//------------------------------//
// Chapter 26 
// Story: Civil War of Harmony 
// by SC_Orion 
//------------------------------//


Twilight Sparkle



Magic rolled off of my body, and the very air distorted from my magic. I could feel the magic flowing through me and out through my skin. It flowed over my whole body, but it was most pronounced along my neck and right side. I could all but feel my skin growing back and sealing from the magic. The sensation was difficult to describe, it was cold, warm, and tingly all at the same time. It was unpleasant and not something I wanted to experience again, but I felt renewed and stronger than before. Despite feeling renewed, there was still an overwhelming sense of tiredness at the back of my mind. I focused on it to analyze it and felt my legs buckle. I almost collapsed, and it was only because of the magic that I didn't fall to the ground.


'I lost a lot of blood...' Truth be told, I had no idea how much blood I had lost, though if my calculations were correct, General Hoof hit my artery, so I had been bleeding out before the wound healed. Unfortunately, my magic didn't replace the lost blood, and as the milliseconds passed, the magic grew weaker. It was a magic surge. It was the only thing that made sense. What didn't make sense was how strong it was. I had a magic surge when I was a filly, and at that time I could have thrown an ursa minor, with ease. Right now I felt like I could have compressed an ursa major until-


I grunted as a wave of pain rolled through my body. 'I'm running out of time...' The thought was condemning. The magic surge wouldn't last forever, and it was rapidly dissipating. Unlike when I was a filly, I was badly injured, so the magic would leave me if I didn't use it soon. I needed to focus if I wanted to survive. 'Survive...' I felt a wave of coldness roll over my body. That was exactly what the situation had come down to. I had failed. If I didn't act quickly, I would... die, and ponies I cared about would die. As it was, it might already have been too late for myself, but... if I could save somepony, then I would.


I had expected the thought to paralyze me, thinking that I was going to die, but instead, I felt calm. Perhaps it was the magic, maybe the idea wasn't as scary as I had thought, or maybe it was blood loss, but I wasn't afraid. Dying for somepony was a highly romanticized idea. The idea of laying down one's life for someone you loved, or dying in place of a friend. It was noble, and it felt right. If I was going to die, I would at least save as many ponies as I could, even if it meant I had to kill even more ponies to protect them. I didn't question my logic, though I had the feeling that my mental faculties were compromised by blood loss and that it would come back to bite me in the flank later.


I took a second to look around. Rainbow Dash caught my attention first. She was locked in battle with General Hoof, and she looked like she was losing. My first instinct was to intervene, but I fought against it. It was hard, but I had to make a bigger difference than that. Killing the general would have been a great benefit, and it would have saved many lives, but there were still more officers, and then there were the soldiers. Thousands of soldiers that would decimate my forces, likely even if the general was killed. At the very least, my team would be captured or killed, even if I silenced the general.


I reached into the well of magic and took hold of it. It was different from the magic I was used to wielding. It was my magic, but it didn't feel the same. It felt stronger, more... 'Regal? Alicorn magic? But... I don't have... that much alicorn magic...' I frowned at the thought. 'The surge... alicorn magic?' I shivered at the thought, then smiled. I once had the magic of four alicorns, and I could have leveled mountains with it. The surge wasn't as strong as that, but it was comparable to it. And unlike then, I wasn't going to hold back. I was going to kill with this magic.


There was something else in my magic, but I couldn't quite place it. It was familiar but felt colder than I was used to. Since I had limited experience with using alicorn magic, I pushed the worry aside and grabbed onto all of the magic that I could, then bent it to my will. The magic didn't resist, it felt welcoming, like it had been just sitting there, waiting for me, like it was an old friend welcoming me back. I didn't have time to consider the feeling, and I immediately put the magic to work.


Even as I focused the magic into my horn, it continued to disperse. I needed to make the most out of it in the short time I had before it all left me. A spell flashed through my mind. It was a single spell, a powerful spell. A spell I knew I would regret using, but it wasn't enough. A second spell joined it, then a third. I quickly processed the spells, then I combined them. It wasn't the most efficient or prettiest spell I had designed, but it would work for what I needed it to.


I channeled as much magic as I could into the spell. Each joule of magic drained me, and the cold grip of exhaustion spread from the back of my mind to the forefront. I felt so, so tired. I just wanted to lay down in the grass and go to sleep, and I didn't care if I woke up or not. I fought against the exhaustion and urge to sleep, I could rest after I finished the spell, after I saved my team, after I killed General Hoof. 


I felt a pulse of magic fly just over my body. The unicorns that had been watching Soarin and Ace were attacking me. Defending against their attacks was simple with the magic I wielded. It was comparable to staying dry in a desert, it would take more effort to fail than it would to succeed. Soarin and Ace rushed the unicorns and tackled them.


I felt grass against my knees, and my head felt heavy. Somepony screamed. I couldn't process anything other than a scream. I couldn't tell if it was a stallion or a mare, somepony young or old. All I knew is somepony screamed.


My eyes felt heavy, and I struggled to keep a hold on the magic I was using. I felt my armor heating up. My barrier must have collapsed. I reached into my well of magic that was the Twilight Crystal, and took that magic, then forged it into a barrier. Pink light shimmered before my eyes. It was so bright, I had to close my eyes to stop the blinding light from giving me a headache. The light still managed to find its way through my closed eyelids.


The spell finished, I released it. There was an impossibly loud crack as magic erupted from my horn. Something hard hit my muzzle, then I felt lighter than a feather. I felt like I was weightless, drifting in an empty void of space. No sound, no light, no gravity, nothing to disturb me. It was... peaceful.





A fierce pulse of lavender magic erupted from Twilight's horn. The powerful wave of magic was directed by Twilight's will, and it harmlessly flowed over Rainbow Dash. General Hoof wasn't as lucky. As the magic expanded outwards, more ponies were consumed by the full force of the directed spell, and as the spell radiated into the surrounding tents, ponies who were on standby disappeared, sometimes one by one, sometimes in waves, but when the wave finished, only a few ponies remained, and the camp was deathly silent. Not a sound, nor a peep, save for heavy breathing from a few pegasi who stood unscathed at the epicenter of the event.




Corporal Speed Run



Aside from a few stray spells flying off into the sky, likely the result of unicorns missing their target, the forest was mostly calm. Although, there was an occasional barrage of spells from unicorn artillery. I shook the thought aside and resumed taking mental notes of everything I saw.


Judging from the number of sources of light I saw, General Hoof had deployed a large portion of his army in the offensive, but they were barely making any headway, between the fog and constant pegasi strafes. Occasional dull cracks of thunder could be heard, the result of lightning bombs being detonated, but for the most part, it was quiet.


The silence was probably the most unnerving part of it, ponies thought of battle as loud and chaotic- which it is, but only when you're in the middle of the action, or coordinating the fight and have ponies darting about issuing orders. When you were a scout and flying above the battle, but still close enough to be effective, it was quiet, unless you were really close to the fighting.


I looked away from the forest and scanned the horizon. All our information we had so far said General Hoof had no pegasi to back him up. It made my job, and the jobs of other scouts much easier. It was almost unbelievable that he had no pegasi support, and it was sure to cost him greatly.


I could see some pegasi around, but they were all far away. Even with air superiority, Princess Twilight knew it was stupid to try to engage General Hoof's forces in mass, it would end in a bloodbath for the pegasi. The bombing runs we were doing limited the danger to us, we could engage them without having to worry about earth ponies' physical strength or running into a wall of spells from unicorns. The small squads deployed in the forest were perfect targets for pegasi squadrons to attack. So far, General Hoof hadn't figured out his mistake, and we were punishing him severely for it.


I veered left and looked back down at the forest. Cool air blew through my mane and tail. I sniffed the air, and I could tell that they were getting ready to use the storm. The fog hadn't been as useful as expected, but we still had the storm. General Hoof was a fool, sending forces in beneath a storm front. The old earth pony should have just retired, but he was too stubborn.


From what I had heard, though, he was used to sending his troops into bad situations and succeeding. He didn't have the lowest casualty counts.


I veered to the right. Over the next few minutes I ran my patrol from memory, never slowing, and always taking note of the glows that marked unicorn groups. I beat my wings a little harder and gained some altitude as I approached General Hoof's encampment. It was still a good three miles away, but it was better safe than sorry.


It would have been more accurate to say that the encampment was his primary one, he had three total, each setup a few miles apart. The encampment I was supposed to fly by just happened to be the one where he was coordinating the battle. The rows and rows of pale tents could almost have been mistaken for our own camp, except the color-


A brilliant flash of pink erupted from the camp. The light was so intense that I had to squint to see what had happened. I felt cold air run across my lips. I blinked in shock and closed my mouth. A massive wall of lavender expanded outwards from the camp. The wall faded rapidly as it expanded. In the span of a few seconds, the pink sphere encompassed the entire camp, then continued outwards. Despite being several miles away from the wall of magic, I felt fear. I had never seen anything like it, and I had no idea what it was. There wasn't even any sound, just light. I found myself hovering in the air as I watched it, unable to bring myself to turn around and fly away, despite the uncertainty I felt from watching the wall expand to encompass the entire camp.


The wave started to dissipate even quicker after the whole camp was surrounded by it, and a second later I could see through the wall. It was hard to tell from the distance, but it was obvious that something had changed in the camp. A few seconds later, the wave of pink completely disappeared, and the camp was noticeably darker. I almost thought I could see light gray rising from the encampment, but I wasn't sure.


I clenched my jaw and hovered in the air for several seconds, processing what I saw and attempting to calm my rapid heartbeat.  'General Spitfire will want to know about this... I should turn... back, or maybe I shouldn't. She'd want more details and somepony else will definitely have seen that.' I closed my mouth and licked my lips, then picked up speed, despite fearing whatever had caused... whatever that was.




Rainbow Dash



It was so quiet, it was like I was flying in the sky, but there was no air or breeze. Everything ceased to exist or matter. Just silence. I pressed my eyelids closed, then opened them. My ears rang, my eyes stung from tears. My flank, abdomen, neck, and chest all hurt. The armor I wore had saved my life. I blinked again, then pressed my hoof against my neck. The wound was light, but it still stung. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, then inhaled deeply. I coughed. It hurt. Breathing hurt, coughing hurt.


I rolled over onto my stomach, then removed my hoof from my neck and pressed against the ground. My hooves and legs hurt, it was like I had been working out all day without stopping, but worse. I heard subtle hoofsteps approaching me. I turned towards the source. Ace looked at me somberly and absently. He extended a hoof and looked around at the camp. I wrapped my hoof around his and pulled myself up. He looked back at me, I met his gaze and he nodded. He turned and looked around. There was a large scorch in his armor, stretching at an angle from his shoulder to a few inches from his wing. The edge of the scorch mark looked like the metal had melted and fused from extreme heat. I shivered, feeling cold.


I shook my head and blinked, then looked around for anypony still around. It was no wonder everything was quiet, I could only see Soarin, Ace, and Jagged Wing. All three of them looked wary, uneasy, very tired, and very distracted. The lack of Princess Celestia's soldiers was unnerving. I blinked a couple of times to make sure that my eyes were working right. There weren't even any bodies or armor lying about. The tents were burnt to a crisp. I felt apprehensive of the situation. 'Twilight... what did you do?' I had known Twilight was powerful, but I had never really been afraid of the small purple alicorn until that moment. She was responsible for the destruction I saw. The only ponies around were her friends, and all of General Hoof's forces, including the general himself, were just... gone without a trace.


I swallowed. My throat hurt, and swallowing made my neck burn worse. I turned back to where I had last seen Twilight. My stomach dropped out from under me. I thought I was going to vomit. My heartbeat steadily increased, and I felt like I was suffocating. The atmosphere felt oppressively hot and stagnate. I felt like I was trapped in a small room with no windows.


I fought through the fear and ran over to Twilight. My eyes stung, and everything was blurry. I sat down beside her and pulled off a gauntlet, then extended a shaky hoof and pressed against her neck. I pulled back and I thought my heart was going to stop. Her body was so cold, almost like ice, and blood had coated her coat crimson. I slowly extended my hoof back out and pressed against Twilight's neck. The still warm blood flowed away from my hoof at the contact. Underneath her coat, I could feel a faint pulse. I pulled my hoof back and smiled, despite Twilight's blood literally being on my hoof, then frowned. I put my hoof over her muzzle, but I was careful not to touch it, I didn't want any of her blood on her muzzle, and she just looked so fragile. There was almost no airflow, she was barely breathing.


"Soarin!" I shouted, then turned to where I last saw him. He limped over to me. Ace flew over, then landed. I stepped back and he took my position. His expression was fear, and Soarin's expression was sobering.


"Chert..." Ace hissed. He pulled off his gauntlet, then pressed his hoof against Twilight's neck. He looked to the side and his eyes darted about. He moved his hoof up Twilight's neck. "She is still alive. Not good shape. Need leave now," he rambled off quickly.


I brought my bare hoof to my face and wiped away tears from my eyes with the back of my hoof. I was careful to make sure I didn't smear any of Twilight's blood on me. "Sh-she's going to be alright, though, right?" I stuttered pleadingly. She had to survive, she was my friend. If she died... I would have failed again. I would have failed her and everypony. I literally had her blood on my hooves.


Ace stood up and looked behind Twilight's body. He grimaced. "She lost lot of blood." he slid his hoof across her neck. "Wounds... healed?" He sounded surprised.


"She's an alicorn..." Soarin muttered.


Ace turned to face Soarin. I couldn't see his expression, but judging from Soarin's reaction, it wasn't good. "She's in bad shape," Ace stressed.


Soarin clenched his jaw, and I could see his jaw muscles flexing and relaxing. He looked around and gazed off into the distance. "We need to get out of here," he ordered. He quickly turned to his left. "Jagged!" he yelled.


Jagged Wing immediately landed beside him and saluted him. "I can't find Storm or Lightning anywhere," he reported in a stoic voice. Despite his attempt to mask it, I could see the pain from not knowing where the two mares were in his eyes.


"They might have gone back to base..." Soarin's voice betrayed him, instead of being reassuring, he sounded worried.


"They could still be here," Jagged replied evenly.


Soarin closed his eyes and shook his head. "We can't wait for them. Twilight's in bad shape," he rebuked. He turned to me and looked at me seriously. "Rainbow, none of us are in great shape, and you're probably the best flier of all of us."


I swallowed and met his gaze. "What do you need, Lieutenant?" I said as professionally as I could.


He looked at Twilight. "Think you can fly her back to base?" He looked back at me. He didn't say it, but I could see it in his eyes. He was worried for Twilight's life. Even with Twilight being an alicorn, I doubted she could survive being left here for long, and certainly not long enough for help to arrive.


If help was even coming.


I lifted my unarmored hoof to my head and saluted Soarin. "Yes, sir..." I looked at Twilight and swallowed. Her life was in my hooves. If I failed her again... she'd die.


"Good," Soarin sighed. "Ace, Jagged... We'll stick together. Rainbow, you just get Princess Twilight back to base as quickly as you can. Understand?"


I looked at him and nodded seriously. I stepped closer to Twilight, then folded my arms and bent down. Ace and Jagged got on either end of Twilight then lifted her up. I lowered my head to the ground so that they didn't have to lift her as high. I stared at her pool of blood while the two put her on my back. She was heavier than I had expected, though I should have realized her armor contributed to that weight. I stood back up and looked at Soarin. He saluted me. I nodded and spread my wings, then beat them as hard as I could.





It took me a few minutes to get to altitude, and by the time I did, somepony had given the order to start the storm. It had started out light, but as I pushed further into the storm front, it intensified. Rain beat down from the clouds, I flew just below the cloud layer. If I flew above it, it would be even colder than it was under the storm, despite the cold rain falling from the clouds above me. I beat my wings as hard as I could and folded my legs against my body so I could fly faster. Twilight hadn't moved since she was put on my back, and fear plagued my mind. 'What if I'm too slow?'


I bit my lip and forced the thought away, I couldn't afford to be distracted. I flew headlong into the storm. Bolts of lightning passed around us but never hit us. The winds shifted and fought against me. Cold rain was blown into my face, the drops were heavy and hit hard. I squinted my eyes to protect them from the assault. I looked back behind me. I could see Soarin, Ace, and Jagged's silhouettes trailing behind me. The trio was flying slower than normal, likely in an attempt to divert any attention from me. They were probably exhausted too.


I glanced down at the forest beneath me. It was hard to see, but occasionally I saw a flash or pulse of light. A few spots I glimpsed a steady glow, but I couldn't make out the color for the storm. A few stray bolts of magic darted across the sky, having missed their intended targets. A barrage of spells arced through the sky and laid waste to a small section of the forest. Several trees fell under the bombardment of what looked like twenty spells. I didn't know if the spells hit their marks, but it did a number on the forest.


I pressed on. I could see orbs of magic hovering in the air and illuminating sections of the forest. Those areas were quickly peppered by a series of bright flashes. They were easy targets for any pegasus with the lightning bombs we had. I could only guess at the effectiveness. I couldn't even hear any sounds of battle for the storm. The wind, rain, and thunder drowned out all other sounds, even my own breathing.


Despite wearing armor, the rain seeped into my coat, and my ears felt like ice. My wings burned and felt heavy, but I wasn't going to stop. I had to succeed, all of Equestria was counting on me. I was not going to let a princess and my friend die without fighting to keep her alive. Several spells shot up from a clearing in the forest, each spell flying off into the sky at a wild angle, evidence of unicorns attempting to target pegasi and missing. I still had no idea how many spells had hit their targets.


I nearly flew into a strike of lightning. I was blinded and felt disorientated as the air shook violently. The reverberation echoed in my lungs. I coughed and fell through the air before righting myself and flying on instinct. The winds shifted. A gust of wind pushed me in the direction I needed to go. That gust of wind turned into a strong tailwind which propelled me towards my destination. 'Soarin... I hope you guys are having the same luck I am,' I thought.


Time was meaningless. I could see my destination. It looked so far away, but I was close. I could almost taste victory. More spells arced through the air, coming from the direction of our camp. I followed the spells with my eyes until they landed in the forest out of my line of sight. Almost immediately after them, another barrage came from the same direction, but the angle caused them to fly far off from the first zone.


More bolts of magic flew through the sky from the forest. I watched them carefully. Their sources were moving away from our camp. They were retreating. Victory tasted sweet. I glanced back at Twilight. Her wings hung loosely just behind mine, and her wet mane billowed across my armor. The rain wasn't completely bad. It looked like most of her blood had been washed from her coat, but I wasn't looking at the side of her neck that had been cut.


I looked back forwards and beat my wings harder and faster. I could almost feel the air breaking in front of me to accommodate our bodies.




General Spitfire



I could hear the storm raging off in the distance, but I ignored it and focused on the map before me. Reports were still coming in, but one thing was absolutely clear. We were winning, and early field reports coming in said that the enemy was retreating. Calling it a retreat was generous, it was less of a strategic withdraw, and more of a full route.


A pegasus officer across the table extended out a stick and then pulled a unicorn figurine back. Over the next few seconds, the map was readjusted. The general retreat was back towards their camp. That wasn't a good thing, it meant Princess Twilight and her team would have more trouble. However, we were compensating for it.


Scouts were still coming in and bringing information with them, but the delay between sending one out and receiving updated information was long. Scouts were being sent out while other scouts were still on their way to survey the battlefield. Most of the scouts were surviving and returning in a timely manner, though. They also brought good reports. Last reports indicated that the unicorns and earth ponies in the field were woefully underprepared for our tactics. They had expected us to engage them in close combat, they had no idea we had developed lightning bombs, and those bombs were proving more effective than we had anticipated.


General Hoof's artillery unicorns had proven woefully inadequate against us as well. They were unable to provide effective and timely support for unicorns on the front lines battling our pegasi, and they were out of range to bombard our positions. It wasn't long before they stopped attempting to provide support.


Supply reports weren't as good. We had depleted nearly three-fourths of our supply of lightning bombs. Conservative reports put General Hoof's casualties around two thousand. His earth ponies weren't really providing any advantage to his unicorns, they were just sitting ducks.


The storm was certainly helping us about as much as expected. It hampered general Hoof's forces mobility and reduced their visibility. We had overestimated how long the fog would last, the unicorns had used spells to clear it up, but even then it was slow going for them, and while they were clearing the fog out, they were easy targets for airborne pegasi to engage.


All in all, the battle was an assured victory. Even the most liberal estimates of our casualties put us at around only fifteen hundred casualties. The low-end estimates put us around two hundred and fifty. The real number was likely somewhere in the middle of the two numbers. A lot of ponies were unaccounted for, likely because they were still out in the battle or returning.


"General Spitfire! You're needed in the infirmary immediately!" A pony called. His grave tone was a dead giveaway that something was wrong, and the fact that that anypony thought something warranted my attention made my blood run cold. I took a second to compose myself, it was unlikely that something bad enough had happened that I was needed. I was busy commanding an army. Whatever demanded my immediate attention could wait.


I turned to him. He was a light brown unicorn with a dark mane and soft green eyes. "I have more important things to do than go to the infirmary, Sergeant," I said dismissively and returned my attention to the map. A pegasus landed and hastily handed a unicorn a scroll.


"G-General, it's important!" the unicorn persisted.


I turned towards him and glared at him. "If it's so important, stop wasting time and tell me already," I demanded.


The unicorn bit his lip and shifted his weight on his hooves. "W-well, it's... Princess Twilight." I could almost hear the activity of the entire tent slow down.


"What?" I demanded. I glanced back around at the other officers in the tent. One swift glare from me was all the encouragement they needed to get back to work. I turned back to the unicorn.


"Princess Twilight has been badly injured in battle, and one of the doctors has requested your immediate presence," he said.


I clenched my jaw and looked around the tent, then nodded at General Fleetfoot. "You have command," I said, then I curtly walked over to the unicorn. He shifted his weight again and walked out of the tent. He was uneasy and jumpy. 'Princess... what did you do?' I gritted my teeth at the thought. If she was injured and in the infirmary, then the battle wasn't an assured victory and at worst, it was a total loss.





The first thing I noticed about the infirmary tent that the unicorn had brought me to was that the farthest section away from the opening had been segregated from the rest of the tent with a simple fabric curtain which was hanging from the ceiling and touching the ground. It looked like about four beds, two on each side of the aisle, were separated from the rest of the tent. The second thing that drew my attention, and probably the most concerning, was that I could see Rainbow's head sticking out from behind the curtain. It looked like she was standing between two beds, but I couldn't tell for sure. From what I could see of her, her mane was a mess and her eyes didn't hold the same gleam they normally did.


I clenched my jaw and turned to the unicorn. "Thank you, dismissed," I said quickly, then made my way into the tent. Two guards standing inside the tent went rigid as I walked passed them. A couple medics darted out from the curtained area. Neither one of them met my gaze or said anything. I stepped to the side to let them pass and continued on. I braced myself for whatever I was going to see on the other side of the curtain and stepped passed it.


Rainbow looked at me, she looked haunted and exhausted. I took a deep breath and looked at the alicorn lying on the bed to her right. Her armor was lying in a pile at the foot of the bed, and three heavy blankets were covering up her body. The doctor standing on the other side of Twilight looked up at me. His eyes held fear. "General! Thank..." he trailed off and frowned, "you for coming so quickly!" I glanced at the doctor, then looked back at the princess. Her eyes were closed, and she almost looked like she was dead. I had to watch her for several seconds before I saw her chest move, confirming that she was indeed alive. I could almost feel the hairs on my back standing up, whatever had happened clearly very nearly killed her. It was a sobering realization.


I looked up at the doctor and took a few seconds to recompose myself. "What happened?" I asked hastily.


The doctor was taken in surprise by how sharp my question was. It took him a second to recover. "S-she lost a lot of blood, general. From what we could tell, her carotid artery was badly cut. She's very weak right now, and she's very magically drained. Scans show that she might have had a magic surge, and they also show that magic was responsible for healing her injuries, likely a result of the magic surge and her alicorn nature," he explained.


Fear was a strange emotion. One I rarely felt, but knowing that Twilight's carotid artery was cut was more than enough to make me shiver. It wouldn't have taken a lot to kill her after that. She could have bled out before anypony could have helped her. Her being an alicorn was the only reason she was still alive. I didn't need to ask to know that. I swallowed. "What are her chances?" I asked.


"She lost more than half her blood volume. We can't give her a transfusion to stabilize her because she's an alicorn, her body would reject the blood. The magic surge likely saved her life. When Captain Dash here-" the unicorn pointed at Rainbow Dash. She looked so passive, it was a stunning contrast to how brash she normally was. "-brought her in, her wounds had already healed. If they hadn't, she would be dead. She's not out of the woods yet, General, but if she survives the night, she will most likely be okay."


"Keep her alive," I ordered. "We need her."


He looked me in the eye and nodded. "We'll do our best, but no promises."


I clenched my jaw and glared at Rainbow. "What the Tartarus happened out there?" I demanded.


Rainbow Dash went rigid. Her voice was ominous, "It... she was injured in the battle-"


I looked back at Princess Twilight and took a deep breath. "Injured how?" I demanded


Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rainbow shift her weight. "She engaged General Hoof... I think she was caught off guard, a unicorn's spell hit her body and broke through her armor. After that, General Hoof managed to stab her neck at least twice. She lost... so much blood. I... we thought she was going to die..." I turned to look at Rainbow. She had her eyes pressed together and I could see tears trailing down from the corners of her eyes, despite them being closed. Perhaps the most telling part, however, was that she was sitting on her haunches, and her left flank had a bandage on it that curved around the back. I recognized shock when I saw it.


I let my expression soften. Rainbow was new and inexperienced, but that still wasn't an excuse. "You were assigned to protect her. Where were you?" I demanded in a cold voice a few degrees warmer than it had been. Rainbow had a bad track record already, having made multiple mistakes before, though the only thing quite like this was getting captured, although that could be blamed on Princess Twilight's decision to not have her wear armor when escorting Fluttershy.


Rainbow opened her eyes and looked at me. "I was trying to secure the area with Lieutenant Soarin and Ace."


"You were supposed to watch the princess like a hawk. She personally chose you as her bodyguard!" Rainbow winced from my verbal assault. I paused to take a deep breath, then continued in a quieter voice, "You're lucky she's still alive." I turned around and surveyed the rest of the curtained off area to make sure I hadn't missed anypony else at first glance. "Where is the rest of your team?"


"I-I don't know. Soarin, Ace, and Jagged were flying behind me. Soarin ordered me to fly ahead and bring Princess Twilight back, and... We don't know where Storm and Lightning Strike are."


I looked seriously at Princess Twilight. If she was awake, I would have had more than a few choice words to say to her. The next time she wanted to lead a mission on her own, Tartarus would freeze before I let her do that. She nearly broke down on her first mission, and on her second mission she nearly died. If that wasn't a bad track record that was asking for problems, then nothing was. I turned back to Rainbow and looked at her seriously. "You had better have a solid report compiled after this is over, and if anything happens to her while she's under your watch again..." I trailed off, Rainbow closed her eyes and nodded quickly. "We'll debrief at ten-hundred hours sharp in the morning." I turned to the doctor and looked at him seriously. "You let me know the second anything changes."


He went rigid and saluted me. "Yes, ma'am!"


I turned around and proceeded out of the tent. The two guards looked scared as I passed. I paused and realized they weren't the only ones who looked scared. I took a deep breath and shifted my wings. After composing myself, I looked at both of them, then left the tent.




Rainbow Dash



Ace grunted. I looked up from the floor. One of the medics was applying some kind of liquid to his burn which ran from about the middle of his shoulder at an angle up his back, ending a few inches in front of his wing. Despite the only source of light coming from a small lamp hanging from the top of the tent in the middle of the room, I could easily see his jaw muscles flexing. I got out lucky compared to him. I looked back at my flank. The small bandage was barely noticeable, except when sitting down. The wound ached constantly, but it was tolerable for the most part. My neck stung from where General Hoof cut me, my shoulder was bandaged from him piercing my armor with his blade, and my legs and wings ached.


I looked back at Ace. The medic applied more of the liquid to his burn. His face scrunched up in pain, and he exhaled sharply. Soarin patted Ace on the shoulder, drawing Ace's gaze away from the opposite side of the tent. The curtain opened, I turned to see Jagged walk in with a somber look on his face. "Lightning Strike and Storm are still missing," he said evenly.


Soarin grimaced and sighed. "Is the battle still-"


"Yes, Lieutenant. The battle is still going on, but it's mostly dealing with stragglers from the withdraw," Jagged answered. "Scouts are searching for them, but it's a large area to cover, especially when you consider that most of the area is a forest and that it's night."


I shifted my weight and looked at the bed below me. The team was close, all of them were friends. It had been clear from the start, they might not have shown it as easily as some of them had, but they were close. I closed my eyes and lifted a hoof to my temple, then rubbed it in a small circle. 'This...' The sight of Twilight laying on the ground with blood coating her neck flashed through my mind. I opened my eyes and shivered. 'Isn't awesome at all...'


Soarin said something, but I didn't listen to what he said. Ace said something, but it was drowned out by my thoughts.


I had wanted to be a Wonderbolt my entire life, ever since I was a filly it was my dream. In a way, I was now a Wonderbolt, I was in the Wonderbolt Reserve and fighting alongside Wonderbolts, while protecting Twilight at the same time. It wasn't anything like I had imagined. I got captured and locked in a prison in Canterlot for several weeks because I couldn't defend myself. I fought alongside Soarin's team in a battle, and our part of that battle didn't go well. Lightning Strike and Storm were missing. Ace was wounded, and Twilight nearly died. I nearly died. I looked up and tilted my head to the right. Twilight was still lying in her bed, nearly unmoving. The same unicorn doctor who stood there when Spitfire was here still stood beside Twilight, keeping a close eye on her. Twilight's chest still barely rose with each weak breath she took. 'How much did it take from her to save us all? If she hadn't... had to do that, she wouldn't be here... She could have died.'


She knew it was risky. I knew it was risky. Everypony knew our mission was risky. It... worked, and we won, but it didn't feel like a victory. Only a handful of ponies outside of the tent knew about Twilight's condition. 'How am I going to explain this to the girls?' I doubted Spitfire would even let me tell them about it. It would cause panic. Even Spitfire had been afraid when she saw Twilight lying in bed.


'If you hadn't saved us... I'd be dead right now.' I shivered from a combination of cold and fear. I wouldn't admit that fear played a part in it, but it did. I was Rainbow Dash, after all. I turned away from Twilight. Jagged had left the room, and everything had fallen silent. The medic had left too, leaving the five of us in silence. That silence felt oppressive.


I shifted my weight and turned around so that my head was lying on the pillow, then I rolled myself over onto my back. I pulled the blanket over my body. I slowly pulled it tight about my body, then I laid my hooves on my chest.


Soarin and Ace both watched me. Several seconds passed, then Ace turned to Soarin. Soarin glanced at Ace and grimaced. "Rainbow, are you alright? You haven't said a lot, and-"


I nodded my head. "Y-yeah, I'm fine... Just... a little tired." I wanted to smile to convince them, but no smile came. I looked up at the top of the tent, not wanting to see how they looked at me.


"Considering everything that happened, you did good today, Rainbow," Soarin said gently. I could tell that he didn't believe my excuse. He knew I lied, and he knew something was wrong.


"It doesn't feel like I did good," I replied. "Twilight almost died."


"We all knew the risks and so did she. It didn't go as planned, but it was still a success," Soarin said.


I looked back at Soarin. "She lead mission to save lives, Rainbow. Even at threat of losing her own," Ace said in a somber voice.


I nodded at that. "I'm supposed to protect her. She trusted me to protect her. She trusted me with her life! And..." I tilted my head towards her. "Now she's here, barely alive."


"We didn't have many options, odds were against us. If we had not attacked, we lose. She knew that," Ace replied. "She saved hundreds, maybe thousands of lives. Not every victory is easy. If we had stayed back, many more ponies would have died, and we probably lose battle."


I clenched my eyes shut. 'I didn't do enough...' I should have stayed beside her. I should have paid more attention to her. I should have done something! 'By the time I realized she was in trouble, it was too late... if she hadn't have had that magic surge, we'd all be dead... I should have fought harder, I could have beaten General Hoof!' The thought brought back the memory of pain from him slicing my neck, along with him pressing his blade it into my neck.