Crimson Dawn spoke to Princess Celestia, in her human form, several thousand miles away, about the war. He didn’t have very good news.
“Princess, we moved Cadence and Twilight to the Everfree Castle, as you know. Unfortunately, it was destroyed last week by Sombra and his weapon. Currently, rescue crews are on site; however, I don’t believe anypony could’ve survived the blast. The Tree of Harmony is, well, ash. The Tree soaked up as much magic as it could to protect the area, but it overflowed, and half the Forest exploded as a result, with fires still burning in what’s left. And the Everfree Castle is not even rubble. It’s nonexistent.”
“What about the Elements?”
“We’re missing Magic because Princess Twilight was in the castle, but that’s all. Finding both princesses is our highest priority as of now, but it is most likely that Twilight was killed.”
“Good. Keep me informed. As for Twilight, I can do nothing except mourn for her loss. Almost everything is being taken before my eyes.”
Crimson sighed after the spell ended. Giving the Princess of the Sun bad news was almost asking for some kind of problem, but it had to be done. Besides, he should’ve done this last week, but there was a battle, the chaos of losing the Everfree Castle, and then news of the Changeling invasion. He just hadn’t gotten around to it until now.
Lieutenant Silver Comet should be coming back in a few hours from his scouting expedition to the west. We really need to know where the enemy is. Again, the war effort controlled his thoughts. It was like the Atlantean-Dominion War, only he was in charge this time. Wait, that stream looked too similar to Aquarius River right before the battle. The memory hit him like a baseball bat…
--------------------
“Wake up, Crimson! We’re moving out in ten!” Platinum Starlight was next to his sleeping bag, stowing all his equipment faster than a hummingbird could flap its wings. In the already-bulging saddlebag, there was ammo, powder, and other essentials. Crimson hurried to pack up before Sarge busted in.
“What time is it, anyway?” he asked groggily. Squinting out of the tent, he commented, “Jeez. Thought it was two in the mornin’.”
“Nah. Sarge has his ways of knowin’ when we’re ready to fight. You know he gets us up only when it’s six-thirty.”
Crimson nodded and finished stowing his things. He ran out of the beige tent with Platinum into the chaos of an unprepared army. Sarge had obviously not given the greenies enough time to get ready, as the two could hear him down by the recruits’ rows, bellowing in his voice of the high seas. It was amusing, to say the least.
The ragged ponies of the half-strength 2nd Coastal Regiment staggered out of their tents quickly like a bunch of three-quarters-drunk sailors. They formed a column and munched on snacks hoofed out by a passing chef. Seeing the amount of ponies eating, Crimson knew today’s march would be a long haul indeed. He took a bag of saltine crackers and munched as quietly as he could with a painful broken tooth from the last battle that still hadn’t quite healed. At least the crackers were decent.
The march began just as the sun peeked over the flat horizon. They went on for hours, only stopping once for a lunch break. Crimson judged their direction to be west, confirmed by the sun as it made its flight to the earth, where Celestia of Equestria would pick it up with her magic and swap it with the moon. He clutched his single-shot musket with his left wing. Oh, how he wished for one of those repeating guns the Dominion had!
“Hey, Red! How much longer we gonna go?” called a recruit who obviously didn't have military discipline.
“Show me respect due my rank, boy, or by Harmony, I'll have you up on charges for insubordination!” he yelled back.
“Sorry, Red. I mean, Sergeant Red. Forgive me, sir.”
Crimson, Platinum, and a few of their buddies nearby chuckled. Rank did have its privileges.
“Crimson, when are ya’plyin’ for officer?” asked the dwarf Earth pony mare Hummingbird. “Think it'll be soon?”
“Probably in a week. Don't wanna leave all y'all behind.”
“Ya needn't worry ‘bout that,” Platinum reassured. “We'll go with you all the way. In fact, you could choose us for your NCO’s.”
“You, Starlight? An official non-commissioned officer? Please. You'd last no longer than a pile o’ shit!” That comment came from Haybale, a Unicorn farmer from a community near Platinum and Crimson’s hometown, and had been with them since the war started.
“Longer than you, I'd bet!” Everypony in the group of friends roared with laughter at the banter between fellow soldiers. It was a cheerful but long march, next to the deep blue Aquarius River’s eastern branch. At the pace they were going, they'd reach the Fork by nightfall.
“Jeez. My legs are killing me.” Hummingbird groaned as Sarge called the final stop. She plopped down onto her sleeping bag and stayed there.
“Hummy, you do realize the tents gotta be set up?” Haybale called.
“Fuck you,” came the tired reply. Hummingbird obviously wasn’t in the mood to do anything but sleep.
Crimson smirked and put his stuff down on the ground. “Haybale, Sarge said the tents won’t be pitched tonight, like, three hours ago. We have too far to go and not enough time tomorrow.” He spread his sleeping bag next to Hummingbird and crept into it, falling asleep almost instantly. The others followed his lead and took the chance to rest, knowing the morning would be hell.
“Get up, get up!” yelled Crimson. “Hummingbird, Platinum, Haybale, let’s move! We head north in ten!”
The three groaned and opened their eyes to an early-morning sun. Private Hummingbird tossed around into the sandy riverbank. She instantly shot to a standing position and raced to the hastily set up mess tent, muttering something about ice-cube water. Haybale sighed and packed his stuff, then Hummingbird’s so hers wouldn’t get soaked by the flow of the nearby Aquarius River. Platinum and Crimson packed as well, then headed for the mess.
It didn’t take long for Sarge to go ape shit at the recruits being slow again. He yelled at them like a forty-knot wind was blowing by. They scrambled to their hooves and hurried to get the last food and pack up for the march ahead. Within the hour, the entire army was headed north.
“Form ranks! Form ranks!” Crimson yelled to the others in the 2nd Coastal Regiment. They hurried to line up and shoot at their attackers, just across the river and behind some trees.
Crimson’s regiment had been ambushed. Before they knew what hit them, all the senior officers had been sniped and the NCO’s were getting picked off one by one. It quickly disintegrated into chaos when they sent somepony for reinforcements and he came back with news that they were on their own. Luckily, Crimson and Platinum could coordinate some kind of resistance, and everypony else followed their example.
Bullets slammed into the trunks of oaken saplings and trees. A grenade went off somewhere, knocking a large tree to the ground with a crash. It then rolled down the bank and into the river, taking more than one Atlantean with it.
Hummingbird cried out when a bullet zipped through her left foreleg and collapsed. She picked her gun back up and fired another shot before rolling behind a bush and glancing down at her leg. She winced and tore her uniform, tying it around her leg to put pressure on the wound. Reloading, she rolled again to take another shot. The musket fired, smoke poured out from the end of her barrel, and she was lucky to roll back behind the bush alive.
Platinum saw the mare and made hoof signals to Crimson, who had climbed the tree the Unicorn hid behind. The red Pegasus nodded and called, “Get her outta there! We gotta retreat!” Yelling louder so the entire regiment could hear him, he ordered a retreat back to the bridge near the Fork.
Almost nopony even cared at that point. Some had already dropped their weapons and bolted back the the way they came. But now it was official: the panicked run was necessary. Haybale did his best to keep it organized, but it was no use. Platinum picked up Hummingbird with his magic and carried her as fast as his tired legs could carry him. Looking back once, he saw Crimson swoop down from his tree and catch up.
The shattered regiment reached the bridge at the Fork with the entire Domination Army on their tail. Ponies were being picked off one by one from both flanks and the back. As they came to the arch, Atlantean artillery on the other side of the Aquarius River opened up. Shells flew just barely overhead, exploding into a much-welcome smoke screen. Directly after, the ground shook with round shot cannonballs.
“Over the bridge! Over the bridge! Move it, move it, move it! That’s our opportunity!” Haybale directed at the front of the retreating ponies. They didn’t need any encouragement. Crimson was the last one over the bridge ten hair-raising minutes after the regiment reached it.