Rainbow Dash Around the World

by MagicS

What Loyalty Deserves

“By the way, this is your last chance to accept friendship and come peacefully and live happily ever after and all that without getting beaten senseless first,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Your words and actions are rather contradictory you know?” A perplexed Berten said.

“Kind of just how life is sometimes,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Either way, you’re still just a pony and your wings aren’t going to help you here,” Berten said.

Rainbow Dash smiled. “That might be the quickest way anyone has ever said they don’t know me.”

She flapped her wings to hover above the ground, now getting to eye-level with Berten. He raised his fists again as he prepared for the fight to continue and Rainbow Dash flitted into the trees next to her. Berten kept his guard up and his watchful eyes on her colorful form as she flew through the trees at high-speed. Seemingly going around randomly and just dipping and squeezing through the tight forest for a few seconds she suddenly came out and shot right at him. Once more just going straight on at him while he had his guard up.

Berten grinned, how foolish could she be? She was just trying the same thing over and over again. She should know by now that it wouldn’t work, perhaps after he shrugged her off again she’d finally give up. Stupid overconfident pony.

For half a second before she hit him, he thought his vision had gone blurry. But it wasn’t that, he realized. She had gone so fast he couldn’t fully register her. His eyes had trouble keeping up.

The next thing he knew a hoof impacted his stomach and Berten wheezed while sliding backwards through the mud and dirt until he smashed into a tree. The trunk cracked and Berten coughed in pain.

“Gah!” Berten grunted and caught his breath. He angrily glared up at the pegasus now hovering in front of him, a cocky, smug, smirk on her face. “What… how can you… how can you move like that?”

“I’m just awesome like that. Ready for more?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

Berten clenched his teeth but kept his fists raised. “That was hardly enough to stop me.”

“I know, I’m not just stopping with that though,” Rainbow started to fly around again in the dense forest, occasionally rising above the treetops for some extra space to fly.

Ready and aware of what she can do now, Berten focused harder on her movements. His pupils shrank down and he somehow forced his eyes to follow and keep up with her. There was no way he was going to lose her again. He wouldn’t even blink.

She came shooting at his back from above. Berten pivoted around and brought an arm up, blocking her hoof strike and truly feeling all the force she could muster behind it. That was a big difference from when she was just on the ground. His arm didn’t buckle, or break, but he felt the impact strongly all the same. And before he could retaliate, Rainbow kicked off him and flew around to his side, punching him there right below the ribs. Berten took it with just a small grunt and tried to bring an elbow down on her head but Rainbow Dash flapped backwards to avoid it. It was annoying how quick and small she was. Even in this cramped forest she could move too easily.

The next time she came around she threw several punches towards his head in quick succession. Berten had both the skill and reflexes to duck and dodge away from her punches but all the ones he returned towards her were equally dodged. His fists may have been moving like lightning but at best they only matched Rainbow’s hooves.

She quickly flew around to his back and while he was still in the middle of turning—though his eyes and brain could keep up with her his body just couldn’t turn as fast—she kicked him stiffly in the small of his back. Berten lurched forward and almost fell to the ground before catching himself, his hands sunk to the ground and he pushed himself up, doing a front-flip and landing safely. He could hear Rainbow coming at him again and now turned just in time to block her next punch with his forearm. The fight continued like that with her constantly pressuring him and him being able to barely block the attacks or just take them. She didn’t give him the opportunity to retaliate and Berten wasn’t sure he could hit her anyways. Rainbow Dash seemed to have limitless energy as she peppered his body with minor blows, the extra strength from her wings adding up to actually make Berten scowl as he started to feel the pain and fatigue from them.

So Berten jumped back and smashed his fist into a nearby tree, spraying bark and splinters of wood everywhere. He grabbed some while they were in the air and threw them at Rainbow Dash as she came at him.

Not relegated to simple ground movements though, Rainbow Dash was able to easily fly under the broken pieces of wood he flung at her. She came up from below towards his face and Berten threw a punch down at her. Rainbow turned to the side to avoid it and kept flying up, bringing her hoof up and delivering a devastating uppercut to the Troll’s chin.

Berten’s eyes shut tightly as she popped him off his feet and for the first time so far he fell back and was knocked to the ground. His heavy body made the ground around him quake and Berten grunted in pain before looking up at the pegasus hovering above him.

“Still not enough, is it?” Rainbow said.

Berten hopped back to his feet immediately and threw a barrage of punches at her—rage and sheer determination powering his body. He attacked with a totally renewed fury that even surprised Rainbow Dash and she was having a harder time weaving in and out of his punches. A few times his fists scraped her body and feathers. On one powerful swing she ducked under his fist and quickly punched him half a dozen times in the stomach but her merely took them all and tried smashing his fists down on her head once more.

Rainbow jetted away from that and kicked Berten in the side to make him stumble into the bushes and against some of the trees. The Troll rebounded in a second and came at her again—despite knowing Rainbow had so many advantages with the ability of flight.

It was something that she had to give him credit for, he was going all out. He had to realize how badly things were going now that she could fly again. That he didn’t really have any way of beating her when she was serious and even throwing stuff like they were missiles wasn’t working anymore. But he wasn’t giving up.

It was respectable. It was the kind of thing that really lit a fire in her.

Rainbow Dash kicked aside one of his punches and used the momentum to spin around and kick Berten in the side of the head with her other back leg. Knowing that wouldn’t be enough to really stop him, she immediately followed it up by flying behind his back and kicking between his shoulder blades. To finish off the trio of attacks—as soon as he stumbled forward from the kick to his back—she shot around to his front and jammed an elbow into his gut.

Berten clenched his teeth as he took a couple of steps back before he narrowed his eyes in fury at her and sent a haphazard haymaker towards her head.

It was easy to avoid. But Rainbow wasn’t satisfied just doing that.

Instead, as his fist passed by her head, Rainbow Dash grabbed his wrist and pulled his arm over her shoulder. To his surprise she pulled him off his feet and swung him around. It was even a bit of a surprise to Rainbow Dash that she was actually strong enough to lift him and do this. She couldn’t manage it for long but it’s not like she was planning on really “carrying” him. Just throwing him around using leverage and momentum mostly.

With a vein bulging out of her neck, Rainbow Dash swung him into a tree—and when that was smashed to pieces she swung him into the tree behind that one. And finally after that second tree was also obliterated, she let go and Berten collided with a large boulder, sending cracks throughout it.

Rainbow Dash exhaled and dropped to her hooves while Berten slid forward and fell to his knees, then onto his face.

She stared at him for a few seconds. Breathing heavily. Not blinking. He didn’t move.

She turned around. “Okay then-”

“Not yet.”

Rainbow Dash turned back to see Berten pushing himself to his knees.

“You know I was going to give you a big speech on embracing friendship once you woke up again,” Rainbow said to him, sighing.

“I don’t want to hear it,” Berten growled. A bit of blood dribbled down the side of his head as he stood up straight and glared defiantly at her. “It doesn’t matter how many times you hit me or knock me down. I will not give up until I have returned my kingdom to the way it should be. I gave my whole life to them, I was their greatest subject, everything I am is because of that society that was torn down by traitors and ponies! And I will not let it go away! I will not let things stand as they are! I don’t care what I need to do, where I need to go, how long I need to fight, I will return my true kingdom! My loyalty will not die. MY LOYALTY WILL NOT DIE!” Berten bellowed loudly, shaking the trees and all the leaves around them.

Rainbow Dash stared into his eyes for a little while. Neither of them making another move yet.

She took a deep breath and gave him a slight nod.

“Being loyal like that… is something I can appreciate. But loyalty like yours deserves something in return. Respect, acknowledgment, friendship, equality. Things I know you never got,” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “I know loyalty. I’ve experienced and seen a lot of different kinds of loyalty over the years, over the course of my journey around the entire world too. When you’re loyal to something… you don’t ask for anything in return. You shouldn’t go into it expecting anything in return. Because that means being loyal for the wrong reason. But they’re things you naturally get out of everything you put in! Things that anyone or anything worth being loyal to will always reward you with!”

Rainbow Dash was frowning, anger and pity both mixed in her eyes as she stared down Berten. “Did you ever get the acknowledgment you wanted—that you deserved after being so loyal, so much better than your peers, for so long? When no one in the world could’ve possibly blamed you if you had turned your back on it all, turned your back on the world that had turned its back on you first. But you wanted to prove yourself, you had to be acknowledged by them, so you embraced loyalty fiercer than any Troll. But was the loyalty ever returned? Was it?”

She watched as Berten’s expression wavered and his fists lowered slightly. There was pain, anger, sorrow, all of it and more rolling about in turmoil inside him. He grit his teeth and Rainbow almost thought she saw tears welling in his eyes. “It was… it was not. It didn’t matter what I did… but I can’t turn my back on it. I can’t give up! If I do… I’m nothing. My entire life has been to seek that acknowledgment, to prove they were wrong to cast me out and look down on me! If they’re gone… if it’s gone… they can never...”

“You can be something. Something new. You always can,” Rainbow told him. “Your loyalty deserves better.”

Berten’s eyes shifted from side to side, struggling internally he shook his head. “It’s not that easy. I am… the things I’ve done… and to give up, to betray the cause I’ve fought for for so long, it would be betraying everything I’ve believed in. I can’t throw away my loyalty like that.”

He stood up straight and stared her down—casting aside his doubt and inner turmoil for now and preparing to finish this fight.

“You’re not throwing it away. The ones who never gave you what you deserved for it threw it away a long time ago. If it’s just going to you, to someone else, anyone that will respect it is better,” Rainbow said. She sighed afterwards and hovered up, holding her hooves in front of her face and getting into a fighting stance herself. “But I get it. Sometimes you need to be broken down before you can be built back up.”

She smirked. “And I’ll give you one thing. You may not be some huge monster, have any crazy magical powers, or an army standing behind you. But you-” she pointed at him. “Are the strongest guy I’ve ever fought. Let’s finish this.”

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and took to the air again before shooting right at him. Berten reacted quickly. He reached over and grabbed a tree, sinking his fingers into the wood of the trunk, and lifted. Rainbow’s eyes shot open wide as he pulled the entire tree, roots and all, right out of the ground. Swinging it like a bat he smashed the leafy branches right into her and caught her inside it. She was tangled up in all the branches as he let it go tumbling to the ground and tried to jump on top of her and pummel her into submission while she was stuck.

Rainbow freed herself at the last second and flew up right as Berten obliterated the trunk of the tree beneath his feet. Splintered wood shot everywhere as it sounded like a bomb just went off. Berten backhanded some of the pieces of wood and knocked them towards Rainbow Dash—who didn’t see that coming. She had to fly down slightly to avoid the splinters but that put her right in the path of his fist.

For the first time in a while he landed a real hit on her.

His powerful fist plowed into her stomach as he punched her to the ground. Rainbow Dash bounced three times off the muddy ground before she hit a tree and came to a stop, groaning in pain.

She heard him running at her without any hesitation.

Rainbow Dash flew up into the air right before his fists slammed into the ground where she had been. He threw another punch at her fleeing form but just barely couldn’t reach her. She quickly tried to fly around to his back and kick him but he ducked under her—acting purely on his ears. A blind punch was thrown at her that she dodged away from before spinning down and getting in front of him again. He brought his fists up as she jumped at him and the two of them traded punch after punch—Rainbow Dash mainly avoiding or turning aside his punches but also hitting his outstretched arms and trying to bruise and weaken them whenever she could.

Berten treated every little punch like that as nothing more than a mosquito bite though. He didn’t slow down or lessen his assault at all. If anything he was even faster than before.

One punch couldn’t be turned away fully and it grazed along Rainbow Dash’s cheek, sending her flying away. She managed to still land on her hooves and only slid around on the muddy ground for a bit before stopping.

Berten was standing in the same spot, catching his breath and glaring at her. Rainbow Dash decided the frontal approach was still the most fun. She shot off from the ground with enough force to send mud and rocks flying in every direction and slammed a hoof into his stomach. The Troll slid back slightly but didn’t double over or so much as grunt. He probably could’ve blocked it or tried to dodge. But instead he just let her hit him as a show of strength.

Rainbow Dash clenched her jaw and punched him again and again, dozens of times right into his stomach while propelling herself with her wings. She continuously pushed him back through the muddy ground but Berten just took it all. At last he got tired of her efforts and smacked her away.

She rebounded off a tree and fell to her hooves, wiping some sweat from her brow she prepared to attack again. She didn’t need to wait though as this time he came at her again. One fist creating a crater in the ground. A second fist creating a crater. She jumped away from both of them and flew up to kick Berten in the head. His head snapped back but he kept his eyes open and as Rainbow Dash tried to hit him again he blocked her with a forearm. His own punch towards her was blocked by her hooves crossed in front of her chest that only blasted her back a few feet in the air.

Several more times Rainbow Dash dove in at him lightning quick, striking at his arms, shoulders, chest, and head while avoiding getting any direct hits returned on her. She knew she was wearing him down even though he was trying not to show it. The repeated hits to his head and his body—even with his crazy determination—were hurting him. She could see the mounting frustration and lack of coordination in his attacks that he directed at her.

And still she had to give him respect for not giving up or hesitating.

His arm came at her like a wrecking ball and she just barely ducked under it before landing a devastating kick in his side, right under his ribs. Berten crashed through another tree with his large bulk and as the trunk was coming down he grabbed it and threw it at her. Rainbow Dash hopped over and kicked off it—punching him in the face. Berten roared in anger and brought his fists down on her, slamming the closed fists on her head.

She felt an intense pain in her head as she was slammed into the ground and everything went black for a split-second. When her vision came back it was blurry and there was ringing in her ears. It didn’t slow her down. Rainbow looked up to see Berten pulling his fist back to finish her. She shot up with surprising speed and uppercutted him in the chin.

The Troll stumbled back and into the same cracked boulder Rainbow Dash had flung him into earlier. He composed himself quickly and threw another punch at her but Rainbow went inside his reach and kicked him in the crook of his elbow to knock his arm away. She then delivered two quick punches to his face, one with her left and one with her right. But Berten’s eyes were still alight with fire and he tried grabbing her to crush the life out of Rainbow Dash.

She stopped flying. She let her wings drop and landed on the ground before springing right back up and this time punching him hard enough in the stomach to make him double over. Berten’s chin was wide open and she made a wing assisted jump to deliver the most powerful uppercut of her life. The Troll went snapping back up but Rainbow Dash wasn’t finished. She got eye to eye with him and grabbed him beside the head with both her hooves—pulled her head back—and headbutted him so loudly it sounded like two icebergs smashing together.

Berten was thrown backwards into the boulder with enough force to shatter it completely. A rain of broken rocks erupted through the forest as Berten flew through it and finally landed on the ground, on his back, bouncing once before coming to a stop. His eyes were closed, his hands open and unclenched, arms spread wide, unmoving beside the steady rise and fall of his chest.

Rainbow Dash fell to her knees and took a deep breath, lowering her bleeding head and clenching her shaking hooves. “AAAAAAAHHHHHH—VICTORY!”

Comments

[Cosmic Potato]

He's either gonna live a happy life or die to heartless

[RoboRed]

Welp, that's gonna smart later, but heck yeah.

It does seem like she was starting to get through to him there, though. Hope now she's made it all the way through.

[redmar]

Rainbow might collapse herself shortly after that statement.