and Luna approaching, but instead, she saw a tall tower and flickering light. She jumped from the joy and rushed towards it. She couldn’t break the window, and they would probably spot her, so she decided to somehow find a way through the countless stairs and hallways. “Don’t worry girls, I’m coming!” she thought while rushing through the hallways. There were countless, and she was feeling dizzy and confused. There were no sings or anything, so all she could rely on were the windows and the view. She believed she was getting closer, and didn’t waste a single second. ------------------------ “Almost at the full power…” Deathmist spoke, smiling at Twilight and her frightened friends who were washing their faces with wet tears. Twilight, however, stood perfectly still. She accepted the fact that only a miracle could save her now. She faced with a terrible fate, and she was watching it right in the eyes, with no fear. She remembered all the happy times and memories she had with her friends, tears flowing down. When she looked over to her friends to give them the last look and to say goodbye, she saw a cyan blur at the door, looking at her. She thought she was hallucinating, but when she blinked she realized it was Rainbow. It was her! Unfortunately, she didn’t have time to react or think if somepony else saw her too, because… it was too late. “Fire!” Deathmist commanded, and unicorn shot large magic blast. The room filled with dust, and when the air cleared, there were no chains on anypony’s hooves, and Deathmist wasn’t there, probably because Celestia and Luna were getting close, and they lost the most of their power with this magic blast. Twilight opened her eyes. “I… I’m alive? But how?! That was supposed to hit me, how did I survive?!” she thought, shocked to find herself perfectly fine, not even a scratch was on her fur. Then, she realized what happened. “RAINBOW!!!” they all screamed, running towards her. Rainbow’s body was on the other side of the room, lying lifelessly on the floor. Her body was bruised from the blast, and her wings were spreaded, tired from flying. Her eyes were closed, and her breath couldn’t be heard. Twilight and the rest immieiately rushed to her, sobbing. Twilight couldn’t belive what just happened. “Rainbow, no! Oh Rainbow, I’m so sorry! Don’t leave me, Rainbow! Why did you… please, Rainbow… Rainbow!” Twilight screamed, hugging her, but she didn’t move. She hoped she will just jump up and say “Got ya!” but she didn’t. She sacrificed her life to save Twilight, even after that fight, even after everything… she was ready to do it. And she did it. Celestia and Luna were shocked to see Twilight and the rest sobbing around Rainbow. Luna immediately checked her pulse, and sobbed even harder after there was none. Celestia turned her head, quietly sobbing. “No… she was the Element of Loyalty… how are we going to…” she quietly whispered, but was shortly cut off by Twilight. “What did you say, Celestia?” Twilight whispered and turned her head, repeating the same sentence, but now louder. “What. Did. You. Say? She was the Element of Loyalty?” Twilight turned her rage to Celestia. Despite Celestia’s confusion, she continued. “She was the Element of Loyalty?! She just sacrificed her life to save me! You just lost one of the best ponies in Equestria, and what do you care about?! ELEMENTS! Frickin’ Elements! Are Elements the only thing important to you?! Don’t you care just at least for her?! Do you care for us even the slightest?! Would you care about any of us if we weren’t the Elements?! You think you have the right to disrespect her like that?! We go out there, sacrifice our lives to save you and Equestria, while you do what?! Eat?! Read?! Just sit on your throne pretending to care about any of us?! When was the last time you faced the villain?! When?! The changelings, for example! But you still couldn’t save your own flank! We needed to do it for you! You can raise a frickin’ sun but can’t defeat a couple of changelings?! Are you such a coward?! How dare you, and I repeat, HOW DARE YOU, to do that? How aren’t you ashamed of yourself? You only know to call us, get some magic stones and just let us on our own! Don’t you know how did you change our lives, and how much you held us back just because you were such a coward?!” Twilight screamed and sobbed at Celestia, who’s heart was breaking in thousand pieces, because all of that was true. Luna remained quiet, while everypony turned to Twilight and Celestia. She took one step towards Twilight, but she yelled at her. “Go away! I don’t want to see you ever again! That monster was right about you! You are a coward! Now, go away! GO AWAY!” Twilight raged at Celestia, tears still flowing down her cheeks. She saw Celestia’s tears, but she didn’t care. She pushed her towards the door. Celestia’s heart was shattered and from the shame and guilt, she ran away down the hallways, while Twilight continued to sob.