> World War Equestria; the Great Pony War
>  by Raidah
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cloudsdale Army Medical Tent, 8 Years into the war...


I lay on my bed in the medical tent, waiting for the infiltration team's return. My wife, Night Rain, went with them, and I would have too if not for being bed-ridden. Our squad consisted of six of us; Rainbow Dash, Night Rain, Spitfire, Soarin, Lightning Dust, and myself. My name is Sharp Shooter, I my coat is red, my mane bright yellow, and my eyes are bright blue. My cutie mark is a circle with crosshairs, my talent, if it wasn't already obvious, is sniping. The reason that I'm stuck on a hospital bed for the next few days is because while I was providing sniper support, I got stabbed in the side by an earth pony who was quiet enough to sneak up on my spotter and I. He had knocked Soarin out, and I had turned around to face him when his knife embedded itself in my left side. I kicked the earth pony off, and put a bullet through his skull before he could get up. The knife still stuck in me, I radioed for help, knowing that I'd probably be unable to fly anywhere and that if I pulled the knife out, I'd probably just end up letting out more blood than was already escaping me.
That was last week, and I'm just about ready to get back on the front lines. I sit up as Dash walks into the tent, a solemn look on her face. She walks over to me, and we make eye contact. I can tell just by looking at her that something has gone terribly wrong, and that she's here to tell me. My thoughts drift to Night Rain, and I fear the worst.
"Sharp," she begins, clearly trying to keep her voice steady, "it- it's about Night..."
My heart sinks, and my gaze drops to the floor. "She's dead, isn't she?" I look back into Rainbow's rosy eyes.
"Y-yes, sh-she's dead."
"Was it quick?"
"I don't know, she went after an earth pony who was trying to escape the firefight. Once we finished them off, we went after her, and found her lying in a pool of blood. I went to her, she was still alive, but fading fast, and I held her as she died." Rainbow doesn't try to hide the tears that are now dripping down her face. "She told me to give you this." she takes a folded slip of paper from under her wing and gives it to me. "I don't know what it says, but I know that whatever it is, it's for your eyes only."
I nod, and, unfolding the paper, read.
Sharp,
If you are reading this, it means that I have died. I know that you will want to know who did it, so you can avenge me, and I am not going to tell you not to. But I am going to tell you not to do something that you will regret. Take care of Dash for me, I know that you'll both be feeling the same impact, but I've known her longer than I have you. No matter what she says, she's probably going to take my death the hardest, and I need you to be there for her. I love you Sharp, and I'll always be in your heart.

Your loving wife, Night Rain.

I turn back to Dash, who is starting to sob. I get up off of the bed, and hug her. She hugs me back, and soon enough we're both crying into each other's shoulders. Several minutes later, I release her, and look her in the eye again, bringing my hoof under her chin.
"She was a good pony..." I say softly.
"Yeah, yeah she was." Dash replies.
Night may have been my wife, but she and Rainbow grew up together. Ever since they were fillies they have stuck together, through thick and thin, they were as close to family as you can get. Then Rainbow Dash's parents died, and Night was the only family that Rainbow had left. They were like sisters, despite being unrelated. I remember Dash's face when Night Rain told her about meeting me, she was scared that I was going to take Night Rain away from her! But after a few months, Rainbow and I got along just fine, and we were, too, good friends. We still are of course, nothing's changed that.
I sit back down on the bed, and Dash follows suit. we sit there, comforting eachother, for another hour before I decide to see Night Rain.
"Is she here? In the morgue I mean?" I ask.
"Yeah, come on." Dash says getting up.
We walk to the morgue, and enter, greeted by rows of past ponies whose faces are covered by sheets. We walk along the rows until we come across a body whose cyan and purple tail is sticking out from under the sheet. I walk over to the deceased pony's head, and pull away the sheet that was concealing her identity from me. Before me is my wife, black coat, cyan, purple and red mane, and her closed red eyes. My hind legs buckle and I plant my head next to her shoulder, the tears starting to come back. I sit there and cry for at least an hour until there are no more tears to come.

I often go back and think about how this all started, the war I mean. It's the kind of thing that you just find yourself thinking about over and over again.
Cloudsdale was in an economic rut. Jobs were being cut, factories shut down, even the almighty Cloudsdale Weather Corporation was shut down. Pegasi left and right were losing their jobs, their homes, and everything in between. The Cloudsdale government was forced to do something that they never wanted to do, and only would use as a last resort so that the population didn't starve to death. They began sending the population of pegasi to live with earth ponies and unicorns. Some of them were nice enough, like the Apple family, and welcomed their pegasi house guests with open arms, whilst most of the other hosts were horrible, abusive ponies who treated the pegasi who they were forced to share a roof with like slaves, forcing them to perform hard labor and giving them crumby excuses for living space. I was one of the unlucky ones, who had to spend month after month of hell with a host that I already hated enough. Night Rain was sent to stay with Dash, who already lived in Ponyville, while I was sent to live with the mother of all drama queens, RARITY!!! What gets me so pissed about this little problem is the fact that Night Rain and I lived together before we lost the house for Celestia's sake! So why the flying fuck were we sent to different places when the government sent us to Ponyville?!?! My time living with Rarity was a living hell. Each and every day it was the same thing; "Wash this," or, "Fetch me that," you would not believe the number of times I was just about ready to slit her throat. I even had an opportunity once! And I made the stupid fucking mistake not to take advantage of it and slice up the little bitch.
So many pegasi were miserable, and everypony knew it. Night Rain saw this, and knew that we were starting to be considered 'inferior' by the earth ponies, who would rather see us dead than living in the same house as them. She came up with the brilliant idea to rise up against our oppressors, and take back the superiority that we pegasi are known for.
Rainbow had already joined with her, and I was not far behind. Rainbow was also to be appointed leader of the rebellion once it kicked off. We started spreading the word around Ponyville, and it slowly spread to every pegasus pony in all of Equestria.
Once we had enough forces rallied, and the opportunity that we had so desperately been waiting for had arrived, all hell broke loose.
There were, of course, earth ponies and unicorns who would be left alone, such as the Apple family, Pinkie Pie, and many others who had treated the pegasi with respect even in our darkest hour. An old friend of mine, who was also to be left alone, named Twilight Sparkle, tried to get word to Princess Celestia about what was currently going on, but the princess was too busy dealing with royal affairs. Twilight did not approve of the killing of innocents, and sided with the earth ponies and unicorns. I tried to explain to her that this wasn't a genocidal war, and that we were only trying to show the ponies who had treated us with cruelty that we were still superior. She wouldn't listen. Sure there were a few dead earth ponies here and there, casualties of rebellion, but they were nothing compared to what was to come.
When the pegasi uprising began, the earth ponies and unicorns thought that if they didn't wipe us out, we would take over all of Equestria, and launched their still-going genocide against the pegasus race.
Nopony on the earth or unicorn side of the war knows why the pegasi attacked, only that they had to eradicate us, wipe the pegasi off the face of the planet. We were not going to let that happen, ever.
> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

      Ponyville, 2 years into the war...

The infiltration was going as planned. The squad made their way through the streets of Ponyville, encountering fierce resistance from the earth ponies and unicorns who they happened to run into. They had me as sniper support however, so traversing the war torn and body-ridden streets that much simpler.
I hold the rifle that Night Rain gave to me on our four year dating anniversary. Yeah, four years... to think that we'd have gotten married by then... but anyway. The night of our anniversary, we went to this fancy restaraunt for dinner. Night Rain brought a big, thin black box with her. I asked her what it was for, but she simply said, "You'll see." with a wink.
About halfway through our meal, she pushed the box over to me.
"Happy anniversary." she said with a smile.
I opened the box, and inside was the most beautiful sniper's rifle that I have ever seen. It was black all over, but had these glowing cyan lines that ran all over it like a circuit board. Near the stock was a small engraving on a silver plate. It was our two cutie marks, my circle with cross hairs and Night's moon-shaped storm cloud with the two lightning bolts, inside a heart. I was so choked up and surprised by this that I had almost forgotten to breathe.
"It's beautiful..." I said.
"I'm glad you like it." she said, clearly happy with my reaction.
"Not as much as I love you." I said, and then pulled her in to kiss her. "But I think that you'll be more happy with my little gift."
I pulled out the small black box that I had in my pocket, inside it was a jewel encrusted necklace that I had bought for when I was going to propose to her. I got down on my knees, and opened the box. "Night Rain," I said, "will you marry me?"
The look on her face, I will never forget it. "Is this real? Am I dreaming?" she said.
"I sure hope not." I said. "Will you?"
"Yes." she said, a smile immediately exploding onto her face.
I reached around her neck and put the necklace on her, then pulled her in for another long kiss.
I smile at the memory, but quickly pull myself back to the present. I look through the scope of my rifle, and see our squad slowly but surely advancing.
Our objective was simple; infiltrate enemy territory, gather whatever Intel we could, and get the hell out of there before we got caught. Of course, taking out any earth ponies and unicorns was also there, but not necessary. What we weren't told by our spies is that the earth ponies had set up an all-night watch all around Ponyville plus several snipers of their own to prepare for such an infiltration. However, we all had silenced weapons, plus a storm that Night Rain had put together which was raining down heavily all around us. I was soaked from flying from place to place to keep up my sniper support however, and I was freezing.
Sure the rain was getting to me, but I had a job to do, and I was not going to let a little rain get in the way of me keeping my wife and everyone else safe. I never miss my target, ever. you could put a bobby pin behind a wall with a hole only big enough for the bullet in it a kilometer away and I would still hit it. I'm not called Sharp Shooter for nothing, my parents knew that, and I haven't given anypony reason not to. I blink as a flash of lightning strikes a building right in front of me, making me nearly jump out of my skin.
"Damn you Night Rain..." I mutter under my breath.
"What's that?" Ace, my spotter says, looking at me quizzically. I'm surprised that he could even hear my remark in this storm.
"Nothing." I reply. "Come on, they're moving around the corner."
Ace was a bright green, orange eyed and blue maned stallion who could probably take down anyone in a hoof-to-hoof throw down. Which is why he was assigned as my spotter, (not like I needed one, but an extra rifle makes me feel a little bit safer) because not only was he an excellent shot, but if somepony managed to sneak up on me while he was watching my back, he would have them down in less than ten seconds.
We fly to another position fifty meters away, right at the corner, and saw what must have been several dozen earth ponies and unicorns, and they were holding our friends hostage. Rainbow, Night, Spitfire and Lightning Dust were all lined up, their forehooves held behind their heads by four menacing looking earth ponies, who were holding sidearms up against their temples. My earpiece crackled, and I heard Dash's voice over the comm.
"Sharp, Ace, hold your fire." she said in a hushed whisper.
"Quiet!" said a masked unicorn mare, who was pacing in front of our captured squad mates. Dash left her mic on so we could hear what was going on. "What are you doing here?" the unicorn continued. Her voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't put a face to it, and it was driving me crazy. The unicorn looked Dash in the eye.
"Wouldn't tell you if I wanted to." Rainbow said.
The unicorn brought her hoof up and smacked Rainbow across the face. When Dash regained her composure, blood was oozing from her nose. The unicorn then turned to Night Rain, and looked her in the eye. I bit back the urge to blow her brains out right there, if she laid a hoof on Night Rain...
"Would you care to tell me just what you're doing here?" the unicorn asked Night.
"Go fuck yourself!" Night Rain said defiantly.
"That's my girl." I whispered to myself.
"Now that wasn't very nice," the unicorn said, "kill her."
"Sharp, now." Dash said.
I turn my attention to the stallion holding the gun up to Night Rain's head, I focus on the bridge of his nose, and pull the trigger. The bullet passed right through his head, splattering his brains all over the wall behind him. I saw the same thing happen to the mare that was holding back Spitfire. I turned my scope on the one holding Lightning Dust, and blew his brains out too. The stallion that was holding Dash's head exploded a second later, obviously Ace's handiwork. The mare that had been interrogating our comrades had fled, but I was more interested in keeping the other earth ponies and unicorns from killing the rest of our squad.
I found Night Rain, who was fending off a group of earth ponies who were giving her a beating.
"Aw hell no!" I said as I took aim at one of their eyes. I blew his brains out, then turned to another one, killed him too, then the third, blew his brains out, and repeated the process several times until there were no more baddies attacking Night Rain.
"There's too many!" Dash yelled over the comm, "Fall back!"
"Nah! We can take 'em!" Lightning Dust says.
"That's an order Lightning!" Dash shot back.
"Not getting any arguments from me!" Night Rain said.
"Me neither." Spitfire added.
"You guys go ahead, I'll cover you." I say.
"No, Sharp." Night Rain says.
"Don't worry about me, they still haven't spotted me yet. My rifle's suppressed and I have the storm to keep me hidden. I'll be fine." I say, trying to reassure her.
"Okay..." she says.
"Now get out of here, all of you." I say, turning to Ace. "That means you too."
"No way I'm leaving you here by yourself." he says, "Besides, we'll provide better cover together."
I consider this, and realize that he's probably right. "Alright." I say.
We get to work, sniping any earth pony who makes the mistake of trying to follow our allies. Soon enough, the earth ponies get wise to our sniper support, and back off, leaving Spitfire, Night Rain, Rainbow Dash, and Lightning Dust alone. Good thing too, I was almost out of ammo. I stand up, and Ace does the same. We pack up our gear and silently fly in the direction that the others went in.
"Rainbow, it's Sharp," I begin into the microphone, "we're on our way."
"Glad to here it." Rainbow says. "Night was starting to worry about you."
"I'll bet, you can tell her that I'll see her soon."
"Copy that Sharp, Dash out."
I turn off the radio and turn to Ace, who is flying silently beside me. "Good job out there." I say to him.
"You too." he replies.
We reach the clearing that we were supposed to meet up at, and are greeted by our four comrades. Night Rain grabs me as soon as I land, hugging me tighter than she ever has.
"Don't do that..." she says, "don't you ever do that again!"
"If I didn't stay behind, you'd probably be dead along with everypony else. I couldn't let that happen." I say soothingly to her.
We press our foreheads together, and I pull her in for a kiss. We break apart as Dash walks over to us.
"Glad to see you made it back in one piece." she says to me.
"Me too." I say, looking lovingly into Night Rain's bright red eyes.
"Night, I need to have a word with you, alone." Dash says, clearly not wanting to break us up at the moment.
"Really?" Night Rain asks looking pleadingly at Rainbow Dash.
"Yes really." Dash says. "Come on."
"Alright," Night Rain says with a sigh, then, looking at me again, "We'll pick this up later, okay?"
"Okay." I say, kissing her on the cheek.
Night Rain and Rainbow Dash walk over to Ace and Spitfire, the latter of whom had almost crushed the former's neck with the hug she gave him upon our return.
I look around, trying to find something to entertain myself with, and am satisfied to see that Lightning Dust is all alone. Deciding that I'd like someone to talk to, I walk over to her.
"Hello Lightning." I say as I approach her.
"Hi Sharp, how's it hangin'?" she says to me.
"Can't really complain, yourself?"
"Same as always."
I try to think of something to say to her, and come up with something completely irrelevant, but I think that someone should bring it up to her at some point. "That was really stupid of you, defying Dash's orders like that."
"You did it too!" she shoots back.
"No, I did my job. I made sure that you and everypony else got away. You were pushing for us to stay and fight against impossible odds, overestimating our ability to fight. I knew the danger that I was putting myself in by staying behind, but I had to make sure that all of you got away."
"Yeah, right. You were just doing it for Night Rain."
"Listen to me. I've faced situations like this a million times, and there have been cases where I was the only survivor because i ran away instead of providing cover fire. I watched my squad mates die, and I didn't lift a hoof to stop it. I was not going to go through that again. Especially not with my wife and my two best friends on the line."
I look Lighting sternly in the eye, making sure that she understands me perfectly.
"Okay, I understand."
"Do you?"
"Yes. I've faced the exact same thing a dozen times. Not only because of the 'not-giving-cover-fire' part, but because i was the only one fast enough to get away."
I think about her words, and know that she isn't lying. Next to Rainbow Dash, she's the fastest flier we have.
"Okay." I say. "But when you have sompony even half as good a shot as me as sniper support, you evac when you're told to."
"Okay."
"I'll see you later." I say.
"See ya." she says.
I walk over to Ace, who smiles at me as I approach him.
"Hey buddy." I say.
"Hey." he says.
"Thanks for staying behind with me back there."
"No problem, that's what friends are for right?"
"Fuckin' A."
"Why did you stay behind anyway Sharp? I know that you wanted to keep Night Rain and Rainbow safe, and I respect that. But what rooted you to that rooftop for those last few minutes?"
"You already know."
"No, I don't."
"Yes you do, you said so yourself."
"I know you Sharp, there was more than just protecting your wife behind your motives."
"Keep telling yourself that."
"Sharp."
"Ace."
"What was it? Do you think...?"
"What? That Rarity was there? Shit, if she was there I wouldn't have sniped her. I would have flew straight into her and slit her throat, savoring every last second of it as that little bitch died."
"So that is why you stayed behind."
"Then why? Why risk your own life other than to save your wife?"
"There's no other reason."
"Alright, I believe you."
"Don't know why you doubted me in the first place."
"Ah you know me Sharp, always digging for answers where none exist."
"Damn straight." I chuckle. "So how's Spitfire holding up man?"
"She's great. Worried sick when I wasn't right behind her though."
"Night was the same way."
"I can see why."
"Yeah... she threatened me never to do it again though."
"Ha ha! Is that so?"
"Yep."
"Well, she loves you, man. i can;t see why she wouldn't want you to stay safe."
"Me neither."
"Anyway, did you hear about what happened to Thunderlane?"
"No, what happened?"
"He disobeyed direct orders, got himself and his buddy killed."
"Why would he do that?"
"I don't know."
"He must've had a good reason."
"I know, and that's the scary part."
"Well, whatever the reason, I think he was just a little loopy or something."
"Drunk?"
"I didn't say that."
"Then what?"
"Hell if I know, man."
We turn to Rainbow Dash, Night Rain, and Spitfire as they approach us.
"What's up Rainbow?" I say.
"What did you have to talk about?" Ace asks.
"Nothing important." Rainbow says.
I look at Night, who seems to be nervous, but manages to smile at me, and I smile back.
"You okay Night?" I ask her. "You look nervous."
"I'm fine." she says.
"Me too." Spitfire says to Ace.
"Alright you two." Rainbow says to the two other mares. "Remember what I told you."
"Yes ma'am." Night Rain and Spitfire say in unison.
Dash walks away, leaving the four of us to converse with each other.
"How's it going Spitfire?" I say, trying to spark up a conversation.
"Not too bad, yourself?" she says.
"Can't really complain, although the storm that somepony, not gonna name any names, put together is starting to get on my nerves." I say, playfully nudging Night Rain.
"I'm sorry for being good at what I do." Night Rain said proudly.
Dash comes back, Lightning Dust at her side. "Alright everypony, let's get a move on. Back to Cloudsdale."
"Yes ma'am." we all say, and begin our flight home.

Cloudsdale Army F.O.B (Forward Operating Base) 1-A, 2 years into the war...

The flight back to the F.O.B. was rather uneventful, and we made it back in one piece. After having our fill of the mess hall's daily supper, everypony went to their own separate little houses. Night Rain and I lived right next to Ace and Spitfire and Ace, who have been together since a year before the war broke out. We lived closer to the mess hall than they did, and so we were the first to say goodnight.
Yeah, the Cloudsdale Army was nice enough to let everypony (or at least the couples such as Night Rain and I) with separate living spaces, provided that it was a very small house that could easily be moved and that it was within the fence that surrounded the F.O.B.
It was a pleasant enough community, albeit with only about twenty houses out of the several thousand soldiers who served the army. The rest of them had to stay in an extremely large barracks area, which was big enough to fit the entire army and then some inside it.
When Night Rain and I got home, we resumed where Dash had cut us off, and that night I slept better than I have throughout the entire war.
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Cloudsdale Army F.O.B. 1-A, 2 years into the war...

BOOM!!!
The explosion snaps me awake. I look to my left, and see that Night Rain was woke up as well. Of course she was, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole base was on High Alert. I stumble out of bed and look at the small bedside clock, 4:00. Perfect fucking time for an attack. I get on my gear and head for the door. Vest? Check. Saddlebags? Check. Rifle? Where the hell is it? I try to think of where I could have left it. No time, another explosion rocks the house. I need to find a weapon. Fast.
I go outside, and see the damage done. The airfield is a mess, about two dozen or so of our fighters were demolished, wrecked by what I can only assume was an Earth Pony bomber. I look up, but it's too dark to see anything in the sky except for the stars and moon. And then I see it, just a faint silhouette in the darkness, but it's definitely there. I look around for a rocket launcher or something to shoot the bomber down with, and am satisfied to see that some of our anti-aircraft guns are still in one piece. I run for the nearest one, and hop on.
Using the joystick that controls the gun's aim, I place the reticule a few inches in front of the bomber's silhouette, and slam my hoof on the pedal that serves as the weapon's trigger. The large tracer rounds tear through the sky, leaving a bright yellow trail behind them, and impact on the bomber's left engine. The engine bursts into flame, and the plane starts doing a spiral nosedive, and crashes into the ground below. The other bombs inside it's hold detonate, and the entire plane explodes in a brilliant ball of fire.
I step off of the gun, and see that everyone is surrounding me.
"Good job Sharp!" Ace says, patting me on the back.
"Any time." I say
Just as I finish speaking, the barracks explodes.
"Holy shit!" I hear someone yell.
"Was anypony still inside when that happened?" Rainbow Dash asks.
I turn around and mount the gun for a second time, and it doesn't take me long to spot the second bomber. I aim a few inches in front of it, and open fire. The bullets drive deep into the left of the plane's hull, and I must have hit some of the ammunition because the center explodes. I watch as the now bisected plane falls to the ground, and explodes like it's predecessor. I move the joystick around, scanning for more targets, but there are none.
"Hey, Dash!" I yell.
"What?" she responds.
"Now would be a good time for a High Alert, wouldn't you agree?"
"Yeah." she says, turning to the crowd of ponies. "Alright everypony, you heard the stallion. Put the base on High Alert, watch for anything in the sky!"
"Yes ma'am!" rang out among the crowd.
I let somepony more qualified take my place on the AA gun. Sure I knew how to operate it, but it wasn't exactly my forte. I decide to resume the search for my rifle, since I'm pretty much useless to the Army without it. Plus, I think Night Rain would kill me if I lost it. After all, she did have it made especially for me and it couldn't have been cheap. I see Ace, running around and getting the troops organized. I run over, since we were all hanging out until Night and I decided to hit the sack, he might know what I did with it.
"Ace." I say as I stop a few feet away from him. "You seen my rifle?"
"Yeah, you left it in the mess hall. I tried to knock on your door last night to give it to you but you must have been asleep, so I didn't bother." He says.
"Asleep? Man, if you think we were asleep, you clearly don't know us as well as you think you do." I say, remembering the night with Night Rain.
"What do y- oh... Oh...kay." he says, realizing what we were really up to, (the look on his face! I wish I had a camera). "Well, I left it right inside my door. Should be right there when you go inside."
"Thanks buddy." I say.
"No problem." he says, and goes back to organizing everything.
I gallop for his house as fast as my legs can carry me, forgetting the wings attatched to my sides that would have made this a lot quicker. Once I arrive at the house, I open the door and see it. My rifle, propped up against the wall, and the lights glowing as bright as ever. I whisper a silent thanks to Ace for keeping it safe for me, and check to see if it's loaded. To my surprise, and even greater relief, it is. Five bullets, its maximum capacity. Perfect.
I run home to grab some extra ammo. Five rounds was great, it meant not needing to load the gun as soon as I picked it up. But it was still only five bullets, not a lot considering the fact that I'd need a lot more it Earth Ponies started parachuting down on us. I enter my and Night's room, and open my box of bullets. it was filled to the brim with bullets that fit my rifle, and scooped several dozen into my saddlebag I have thouseands of the things. They weren't specific to this gun, so I just grabbed as many as I could from the armoury. Either nopony noticed, or nopony cared. Whichever it was, no one tried to stop me. It wasn't stealing though, so I can't see why I would be stopped. We were all allowed to. Take what we needed from the armoury so long as we didn't go shooting each other.
I walk back outside to see that everything was getting reorganized. The fires were put out, the debris from the bombs was being cleaned up, and everything that wasn't damaged beyond repair was being separated from that which was.
I see Rainbow Dash walking over to me, and greet her with a nod.
"Looks like the last of them." She says.
"Are you sure?" I ask, unconvinced that the Earth Ponies would give up so easily.
"Yeah, pretty sure. If not, the entire base would have blown up by now." She says.
"Well, if that's the case, then I'm going back to sleep. I do not appreciate being woken up like this at four in the morning." I say.
"I hear you. See you for breakfast." Dash says, and she leaves.
I head back inside, drop my gear because I'm too exhausted to properly put it away, and collapse onto the bed. I fall asleep in seconds...

When I wake up, the sun is shining through the window and into my eyes. I squint as I turn to look at the clock. 7:30. Good, I managed to get another two and a half hours of sleep in. I get up and walk around the house, which is completely empty except for me. I wonder where Night went... Must've stayed up. I walk outside to see that everything is gone. All the tents, the armoury, everything.
"What in the name of... where the hell is everything?" I say to myself.
Ace flies up to me. "Moving day, pal." He says.
"What?" I ask him.
"Well, since the attack last night, Rainbow Dash thought it was a good idea to move our base. Some place way up on the mountain. No way any earth pony is getting up there on hoof." He says.
I nod, understanding him.
"Where's Night Rain?" I ask.
"With Rainbow Dash, at the new base. They're putting together the huge cloud that will serve as our cover." He says.
"Alright. Well, you know where we're going, so you lead the way." I say.
"Grab everything that you want to keep, we aren't coming back here." He says.
"Oh, really?" I say, surprised.
"Yeah, now get your shit and let's go." He says, getting impatient.
"Give me a minute." I say, turning and opening the door.
He comes in to help me get anything that I can't carry alone, and we leave for the new base.
After several hours of flying, I finally see it. Way up near the top of the mountain, a huge, dark storm cloud looks overhead. That has to be it. We fly over the cloud, and above it is a smaller, white cloud, which must be the true base. I doubt that any earth pony or unicorn would ever figure out where we are.

I am so fucking stupid! Of course we get attacked, why in the hell did I think that we wouldn't?! Two days after the move, somepony on watch spotted several earth pony bombers headed straight for us. Two hours later, it was total chaos. The unicorns must have used their little "Walking on Clouds" spell, because earth ponies jumped out of their planes, and instead of going through the clouds and plummeting to their deaths, landed softly on them .
I run around with my sidearm drawn, squeezing off rounds into any earth pony or unicorn stupid enough to get in my way. Dozens of bodies lay strewn on the clouds around me, earth ponies and pegasi alike.
While I'm running and gunning, I come across an earth pony with a minigun.
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" I say to myself.
The earth pony was gunning down any pegasi he could see, and there were a lot of pegasi around. I leap over the earth pony, spread my wings, and put a bullet in his dome before he can kill anypony else. As I land, I keep running forward. I have to find Night Rain, make sure she's safe. I see Ace, along with Basil Crowcross, a new guy who we found fending off a bunch of earth ponies who were looking for any stray pegasi who were otherwise defenseless.
He was tan, with a black mane and bright orange eyes. His cutie mark is a torch burning blue. I slow my pace as I get closer to them, they are fighting off a couple of earth ponies, so I fire a few shots I to the last one to provide some assistance.
"Ace." I say, stopping a few feet away from them. "Basil, either of you seen Night Rain?"
"No, was going to ask you the same question." Basil says.
"Why are you concerned about my wife?" I ask suspiciously.
"Oh! Can you two not do this right now?!" Ace says, frustrated. "Sharp, I'm worried about her too. For your sake. I know how much it would kill you of she were to get hurt."
"We should find Rainbow Dash." Basil says.
"Right." I say. "They might have been hanging out or something when this started. And besides, the more of us we have together, the better a chance we have of getting out of this alive."
"Agreed." Ace says. "Now let's go!"
We head for Rainbow Dash's office, where she would occasionally call each of us to check up on us and see how we were dealing with the war. I honestly wonder why she did that, but it was probably because she knew that some of us like to discuss that sort of thing in private. Whatever was said in her office, stayed there. She never brought it up, and if you wanted to discuss it some more, you told her, and went to her office.
I reach the door first, but wait for Ace and Basil before opening the door. Inside, I see that Rainbow Dash , Night Rain, Spitfire and many others have taken shelter here.
"Come on!" Ace yells. "They're starting to drop bombs on the buildings. We gotta move!"
"You heard him." Rainbow says, standing up and standing next to the door. "Move it ladies!"
The mares and stallions inside file out of the office, and we all fly off. Night Rain flies at my side, and I reach out and grasp her hoof in my own.
"So, where are we going?" She asks me.
"I don't know. Anywhere but here. We need to hide, or we're all screwed." I say.
"Agreed." Rainbow says. "Ace, Basil, fall behind. Make sure that nopony is following us this time."
"Yes ma'am." They both say, and fall behind the rest of us.

6 hours later...

We finally managed to find somewhere relatively safe to set up camp. The entire surviving military force, which was about three to four hundred pegasi out of the seven hundred we had, was spread out along the edge of the Everfree Forest. Some ponies weren't sure about using the Everfree as cover, but we managed to persuade them that there was no other option.
I walk over to the tent that Night and I share, which is situated fairly close to the perimeter of our camp. I don't like the lack of protection, but there's nothing I can do. I'll have to bring it up to Rainbow Dash at some point, but for now, I'll have to put up with it. I do have my rifle of course, but this is the Everfree Forest we're talking about.
I enter my tent, and see Night Rain organizing our ammunition.
"Well, look at you." I say teasingly.
"I know you can't help it." She says with a laugh.
"Yeah? Well, who's stopping me?" I say, inching closer to her until I'm right behind her.
"No one." She says, turning around and pressing her lips against mine.
I kiss her back, and wrap my forelegs around her neck. We stand there, kissing and hdimg each other. She trips us and I land on my back, with her standing over me. She lowers herself onto me, and we press our bodies together.
Before we can get started, however, Ace chooses the perfect time to yell to me.
"Sharp!" He yells.
"Fuck!" I hiss under my breath. Night Rain lets out a soft giggle. "What?" I yell.
"Come out here, we got a situation." He says.
Night Rain stands up, and I follow suit.
"Why can't we just get some time alone?" She says.
"Not our fault." I say, lifting her chin up with my hoof. "We'll pick this up later." I say, kissing her on the cheek and going outside.
As I exit the tent, I can see what appears to be almost everypony in the camp in one big circle surrounding... what? I can't see into the middle through the crowd, so I make my way through.
"What the hell is going...?" I say as I make it to the centre of the crowd, but stop myself as I see what they're all looking at.
"Howdy Sharp." Says the mare being restrained by two big stallions.
"Applejack?" I say, astounded to see her here. "What're you doing here?"
"Came for a visit. Was wonderin' how y'all were fairin'." She says.
"How do we know that you weren't sent here to spy on us?" One of the stallions restraining her says.
"Because Ah ain't got no ties ta either side in this war." Applejack says. "Except for, maybe, Rainbow Dash."
"She's right." Rainbow says, flying in and landing in front of Applejack. "In fact, I'm the one who called her and told her where we are. So you all can just get back to whatever it is you were doing." She says to the crowd, then she turns to the stallions who are restraining Applejack. "That means you too." She says.
"You heard the mare, beat it before I shoot you myself." I say. I didn't mean the threat, just said it so they'd leave AJ alone.
They all do as told, and go back to their quarters. The two stallions release Applejack, who hugs Rainbow Dash . Dash hugs her back, and the two share a passionate kiss. I turn and head back inside, I have unfinished business with Night Rain to attend to.
> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     Canterlot. 3 years into the war...

I slowly open my eyes, my vision blurry. I blink several times, and slowly my vision focuses on the sky above me, which is black with smoke. I can feel something on top of me, pinning me down. I try to move, to breathe, to do anything. I take a short breath and let it out as whatever is on top of me is pushing down on my chest.
I look down as best as I can, and see that I'm being held down by half of a tree trunk.
"What in the...?" I say to myself, but quickly shut my trap. I'm probably not alone here.
I listen to the environment around me, trying to pick out anything that I can relate to being a pony, but hear nothing. In fact, it's oddly quiet.
"Hello?" I call instinctively. No answer.
I try to get my forehooves under the tree, and after a few adjustments, am successful. I push up, lifting the tree up about two inches, high enough. I start moving it up and over my head, and let it drop on the ground next to me. I sit up and take a quick look around. I'm alone and in the middle of a war torn street. Bits of rubble and what looks like hundreds upon hundreds of bullet shells scattered around me. I look to my left and see a shop, or at least what's left of one, as it clearly took a direct hit from a tank shell from the look of it. Which is to say half destroyed with shattered glass all over the place. I look opposite the destroyed store, and see the tank that must've been responsible... albeit damaged beyond repair, not to mention on fire.
"What the hell happened...?" I blurt out, rubbing the back of my head.
I try to think back to before now, and it comes back to me bit by bit. we were sent into Canterlot with orders to retrieve as much information as we could about enemy advancements. It was going smoothly, but then it hit the fan once we ran into a few guards. We were forced out onto the street, with what looked like half the Canterlot army on our heels, and then the tank came out, ahot the store and the tree fell on me. After that I don't know.
I get up, since sitting around in the middle of enemy territory won't do me any good, and grab my rifle. I pull back the bolt to find that it's empty. Well shit... I check my vest pockets for anything, all empty as well.
I put a hoof to my earpiece, which crackles with static as I turn it on.
"Hello?" I say into the mic, but get no response. "Anyone there?" Still nothing. "Night, Rainbow, Ace? Anyone?" Nothing... "Damn, must be jamming my signal." I sigh.
Slinging my rifle over my shoulder, I spread my wings and take off for the Everfree. So far we've been able to stay hidden there for the last few months, so I don't see any reason we shouldn't still be now. I look behind me to see if I'm being followed, and luckily enough I'm not. I try the comm again, but still get nothing but static. I pull the little black box that serves as the reciever from my belt, and see that the antenna is broken.
"Well fuck..." I say silently to myself, and continue the two-hour flight back to the basecamp.

As soon as I arrived I was greeted by many shocked faces. Even Rainbow Dash is surprised to see me.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"We.. we thought you were dead." Rainbow says. "Night, she's beyond devastated. Basil went to check on her, haven't heard from him though."
My ears perked up at that. "Basil? How long ago was this?"
"I don't know, maybe five minutes ago?" She says.
"Where?" I ask, my anger starting to flare up. I know exactly what he would want now that I was presumed dead.
"Your tent." She says, a puzzled look crossing her face. "Is something wrong, Sharp?"
"Not yet, but it's about to be." I say, storming off.
I make a beeline for my and Night's tent, not caring who I pass or bump into. Speeding there like my tail's on fire, which it might as well be with how utterly pissed I am. As soon as I reach the tent I slam my hooves to the ground, stopping dead in my tracks. I take a deep breath and slowly let it out. It could just be my imagination, but I don't want to take any chances. I prepare for the worst, and step inside the tent, the door falling closed behind me.
Now I may be bad for jumping to conclusions, but usually it pays off. This is no exception. Basil is laying on top of Night, and I can see that she's struggling beneath him, trying to fend him off. And he-and this is what really sets me off- is trying to kiss her.
I barrel towards the two, ramming right into Basil and knocking him off of her. I pin him to the ground and look him dead in the eyes, my nostrils flaring and my teeth grinding together so hard they might break.
"S-sharp?!" He gasps, shocked to see me.
"Hello Basil." I say through gritted teeth. "Mind telling me just what the fuck you were doing?"
His ears go down and I can see the fear in his eyes. Good, he better be afraid. He gulps and opens his mouth to speak.
"W-we thought that you were dead. I was j-just trying to--"
"Trying to what? Get laid with a mare who is grieving the presumed loss of someone she actually loved?" I can feel my throat getting hoarse, but I could care less. All I can think about is beating him to a bloody pulp.
"I... I..." He tries to speak, but I smash my hoof across his face, sick of hearing his excuses.
His head snaps to the left with an audible crack as it hits the ground, and he slowly reels back from the hit. When he faces me, I can see the trickle of blood now coming from his nose. As if that'll stop me. I pull back and punch him in the jaw, then back to his temple, and so on until his face is a bloody black and blue mess.
"Stay. The fuck. Away. From her." I say, timing each word with a punch to his face.
With one final punch I grab him by the throat and look into his eyes, one of which is swollen shut.
"From now on, you will not go near her until I am one hundred and ten percent K-I-A. Do.You. Un-der-stand?" I growl at him.
"Yes." He manages to spit out, along with a mouthful of blood.
I get off of him and kick him once in the gut for good measure. "Get the fuck out of here." I say.
He slowly gets to his hooves and walks out, holding his face with a hoof.
"Sharp?" I hear Night's voice, and slowly turn to face her.
She's looking at me with a mixed expression of disbelief, shock and pure joy. I extend my forelegs and she doesn't hesitate to run into them, wrapping her own around me and squeezing me tighter than she ever has. I return the embrace and rest my head on her shoulder. I can feel the tears of joy landing on mine as she starts sobbing.
"I... I thought..." She starts, getting choked up. "I thought you were dead."
"No. I'm still here." I say, stroking her mane softly.
My thoughts somehow drift to Basil, but I dismiss them. I know she won't want to talk about it right now, and to be honest, neither do I. I wrap my wings around her to try and provide a little more comfort, and notice the bandage wrapped around her wing.
"What happened to you?" I ask.
"I don't want to talk about it..." She says, clearly missing my meaning.
"I meant your wing." I say. "I know you don't want to talk about what I saw, and I know for a fact that it wasn't your fault."
"Oh. Well, when the tree fell on you, I tried to get it off of you myself. Got shot in the process, simple as that." She explains. I move to speak, but she can clearly see my comment coming. "It's nothing serious, just a flesh wound."
"Okay." I say, and hug her a little tighter.
Within five seconds of me saying that, Ace comes barging in on us-I swear we can't have five minutes alone!- and says;
"Sharp, Rainbow Dash wants to see you, and she doesn't seem too happy."
"For fuck sakes!" I sigh. "Not one minute alone, I swear."
"I'll go with you." Night says, she clearly doesn't want to be separated from me again.
"Alright." I say, and we walk over to Rainbow's tent, which I can assume she's been sharing with Applejack since she arrived at the camp.
Everypony knows they're together, and they haven't exactly been trying to keep it a secret. We walk in to see Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Basil standing there. I roll my eyes, since I know exactly what this is about.
"You know exactly why I did it and don't fucking say you don't." I say, pointing an accusing hoof at Basil. "He was trying to get in bed with Night, and from the looks of it, the fact that she was repeatedly saying 'no' and fighting back didn't mean shit to him." I take a breath and continue. "He probably would have raped her if I hadn't shown up when I did."
Basil's eye goes wide at this and his jaw drops, all the while Rainbow keeps looking at me with the same stern expression she has had the whole time.
"Sharp," she starts, "I know what you were doing, if AJ were in a similar position I'm sure I would do the same." Her voice takes on a more serious and commanding tone as she says this. "But that does not mean that it will  be accepted here."
"Oh, so you'd rather him rape her and me kill him?" I scoff. "We both know that's bullshit. She's your best friend for Celestia's sake, Rainbow. I'm pretty fucking sure that you wouldn't want to see that happen to her."
She clearly can't think of a response to that, but she still manages to say something. "Your heart was in the right place, but your actions have caused--"
"Have caused what?" I interrupt, sick of hearing this bullshit lecture. "Caused Basil to have a bloody broken face, what else? Nothing!"
She simply stares at me, that same expression still plastered on her face. She moves to speak, but Applejack stops her.
"Don't, Rainbow." She says. "It's a bad idea."
And to be honest, it's a very bad idea. I turn around and leave, not caring if she was going to say anything or not. I don't want to be around people who are going to yell at me for defending those I care about. As soon as I'm outside I spread my wings and shoot upwards, looking for a decent cloud to land on while I calm down. I can hear someone flying behind me, but I'm not in the mood to talk to anyone. I start increasing my speed, trying to lose whoever's on my tail.
Slowly, the sound of flapping wings behind me becomes more and more distant, and I slow my pace as I find a solitary cloud floating around. I turn towards it, and make a soft landing right on top of it. I lay down and cover my head, not wanting to see or be seen by anyone. I decide to just take a nap while I calm down, since I am in no mood to be talking to anypony and slowly drift off...

***

Must've been hours, since when I wake up it's nearly dusk. I look around, still alone. Of course I am, it's not like anypony would have come after me.
At least that's what I thought. Thouse thoughts quickly vanished as somepony tackled me from behind. Pinning my legs down so I couldn't move. It's pretty obvious that they're a pegasus, otherwise they wouldn't be up here, but as who who it is...? Not a fucking clue.
I look at the hooves holding me down to see that they're attached to black legs. I let my head fall and hit the could, chuckling to myself lightly.
"You gotta stop sneaking up on me like that." I say.
"Have we met before?" A male voice asks me. It's a little deeper than my own, which is to say not by much, but it's definitely not who I thought it was.
"What the...? Who are you?" I stammer out.
He releases me and gets off, allowing me to stand up and face him. As I turn around I can see that he has a midnight black coat, similar to Night Rain's, but with a dark purple mane and tail that match his eyes. I can also see that his cutie mark is a crescent moon surrounded by swirls of purple lightning.
One more thing, he's holding a black bladed scythe with a dark purple lightning pattern on the blade, damn. He looks me up and down, as if he's trying to conform something, then he looks me in the eye.
"Are you Sharp?" He asks me.
"Yeah, and just who might you be?" I ask him, a little more than curious.
"I'm Night Spirit." He says, and my jaw practically falls off it's hinges.
"Wait, I know that name..." I say, and then it hits me. "You're Night's brother aren't you?"
She spoke of him on occasion, but I've never actually met the guy until now. He's clearly got a bit more muscle on him than I do, but he's also a little shorter than me.
"How do you know my sister?" He asks.
"I married her." I say. Now it's his turn to have to pick his jaw up off the metaphorical floor, since we're about fifty feet above the ground.
"You what?" He stutters.
"Yeah. So I guess that makes us brothers in law." I say, rubbing the back of my neck, "Oh yeah, why did you tackle me, by the way?"
"I was told to find you." He replies.
"By who?"
"Rainbow Dash."
"Oh for crying out..." I rub my forehead. "Okay, let's just go."

***

I walk into the tent, not giving two shits about any of this anymore.
"What the fuck do you want, Rainbow?" I spit out. "You already know I'm done with this argument."
"That's not what this is about, Sharp." She says.
"Than what?" I ask, my patience with her wearing thin.
"Sharp." She says slowly, like something you would want to say to a dying person before you take them out of their misery. "Night's gone M.I.A."
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     "Missing? What do you mean, missing?!" I almost screamed at Rainbow Dash.
She looked at me and said: "I mean, we don't know where she is. She went missing shortly after you flew off." My gaze dropped to the floor as I mulled it over. "I thought she had gone after you, but apparently not..."
I nodded dully, thinking about what to do. I then looked up at her, and she clearly heard my question before I asked it: "Does anyone know where she was going direction wise?"
"I'm not sure, it'd be best if you asked around, probably," she replied, and I nodded before turning on my hoof and exiting the tent, Night Spirit on my tail.
It wasn't long before I had a general direction to head in and we were off, Ace, Spirit and myself, heading south as we were told to find my wife. We flew over the forest, and watched as it got thicker and thicker the further we went. I was worried that we'd have to head back soon but after what seems like an eternity we came across a clearing in the trees. I motioned for us to land and we did, first me, then Ace, and finally Spirit. Then we headed off on hoof to try and find Night Rain. We continued heading South when we came across a small camp.
It looked empty, three of the five tents were taken down and the other two still stood next to one another. In the centre there was a fire pit, still smoking but no longer burning, and a few stray weapons were laying around.
"Shit..." Ace whispered, to which I responded with a hoof in front of my mouth. For all we knew, there could still be someone here.
I took the lead as we slowly inspected every inch of the encampment, and discovered who had been here; Changelings. I didn't like the looks of that. There were several green pods inside one of the tents, which I assumed the occupying Changelings were sleeping inside of. The pods were covered in a slimy, green goo that dripped onto the ground, and it smelled like someone had let a few dozen citrus fruits go bad.
I backed out of the tent slowly, and told the others what I found. Ace found it surprising, and Spirit just looked at me worriedly.
"Is my sister in there?" he asked me. I shook my head in response.
And then there was a scream.
It was female, and sounded close. We looked at each other before heading off in the direction of the scream. She sounded like she was in pain, and that hit me in the gut pretty hard.
"Night!" I yelled. We were sprinting now, and the screams were getting closer. We were almost there, and then... Silence.
I didn't know what that meant, but we kept running until we came across a figure hanging from the trees. They were in the middle of a clearing, and I could see something attached to her legs and wings, holding her in place. We got closer, and I saw several tools, a tazer, several scalpels, and other assorted items laying on top of a small table. I pushed it aside as I continued to approach the mare hanging from the trees, her midnight black coat covered in blood where what I now could see was barbed wire was wrapped around her limbs.
It took one look at her brilliantly colored mane to know who it was, and I almost broke down into tears at the sight of her. She groaned dully, and tried to look up, but she was clearly too weak. I flew up and put my hoof under her chin, bringing her face up so I could look into her eyes. The bright red irises no longer filled with energy, but sorrow and pain.
"N-Night, baby. It's me," I said to her, my voice shaking as I took in the horrible state she was in.
She looked into my eyes and smiled weakly, leaning her head forward a bit. I took the message and closed the distance, kissing her gently as though not to hurt her. I broke away and wrapped my forelegs around her torso, under her own, and looked down to Spirit.
"Cut her down," I told him, and he flew around us in a flash, cutting through the barbed wire with his scythe, and Night instantly fell limp against me.
I slowly lowered her to the ground and layed her down as gently as I could, not wanting to cause her unnecessary pain. I then looked at her limbs, and it was then that I realized that the barbed wire not only was wrapped extremely tightly around her limbs, but also slightly rusty. She was also covered in other, smaller cuts and bruises, but I was more worried about the barbed wire.
"Spirit, help me with this," I said, gesturing to Night's legs and wing opposite me. I then looked into Night's eyes, bloodshot and tear-soaked, and whispered into her ear; "Stay still. This is probably gonna hurt a bit." I kissed her cheek and returned my attention to the barbed wire wrapped around her left foreleg.
I carefully gripped the end of the wire and slowly began unwrapping it from her leg. Blood seeped from where the barbs had dug into her flesh and I wanted to cry seeing her in so much pain, but I kept on. She cringed and squirmed a bit, and I gestured for Ace to hold her down while I removed the wire. Once the wire was off of her leg I quickly pulled the medical kit from my saddlebag and wrapped three layers of bandages around her wounds.
Then came the other three legs, which I also wrapped in bandages, and then her wings. After the second leg was cleared of the wire and wrapped in bandages, Night passed out from the pain. I almost broke down crying when she did, but I could hear her heart beating when I put my ear to her chest, so I kept on.
I gently lifted her wing off the ground and began slowly unwrapping the wire from it. Blood seeped from the punctures, but it wasn't as bad as her wings were. I still wrapped them in bandages after I removed the wire and had Ace and Spirit lay her on my back. I tried to wake her up, but decided to let her rest while we flew back home.


***


I was sitting by Night's bed when she woke up. We had her in the medical tent, and I volunteered to stay with her once the medics got her hooked to an IV and knew she was going to be all right. I had been sitting there, holding her hoof between my own when her eyes fluttered open.
They were still a little bloodshot, but looked otherwise okay. I smiled when she looked at me, even though my face couldn't hide the fact that I'd been crying.
"Hey," I said, just over a whisper.
"H-hey," she said weakly.
"Are you okay?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.
"I've been better," she said with a light laugh. I smiled and sat a little closer to her.
"What, uh... What happened to you?" I knew it was probably too early to ask her, but it was bugging me like crazy.
She sighed and closed her eyes, and I thought I saw a tear or two going down her cheeks.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that," I said, "it's just... I can't stand seeing you like this."
"It's okay, sweetheart," she said. "I understand."
I leaned down and kissed her on the forehead, not knowing what to say, and looked lovingly into her eyes.
She smiled at me and said: "You missed."
I laughed and bent down again, kissing her lips this time, and we sat there enjoying our little reunion for several seconds. It didn't last too long, however, because Rainbow Dash soon entered the tent, flanked by both Applejack and Ace. I sat up and looked at them one by one, and then exchanged a glance with Night Rain on the bed. They approached us, and I could see the concern in Dash's eyes. She looked at Night, and I could just barely see a tear or two in her eyes.
"Are you all right?" she asked.
Night looked at her and shook her head, "Seen better days..."
"Care to explain what happened?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Night sighed and looked at me. I shrugged and took her hoof in my own. She sighed again and looked at Ace and Applejack. They both gave her concerned and questioning looks.
Night took a deep breath before she started;
"After Sharp came in and saved me from Basil, I was obviously flooded with relief. I mean, how couldn't I be? But then you called him in and threatened him and it was gone. Once he flew off... I don't know, I just kinda lost it. I tried to go after him, but I lost him. Then I decided to go for a flight of my own to clear my mind and I came across a Changeling camp."
Rainbow Dash's eyebrows raised at that.
"They must have seen me because I soon found myself dangling from a pair of trees, barbed wire wrapped around my limbs and the Changelings... they..." she started crying then, and I instantly wrapped my legs around her and let her cry into my chest.
"Tortured you..." Rainbow finished the sentence for her.
Night pulled away just enough to tell us; "well, yeah... but they did something worse, too."
I knew what she meant, and the rage that surged through me was worse than any I've felt before. I wanted to go to that camp and brutally kill every single Changeling there, but I knew that right now Night needed me. I hugged her and stroked her back as she sobbed into my chest, and I silently vowed that I would avenge her.


***


Night had fallen, and I was getting ready for my own personal raid on the Changeling camp. No, it wasn't authorized, but I didn't really care. I was getting revenge. I set out with nothing but a saddlebag, night vision goggles, and my backup sniper rifle.
Unlike the one Night gave me the night I proposed to her, this one was semi-automatic and had an integrated suppressor. It was bullpup with a shiny black sheen and a variable scope with three modes: regular, night vision, and thermal. I had it on thermal.
I flew until I came across the camp again, and landed in a tree nearby. I pulled the ghillie suit and draped it over me while I scoped in on the camp. Those bastards were gonna pay. I didn't catch any movement right away, but the small fire blazing in the centre of the camp gave me all the clues I needed to know that they were awake.
It took a while, but I finally saw the changelings walking around. There were two of them, one of which was carrying something I couldn't make out using my thermal. I kept my crosshairs on one of their heads and waited for them to separate. Once I felt that he wouldn't be noticed, I put a bullet in his brain; splattering brain matter and yellowish green blood on the tree behind him. I noticed that his blood started steaming when it hit the tree, and I could see that it was actually eating through the wood.
"Acid blood..." I murmured to myself, thinking of an old movie that came out several years back.
I searched for his buddy, who was sitting by the campfire, all alone. I looked around him to make sure that there was no one nearby, and then blew his brains out. I didn't know which one had violated her, but I didn't care. They were all dying for what they did to her.
Judging from the pods I found in the tent, there were only three more of them in the camp. Before long, I saw them. All three of them. And they could see the bodies of their two friends as well.
"Oops," I whispered, and then shot two of them before they knew what hit them.
The third guy his behind his tent. Smart changeling. Too bad I was planning on killing him face-to-face. I flew around the camp silently, and spotted the changeling hiding right behind the corner of the tent. I glided down and landed silently behind him, drawing my knife out as quietly as I could.
I snuck up behind him and shoved the blade of the knife into the side of his neck, pulling it out and flicking the acidic blood on the ground. Once the deed had been done I headed back for the camp, my anger subsiding at last. I know that this may have been a bit extreme, but nothing else would be able to calm me down after hearing what they had done to her. Basil is lucky I stepped in when I did, otherwise he'd be dead, too.