//------------------------------// // Explosion // Story: That Which was Lost // by LadyRFC //------------------------------// “Any over here, Rainbow?” Blue Flame flew up next to her, his shoulders moving up and down with his rapid breathing. Rainbow could understand. She had passed the point of feeling much pain anymore and now her whole body just felt like lead. “No... Been... quiet.” Blue Flame looked around. “What about Applejack?” Without giving a guess, Rainbow started to descend, knowing she wouldn't be taking to the sky again. Not in her condition. Blue Flame followed her for lack of anything better to do. Applejack was standing with a perplexed look on the ground, a changling talking with her. She glanced up at them. “Ah don't get it. They've been quiet for too long. You?” Rainbow touched down, that strange feeling of being weightlessness suddenly meeting solid ground hitting her and flipping her stomach inside out. She only got this kind of nausea after flying beyond her limit, something that apparently didn't happen often enough. As she fell to the ground panting, she made a mental note to push her practice a bit farther after she got home. "Nothing,” Blue Flame admitted, nearly falling to the ground himself, but managing to lower himself with a touch more grace, although still on very shaky legs. He looked around with a concerned look. “This isn't right. I can't believe we actually won that...” “We beat tons of them!” Rainbow bragged proudly. “Yeah,” Applejack agreed, although her voice did hold an echo of doubt. Blue Flame looked at them both, his eyes dark. “But they've got to know how exhausted we are by now. Only a small force at this point would win. We've got nothing left.” Applejack looked like she was about to say otherwise, but one glance at her usually energetic friend snuffed out that idea. It was true. Any attack now would crush them effortlessly. She looked over at the tired changling beside her. “How are y'all farin'?” The changling shook its head. “We too need rest. Though, we will keep fighting, if needed.” Blue Flame gave it a shaky smile. “We hope it won't come to that. We'd never last long even if we tried to keep it up.” “We have Discord though, right? He can take care of it if something happens.” Rainbow asked, looking around slowly again. The changling shifted from hole-riddled hoof to hoof. “What is it?” Applejack asked, wearily. “We have not heard from him for quite some time,” it admitted sheepishly. “The last we were told was that he was fending off the unicorns to the rear of the caves.” “So that's where the magic users were!” Rainbow exclaimed. Blue Flame frowned. “I'm not too familiar with draconiquus magic, but all creatures have their limits. We simply do not have the ability to keep this up indefinitely.” Rainbow managed to look offended despite her exhaustion. “We don't have to! Soon Twilight will get the dragons to change sides and -” “We can't assume that,” Blue Flame interrupted, his brow creased. Rainbow snorted rudely. “And I don't underestimate my friends!” “Whoa there!” Applejack ran between them. She gave her long time friend a pointed look. “And we shouldn't overestimate our friends neither. It's a lot o' pressure and not fair to Twiahliaht.” “But she can do it!” Rainbow insisted, too prideful to let it go. “Ah'm not sayin' you don't think that or that it's impossible. It just...” she looked down to avoid the persecuting look in Rainbow's eyes, “stuff happens that not everypony counts on, that's all.” Blue Flame blushed and looked away. “I wasn't accusing Princess Twilight of not being able, Rainbow Dash. It is only that the dragons are unpredictable. To say nothing of the emperor...” his eyes became unfocused for a moment as his situation, one in which he was now against the ruler he was sworn to serve, singed him. He looked at her again, blinking and very lightly blushing. “I meant no offense. I believe in Silverline as much as you believe in Twilight. But I also know that he is injured and only one pony. All of us have limits. To think they do not...” He stopped, eyes unfocusing again as a new idea came to him. “What is it?” Rainbow asked, keeping her voice neutral, hoping the entire argument would just drop and she could avoid any more hits towards her pride. He looked at them and then glanced down at the ground. “Sorry. I just realized that was what I was doing until not too long ago. Believing our ruler was above anypony else, was fundamentally different. But he's not. He has more responsibility, but he's still just... a pony.” “That's right,” Applejack murmured, “He can't keep this up forever either. He's gotta be runnin' low on soldiers by now. Maybe we really are in the clear.” It was then that a very loud pop and large rushing noise echoed over their heads, like a large explosion had forced air over their heads at high speed. “What in the wild world was that?!” Applejack asked. “It came from the direction of the caves!” Blue Flame exclaimed. “Discord!” Rainbow tried to get up, attempted to lift her wings. They were immensely heavy, far too heavy to lift and in the end she only collapsed back onto the grass. “If he is in trouble,” Applejack mused, “there's nothing we can do now.” Two changlings flew overhead, likely to lend aid, but they flew slowly and their wings seemed to shake violently every few flaps. “What happens now?” Blue Flame asked quietly after a tense silence, the burnt red of the sky turning into a purple glow. “Wasn't the point of all this to keep the peace conference peaceful? If we failed...” Suddenly multiple lights filled the nearly twilight sky. Large pops sounding off with every explosion of color. Rainbow laughed, as multiple fireworks exploded in the purple air. Red, blue and brilliant greens. She wasn't sure why she was laughing. She was too tired to care. Blue Flame smiled and laid his head down. Applejack's eyes remained on the sky, she wasn't smiling. Instead she simply stared, too tired for worry, but too weary to hope. “Night,” Applejack murmured, “is a comin'. And this one's gonna be a long one, I recon.”