Pinkie had stopped bouncing some time ago. She was still managing to lift her feet, which was more than could be said for Fluttershy; she was shambling along like a scarcely animate skeleton. Rarity stumbled after her, and only Applejack had any bounce in her step as the four threaded their way through the mountain. They had lost the paved corridors and ended up in a series of natural caverns lined with gigantic crystals, which threw the little spark of light from Rarity's horn into a thousand glimmering fireflies all around them.
They'd wandered for what felt like hours, though it had not been that long. Fluttershy and Rarity were still thin and weak, and so had tired easily. Still, with each corner they turned to find themselves still lost, their hopes faded just that much more. They couldn't even find a way out, let alone find Twilight Sparkle.
As they stepped into yet another crystal chamber, Fluttershy's head suddenly came up. This room was not echoing and silent as the others had been. It was filled with a faint rustling, and high-pitched squeaks, on the very edge of equine hearing, bounced from the polished walls. "A bat colony!" she exclaimed softly, sounding delighted.
"We can't stop here, sugarcube," said Applejack tiredly. "We gotta keep going."
"Oh but you don't understand," said Fluttershy, shrinking away from Applejack and peering at her from behind her mane, but still continuing. "This is important."
"We all know how much you care for animals, darling, but Applejack is right," said Rarity gently.
"Gotta keep our hoofsies moving, Flutters," said Pinkie with a nod.
Fluttershy suddenly tossed her mane and stomped one hoof down firmly the sound ringing in the chamber and causing a flurry of rustles from the bats above to follow it. "No."
The other three stared at her.
"We're not moving on until I talk to one of the bats," said Fluttershy, glaring at the others.
None of them could meet that stare. They all turned away, one by one. The glare turned to a sweet smile, and Fluttershy flapped her wings, rising slowly up to where a cluster of dark-furred bodies hung from the crystals.
Her friends stared, defeated and confused, as she whispered to the bats. Rarity sagged, sinking to her hindquarters, her head hanging heavily. Pinkie frowned worriedly, looking between the hovering pegasus and the terrain ahead of them. They were probably nowhere near the exit, they needed to get moving. Applejack scowled. "Fluttershy, honey, we don't have much time," she started.
Fluttershy ignored her. Suddenly one of the bats gave a chirping call and took wing. Fluttershy clapped her forehooves together in sudden delight. "Follow Mr. Bugeater," she said, her voice still soft but exultant. "He's going to show us the way out."
Rarity's head snapped up and she pulled herself to her feet. Pinkie let out a whoop of delight and bounced a few steps before resuming a less tiring trot. And Applejack said, "Ah’m right sorry I doubted you, sugarcube. Let's move out!"
Dale stepped through a shattered wall and out into an open courtyard. His little group hadn't been the one to blow this up, so presumably Big Mac and whoever might be working with him had been here. There was no sign of other ponies now though—unless one counted the corpses of a few Night Guards.
"All right, Derpy, see if you can spot Pinkie," said Dale.
Derpy saluted silently, then flapped up into the perpetually blackened sky. Clouds formed a patchwork across the stars, and the moon was out from behind them for the moment, sending brilliant light down over the castle. The night was anything but peaceful, however. In the distance an explosion sounded. Dale hoped that meant that Big Mac still had TNT left, and not that the guardsponies were breaking out something nasty. His saddlebags were entirely empty now, so he'd shed them somewhere in the palace behind them.
Above, Derpy hovered in place, turning slowly, scanning the ground below. Dale and Pokey both looked up at her hopefully. She looked for a long time. Her slightly off-kilter eyes worked their way from the courtyards around the palace proper, up the palace itself, and to the mountain beyond. Suddenly she grinned and pointed with one hoof. "Muffin!" Dale followed her gesture, and to his surprise he could see them too, four figures making their way down a winding path from a black cave mouth high on the mountainside. The one in the lead was unmistakably pink from forelock to tailtip: it could be no other but Pinkie Pie.
A cry from above jerked Dale's attention back to Derpy. A dark-uniformed form had streaked across the sky and slammed into her, carrying her in an arc to the ground. There was a sickening thud as Derpy struck hard, the Shadowbolt's hooves slamming her against the unyielding flagstones. Her mismatched eyes dulled, unseeing, as Dale stared in horror.
The Shadowbolt grinned at him. "You’re all bucked now," she said, and began to advance with slow, teasing menace. Dale didn't even have to look up to know she was not alone; the air was alive with the low whirring of pegasus wings.
"Get to Pinkie," he said urgently to Pokey. He could sense a sudden terror from Luna, and knew that things were going wrong in the throne room. "Tell her and the others to head for the throne room as quickly as possible. Wink there if you can."
Pokey lifted a weary head and lit his horn. Dale could see the strain in him as he struggled to cast the spell. He suddenly vanished with a pop, leaving Dale alone.
The Shadowbolt laughed. "I guess your little friend doesn’t have the stomach to stand and fight," she said. "It won't save him. All you rebels are going to die tonight."
Dale was too tired to trade verbal jabs with the Shadowbolt. Instead the huge stallion lunged forward, screaming a wordless war-cry as he flung himself at the sneering pegasus. She yelped and snapped her wings out, jumping for the sky, but he hit her before she could get high enough, and she tumbled down to the ground. He gave her no time to recover, rising and driving straight down on her with both front hooves. She tried to roll aside, but she was just not fast enough on the ground. There was a crunch of breaking bone. She shrieked. Dale could hear the sound of wings growing louder and knew that the others were diving on him, but for the moment, he didn't care. The pegasus under his hooves had killed Derpy, and his rage would not allow him to let her go, whatever the cost might be. He reared up. When his hooves came down again her scream cut off instantly.
Something else struck him a glancing blow to the back of his head. It was glancing only because of how he'd suddenly dropped down, otherwise the force of it might have broken his neck. He didn't look around to see the pegasus that had hit him, or to find out of it had company, he just ran, sprinting for the nearest building. He needed to get under cover if he wanted to have any hope of surviving the next few minutes.
As he ran, he hoped that the others were faring better, but that hope was without much force. Luna was losing her battle, there didn't seem to be very many rebels still on their hooves and fighting, and as he ducked through a ragged hole into the low building beside him, the sky was filling with dark-uniformed forms. Things were going very badly indeed.
Spitfire raced across the valley, a streak of flame-colored light trailing behind her. Her heart was heavy as she flew. Rainbow Dash could be nowhere but atop that opposing peak, and that meant that all was almost certainly lost. Luna couldn't hold out forever. She'd avoided the fighting while she searched, but she'd seen enough to know that the rebels couldn't hold out much longer either. By the time she and Rainbow got back it would probably be all over.
Her pace slowed as she flew. What was the point? The rebellion was finished. They'd put up a good fight, but they'd lost. Nightmare Moon would reign forever. The night would never end. Whatever ponies managed to survive would always be her slaves. The best Spitfire and Rainbow could hope for was a relatively quick death in the fighting when they returned.
The bright streak behind her faded as she slowed. Her heart felt heavy in her chest. She might as well just sink to the ground now and give up. Only a faint wish to see Rainbow once again before she died kept her flying forward.
She angled up, climbing towards the mountain's peak. It was lower than the one that towered above the palace, but it was high enough that she still had to strain a bit to reach it.
Finally she arrived. The rounded, windswept rock was barren save for two bright splashes of color. One was the shape of a dead unicorn guard, his pale teal coat splotched with a bit of red here and there. The other was actually quite a bit lower, trying to climb down the far-too-sheer slope of the mountain's side. It was a bit of the lost daytime sky, a patch of bright blue and prismatic color: Rainbow Dash. She let out a whoop of glee as Spitfire came down to land precariously on the ledge next to her.
"Spitfire! Boy am I glad to see you! Come on, help me down from here so we can go kick some Nightmare flank!"
Spitfire stared at her dully. She wasn’t surprised that Rainbow was pretending their earlier argument had never happened; that was normal. They’d fight, one or the other of them would storm off, and then later they’d both act like nothing had happened. But she was surprised that Rainbow seemed to think Spitfire could be of any use. "It's no good. We're going to lose."
Rainbow blinked, looking confused. "Hey, don't say that! We can still win. You've just got to get me back over to the palace, that's all."
Spitfire sat down on the ledge. "There's no use. We won't get there in time."
Rainbow scowled. "Look, I am bucking sorry that you're going to have to carry me. I would just love to be able to fly there myself, but I can't. I need you to help me, so let's get going!"
Spitfire shook her head wordlessly.
Rainbow bristled, her whole body practically vibrating. "So just because I'm a bucking cripple, we're going to lose, is that it?"
Spitfire looked away, unable to bear her rage. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
"I'll bucking make you sorry! I can still fight! I can still do this!" There were tears in her eyes now. "Don't you tell me you're sorry, you've still got your bucking wings, so bucking carry me already!"
Spitfire turned and snapped at Rainbow, frustration and despair finally flashing over into anger. "Everything isn't always about you, Rainbow! Yes I have my wings, but it doesn't matter. They're not good enough! I'm not fast enough! Carrying you is going to exhaust me. It was hard enough getting here. By the time I fly us both back it will be too late. I can't do it, okay?"
Rainbow took a step away from Spitfire, her hooves coming dangerously close to the edge of the narrow strip of rock they stood on. "What?" she said, softly, stunned.
"I can't do it. You're right. Everything you've ever said about me is right. I'm too slow. I'm a failure, and Nightmare Moon is going to win because of me." There were tears in her eyes too, and she looked away from Rainbow again, her head sank in shame.
"Spitfire..." Rainbow trailed off, her face twisted with conflicting emotions. She reached out towards Spitfire, then let her hoof drop.
"I'm sorry."
There was a long silence. The wind moaned around them, chill and damp. Spitfire shivered. She didn't normally feel the cold, but it was well below freezing here. The cold seemed to have settled into her heart, into her very soul. She shivered again, the last of her warmth vanishing with the last of her hope.
A warm presence suddenly pressed against her side. Rainbow Dash bent her head and nuzzled her cheek. "I'm the one who should be saying sorry," she said with uncharacteristic softness. "You're not a failure, Spitfire. You're the best pony I know. And you're not slow. You got here in hardly any time at all."
Spitfire turned her head away from the caress. "That's not true."
"It is true. I'm sorry I've called you slow. I'm sorry I made you doubt yourself. I've been hurting, but that's no excuse for me to hurt you. I'm really sorry." She nuzzled at Spitfire's ear, and Spitfire sighed and gave in, leaning a bit into it.
"It's still over, Rainbow. I'm not fast enough to carry you and get back to the palace in any kind of reasonable time. Everypony else will be dead by the time I get there."
"There's a way to do it," said Rainbow. "After a sonic rainbooom there's so much magic and momentum that you could carry three or four of me without slowing."
"I can't do the rainboom," said Spitfire incredulously. "I'm too slow."
Rainbow snorted and stomped her hoof. "No you're not," she said sharply. "You're every bit as fast as I ever was. I only said you were slow because I'm an idiot and was trying to hurt your feelings, which was stupid of me and I already said I was sorry."
"Rainbow... I can't. I just can't do it. Please..."
"Please what? Please let you give up on yourself, and on your friends, and on my friends, and Luna, and Twilight, and every creature in the world? No. I'm not giving up and neither are you. You can do it!"
"I can't! I'll have to carry you while trying to get up enough speed for the rainboom. I can't do that! You're the only one who ever did it, and you can't do it now!" Spitfire clapped a hoof over her mouth as soon as she said that. "I..."
Rainbow cut her off. "Yeah, I know, I lost my wings. I noticed. But Spitfire," Dash took a deep breath, "you're my wings now. I need you. I need you to believe in yourself. I need you to believe you can do this."
"But carrying you..."
"Look, we can make it easier, okay? You have to get really high—as high as you can—and power into a dive. My extra weight won't slow you down then. Heck, if anything it'll help!" Rainbow reached forward and took Spitfire’s face between her hooves, forcing her to look Dash in the eyes. "You can do this, Spitfire. I said you’re my wings. My wings have carried me through the rainboom before. They can do it now. I trust them." She slid one hoof down Spitfire’s neck and back across her folded wings. "I love you, Spitfire," she said softly.
Spitfire looked back into her eyes, still bright with tears. Tears had gathered in Dash’s eyes as well, and Spitfire felt a lump in her throat. She also felt the chill falling away from her heart. "You really mean that?" said Spitfire.
"I really do."
Spitfire took a deep breath and rose to her hind legs. "All right then." She narrowed her eyes, and a kind of spark flared in them for a moment. "Let's do this."
She picked up Rainbow Dash, her wings snapping open as she did so, and stepped off the cliff and out into space. For an instant they fell together, then Spitfire pulled out of the dive and they flew.
Spitfire beat her wings hard, straining upwards. She started to circle, flying around the narrowing peak. Soon she passed it and its crimson-and-teal adornment, and was climbing into the cloud-strewn sky. The wind picked up. She turned into it, riding it, using it to gain more height. Rainbow Dash's weight seemed to grow the higher they got. She had put both forelegs around Spitfire's neck, helping to hold herself on, but Spitfire was still the one doing all the work. Her wings began to burn. Her lungs burned too. The air was growing thinner.
She fought on, climbing higher and higher. Soon the scatter of clouds that had partly hidden the stars were below her and the sky above was bitterly cold, the stars diamond-clear. They twinkled less, this high.
She was gasping for breath, every muscle straining, her wings in agony, and finally she had to stop. She had reached the highest she could fly with her burden, she could go no higher. "Okay," she gasped, trying to catch her breath as she stretched out her wings, gliding along for just a moment. "Are we high enough?"
"Yeah."
Spitfire looked at Rainbow Dash, their faces so close together. "I'm still not sure I can do this," she said.
"I am," said Rainbow Dash. Then she twisted her head and kissed Spitfire with brief, fervent passion. When she broke off she flashed Spitfire a cocky grin that Spitfire hadn't seen on her face in what seemed like an eternity. "My wings are the best in all of Equestria. So come on; I'm ready to fly."
Spitfire couldn't come up with anything to say in response, but she felt a spark of hope flicker a little bit brighter. She set her face in an expression of determination, took one last deep breath, and dove.