Harmony to Loyalty

Chapter 5

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Rainbow Dash woke up the next morning sore as could be, sleeping on the forest floor had that effect on people, she also noted with a sigh that yes she still had hands and not hooves. As she stretched out her back she heard a loud bang echo from close by, still half asleep and not all there she rose to her feet with great difficultly, the concept of bipedal movement still new to her. After some effort and scraped knees she managed to get the hang of it enough to walk without having to support herself, she made her way over to the source of the sound as another even louder bang was heard. She found herself standing by a river as a familiar figure greeted her.

"Morning there, you know I'm not the biggest fan of the half awake and braindead look myself…but I gotta say you pull it off oh so well" I joked as I reloaded the rifle in my hands.

"I wouldn't be so tired if you didn't wake me up ya jerk" Rainbow mumbled tiredly as she yawned and stretched her arms out in an attempt to wake herself up. "What the hay are you even doing anyway?" She asked as she really wanted an explanation for the rude awakening.

"Testing this rifle that I got yesterday from that one…OHHHHHH that's what I was forgetting yesterday!" I realized as I simply shrugged at the epiphany, since I also realized that it was categorized as 'not my problem' "Anyway if your done standing there acting stupid come over here, I got a present for you" I stated as it took her a few seconds to register that I had addressed her.

"Who you calling stup…wait a present?" She asked as she walked over confused.

"Yup, think fast!" I warned as I tossed the rifle at her along with the bag of bullets, both of which she barely caught before falling unceremoniously on her butt.

"Was that really necessary?" She asked in annoyance as she examined what I gave her.

"Obviously yeah, you gotta learn how to use one of those, it'll be a lot easier now that you have hands and shit" I reasoned as she simply looked at the weapon with uncertainty before staring at her hands.

"Yeah I do…they're so weird and…wiggly" She described as she wiggled her fingers as if it was the most engaging activity ever.

"That's…one way to describe it" I conceded as I pulled my own rifle from my shoulder and fired at a tree across the river, hitting it center mass. Rainbow reflexively flinched at the loud noise.

"Jeez, STOP THAT…it's loud" she complained as I stared at her incredulously

"Well boo fuckin hoo to you then princess, your gonna learn how to use one so get used to it" I chided

"I'm not a princess"

"You complain like one, now shut up and I'll show you how to not shoot your foot off" I ordered as I went over the basics of gun safety, how to operate her rifle and giving names to the various parts and components. Ultimately these weren't overly difficult things to explain a lot of it was just common sense stuff, but I kept it as simple as possible to make this go quickly. "Ok with all that in mind…see that hole in the tree right there?" I asked as I pointed to the bullet hole I had created with my last shot, she responded with a nod. "Ok, I want you to take some shots and try to get as close as possible to that hole" I stated as I then showed her some good stances to take shots from along with some tips to help her accuracy as best as possible. After a few minutes of this she made her first attempt…which resulted in a clear miss as well as her being knocked back from the recoil that she didn't expect.

"Oh sweet celestia that HURT!" She complained while massaging the spot she fell on.

"Maybe you could try NOT falling on your ass?" I suggested as she shot me a glare.

"It's not my fault this thing kicked back at me like applejack during apple bucking season!" She yelled

"Applebu…never mind now that you know what's coming try again and this time breathe out, then hold your breath and shoot, it'll help" I recommended as she focused and fired again, this time hitting the edge of the tree. "Not bad…take the rest of your shots" I ordered as she did just that, she missed one and the other two hit the tree but without consistency. After a couple dozen more shots I noted a large improvement in her grouping as well as her shooting form, all in all she actually wasn't too bad at this which surprised me. I mixed it up by making her climb a tree and shoot from an elevated position, after a couple dozen more shots it was clear that while she wasn't going to be pulling off any feats of godlike marksmanship anytime soon, she certainly showed an aptitude for it.

"Ok come on down, I'm hungry as fuck" I stated as she climbed back down with a surprisingly good amount of grace, I guess her athleticism carried over from her pony form…unfortunately she still didn't have a good hang of walking as she fell flat on her face.

"Feet…are stupid" She growled, her voice muffled by the ground

"You're stupid, now come on apples are on the breakfast menu and I ain't waiting on your slow, clumsy ass…also another present so think fast!" I said as I tossed one of the duffle bags to her as she got to her feet, she subsequently fell back down as a result. "Well I did say think fast" I pointed out as she tried to murder me with pure stares.

"Why the hay do you keep throwing stuff at-"

"HEY!" I shouted, cutting her off "…hay is for horses" I joked after a few moments of awkward silence.

"…that was terrible you know that?" She muttered with a sigh.

"I know right?" I laughed as I ran off towards sweet sweet breakfast, leaving a grumbling Rainbow to trail behind.

It was going on late afternoon when we decided to take a break by watching the western road towards Manehattan from the tree line just about fifty meters south of said road. Most of the day was spent surveying the scene of Ponyville again, from what we could gather the humans were fortifying the town and using it as a base of sorts. Makes sense considering how close it was to Canterlot itself, although from what I could tell the humans didn't seem to be making any moves to advance towards the capital which I found rather strange, but then again Canterlot is in a fortified mountainous position with the power of Princesses that apparently rise the sun and moon protecting it…so maybe I'd stay put too in that position. We've watched various wagons come and go from the conquered town, supplies going in and prisoners going out was most of what I could see.

I'm not entirely certain of what our next move should be, we could try to ambush a prisoner wagon and free some ponies but they were guarded pretty well, a dozen or so guards per wagon. While I'm good at the art of shooting people in the face, I'm also not one for taking unnecessary risks despite what one may think of me. It COULD be doable with help though…which leads me to my next issue. I've taught Rainbow how to use a rifle and while she's amateur having only learned a bit today…theres a huge fuckin difference between taking potshots at trees and various targets and shooting actual people. The last thing I want to do is put ourselves in an unnecessarily dangerous firefight without knowing for sure that she has what it takes to do it…so I'm thinking a bit smaller. The supply wagons, I've only seen at most six guards on those and most of them looked to be the fresh conscripts…either the humans were entirely confident that their wagons didn't need much protection in enemy territory or their army is stretched thinner than their letting on, either way works well in our favor.

I also like this idea because if we capture one of their wagons we can look at what exactly their transporting to Ponyville, while I have a good idea of the kind of stuff it is, it would still be valuable to know exactly what they have. So that's the logic I explained to Rainbow as she seemed more than a little worried about the idea.

"Are you sure we have to do this?" Rainbow asked with apprehension as I sighed

"For the last fuckin time Rainbow yes I'm sure" I said with finality

"I-I mean I only learned how to shoot this morn-"

"'I want to know how to fight like you do' that's what you said to me yesterday right?" I questioned

"Well…yeah" She answered sheepishly

"Well then congratulations that's exactly what you're going to learn and spoiler, you ain't gonna learn it by reading a book" I pointed out as she sighed

"But I like books!"

"That's…hardly the point of what I said" I deadpanned as I took a tiny stick from the tree I was sitting in and flung it at her hair much to her annoyance "Just try and relax, it won't be easy to do, but once you push through it then you'll be one step closer to being able to save your friends" Rainbow wasn't exactly sure what to make of my reassurance since well be honest it was kinda shitty and a bit cryptic, but the thought of saving her friends steeled her resolve enough to simply nod and try her best to prepare for what was to come. After another hour of quiet waiting I saw a supply wagon coming from the west.

"Five guards…don't look too tough, should be easy…get ready and don't fire until I do" I ordered as we positioned ourselves in our advantage points in the trees, stealing a glance at Rainbow I could see that she was trying as best as possible to follow my advice, keeping her body hugged to the tree to expose as little of herself as possible to the enemy. However she was also shaking with fear and anxiety, there isn't much I can do about that for everyone has to fight through that on their own terms, still a little support couldn't hurt. "Relax…remember you're not alone here, you'll be fine" I assured as I noted that she seemed to shake slightly less. The wagon and its guards were coming closer and closer, oblivious to the ambush about to take place. I waited for the right moment to strike as they were just fifty meters away from our position, I had already picked the wagon driver as the target to assure that he doesn't try to ride off...I lined up my crosshairs on the somewhat bored looking driver and squeezed.

The bullet hit the right side of the drivers head as he collapsed onto the seat motionlessly, the loud crack confused the other four as I pinched the ball of the bolt and loaded another round in as I picked my next target. The next shot landed on the target's upper left portion of his chest, causing him to fall flat on his back as screamed in agony, although he squirmed around for a few moments the shot ultimately proved fatal.

At this point the other three guards were fully aware that they were under attack, still three? Rainbow should've gotten at least one of them, perhaps maybe she's just not hitting right? My question was answered as I glanced over at Rainbow who was hiding behind the tree, scared out of her mind and hyperventilating.

"Goddammit Rainbow quit hiding and help me!" I shouted as she shook her head.

"I-I can't, I can't do it!" She shouted, it was clear that she was not ready for this…then again neither was I when I was in her shoes, so I couldn't honestly blame her.

"Goddammit…" I muttered as I decided to ignore her, the three remaining guards being a bigger problem at the moment as they shot back with two musket shots that didn't hit anywhere near us and…a crossbow bolt? Yeah a crossbow bolt hit the trunk of a nearby tree. 'Huh so they do have crossbows…the fuck is with this army composition?' I thought to myself as I aimed my rifle down range and plinked at the crossbow guy, deciding that his weapon choice was too dumb to warrant living, he ceased doing just that when the bullet entered his skull and he keeled over.

The other two had decided to take cover on the other side of the wagon, no doubt to reload and attempt another shot. I took the opportunity to leap from my spot in the tree and draw my revolver as I quickly closed the distance. I decided to hit them quick and hard as I ran by the front of the wagon and slid on the ground, before either of them could react I fired one round into the skull of the closest guard, the contents of his cranium painting the wagon covering while I put another round into the leg of the other.

With that the battle was basically concluded, but I was far from done here as I disarmed and then drug the wounded guard by the scruff of his neck back toward the position we ambushed from. The guard was far too scared and wounded to make any attempt to escape as he simply resigned himself to cry out in pain at his crippled limb.

"Rainbow get the fuck down here right now!" I shouted with authority as a few moments later she landed on the ground and slowly approached me with a mixture of fear and confusion as she stopped just a few meters from me before speaking.

"Wh-what are we doing with-"

"Him? Oh he dies…shut up!" I shouted as I smacked the guard in the back with the butt of my gun to stop him from protesting. "And you're gonna be the one to put him out of his misery" I ordered as twirled my revolver to where I was holding it by the barrel and offered it to her.

"I-I can't!" She shouted in a panic

"Get on your knees and keep you're fuckin hands up" I ordered the guard as he complied, too afraid to go against me, I then approached Rainbow and grabbed her sleeve.

"Why are you here?" I asked, continuing before she could answer "You're here because you want to fight and help your friends…right?" I questioned as she nodded "See him? Wanna know why he's here?" I asked as I pointed at the guard on the ground "He's here to kill me, you and anyone else he's fuckin ordered to" I shouted as she shook her head.

"I can't I-I can't it's just not right!" She shouted as I gave her firm smack on the side of the head with my palm, not enough to actually harm, but enough to quiet her down. After a couple of moments I lightly grasped her by the back of her neck and looked into her eyes.

"I'm trying to help you…I'm trying to teach you something" I explained in an uncharacteristically soft voice that seemed to encapsulate Rainbow as she looked at me as if she was trying to peer into me for my meaning. "Do you want to get me killed?" I asked

"No…"

"Do you want to get anyone that you try to protect killed?" I asked a bit louder

"No!" She shouted as I shoved the butt of the revolver into her chest.

"That's what's going to happen if you don't go through and just get this over with"

"I can't do it…" She pleaded weakly

"Yes you can, I know you can" I assured as she shook her head

"I'm not strong enough to-"

"Don't talk like that, it's not about that…it's about doing what needs to be done! You kill him or he kills you, that's how this works…that's how it always FUCKIN WORKS!" I shouted as she was just barely holding back tears.

"WHY?! WHY DOES IT NEED TO BE LIKE THIS? IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE THIS…It's not fair" She whimpered out as it took all my willpower to keep myself composed, she wasn't wrong after all.

"Your right…it shouldn't have to be like this…it's not fair, it's not right for any of you to have to go through this, but guess what? This is how it is and life doesn't give an ounce of a FUCK as to what's fair and what's not fair…now do it!" I shouted once again as she shook her head.

"No…" She shakily responded as I just stared at her.

'It's for her own good…' I thought to myself as I brought her down to the ground and wrapped my left arm as securely and as safely around her neck as possible as I forced the revolver into her right hand.

"No I can't!" she shouted as I pulled the hammer back.

"Yes you can, it's easy" I reassured as I aimed the gun square at the guards head.

"Please don't make me do this…" She pleaded onto deaf ears.

"It's alright" I whispered softly as I forced her finger onto the trigger.

"Please…" She pleaded as she tried to look away from the guard who was begging for his life, I used my left hand to grasp the top of her head and forced her to look.

"Do it Rainbow!" I ordered as she did everything in her power to escape my grasp.

"Goddammit Rainbow do it!" I shouted as I felt her finger twitch.

"DO IT!" I yelled and in that moment a loud bang emanated from the revolver and the guard slumped over, bleeding from the hole in his head. Rainbow simply sat on the ground frozen as I released her and stepped back. She had done it, she pulled the trigger herself and she got through it…although as I stared at her face and into her eyes, which were glued to the corpse before her, I felt a strong sensation of guilt and remorse. What I had made her do was necessary, it had to be done...but deep down inside where the human emotions lied I felt a strong sensation of guilt and remorse, I wished that it didn't have to be like that, I wished there was a better way, but there wasn't one…or perhaps I simply didn't know any other way.

I simply decided to drop it and finish what we came here to do, so I left Rainbow where she was and dragged the corpse back to the wagon…mostly for her sake more than anything else. I searched the bodies and found nothing of real value, the wagon on the other hand was full of interesting stuff. I'm guessing this was a shipment of weapons and ammunition as the wagon was stocked with various small arms and boxes, the small arms didn't interest me and they weren't special in any way, but the boxes were of interest since they were filled with all different kinds of ammo. Musket balls, rifle rounds, artillery shells, crossbow bolts and gunpowder were the majority of what I found, but after searching through everything the only things of interest I found was a small box of twenty four bullets that went to Rainbow's rifle and a sword bayonet which looked to be about two feet in length and had the necessary components to allow it to be mounted on a rifle, it came with its scabbard as well. I put the box in my bag and attached the blade to my right hip as I then proceeded to gather the five bodies and toss them inside the wagon, afterwards I took out my lighter and lit the wagon covering on fire as the flame spread throughout the wagon, might as well torch what we don't use so that they can't use it. I walked away from the intense blaze and proceeded back to Rainbow who was still in the same spot that I left her at.

"Come on…let's get out of here" I worded emotionlessly as I proceeded back to our camp by the river, she wordlessly followed. The rest of the day was spent in silence, I had decided to just return to camp and let Rainbow have some time alone, no doubt she wouldn't want to talk to me anytime soon. As night fell across the sky I built us a fire and proceeded to have dinner which consisted of you guessed it…apples. I took a bite into mine as I savored the sweet juices and wordlessly held another out to Rainbow, she hadn't eaten and while I'm certainly not her parent or anything…the girl needed food. She didn't respond as I held out my outstretched arm for a few moments.

"Come on take it, you need to eat" I ordered as she smacked the fruit out of my hand without so much as lifting her head. I was about to get mad but remembering the issue at hand I composed myself and sighed.

"Fine then…" I mumbled as I stared at the fire and gathered my thoughts "Well if you're not going to talk then I suppose I will…I'm gonna tell you a story, something that I haven't talked about in a long time, but with everything that's…well I think it's something that you should at least hear about" I rather cryptically explained as I composed myself, this story wasn't an easy one to recall nor was it anything I wanted to recall but…I needed, no WANTED to tell her…for some goddamn reason.

"The year was nineteen fifteen in my world, at this point I was probably about your age…a dumb seventeen year old who was so bored with living on a farm and living in a tiny good for nothing town that I decided in my infinite wisdom to go join the war, you know go to Europe for a chance at glory and all that bullshit…honestly I had no fuckin idea what I was thinkin at the time but that's beside the point" I quickly glanced at Rainbow who was still staring down at the ground, I looked away and continued.

"So anyway one way or another after a few months of traveling every which way I found myself in France and went to join…now normally they wouldn't accept a guy that didn't speak much of their language and wasn't from their country…but times were desperate and they needed bodies so I got slipped in…had to learn the language as well as do training, but after a few months I got both down. They sent my ass to Verdun in the month of…April I believe it was" I took a moment to recall as Rainbow was looking at me with mild interest.

"So there I was on the front line of the First World War and was it everything I had hoped and dreamed it would be? Hell no, really most of the time I was just sitting in a wet and muddy trench hoping that I wasn't unlucky enough to have an artillery shell dropped on my head or get a face full of gas. After about two months of constant fear for my life, two months of watching people all around me die in one way or another, two months of wondering what the actual fuck made me think that this was a good idea…that day came" I struggled to remember specifics…it had been a while ok?

"Don't remember the exact day, I do know it was in June though…it was pretty much like any other day, get up, sit in my trench or hole and wait for orders as I hoped that my number wasn't up. I remember alerts going out about a German charge, I thought it was bullshit at first since in those days' direct charges basically meant run straight at their bullets and hope you make it to the other side without dying, neither side was too keen on doing those too often. Well sure enough when I look over the trench what do I see but a tidal wave of angry Germans running at our position like they found out we took all the sauerkraut. I remember emptying my gun downrange in a panic, don't think I actually hit anything though and then as I took cover to reload, one of em jumps in next to me and tries to drive a bayonet through my chest…" I take a moment to clear my throat as at this point Rainbow was paying full attention.

"But well as it turns out the guy was pretty small and weak...made sense considering that he didn't look any older than I did, couldn't have been more than sixteen. So I easy disarmed him and threw him to the ground, but as I stood there with his own bayonet aimed right at his head I made the one mistake that I was told not to make…I looked into his eyes. You know what I saw in those eyes?" I asked as I paused for a second, this memory being rather difficult to bring up.

"Fear, this kid was afraid…I mean we were all afraid in a way sure, but to actually look into someone's eyes and see that fear when they know that their life is in the hands of the enemy, MY hands…I froze, I hesitated, I hoped for all that was good that this kid would just surrender so I wouldn't have to do it. Well one reach for something on his side later he had a bayonet sticking out of his eye and I watched the life drain from him" I shook my head in an attempt to get the all too vivid memory of his face out of my head.

"I don't remember much of what happened after that, I definitely killed more soldiers, but out of everything I remember about that goddamn war that's the one thing that always sticks out for me…that was the moment that it hit me that I had just taken some else's life, I'm honestly not sure if he was actually the first…but he was the one I remembered" I concluded as Rainbow looked to be lost in thought, I was about to attempt to lighten the mood when she spoke.

"What did it feel like?" She asked so softly that I almost didn't catch it.

"That…well I felt a lot of things, guilt, remorse, anger, disgust…but those didn't really bother me, those made sense after all. No what bothered me was that I also distinctly remember feeling a sense of…euphoria, exhilaration…superiority, it was this base, primal urge that I didn't understand…and that scared me. I had never felt like that before in my life and I never felt it again, each time I killed the enemy, each time I took one down I felt less and less until I just got to a point where I could take someone's life without it even bothering me in the slightest. Keep in mind I only do it when I have to, just because I can do it doesn't mean that I like doing it…" I trailed off as I really didn't want to get any deeper into the subject.

"Anyway I'm not really sure why I even told you any of that, maybe I thought that if I told you what it was like when I first had to do it then maybe you'd understand where I was coming from in some way but…I don't know either way I'm not expecting you to stop being mad at me anytime so-"

"I'm not mad at you" she stated simply as I stared at her incredulously "Well…I WANT to be mad at you, I really do…but I can't. I know that despite everything that happened, I knew that you were doing it because it's what you thought would be best for me…I'm still not sure if I can agree with it but…I just can't find myself to be mad at you for it" She finished as I found myself unsure of what to say.

"…I guess I'm relieved that you're not mad, but I know something is bothering you though"

"Well of course something is bothering me" She deadpanned at me "But…I think your story kind of shed some light on what it is" She stated as my curiosity was peeked.

"Well what is it?" I asked as I felt like I already knew the answer.

"It's what bothered you" She answered as I nodded my head in understanding. After some time spent in silence I spoke up.

"Ok well hey uhhh…I don't say this shit often so don't make me repeat it, but despite my approachable personality and optimistic demeanor-" She snorted at that one "Shut up I'm trying to be…uhhh what's it called?"

"A caring, emotionally healthy person with emotions other than cynicism and anger?"

"Yeah a pussy that's it…anyway what I was trying to say is that despite…well me" I summarized as she nodded in understanding "I am here if you need anything…holy fuck that sounded lame" I laughed at how uncharacteristically uhhh…something I was being.

"That really did" She laughed as I just rolled my eyes "But uhhh…thanks, I really mean it" She said sincerely as I rubbed the back of my head.

"Yeah well…don't get used to it, I don't have moments of weakness like that often" I assured as I got up and retrieved the apple Rainbow smacked out of my hand earlier.

"I could get used to it, it's funny to watch you act like an awkward fill-" She was cut off by an apple slamming into her head. "WHAT THE HAY…well you're back to normal I see" She muttered as she picked up and cleaned the apple.

"Mhmm, eat and get some sleep…tomorrow were going to see if we can rescue some ponies…if you're up for it"

"I'm more than up for it" Rainbow said with determination as she watched me climb up the tree. "David?"

"Hmm?"

"…I won't screw up this time" She promised as I just raised an eyebrow at her.

"You don't need to make me any promises…you'll do just fine" I encouraged as she gave a soft smile "Well probably not as good as me since I am pretty awesome and shit" I joked as she rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at me.

"And you ruin the moment with that ego" She criticizes as I just burst out laughing as I climb up further.

"The irony, it's beautiful!" I got out between laughs as I disappeared above the leaves, leaving a flustered Rainbow on the ground.

"Jerk" She mumbled as she just shook her head and took a bite out of dinner, feeling better now than she did earlier.

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Author's Note: huh this one turned out more serious than I was expecting, oh well I still like it though.

As usual next chapter should be up in a few days so see you then.