Chapter 17: Split Loyalty (Part 2)
"You are choosing the right side," June said.
"I'm not choosing anything," Rainbow growled.
"Take it easy."
"Don't take this personally, Rainbow," Rarity said with a concerned tone. "I...I don't know what else to say. I'm sorry."
"Sorry? Ya think that's enough?" Rainbow snarled at the other Bearer. "You dragged me into this! You set this trap for me!"
"Yes, but I could not simply let you go. Loyalty chose you, Rainbow. He believes that you are the best choice to bear him. You hold qualities of Loyalty that surpass the rest of us."
"Of course, Loyalty is just having you as a temporal Bearer," June told the pirate. "No scum like you ever have any true Loyalty. You're simply the best candidate for our next move against Caramel."
"Ya think I'm gonna jus' go along with this?" Rainbow took a heavy step forward.
"Willingly? Of course not. However, you'll give way. Once the pain becomes too much, you'll realize how good being a Bearer really is and you'll try to do anything to keep that Element in your chest. If you do well enough, maybe Loyalty will stick with you?"
Rainbow wanted to punch the Bearer of Kindness right in the jaw. That grinning face that simply needed a good beat down. She tried to lift up her fist, but it was like she was being held down. No one had a hand on her, so this restraining was coming from her own muscles. The opposing force won the battle and she peacefully lowered her arm.
"No, no, no..." Rainbow shook her head. "Ya think this Element is gonna control me? Do ya actually think this is gonna hold me back?" her words became angrier with each uttered syllable.
"Ha!" June laughed. "No Bearer has ever dominated the relationship. You either trust your Element and have a mutual understanding of one another or it's the Element completely controlling you. If you were smart, you wouldn't fight the Element."
Rarity placed a delicate hand on Rainbow's shoulder. "Rainbow, darling, being a Bearer is a symbio-"
"Shut up, Rares!" Rainbow roared and she stepped away. "You have no say in this!"
Rainbow struggled against the Element's control. She was stiff in one leg, springy in the other, and her balance was never right. June rolled her eyes at Rainbow's pitiful attempts. Some of the Assassins tried to calm the Bearer of Loyalty down, but were afraid of getting too close to her. Finally, the Bearer of Kindness walked up to her and leaned down to be eye-level.
"Rainbow Dash, if you really are so strong, then hit me," she jeered. "I know Loyalty doesn't want you to hit me, so try. Try and beat the superior being."
"Don't hit her. This can be settled another way."
"Ya want me to punch you or slap you?" Rainbow asked coldly.
"Surprise me."
The sound of Rainbow's fist meeting June's jaw echoed through the swamp, sending birds flying from the bushes in fear. It was a right hook that knocked the Bearer to the mossy ground. All the Assassins gasped at the feat. Rarity quickly reached June's side to aid her. Brothers restrained Rainbow once more by pinning her arms to her back. It was sudden and almost too fast to be true, but the result left June on her knees with blood oozing from her mouth.
"Impressive..." she muttered.
"There's a lot more where that came from!" Rainbow laughed.
"June, dear, are you alright?" Rarity asked.
"Yes, Rarity. I've had worse," June pushed the Bearer of Generosity away.
"Yeah, I'm sure ya have!" Rainbow yelled. "It's probably why you're such a bitch! Did ya dad beat you? Did he want a son instead of this asshole he got? Huh? Was it ya husband? Naw! What man will ever go with a woman as ugly as you, huh? Not even a mother could love ya face. Oh! I got it, did ya get beat up so much that now ya gotta act tough? Is there any excuse for ya? Are ya just a bitch because ya was born one?"
June replied by kicking Rainbow in her gut, making her wince in pain. She then threw her gauntlets off to show hundreds of scars on her hand that she had acquired from healing the wounded. As Rainbow groaned from the kick, she took a deep breath.
"Hold her still," she told the Assassins.
The Assassins forced Rainbow to stand up straight. June then punched her with one fist and then followed up with the other. Rainbow's face was turned with each strike. Rarity simply looked away while Rainbow's face became numb with each following punch. The young pirate tried to stay proud, but her pride faded and one punch finally made her vision go dark.
"Miss Dash?"
Rainbow slowly opened her eyes to see a wooden ceiling above her. Her left eyebrow was swollen, so she could not open that eye fully. Her back was firmly on top of of a wide table. The creaking and slight moving of the table told her that she was on the ship. With her eyes only seeing the roof of the Captain's Quarters, she let out a distant moan.
" Miss Dash, are ya alright?"
" Captain?" She groaned confusedly.
" Yeah, it's me, lass."
"Where...where did ya find me?" she asked.
Caramel came into her view and leaned over her, his unusual smile instantly relaxed her. He placed his rough hand on her cheek, making her wince in pain. When he saw her reaction, he pulled away, but his face remained close.
"We found ya in a village by the swamps. The locals said ya was chasing a well-dressed woman. Guess ya fell and took quite a beating through the bushes."
"What?" Rainbow said with distaste. "I don't fall. can't ya tell what happened by my clothes..."
She looked down to see that she was wearing identical robes to her old ones, only they were not ripped apart. She also noticed that most of her wounds had been healed, save some on her arms, legs, and her face. With effort, she sat up on the table and she saw that Berry, Neon, and Zecora were also in the room.
"Did ya ever see Rarity?" Rainbow asked with a pant.
"Nah," Neon answered first. "We all found you alone in the village."
"Don't tell them anything."
"Huh?" Rainbow reacted to Loyalty's voice.
Caramel raised a sudden eyebrow at her, but said nothing. She wanted to say something, but her tongue refused to move and so she appeared like she was groaning from the pain once more. The Element that was now in her kept her headache going.
"I can't believe we lost the Bearer, such foolishness, I have not seen in forever," Zecora said.
"It happens," Caramel sighed. "We should jus' focus on Miss Dash here."
"I'm fine," Rainbow said and stood up off the table. "I just need some rest, that's all. That's bloody all."
Rainbow held her aching side and walked passed them all to exit the quarters. None followed her, save Berry who had a concerned face. Only her lazy utterances could be heard until they arrived by the hatch where Berry finally laid a hand on Rainbow's shoulder.
"Are ya sure ya alright?" she asked.
"Yeah," Rainbow said without looking at her friend."
"When I heard ya ran after Rarity, I thought ya be dead."
"It's a lot harder to kill me, Berry."
"I can tell."
Rainbow removed Berry's hand. "Look, I'm exhausted. Everything hurts, but yeah, I'm not bleeding everywhere. Think I'll just get some sleep, ya know?"
"Sure."
Rainbow went below deck and straight to her sleeping spot on the ship.The closer she got to the place, the more her head hurt and her muscles contracted. Her breathing became heavy and her vision blurred. She barely threw herself in her own hammock.
"We should wait until heading out once more."
"I'm not doing a single damn thing you say," Rainbow growled. "You don't control me."
"Rainbow, my dear, you will need to make a decision. You cannot obey two opposing masters."
"I won't. I'm sticking to Caramel, not you Assassins. You won't get me to kill him. Not now, not ever."
"Your Loyalty is admirable, but it is split at the moment. I am Loyalty, I know all your true feelings. You dislike the Brotherhood the least on this ship. The Bearer of Generosity, you care for her."
"I don't give a damn about that bitch."
Rainbow's body tightened even more. "Oh, but you do. If you didn't, I would not have latched onto you so easily. I knew from the moment I saw you that your loyal tendencies and you sticking with the most useless of friends was something I wanted in my Bearer. You stuck with Berry, not because she gave you anything but friendship. After meeting Rarity, you grew to like her and even defended her when Caramel put her in her place."
"How do you know all of this?"
"Because I can access all your memories, as you can mine. It's an ability to increase the effectiveness of us both. When I entered your chest, I gave you almost 200 years worth of Assassin training and fighting. You now have the abilities of every Bearer of Loyalty before you."
"Are ya saying I'm some sort of weapon?"
"You are, Rainbow Dash, you are."
With that, her eyes were forced shut by the Element and she fell right to sleep.
Rainbow awoke from her violent sleeping and got up from her hammock. It was complete darkness below deck as it was just past midnight. Her jaw twitched, and her tendons seemed to want to all curl up. She was conscious of all she was doing, but she seemed to control none of it. Her mouth uttered words not even she understood while she grabbed her knife and put her hood over her head.
"It's time."
Her vision blurred immensely before she opened them again to see a world of faded blue. All the darkness was gone and she could see everything without light. Using this, she walked through the walkways until she reached the hatch and climbed the small flight of stairs to the main deck. The lights on the deck and coming from the Baltimare docks they were still anchored at, did not seem to register in her vision, but be as bright as the darkness around her.
The souls on deck and on the docks were glowing red in her blue vision. Even if they were behind buildings or beyond any line of sight, she could see their red figures. Two were on the deck with her, so she crouched down to avoid their sight. Each one of her steps were silent on the wood and she made her way towards a specific location.
Her eyes told her about a yellow figure, quite unlike any of the others. This figure was Caramel, sleeping peacefully in his quarters. Through the door, she watched his chest go up and down in relaxed breathing motions. She carefully turned the nob of the door and entered without a disturbing noise. She kept low, her knife clutched in her left hand tightly.
"Be careful. Your first assassination must be a clean one."
She reached his bed and stood up, her dagger raised to strike into his shirtless chest. In her vision, he was not man nor her mentor, but a simple blur of yellowish light. There was nothing there. No soul, no real human, simply an object that needed to be destroyed. This was not Caramel, but simply a target.
Her hand tightened her grip on the knife, but suddenly, her breathing stopped. Caramel was before her, helpless in his sleep, but she could not take advantage of such an opportunity. She fought the will for blood. She fought the will for Harmony. Some of her was telling her to kill because he was a pirate, a monster, the other was telling her to stop because he was a friend. One of the only friends she ever had.
Her vision faded and the normal light was back. A dim light came from the quarter's windows that was on Caramel's peaceful continence. He was no longer a blur, but a man with a soul, a body, and a heart worth saving. This was now the captain, the painter, the hero of her life. Who was she to take the life of the one who gave her a life worth living?
"I...I can't," she muttered.
"He is a enemy of the Brotherhood. You will save lives by ending his."
"No," Rainbow shook her head. "Ya can't make me."
"Huh?" Caramel stirred and his eyes opened. Instantly, he jerked up from the bed and attacked her. With the strength of his hand, he knocked the knife from Rainbow and tackled her into his desk. The crashing sound of a globe he had falling to the wood floor echoed on the short ceiling.
"Bloody Assassin!" he yelled. "Come to kill me, eh? Guess what, ya piece of shite, ya picked the wrong damn captain!"
It was clear he did not recognize Rainbow with her hood on in the darkness. His burly and weathered hands went to her throat, strangling her. She kicked at him, but he did not care. As her vision blurred and her head felt like it was about to burst, a sudden spike of energy shot through her body, allowing her to kick him squarely in the gut and then toss her body so that they both fell onto the floor.
She jumped up quicker than him, but like her, he masterfully flipped himself up to his bare feet. She had trained with this pirate and knew his fighting style, but his adrenaline had turned him into some animal, allowing him to punch her across the face and send rolling across the room.
"Put up a fight! Come on!" he growled like an enraged beast.
Rainbow bounced up and looked about. Since Caramel was a pirate, his room had all sorts of weapons and objects that could be handled as ones. In the corner of her eye, she could see the faded gleam of one of his swords. With the speed she was known for, she dived for it, picking it up in a smooth and swift motion.
"Came a little unprepared eh?" Caramel laughed. "No matter."
Rainbow kept the blade pointed at him. He paced around her with his hands up in a defensive position. Her mind told her to stand down, her arm told her to stab him right through. The Element pulsed in her, acting as an artificial heart that was pumping blood speedily through the body. With a grunt, she swung at him. Caramel sidestepped and grabbed her sword-wielding arm. Without letting go, he squeezed her wrist until she dropped the sword and the flung her straight into a cabinet that lined the wall. The doors on it broke off as she collided with the aged wood.
"Get up! Get up!"
"Captain...please..." Rainbow weakly groaned.
Caramel did not hear her and while she was on the ground, gave her a firm kick to the gut. This kick sent another surge of energy through her as the Element tried to control her. Loyalty took control of her left arm, making it reach out and grab Caramel's leg to pull it forward with a vicious tug that imbalanced him. She then stood on her hands and launched a kick to his chest that sent him falling over.
"Ya got some skills, I'll give ya that, lass."
Rainbow Dash was not done. As he stood up, she ran at him, jumping at his neck with her legs, wrapping both of them around his head, and then knocking him down again. She then placed him in a strong and tight headlock, desperately trying to suffocate him.
He gasped for breath, but he could not stand up. Like an animal, he slammed his fist on the wooden floor. He then threw himself backwards into the wall, smashing Rainbow between it and him. With a furious tenacity, he kept doing this. All the objects that were delicately placed throughout the quarters had now fallen on their shelves and tables. When Rainbow slightly lost her grip, that was when Caramel reached at her and threw her over his head and into a mirror, shattering it.
"Ya done it now!" he screamed.
As Rainbow felt blood ooze out of her new cuts, she watched Caramel storm over to her and pin her to the table she was on. He grabbed her face and started slamming her head into the hard wood repeatedly. With no real purpose but to beat the blood and guts out of her, he smacked her wherever he could, he punched her on any sensitive location, and did everything to bring as much brutal pain to her as possible.
His hand pressed against her face. His calloused fingers and scared palm were more than enough to cover the entirety of her front head. She had few opportunities to properly breath, and much less to say anything coherent. However, his slamming stopped instantly while his hand still covered her.
"I know that face..." he gasped. "Miss Dash?"
He allowed her to speak. "Yes, Cap'n?"
In the little light there was, she could barely see his face, which was now completely horrified. His animal instincts faded instantly and were replaced by terrified emotion that had him on the verge of tears. His lips quivered under his scraggly brown beard. His eyes glistened even in the low light.
"How could I have done this to ya?" he sorrowfully uttered. "I almost killed ya. I almost bloody killed ya."
"I've had worse..." Rainbow groaned with a slight smile.
He did not take her humor and hugged her bruised body tightly. "Lass, I am sorry. From the deepest parts of my ugly soul, I'm damn sorry. I never once wished my hands would hurt ya like this."
"Cap'n, don't be sorry," Rainbow touched his face. "I was tryin' to kill ya."
He didn't let go. "To Hell with that! Ya don't need to lie, lass."
"I'm not...You saw me with the knife, didn't ya?"
He looked at her straight in the eyes. "Why? Why would ya kill me, Miss Dash?"
"Say nothing."
She tapped her own chest. "They got to me..."
Caramel's eyes widened as he heard the ringing sound of the Element upon being touched. His tears stopped and he was hugging her in an emotionless state. Rainbow tried to smile one more time, but she fell unconscious from his beating. Her head hung back with her rainbow curls gently gracing his thick arm. Not a word being uttered.
The quarter doors opened and some crew members came in to investigate. They all stood back upon seeing the captain and the young woman in his arms. They gathered around Caramel, asking him many questions. He did not hear one, however, and simply stared into space. Not even Zecora could grab his attention. They took Rainbow from him, which he did nothing to resist, and let him sit on the floor of his room in this quiet state. He did not sleep for the rest of the night, and neither did any of the crew.
~
Stats
Page generated in 0.035 seconds
Total duration
665 users online
1,036,189 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
I want June drawn and quartered so bad right now. I see also why you held off on doing this story until you completed the main story first. With how evil the elements are just seeing the hosts as weapons it just makes Fluttershy's fate and Rainbow Dash's drinking so sad. Applejack just feels like she never had a choice in life or really understood what was really going on.
They were trying to use Loyalty to control Dash. And to make Dash be disloyal to her friends at the same time. That's low, real low and I am suprised Loyalty would even go through with something like that. It's counter to its own nature.
But I bet this is why Dash eventually goes looking for Discord.
7128017 close, but no cigar with Discord.
Well, Loyalty is using the slight loyalty to Rarite and is more trying to change the loyalty.
7128035 Slight loyalty to Rarity (who is honestly trying to be her friend I think) who just set her up and watched her get beaten badly then loyalty to Caramel who took her in and the crew who are her comrades that she has lived and slept and fought besides. The Element has a lot going against it in that race.
7128094 Well, yes.
At least Octavia got it right, eh?
7128157 Octavia had her own issues. Loyalty to the Assassins or loyalty to her teacher. In the end she killed her teacher and walked away from the Assassins.
7128535 actually, the Assassins walked away from her and she refused to return, but eh whatever.
7128548 A certain point of view?
7128653
So the Assassin's became the Jedi then?
7129046 from a point of view, yes.
7129080
So to quote Han "It stands for I lied my ass off".
I do not care for loyalty he, she, it can just go straight to the bottom of the ocean and erode for all I care but rainbow dash props mind controlling forces epically the one in the element from what I can tell it's near demigra level are not easy to stop
Whelp that sure was a tactical error picking Rainbow...
Though now I'm curious, the only one claiming that RD was a "temporary bearer" only picked to get at Caramel is June. Loyalty talks like he actually thinks she's got the right stuff and Rarity goes on about how it's a great relationship and honour etc and actually seems to like RD -- I can't imagine she'd get behind a plan to use her as a temporary host and then dump the body later. Plus we know Loyalty never ditches RD down the road even though he could at any time, so now I'm wondering if maybe June's just being a jerk and RD was never meant to be a temp host to be thrown away later (though obviously her closeness to Caramel still has a lot to do with it...)
7139011 You're definitely on the right path, my friend.
June is the biggest asshole I've ever written. So yeah.....
7139029
So how hard will karma come calling when it is her time?
7142233 Pretty hard.
7179965 Some do consider Bearers "undead" though Bearers take great offense to that. Octavia called them this once or twice in Harmony's Creed. It's more like they aren't "fully alive."
If one removes an Element, the Bearer will die. It's the same as pulling a heart out. However, Elements are only artificial hearts and do not function as well. Twilight mentions this in a Bearer Chapter in Harmony's Creed. Since the Elements don't work as well, Bearers often get colder easier. That's why Rarity is only a slight warm feeling instead of an almost hot feeling.
Rarity may not be the best chess player either. She's a seamstress, not a tactician. Sunset had to play Twilight at chess all the time. It's made her a lot better. (As a good chess player, I taught my best friend chess and he played me all the time, even when he knew he would lose, but now he can easily challenge me and beat others)
7180037 Air answers you with a simple answer: "The story focuses neither on pirates nor Assassins; it focuses on Rainbow Dash."
Dear I presume unless this is some sort of comment on rainbow no longer being full alive
I am really enjoying the story so far and the relationship between Caramel and Rainbow Dash. I look forward to the next chapter
7180073 Element being an Element. Spent too much time with Rarity.
Thanks! I think Caramel's one of the best characters I've written thus far.
7392795 It is very carefree, but what eo expect when you live your life in the complete non-sober?
The DRAMMA!!!
So how is the next chapter progressing?
7442661 I actually have a good amount of it wrtten. I just lack my writing tools since I am on vacation, so don't expect it soon.
7443111
Sweet! Enjoy your vacation everyone deserves one!
7443111 How's the progress going?
7920342
hehe, there have been complications 
Um...yeah...I have no idea
7920395
Why is this canceled?!?! WHY?!?!?!?!
8215712
Well, it has been cancelled for a while, I just never got to it.
I was trying to get to it for months, but never have. I didn't want to worry about it any longer and pronounced its demise. Sorry. I have moved on mostly from my earlier works. Now I'm just focusing on 1 or 2 stories.
Canceled, why are the good stories always cancelled?
8314158
Because.....like.....I don't have an answer. Maybe I'll update it, as I do have a chapter half-written. But it's low priority.