Always Calm, Always Loyal
Calm Before the Storm
Always Calm, Always Loyal
Proofread and Edit by: Wind Hoof | AppleMLP | Hoosier Brony
The violent wind hit my wings. The sun's glare was no longer sharing its wondrous glory of bright light, and the gray clouds took dominance imitating the night. The gold armor pressed against my chest. I looked toward the darkened sky.
To think I once lived here. Rainbow Dash, the fastest, most loyal pony in Equestria. Who would've thought that there would be something like this, let alone the idea of it being able to exist? Unicorn and pegasi, what caused this to happen between our two races; aren't we just ponies?
A question that insisted to be answered. Only insisted.
Standing on the edge of a mountain cliff at the altitudes of the clouds, it started to drizzle. The grass beneath me became wet, and I could feel the mud staining my cyan colored coat. I paid no attention to the cold chills.
Lightning flashed in the clouds, displaying a series of bright orbs and strike, followed by a boom of thunder. It would have been a brilliant sight to behold, had it not been for what we would soon need to do.
If only things were different, I thought to myself, but it is impossible. The harmony that once existed in Equestria has truly diminished. Who would've known that something that seemed so infinite could be so finite. But it is as it is.
Still, if things were different, my friends wouldn't be enemies.
I have remained loyal to them, and they weren't to me. That's the reality. If things were different, they- we, would be back in Ponyville, discussing my awesomeness. But it is as it is.
It made me think of the old days, back in Cloudsdale; when the days were beautiful, sunny days, when there was no fighting, no arguing, no turmoil, just harmony. More specifically, back to the day when I first met Fluttershy.
The sun pecked at my spine and I was ready to practice flying again. The soft white cloud shortly below and the blue sky above made it clear to me that this was the perfect day to try out my new tricks. My determination sent chills down my spine, and I believed I could conquer anything.
"Hey, Rainbow Crash," A raspy male voice all to familiar with my ears cooed. "Still learning to fly? Well, that's too bad because you only..." The brown stallion paused to think of a clever insult to throw, seemingly convinced that I hadn't heard them all. "Crash!" His followers began to laugh with him as they flew away to leave me at peace.
It seemed unusual that they had left me alone just like that. They usually stick around to see if I screw up, just to poke more fun with the pet name they gave me, as if it still had meaning to me. A part of me always wanted to beat them up, even if they were bigger than me, they could never hit me. I'm too fast, too strong, but a larger part of me- my virtue, told me to stay calm and loyal to them, no matter of how they treat you. Stay strong, always calm, and always loyal, a personal motto I use to keep myself calm, and to remind myself that without a doubt, I will always be loyal to myself, my friends, and if I keep a cool head, everything will be fine.
I snapped back into focus and stared at what was ahead of me: three hoops, all I have to do is fly through them, a few bars that stuck out of the clouds floor, I just have to serpentine through them, and finally, spin the three clouds with nothing but the sheer force of my speed.
A simple warm up for most pegasi, but for me, this might as well be a final exam. And in a way, it was.
One, My current expression became smug, and I crouched; head low, flank high.
Two, I stretched my wings and cracked my neck.
It still bothers me. I don't know the three who have been picking on me since I got kicked out of flight school, but they persist to make my life a living hell. I have never wronged them, but they have given me motivation. I'm not Rainbow Crash. I'm Rainbow Dash. I guess It was a way for me to prove them wrong by bettering myself through their harsh name-calling. It, however, was almost religious for them to stick around to do so. Never have they left me alone after one petty insult.
And three, My ears perked up when I heard some laughter in the distance, all too familiar with my ears again as I soon brought recognition to the culprits. I decided to release the tension in my wings and stand back up in a normal position. I sighed and turned around expecting them to be laughing at me for not running through the course, but they weren't there. It was further off in a higher area of Cloudsdale.
I followed the sounds, stealthily for whatever reason, and found the three laughing at another pony. She was crying, but definitely not a drop-out student like me. She was wearing her uniform with text which printed, "Junior Speedsters."
The pegasus was a young filly, looking almost the same age as me, and she was surrounded by the three who were calling her names, which soon became a sing-song insult, "Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly!"
With each verse, the tears streamed faster from her eyes, staining her yellow coat and dampening her long pink mane. Soon, other ponies in the area started joining in on the little song. I imagined her wanting to run, and the only reason why she didn't was out of fear that she would just be followed, and the harassment would continue. She was squeaking and tried to make herself invisible by throwing clouds over herself.
Always calm, always loyal. I chanted to myself again. I moved out of my position that was behind a cloud wall, and moved through the crowd who were all singing in unison, "Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly!"
Calm and collectively, I pulled off the clouds which hid the pony named Fluttershy, and gently put a hoof on her back. Even though I don't know this pony, we both share something in common. We are both outcasts because of those three imbeciles.
At once, the crowd quieted down, perhaps realizing the pain they were causing. Fluttershy looked up at me, tears still flowing like a waterfall, and hid herself under her hooves now that I had exposed her under the clouds.
One by one, the ponies started to leave as I comforted Fluttershy. Everypony left except for the three who started this. I looked at them, they showed apathy, they smirked at the kindness I tried to provide to the one that deserved it. Smirked, giggling, a different form of anger stirred up inside me. I wanted to break something, to scream at the top of my lungs, but instead I did something better. Something that got Fluttershy's and my cutie mark.
Except, my cutie mark isn't what most people see it as. "Speed, endurance, the sonic rainboom," are all ways they depict it. I see it as something a little more than the popular belief, and by far more important. Loyalty and determination.
The will to want to succeed without abandoning your beliefs, or your friends. To find a way out of everything, even if it means to lose.
I walked up to one of them and said something I thought I wouldn't say. Something I am definitely not prepared for, but I am be willing to lose for the sake of Fluttershy. A win-win for me, and both don’t involve Fluttershy being harassed any more than she has been today.
"I challenge you to a race."
Back to present day. I was still standing on the cliff, and it was starting to rain. My javelin and helmet lay on the muddy surface next to me. It is required that we have them, but I will never use it.
Remember. You're doing this for yourself and your friends. You just need to find them, when you do, get out.
Minutes, maybe hours passed by. I just waited for the call.
I heard a hoof steps next to me. Not even turning, I know out who it was. The distinct stepping had made it that obvious. "Hey, Fluttershy, crazy weather we're having, huh?" This time I turned my head to her. With the crackling thunder so close to us, it would be impossible to hear such a soft voice.
She nodded.
We both stared back at whatever was in front of us. A void of dark gray clouds, electricity sparking through their counterparts, and another deafening thunderclap. Fluttershy quivered a bit, but for whatever it was worth, she tried to keep her composure, but for what was to come would be a lot worse than this. This isn't something that you could just close your eyes and do. The void only seemed to grow as time passed.
Fluttershy and I hold something in common, besides us being outcasts. We don't hold any hatred for the enemy, and only want to be friends. We won't fight, but we will search for the six things that can help us.
If only we had more time.
Fluttershy fixed her helmet on her head, and started fumbling with the straps. She was shivering a lot, and could barely get a grip on the straps for her helmet. Teeth chattering, but still had a small hint of determination. For one of the first times ever, fear seemed to be absent in this pony's soul. "Let me help you with that," I offered. She nodded, and I started tightening the straps. After a second or so of working with the straps, I went back on four hooves and stared at the alien in front of me.
She, the shyest and most kindest pony, equipped with a javelin and golden armor. A picture I'd never thought I'd see, I didn't want to see it, this is not Fluttershy to me. This is a soldier.
She was shivering vigorously from the harsh cold. I put a wing around her, and kept her close to me as we watched the clouds take on new formations, and gaze at the lightning strikes which was shortly followed by thunder, shaking the ground from miles away.
I looked back at her and sighed. "You don't have to fight, you know," I started, wanting to have a conversation before the battle begun. After all, it may be our last. "I know you're scared. You may not look like it, but you are. You have animals back in Ponyville you should take care of, and I have nobody." She remained quiet for some time. "I can do this by myself."
After another thunderous explosion, she kept her composure to prove to me that she can do this.
I looked away from her, back to the clouds that were in a constant mutation process. To leave the topic that is too heart wrenching for the two of us.
"Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy started. I looked down at Fluttershy who wasn't staring at me, nor the clouds. She was staring at the ground beneath her, as if she were looking at home. "Why do you want to... Fight."
I didn't want to, I truly don't. I am not fighting to win, I am fighting for what used to exist in Equestria. Twilight did this once, if she can, I can do it too. Yet, I don't have an answer, just a question. "Fluttershy, why are you fighting?"
No answer came from her.
"Are you going to fight?" I asked, my voice quivered; whether from the cold weather or the pain of the topic, I continued anyway.
She looked at me, then looked back at her previous interest. She muttered softly, "no." I stared in utter confusion ignoring all thoughts that urged to be acknowledged. "I'm not going to fight, I just want to help."
I nodded softly. I put the helmet on my head letting it drench my mane further than it already was, and attached the javelin to my body armor. The point of the sharp spear dripped with water, and I felt ready.
I was prepared, and I smirked to hide the fear within me. "Then I am with you, because I am going to remain loyal to my final breath."
A horn blew, echoing through the cliffs and clouds around me. That was the call to lead us to battle. A stream of thousands of pegasi in formation flew down through the clouds that were bursting with lightning and roaring at us with boisterous explosions of thunder.
I quickly untangled our manes, and took my wing off of Fluttershy. "Ready whenever you are, Fluttershy."
She nodded, and we both stood up and walked closer towards the edge of the cliff. I peeked over the edge, and took a quick glance at Fluttershy with a smirk to hide the fear. I winked and with a quick beat of my wings, I yelled, "Gotta dash!"
With that, I hurled in to the fight. Dodging magic beams and lightning bolts while the raucous thunder threatened to blow out my ear drums. My vision was severely impaired, and I was rendered blind aside from the light that barely pierced through the thick cloud layers which gave me barely enough time to dodge the multicolored magical beams. The pegasi were being taken out by the lightning which electrocuted them, or were shot by the various lights from the unicorns' magic. This is more a deadly game of luck.
A pegasus who wore the same armor as me, no more than two meters away, was shot by one of those beams, and his armor showed a gaping hole from the entrance hole, and an even larger at the exit hole. Our armor is useless against the unicorns.
I abandoned my armor as fast as I could to allow me more speed and agility. They fell into the clouds, and I continued to charge forward.
A few minutes passed, and I expertly dodged the lightning bolts and magic thrown at me. Only a few dozen pegasi remain, and I don't see Fluttershy. I truly hope that she backed out. Those who were hit by the lightning or magical beams but not killed were to be doomed from the fall.
For the few that remained, we continued to fly as fast as we could, while pushing our expertise to the limit and dodging all of the beams which threatened to incinerate us. We were close to leaving the cloud layer, and then we would be easier targets for the unicorns. Then, they will actually be able to see us instead of shooting shotgun rounds into the sky, and watching our corpses pummel to the ground.
It wouldn't be long until we breached out of the cloud layer which seemed to be like a void. A few more seconds.
Three, I stopped flapping my wings to enter a free fall.
Two, I put my head down to enhance my speed.
One, no turning back. As soon as I did so, I became the first to break through the cloud layer; I opened my eyes and adjusted my wings to get a good look at what was going on around me. Beams of multicolored light were being shot into the sky and on the ground against the earth ponies who were doing a suicide charge, and a few other battalions dropped from the sky seconds after I did to join the fight.
Still falling, I now had to push myself ahead of the limit. Beams of the unicorns magic passed me inches away, and it was made clear that I was their main target, and they knew I couldn't do anything to them until I got close, but the closer I got, the easier target I was. Around me, the other pegasi were still charging to the ground in hopes of taking out at least one of what they had called, the unicorn scum.
I slowed down a bit when something caught my eye.
A pegasus was down below. Drenched in rainwater, and blood on her hooves, but not her own. She was tending to another wounded pegasus who had been shot, but survived the fall and was destined to bleed out in battle. She was putting pressure on the wounds, despite the lack of medical supplies. Through her tears, I could tell that she was determined to save a life, and I knew who she was. And this became so real to me.
Fluttershy.
She was not a soldier in shining armor. She was not a killer, she was Fluttershy. Doomed like the rest of us. Beams passed around her, but her only focus was the pegasus who was already dead. Pumping his chest in hopes to bring him back. She slowly came to a stop. Tears streaming down her face, she began to realize that she was in the middle of a battlefield with beams of death flying all around her. Took cover behind a rock, but her movement drew attention from the unicorns and earth ponies.
Two things, and I froze up. Fluttershy took cover behind a boulder, tears streaming down her face while trying to cover her head. It reminded me of the day we first met. It also reminded me that on that day, I helped her.
This time, I was just too late. A beam pierced through the rock, impaling Fluttershy with shrapnel. It was in an instant, no screams, no pain, just death.
"No!" I screamed, I wanted to fly towards her, just to see if she was alright, but I knew already. I knew she was deceased, among the dead. A victim of this calamity, just as I am stuck with mine, a stupid mission that I brought upon myself.
All of the memories flashed in my head. From the day I met Fluttershy, teaching her how to fly better, her Junior Speedsters graduation, her finding me a pet, and then me watching her sign up to join the fight. If only I had stopped her. Things would have been different, she would be alive, caring for her animals! Was it me who got her killed, or was it just Fate's doing?
Another question that insisted to be answered, but only insisted.
Earth ponies appeared from over a hill which faced the boulder Fluttershy was hiding behind. Fluttershy's helmet fell off from the earth ponies' gallop. They lasso'd pegasi and threw them on the ground which got them trampled by their deadly charge.
I once again set course to the unknown. It would be around here, it was where we had last left it. Buried to never be stolen by the hands of Discord again. Yet, we are doing something even Discord dare not do.
Then, a piercing pain shot through my right wing. I spiraled down to my impending death. I tried to flap my good wing, in an attempt to steady myself, but to no avail. I continued to spiral down, straight towards the unicorns.
I landed headfirst with a loud thud and a yelp, knocked out.
I awoke with mud seeping through my armor, and I discovered the hole in my wing. I looked away as fast as I could, frightened by the sight. I looked around me, pegasi and earth ponies lay dead everywhere, all of them bloody. It was quiet. Had I survived the battle? Had we won, or who won?
To answer my questions, I heard more hoof steps- something I really didn't expect.
Two unicorns stood in front of me. I didn't know any of them, but they called out, "we have a live one!" They stared at me horns glowing, but not shooting. My ears were bloody from the fall, making each and every sound a chore to listen to.
The two unicorns backed off and walked away, and another came. A purple one.
Twilight Sparkle. She looked down at me with tears flowing from her eyes. She just sighed, looked away to hide her tears.
Without much more hesitation, her horn glowed a luminous purple, and she closed her eyes letting tears flow down her face. A cold gust of wind rustled the grass around me which would have been audible had it not been from the battle in place. The grass brushed up on my coat, tickling me as if it wanted to lighten the mood. I didn't move, I just accepted what was about to happen.
I just kept staring, ignoring the harsh chilling breeze of the wind, the pain in my wing and ears. I just remembered the good times, I could feel a weak smile break. My already wet mane seemed to become hot, and I could hear the ghostly screams of the other ponies which seemed to echo, but slowly diminish in volume as time dreadfully dragged by. I then knew my answer to why we were fighting, but there would never be harmony. Harmony has died in Equestria. Eternal harmony only exists in utopia, a land where there is, and would never have any fighting. A land that this was. Harmony here, it was something that seemed so infinite, but became so finite. Eternal death, eternal sorrow, eternal chaos and calamity.
However, there is another thing that is also eternal. Something that is so scarcely recognized, but is infinite. You can try to change it, but it will never change. I was shown this, and I learned it. In fact, the one who taught me is standing right above me, casting a shadow upon my cyan coat.
It is what kept me- us, together and even Equestria in harmony, no matter at what stake. We knew it was because of what we had, a bondage that was existing before we met.
It became real to me when I saw Fluttershy helping another pegasi who would have fallen to his death.
It became clear, so lucid, so conspicuous. This bondage that was held for years, the perfect combination, everything. A bondage that can be broken from its weakest link, but still have the chance to be alleviated, and lifted back to its original state. Yet, I looked at it the wrong way the whole time. It wasn't a necklace or a tiara.
It wasn't a relic.
It is our virtues.
I closed my eyes and held my breath. Always calm, I thought. "Always loyal."
Author's Note
Inspired by JWoodony's song, "Calm Before the Storm."
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