Loyal
By iDash
It was dark. Very dark. There seemed to be nothing in the wasteland of piercing darkness. Nothing except a cyan pegasus with a mane that shined with all colors of the rainbow.
Rainbow Dash stood in the darkness, staring into the nothingness. Was she dreaming? The last thing she remembered was flying home and lying down in her bed. The previous day had been the day that her and her friends defeated Discord with the Elements of Harmony.
Yes, it had to be a dream. She tried to adjust her eyes, but she could see nothing but herself. She noticed that she seemed to be sitting on solid ground. She didn’t know what it was, though. It wasn’t as soft as a cloud, but it wasn’t as hard as concrete or dirt.
Rainbow took a very cautious step forward. Then another one. She kept doing so until she felt sure that she wouldn’t suddenly fall off the edge of whatever she was standing on. She kept walking. After a while, it felt like she had been walking for an hour, even though she knew it had only been a few minutes at most.
As Rainbow walked, she realized that everything was totally silent. She didn’t hear even the sound of wind or anything else. All that was heard was the echo of her hooves on the precarious surface which she was wandering on. She walked in silence.
Rainbow stopped. She had heard something, which was odd in this world. She perked her ears up to listen for it. She stayed perfectly still. She strained her ears for the sound. Then, undeniably, the same sound came to her ears. It was clearer than the first time. She knew what it was, too. It was the soft sigh that one hears when another pony is crying.
She looked up, looking all around her in every direction. She didn’t see anything through the pitch black darkness, though. She continued forward at a brisk pace, thinking that it would bring her closer to the source of the sound. She was right. The sound was progressively getting louder and clearer as she went along. Soon, she could hear it very clearly. It was, indeed, the sound of a pony crying. It sounded like a little filly to her.
Rainbow kept walking faster until, finally, something appeared in front of her. It was a small patch of white in the distance. She slowed down to a normal pace as she made her way towards it. The patch slowly came into view until Rainbow could see a white filly with a cyan blue mane curled up in a ball with her head in her forehooves. As she came closer, she noticed three things: 1- the filly was an alicorn with pure white wings and a horn. 2- standing beside the filly was a stone pedestal and on it lied the last thing she would’ve expected to find. It was her Element of Harmony, Loyalty. 3- the white alicorn filly’s cutie mark. It was the same as Rainbow’s and identical to the jewel in the Element of Loyalty. A white cloud with a single bolt of lightning shooting out of it that held all colors of the spectrum. The colors seemed to be slightly faded, however.
Rainbow continued forward and was only 20 ft from the alicorn when she shouted at her. “Stop!” she yelled. “Don’t come any closer. Just stay there.”
Rainbow unwillingly obliged and stopped in her tracks. She couldn’t make her body move any further.
“What the-” she started, but decided not to fight against it. Dreams sometimes got weird like this. Instead, she directed her attention to the crying filly. “Hey, kid. Why are you crying?” she asked.
There was no answer. Instead, there was a moment of silence. The filly had stopped crying, though.
Rainbow Dash was about to ask the question again when the filly spoke up. “Do you know who I am?” she asked the confused pegasus in front of her.
Rainbow paused. “Um… no, I don’t. But that didn’t really answer my question, kid.”
The alicorn filly looked up from her position. She turned to Rainbow with a slightly irritated expression on her face, a trail of tears still staining her fur. “Of course you don’t,” she said with a sigh. “I am the Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow stood, unable to process what the filly was saying. “Wait, What do you mean…-”
“I mean that I am the spirit Loyalty, the reason for the element’s existence.” She stood up and glared at Rainbow. “I brought you here for a reason, Rainbow Dash.”
Before Rainbow could reply, though, the filly spoke again, asking a single question, “So, do you believe that you are truly loyal, that you have the right to wear the element?”
Rainbow was puzzled by this. “Um, kid- I mean, Loyalty, I guess I should call you. I have no idea what you’re talking about-”
“I said, are you truly loyal!” the Loyalty shouted in anger, tears beginning to form in her eyes again. “Everyday… everyday, I see horrible things, Rainbow Dash!”
Tears were now rolling down Loyalty’s face, but she continued her outburst, “Everyday I see ponies hating each other. I see them hurt, fight, and betray each other… Their own friends! Every day for centuries. It hurts to see that nopony could ever remain loyal to those they care about. And you know what? The other Elements of Loyalty before you weren’t any different! Every time a new bearer of the element came along, they all said that they were truly loyal. They all said that they would never leave or hurt their friends. But they lied! All of them!”
Rainbow Dash stared, dumbfounded and speechless, at the filly crying in front of her. She was trying to process what was going on, what Loyalty was saying, to find some kind of reply, but she couldn’t.
When Rainbow remained silent, Loyalty furiously continued. “And I don’t believe for a second that you are any different! You have no idea how much it hurts to see you standing by your friends, saying that you’ll never leave their side, when I know that it’s just a blatant lie!... It’s always a lie.” She sniffled. “I hate ponies like you, Rainbow Dash.” The pony began to sob, not holding back any of her tears.
That last phrase hit Rainbow like a knife in the gut. She was completely overwhelmed with all that she had just heard. Had she really caused this little filly so much pain? The thought just broke her heart.
As Rainbow stared at Loyalty, she noticed her horn glow with a cyan blue aura. Soon, she saw that the same aura was also surrounding the jewel of the Element of Loyalty, lifting it off of its pedestal.
“H-here… t-take it,” Loyalty said between sobs. She dropped it on the ground about ten feet in front of Rainbow, directly between both of them. “T-take it like a-all the others and j-just leave this p-place…”
Rainbow felt she could move again. She looked down at the element, then at Loyalty, and began to walk forward.
“S-see? I knew it. Y-you’re just like all the rest of them,” she sniffled, unable to really control her sobs. “You’ll just s-swear that you’re not the same and t-take the element. A-and then you’ll just turn back around and h-hurt everyone. Just like all the others.”
Every word stabbed at Rainbow, but she continued to walk. She reached the element, but didn’t stop. She kept walking, towards the sobbing filly, who she had hurt without knowing it. She walked until she reached the filly, stopped and sat down in front of her.
Loyalty was taken aback by Rainbow’s next action. She hadn’t noticed the mare walk past the element and towards her. And when she sat down next to Loyalty, she hugged her. She wrapped her forehooves and her wings around Loyalty in a tight embrace.
“W-what are you doing?...” Loyalty stuttered, confused.
After a short pause, Rainbow replied, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she said calmly to the filly.
Loyalty didn’t believe it. “N-no, you’re lying. Get away from me!” She tried her hardest to struggle out of Rainbow’s embrace, she didn’t let her go.
“I will never leave you. I’ll never hurt you again,” Rainbow said with tears forming in her eyes.
“Just leave me alone.” Loyalty was getting quieter, still sobbing. Rainbow held her tighter.
“I promise I will never hurt you.” A single tear fell as Rainbow started to cry as well and landed on Loyalty’s mane.
She felt it and realized what was happening. The only pony she had ever known to not take the element right away, swearing they were loyal, was now holding her close, promising never to hurt her… and Rainbow was crying for her.
As Loyalty came to this realization, she broke out in more massive sobs, but this time she returned Rainbow’s embrace, holding her tight. She sat there with the cyan mare, sobbing with her head buried in Rainbow’s chest. She felt Rainbow’s own tears hit her fur as they fell. Nothing could have broken the two apart.
The two cried together, losing track of how much time they had spent like that. Eventually Loyalty’s sobs died down bit by bit.
She sniffled as she calmed down. “T-thank you so m-much, Rainbow Dash. I’ll never forget this,” she said as she looked up to the mare.
Rainbow smiled down at the filly, saying nothing, but enveloped her in a bound hug one last time.
Rainbow opened her eyes. She was lying in her bed inside her cloud home. She turned and looked out the window. It was still late at night. As she turned back around in her bed, she noticed something rubbing against her chest. She felt to see what it was. It was wrapped around her neck. She looked down and in the dim light could just make out a very familiar piece of jewelry. She smiled at the Element of Loyalty. She touched with her hoof, which seemed to elicit the slightest glow from the jewel. She held it close to her and laid back down in her bed.
She softly whispered the words ‘I promise’ before drifting off into a content slumber.
A/N
Hey there guys. Thanks for reading my first one shot. I figured that no one has ever written something quite like this, so this is my attempt at being original. Constructive criticism and comments would be great. : )
