//------------------------------// // Loyalty // Story: A Hero Of War (UNEDITED) // by DontWakeTheNeighbour //------------------------------// It was nightfall, a storm was brewing the clouds parted as the moonlight pooled into the empty prison cell. Footsteps could be heard through the walls as water started dripping through the ceiling. *CLUNK!* The large steel door opened, two soldiers walked in, knuckles grazed and bruised, their clothes covered in rips and scrapes as they dragged the barely conscious Pegasus into the concrete cell. Rainbow Dash’s entire body had been cut beaten and bruised, clearly she had not said a word, but the cruel and relentless torture had taken its toll. She laid limp on the floor using what was left of her energy to simply breath, her chest heaved with every deep gasp she took, Rainbow Dash stared off into the distance like a lifeless ghoul as her mind was completely overwhelmed with pain, far worse than when she was shot, if only she had the strength to scream. Both men didn’t bother to take the chains off the Pegasus as they smirked at their handiwork before leaving the room, closing the large metal door with a deafening slam, leaving the tortured Pegasus, shaking, freezing in her prison cell. She wanted to cry, but she had no tears. She weakly reached back pulling her treasured wings to her chest. They had been pulled and stretched, almost to the point of being torn off her back, but she did her best to be careful as she pulled out the now creased picture from her feathers. Her heart sank; the picture was almost completely covered in blood, making it almost impossible to see Bishop’s smile. She used her bruised hooves to weakly wipe most of the blood from the paper. She continued to lay on her side as she looked at the picture in front or her, before pulling it to her chest. Her smile soon disappeared as she began to sob loudly into the ground, clutching the picture with a tight grip as she could feel the physical and emotional, each as unbearable as the other. With every second she cried, flashbacks of her encounters in this war, flashed into her mind, when she saw Bishop getting shot, when she watched soldiers getting torn apart by shrapnel and gunfire, the haunting screams of men being burned to death in explosions. She held her head in her hooves, firmly pressing her hooves into her head as she attempted to clear her mind of those horrific images, but her current emotional state almost made it impossible to do so and with that she screamed. At the top of her lungs she roared into the ceiling, her cries echoing through the prison corridors, but it wasn’t long before her cries of pain soon faded as her headache began to grow worse with every second she screamed. After wheezing the last bit of air from her lungs she kicked the air before letting herself flop onto the ground. As she did she noticed the splashing sound, she opened her eyes before she noticed the puddle by her hooves, like a man in a dessert, she desperately used her beaten legs to drag herself across the floor. It was only seconds before she was looking into the dirty water. She didn’t care, she lowered her head, taking an experimental sip of the water before her eyes widened, she spat the water from her mouth but the disgusting taste still lingered on her tongue. She pushed herself into a sitting position before looking at the water again. She didn’t want to drink another drop, but she knew she didn’t have a choice. She closed her eyes, trying to imagine that she was going to drink a giant keg of apple cider, but this only help a little. She held her breath before she dover her head into the muddy puddle, drinking the water as fast as she could before her stomach disagreed with her. After three large gulps she backed away, her stomach heaved as she clamped her mouth shut, trying everything to hold it down. The vile taste in her mouth stung her senses as she managed to keep the water down, she couldn’t will herself to drink anymore. As she opened her eyes she saw her reflection in the water, her mane was matted to her head, her right eye was bruised, bloodshot and swollen and blood was coming from her mouth. “I.” She choked. “I-I-I c-can’t take this. …. I can’t take it anymore! I CANT TAKE IT ANYMORE!! I DON’T WANNA TELL THEM!! I DON’T WANNA!! …. I don’t know if I can take this anymore. …. I’m sorry. …. I’m so sorry.” Rainbow Dash felt a familiar feeling rush through her body, she knew what was happening. She didn’t want to but she needed to see. She looked back into her reflection. Her mind didn’t want to believe it but her eyes weren’t lying. A salty tear was pushed out of her eye before it fell into the watery reflection, her magenta eyes, her rainbow mane, her cyan coat had now become the same colorless grey she became when her loyalty was lost to the clutches of Discord, only this time it was her own desperation pushing the lives of her heroes to one side as she couldn’t bare her torture anymore. Knowing that was what hurt her more than all the pain she had felt so far. She could feel her emotions changing, her sadness and desperation, turning into anger, rage and hatred, she gritted her teeth as she flared her nostrils, hitting the floor in frustration, screaming in anguish as the war in her mind was declared. She stood up shaking her head, stumbling around the room as she fought the unbearable desire for the pain to stop, it wasn’t long before she finally gave in. “I’m. …. S-so sorry.”