Harmony to Loyalty

Chapter 3

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"Well…do you know how to speak like the other technicolor weirdos or what?" I asked as I stared at the cyan colored Pegasus currently tangled up inside the sturdy looking net staring at me with fear and uncertainty. "What's with the staring? You look as if you just saw a mur…" I stopped midsentence and glanced around at the dead bodies before my face broke into a sheepish grin "Err…well walked myself into that one I guess" I chuckled lightly before composing myself and noted the rainbow mane, I mean seriously how did I just now notice that?

"Well if you're not gonna talk then I guess I'll just get you out of there, no need to waste more of my time…" I mumbled but before I could make a move she gave a look of defiance and attempted to struggle her way out of the net, making approximately no progress whatsoever. I'm not really sure if she was doing this because she thought I was going to hurt her or if she was just plain stubborn, but I resigned myself to just sit there and watch this Pegasus tangle itself further with a look of amusement. My look seemed to just encourage her to struggle more as this was just getting kinda sad to watch.

"Jesus…just let me do it!" I grunted out as I pulled out my knife and angled myself to where I could cut a hole in the net for her to get out of. However even after I cut a big enough hole she had tangled herself to the point that she couldn't even move, annoyed I lifted the net up and well…shook it until she unceremoniously rolled out and landed on her head, much to my amusement.

"What the hay was that for?!" She suddenly shouted up at me as she quickly rose to her feet and stared at me with a fiery determination that seemed to come from nowhere, now she might've been somewhat intimidating if it wasn't for the fact that barely even reached my waist at her tallest…well that and the rainbow mane, I mean really how can I take that seriously?

"Oh so you talk if I drop you on your head, I'll remember that" I mocked as I simply stared down at her with a raised eyebrow. I guess she didn't take too kindly to the height difference since she used her wings to float up to meet me at eye level, continuing to stare at me in the process. We matched stares for a few moments as I could tell that she seemed to be sizing me up so to speak, as I looked at her the fear seemed to wash away and be replaced with even more uncertainty.

"Why?" She asked simply as I gave a look of confusion at the strange question.

"Why what?"

"Why did you help me?" She asked as I just got even more confused, I mean did she not want to be helped? Did she not understand why I helped her? Well then again even I don't know why I helped her so maybe she's on to something, I decided to be honest and shrug.

"I dunno" I answered lazily as it was her turn to be confused.

"You don't know?" She asked incredulously

"I really don't, mostly just felt like it" I elaborated with another shrug

"You just…felt like it?" She asked as she seemed to bounce the idea around in her head for a few moments "That's a dumb reason"

"Wha…yeah well…you're dumb!" I shot back rather childishly

"No your dumb!"

"No you!"

"Nuh Uh!"

"Yeah huh!"

"Nuh Uh!"

"Yeah huh!"

"NUH UH!"

"YEAH H…what the fuck am I even arguing about, as if I need to explain anything to you!" I shouted as I turned away from her in annoyance, she simply flew in front of me and continued to stare at me, although now she seemed to be a bit less on edge than before. "Take a picture why don't ya, it'll last longer" I mumbled as I felt myself get a bit more snippy.

"…you complain a lot you know that?" She deadpanned at me as I scoffed

"Oh believe me if you had even an inkling of an idea of what I've had to put up with for the last…well long ass time you'd be bitchy too" I snapped back

"Oh really? Could it have been worse than my day?!" She questioned angrily as I gave a derisive laugh

"Try living in the woods for the past three weeks full of possibly gay sea serpents and wolves made out of wood all while looking at the equivalent of sentient piñatas with magic bullshit engage in a full scale battle against an army that looks like took a wrong turn while trying to get to waterloo, I MEAN GODDAMMIT CAN'T I JUST ENJOY MY LUNCH IN THE WOODS WITHOUT BEING INTERUPTED?!" I finished my rant somewhat out of breath as she looked at me wide eyed as I composed myself. "Huh…actually I kinda feel a little better now" I mumbled to myself as I indeed feel slightly more relaxed after venting a bit.

"…sentient piñatas?"

"SERIOUSLY? THAT'S WHAT YOU GET OUT O…you know what never mind this is getting too stupid" I complained as I sat back down on the grass.

"Your…not from around here are you?" She asked as I turned and stared at her unamused.

"Yup you cracked the code, what's next are you going to conclude that the sky is blue or that trees are real?" I mocked sarcastically as she narrowed her eyes at me

"Hey there's no need to be rude you know!" She raised her voice as my usual demeanor was grating on her.

"Yeah well no one said that you had to take me so seriously" I pointed out with a shrug "Not my fault you're getting your panties in a wad over fuckin words…although I don't think that phrase works for more reasons the I care to think about" I grumbled as she stared at me in puzzlement, after a few moments she landed back on the ground and sat in front of me. "So…you want to know where I'm from I take it?" I asked calmly as she thought for a moment.

"Yeah…but are you going to keep being rude?" She asked as I gave her a laugh in response

"Probably, it's a part of my charm after all" I answered with a grin as she didn't seem to agree but eventually resigned to give a nod.

"I came from…there I think" I laid on my back and pointed towards the sky approximately where I remembered my ship coming from.

"…from that cloud?" She asked as I stared at her incredulously

"Uh no, try past the cloud, like WAY past the cloud" I clarified as she seemed to get even more confused

"From the sk…wait are you messing with me again?" She questioned sternly as I sighed.

"Believe me when I say that I honestly wish I was" I answered somewhat ominously, at that answer she sat quietly in thought for a moment.

"Ok…so if you fell from the sky? That sounds kinda stupid"

"Well I didn't LITERALLY fall from the sky…I crash landed on my ship"

"Like the ones that go on water?"

"No…well kinda…it's like a ship that flies through the air and into space instead of just the water" I explained rather roughly, but then again how does one summarize the concept of a spacecraft to a Pegasus? Because I got no fuckin idea.

"Oh so like a carriage?" she asked as I gathered all my willpower to not point out just how stupid that comparison was.

"Sure…why not" I conceded, not wanting to explore this topic anymore.

"So…you're not with those humans then?" She asked as she eyed the corpses that I had kinda forgot were around us until she hinted at them.

"No I'm not with the people that I shot in the face…that's kinda why I shot them in the face" I deadpanned as she stared intensely at me, probably in an attempt to keep her mind off the dead people or to determine whether I was telling the truth or not. I'm not really sure why but this silence was making me uncharacteristically uncomfortable, perhaps it was because I was being faced with one of the conversations I was not too keen on having. Would she judge me as an enemy based on my appearance? I mean I suppose I should give her credit for not bolting as soon as I released her but still I wasn't sure where this was going to go. After a few agonizing moments she sighed and seemed to relax almost entirely as she gave her response.

"Ok good…I believe you" She assured as I simply sat there paralyzed in sheer surprise, I truly was expecting worse, but then again I did save her ass so maybe that had something to do with it…still I suppose I could deal with being wrong on my assumption on this one, I was rather relieved that I was in fact.

"Just…like that you believe me?" I asked in disbelief as she simply nodded…I couldn't help but laugh slightly at that. "Then you must be pretty gullible to believe someone just like that I gotta say…" I ribbed as I shook my head, much to her confusion.

"What do you mean gullible? You calling me st-" She started to get angry again as I held up my hands in defense.

"Woah slow down there ya rainbow headed weirdo, I honestly didn't mean much by that…I just didn't expect you to believe me is all" I clarified honestly as her anger simmered down

"Well…what did you expect then?" She asked, clearly invested in wanting to know the answer

"I expected you to say that I'm full of shit to be frank" I answered as she didn't seem to understand my phrasing

"Who's Frank?" She asked as I instinctively face palmed, this one clearly wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed…as sharp as a hammer…a very SPECIAL hammer.

"…never mind that, I've seen those posters and stuff around Ponyville so I assumed that showing my ugly mug to anyone would just get a mob after me, or some of those ridiculous pony guards" I explained as she just seemed to find my logic strange

"Why would you think that? I'm sure if you just expla-"

"Explain what? Oh hey guys I fell out of the fuckin sky but don't worry I come in peace and I just need to borrow your phone? Yeah I'm sure that'd go over REAL well" I ranted as she rolled her eyes at my behavior

"I think you have some trust issues"

"Oh what are you my doctor now?"

"No but I th-"

"You know what think? I think that every time I've tried to trust anyone for anything it's always gotten spat back in my face so I've come to the conclusion that the only trust that matters is trust in myself!" I spat out angrily, I couldn't even try to tell you why the hell I was even talking about this stuff in the first place, I mean I've only talked to this Pegasus for less than five minutes and I was already ranting about personal bullshit…I just realized that the first real conversation I've had with someone in almost eight hundred years is with a rainbow headed sentient pony with wings that's trying to lecture me on the concept of trust, seriously what is this cartoon? She was still reeling at my sudden outburst of anger when I glanced at her, I felt slightly guilty for snapping at her for honestly no good reason so I did my best to compose myself.

"So…what the hell were you even doing out here in the first place?" I asked as I attempted to change topics, she gladly obliged.

"Well I got done with my cloud moving duties early today so-"

"STOP" I ordered suddenly with a wave of my hand as I mentally braced for the stupid that I knew was coming "I know I'm going to regret this but…what the hell is cloud moving?"

"Should be obvious, I manage the weather in Ponyville and since the clouds don't move on their own part of my job is to move them, duh" She explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, I on the other hand could feel my eye twitching at this explanation.

"Wha…bu…ho…wh…THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS PLACE!" I shouted in frustration as she raised an eyebrow at me. "No you know what never mind I don't care, for the sake of my sanity I'll just pretend that what you said makes sense" I breathed in deeply and exhaled as I relaxed myself as best I could "…yeah ok you can continue"

"Uh…anyway so I flew over here to Applejack's to see if she was home but then I saw those guys sneaking around so I decided to give them the rainbow one two!" She emphasized this by throwing a couple of air punches with her hooves.

"Which landed you straight into a net where in my sorry ass saved yours from fuck knows what" I finished for her

"It's not like I NEEDED your help, I mean it was real nice of you sure, but I had it in the bag!" She defended as I scoffed

"First of all I'm anything BUT nice, second of all the only thing that was in the bag was your helpless ass" I pointed out as I took the remains of the net behind me and lazily tossed it at her head which then she swatted away with her hoof as she stuck her tongue out at me like a goddamn child. In this rather humorous moment I remembered the somewhat important detail of the town whose weather she managed was kind of being leveled at the moment, how the fuck did I just NOW remember that? "Uhhh so when was the last time you were in town?"

"Well I've been away for a few days since I had to make a trip to Cloudsdale for a bunch of boring job stuff, why?" She asked as if nothing was wrong at all.

"Uhhh…huh" I worded out dumbly, she really didn't know, she had no idea that her home was being burned as we speak...for the first time in a long while I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time…fear, genuine fear and the weird part was that I wasn't really sure why I was feeling this, I mean it should be easy to just tell her what happening but the more I thought about it the harder it was for me to form the words.

"Why…what's wrong?" She asked in a soft tone as she picked up that something was wrong, I took a deep breath and began to explain to her what I had seen in detail, before I was even half way done she suddenly to my surprise bolted off into the sky and towards Ponyville, leaving a rainbow streak behind in the process.

"THE FUCK!" I shouted in surprise as I watched her take off…well I guess it's not my problem now, I can leave and pretend that none of this is happening and go about my life, after all its not…it's not…I…

Goddammit

"GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!" I growled out in frustration as I rose to my feet and bolted after her as quickly as my legs would take me "This idiot's going to go get herself killed after I spent all that time saving her ass, like hell is she gonna make me waste my time like that…" My ranting and raving continued on like that the whole time as I fought with everything I had to catch up to her jumping from tree to tree, goddamn she's fast and she's got wings…cheating bitch. I eventually caught up to her as she floated motionlessly over the trees as she now had a clear view of what I had seen, I could tell she was debating charging headfirst into the fight to try and singlehandedly save everyone. I put a stop to that stupidity in the only way I knew how, by tackling her like a football player while she was distracted and bringing her ass down in the trees, an action that rewarded me with hooves to my everything.

"LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" She shouted in anger as I continued to barely hold her down, after a few moments of this I had enough as moved my right hand over her muzzle to forcibly shut her up.

"Would you shut the fuck up already?!" I whispered harshly as I was unsure whether we were close enough to be heard by anyone, she managed to wrestle her muzzle out of my grasp

"LET ME GO I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!" She shouted hysterically as I successfully fought to clamp her muzzle shut again, earning a bite mark in the process, it wasn't painful but certainly annoyed me.

"Do WHAT exactly, rush headfirst into an army armed with weapons that can drop you out of the sky with no problem? Get yourself captured like the rest? Oh yeah great plan there princess" I criticized as she glared daggers at me before wrestling her muzzle free again.

"Why do you care?" She asked bitterly as I glared straight into her eyes.

"I don't" I answered firmly

"Then let me go already!" She demanded as she tried flailing out of my grasp with no luck.

"Fuck no"

"WHY NOT?!" She shouted as I wasn't making sense to her

"Because I just went out of my way to save your useless ass and yet here you are rushing straight into the fire without thinking, newsflash moron you did that ten minutes ago and look how that turned out" I admonished as her defiance and determination faltered slightly "I just hate it when I do idiots a favor and they then turn around and make it pointless by doing the same damn thing over again" I finished as she seemed to all but deflate, after a few moments I let her go and she immediately jumped away and landed on the ground in front of me without a word. I laid back against a nearby tree and caught my breath, even though I'm in damn good shape with all my tree climbing over the last month going full sprint for as long as I did still tired me out somewhat. After some moments of silence she spoke.

"I just…I want…I can't…I don't know what else to do" She mumbled out "My friends are in there…I want to help them, that's all I want to do" She explained as she looked at me, as I stared at her she didn't have the bravado and gusto that she displayed earlier…no she looked more like a kid who was lost and alone and didn't know what to do, a look that I unfortunately knew all too well.

"I get that…but what is rushing in headfirst without a plan going to accomplish?" I asked sincerely as she looked at the ground as if she was ashamed. "Nothing but a pointless death that's what…" I mumbled as I let out a sigh, she kept looking away for a few minutes before she suddenly looked straight at me with a look of pure determination, the fuck is with these mood swings?

"Then teach me what to do" She asked, no DEMANDED from me as I gave her an incredulous stare

"What?" I asked in puzzlement.

"Teach me what to do…PLEASE…you know how to fight…your strong…you lived in this bucking forest for a month like it was nothing…please" She was now literally begging me to…hell I don't know what she's begging me to do, save all her friends? Get fuckin real like that's gonna happen, I'm only one person after all…wait no that's not the point, this isn't even my problem why am I even considering this?

"The fuck do you even want from me huh?! You want me to solve all your problems like I'm made of magic bullshit? You want me to wave my guns around and shoot people in the face until everything resolves itself like some kind of fucked up Christmas special? WHAT DO YOU WA-"

"I WANT TO KNOW HOW TO FIGHT LIKE YOU DO!" She shouted

"Fight like…what does that even mean?!" I yelled in frustration

"My way didn't work and yours did! You…you know how to deal with them and I don't…I want to help my friends, but I don't know how" She explained as what she was asking started to dawn on me.

"You…do you even know what you're asking of me?"

"Yeah…kinda…well I don't know…but what I do know is that want to save my friends and I'll do anything to make that happen!" She shouted with conviction so strong and unflinching that even I couldn't dispute it…it was damn respectable, but she was asking me to involve myself in a war, a war that had nothing to do with me and not to mention that it would break my promise that I'd made to myself all those years ago when I was at my lowest…But as I stared into her eyes I could tell one thing, she meant every word of what said and that she wouldn't take no for an answer.

I rose to my feet and stood so that I towered over her, she still held the same determination and conviction, she stared at me as if daring me to doubt her…ok NOW she looked a bit intimidating.

I wonder…

"Are you willing to do exactly what I say whenever I say it, however I say it?" Wait what the fuck am I doing?

"Yes" She answered without hesitation.

"Are you willing to get your hands dirty and do things that you're probably going to regret later?" Come on seriously stop

"Yes" She answered once again with no hesitation.

"Even if I ask you to kill someone?" Please stop

"…yes" she answered after a moment

"…goddammit" I muttered to myself as I extended my right hand out to her, an action that confused her "Shake it" I ordered as she looked at me in confusion "GODDAMMIT SHAKE ON THIS BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND!" I shouted at her as she extended her right hoof and met my hand as I grasped said hoof and shook…well fuck can't back out now.

"David" she looked at me once again in confusion "That's my name" I explained as she immediately understood.

"Rainbow Dash" She responded as I stared at her before sighing

"…of course it is" I muttered as I sighed and made my way up into the trees and started moving to the tree line I knew so well.

"H-Hey where are you-"

"You comin or what princess? You slow me down I'll leave you behind!" I warned as I continued on my way.

"Wha-I'm not a princess and you did NOT just call me slow!" She shouted as she leaped into the air and pursued after me. After a couple of minutes we were at a familiar tree branch that I usually used to spy on Ponyville, it practically gave me an unobstructed view of the town. Speaking of the town it looked…well it looked horrid, the magic shield that was protecting it had fallen and most of the town was in various states of ruin, some buildings still burning, some burned down completely and some just simply had holes in them from artillery fire. The battlefield and town itself had bodies strewn all over the place, some human but most were ponies, looking through the scope of my rifle only clarified the carnage in more detail then I cared to see. I noted that Rainbow Dash was floating next to me watching the fires with horror etched across her face, that wasn't my issue however as I firmly grasped her tail and jerked her down onto the branch.

"What the hay was THAT for?" She seethed at me as I rolled my eyes.

"Your bright blue with a rainbow on your head bouncing around the trees like a giant target, if you're going to sneak around, DON'T MAKE YOURSELF OBVIOUS TO SEE" I berated as quietly as possible, she seemed to want to protest but she kept her mouth shut and nodded. I looked through my scope once again and tried to observe more, I noticed that at this point it seems that the humans were gathering ponies in the town square. As I looked around I heard the sound of gunshots, I panned towards the sound as I saw a firing squad had just finished executing some ponies, one was still alive for a few moments before one of the humans brought out a sword and drove it into its neck. I shook my head at the sight as I panned back towards the square, I could tell that there was one guy who seemed to be assigning ponies to two different areas of the square, most were taken towards some wagons that looked to be designed to hold prisoners…the rest were escorted toward the firing line.

"Jesus" I muttered to myself

"What's happening?" Rainbow Dash asked impatiently as I simply brought the rifle down to her level and guided her eye towards the scope and aimed it at the square. After a couple minutes of looking around she looked ready to burst at the seams with anger, I brought the rifle back to my eye since she clearly has seen enough.

"Calm down" I ordered as I noted that she had stopped shaking with anger though I could tell that she looked ready to beat something to a pulp if it messed with her. I continued to observe calmly as I noted how the occupation was being handled, even after a few minutes it was quite telling what they were doing.

"They're bringing as many as they can onto wagons to be hauled off, the ones that are too weak or too defiant are being executed" I noted as I watched that the elder ponies and ones that tried to fight back were the ones sent to death, the rest including the kids were sent to wagons.

"So what do we do?" Rainbow asked

"Well…we don't know where these wagons are heading to, so that would be the first thing the find out, the best way to figure that out would be to tail one and see where it goes…maybe even ask some questions if they'd be inclined to give answers"

"I don't think they'd just give us what we want" Rainbow pointed out

"Yeah…that's what makes it fun" I replied with a bit of sadistic glint in my eye, I shook my head and focused back on the task at hand. "Ok but the question now is which one do we tail?" I asked as I observed the various wagons that had been gathered along the road to the west and the road to the south. They were all pretty much the same, prison wagons, supply wagons and wagons that transported the artillery…however one stood out. "Hello…you're a bit out of place aren't you?" I mumbled as I noted the completely plain looking wagon that looked to be rested by a giant tree that had a door and windows.

"What do you see?" Rainbow asked

"I see a wagon by a giant tree near the squar-"
"That's the Golden Oaks Library, its Twilights place" Rainbow whispered as I raised an eyebrow

"Your friend lives in a library? Jeez what a nerd" I mumbled as I continued to observe, noting that some humans were bringing stuff out of the library and onto the wagon.

"I know right?" Rainbow agreed as I watched the same guy that was directing things in the town square walk over to the library and call over two soldiers, after a brief conversation the soldiers saluted who I assumed was the commander and walked over towards the wagon, both taking seats on the front as one of them grabbed the reins to the…ox I'm guessing? And the wagon started moving toward the southeastern road out of town.

"Hey Rainbow Dash see that wagon right there on that road?" I asked as I pointed to the wagon in question, she squinted her eyes for a bit before nodding. "That's the one we're following"

"Really? But the other ones are the ones with Ponies on them, aren't they most impo-"

"No because theres something important on that wagon" I concluded as she didn't seem convinced.

"Are you sure? I mean if it was that important wouldn't there be more than two humans guarding it?"

"Not necessarily, sometimes the best way to hide the fact that somethings important is to make it look unimportant and ordinary, hence the plain unmarked wagon with barely any protection, it blends better" I reasoned as Rainbow rolled the concept around in her head, vaguely understanding the point. "Besides you said that your friend lived in that library, so I gotta ask, why would they ransack a library of all places and then make such an effort to move the wagon out of town as discreetly as possible. I think they were looking for something specific, they found it and now are trying to be quiet about it…now that's worth looking into in my opinion" I concluded as Rainbow seemed to get my logic.

"Ok yeah that is weird…Twilight does a lot of egghead magic stuff so maybe they have some kind of magic…thing?" Rainbow asked

"How eloquently put" I joked sarcastically

"Oh shut up" Rainbow deadpanned as I laughed at her expense

"Anyway, do you know where that road leads?" I asked her as she thought for a moment

"Well I haven't ever gone down it that far, but I do know that it goes through a forest that's at the base of the Canterlot Mountains"

"Sounds like a perfect spot for an ambush…also I gotta ask, is Canterlot a silly place?" I asked as the question seemed to completely faze her.

"Umm it has a lot of rich ponies who always seem to have sticks up their butts most of the time…why do you ask?"

"Oh no reason, now lead me to that forest chop chop!" I ordered as she stared at me with an unamused stare.

"Are you just not able to say anything without being a pain in the flank about it?" She asked tiredly.

"Nope, that wouldn't be nearly as fun" I pointed out with a grin as she simply rolled her eyes and flew off suddenly as I jumped to my feet to chase after her. "Oh goddammit…stupid flying mule with her stupid fuckin wings and rainbow hair…" I muttered to myself angrily as I followed after her.

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Author's Note: Chapter 3 done, this one isn't as long but it did take a bit to write the dialogue, I also wanted to make sure I more or less got Rainbow Dash's character down as best as possible, I think I did a pretty good job of it though.

Next chapter should be up in a few days or so depending on how much MGSV distracts me, super punching half of Africa's population takes time…what? How else am I going to strap rocket balloons to their assholes and shoot them off into…you know what never mind forget I said anything