//------------------------------// // 27. Turncoat (The Second Battle of Pacifica Part 3) // Story: The Atlantean-Dominion War // by The Atlantean //------------------------------// Crimson looked at the paused battle to his right. The commotion seemed to have stopped completely, and the previous all-out brawl had halted around a single point near the center of it. He then turned his gaze back to the Doms coming at him, pulling the trigger. A bullet hole appeared in his target’s head and he faceplanted. I really hope Janelane sorts out that mess over there, he thought. Janelane couldn’t close her eyes. She couldn’t shut out the pain, the horror. Her brother lay before her, lifeless in the gorey slush that used to be a trench. His eyes were still wide open, showing his final moments like a movie on repeat. Her brother’s red-soaked Dominion uniform was drenched in blood. Janelane cried. It started with a couple tears, but quickly transformed into a waterfall. Her brother was gone and there was nothing she could do about it and she was the one who ended him. It wasn't too fitting for an acting commander, but she didn't give a damn. It was her fault. All her fault. “Janelane? Where have you been these last fifteen years?” one of the remaining Doms dropped his gun and cocked his head. Oh, that's right. Janelane remembered that ponies in the Domination Army never saw their families after they joined. It was why she ran away, because, being in a military family, she was likely to be drafted and never see her parents and younger siblings again. She knew Prince Flawless Ice was opposed to this doctrine, and many others his father Jagged Edge enforced, and hoped he would end them when he became king. But that was far in the future. for now, staying here, away from the Dominion, was fine. “I left.” She turned to face him. “I left so that I wouldn't be in Jagged Edge’s damned army. He is a cruel ruler that should be burning in hell after I shove a sword into his flabby chest.” The mare sighed. “Some of you recognize me; some of you don't. I am Janelane, the bastard daughter of General Cheese Grater. I see your faces. You all joined or were drafted into an army that keeps you from ever coming home. I see Meeky, Swiss-Wings, Stellar ‘Asshole’ Phenomenon. We were friends. We were almost family. If that damned doctrine didn't fucking exist you would leave, right? Settle down. Build a family that doesn't need to fear the loss of their child by the Army draft. If you drop your weapons and join us, we can make that wistful dream a reality.” Swiss-Wings dropped his musket. “I don't know about you guys, but that seems like pretty good deal to me.” Meeky smiled and mike-dropped his, agreeing with Swiss-Wings in his nonverbal way. Stellar Phenomenon, the one who had asked Janelane where she'd been, sighed rather loudly. “My sister was killed by your Atlantean friends.” “The past doesn’t matter. What matters is the now, and we can make sure that now is what we want it to be,” Jane replied. “We can do this.” “I know what you mean, Janelane. It’s just… do we really want to go turncoat? This is serious.” He stood for a couple seconds. “Considering that my sister wouldn’t’ve died if that law didn’t exist, yeah, let’s do it. Fuck that king and all he stands for.” Jane gestured to the guns. “Then let’s start. Gear up; we’re going in.” The ponies, both Dom and Atlantean, picked up any guns on the ground. They looked across the field nervously as the flag of the 36th Dominion Elites fell down and stayed down. Behind them was the forest. To their left, Crimson stood fast against the 39th Domination Regiment and impossible 5-to-1 odds. Farther down, Platinum and his boys were doing the same, but with a smaller regiment and better 2-to-1 odds. Janelane waved her rifle high in the ar and charged towards Crimson. “You wanna prove you’re on our side? Help me save my friends’ asses and maybe you’ll be taken more seriously!” she called. They followed her sudden gallop, colliding with the 39th Domination’s uncontested flank. It resulted in a smashing that quickly escalated into a rout. The entire attack starting at Janelane’s headlong charge took a total of forty-five minutes before Crimson was shaking his head in disbelief. “Let me get this straight,” the Warrant said as he stepped over a dead Dom, “you convinced them to switch loyalties. Dom elites. Who hate our guts for the last fight for this town.” “Yeah,” she replied. “I knew most of them growing up. I’ve been here for eight years now, and I saw all of them fifteen years ago. They’re sick and tired of not being allowed to go home. That’s how it is in the Dom Army, and it’s why I’m not on the other side of the field right now. Because I have a score to settle with Jagged Edge. And so do they.” “I’m not buying it.” Crimson’s jet-black left eyebrow was high over his eye while his right was in an angry position, generating a look of confused skepticism. His frazzled mane definitely needed a day of steam to wring itself back into a straight line and clean out all the dirt it had gathered in the last few months. The crimson coat for which he was named had mostly superficial wounds: nearly-invisible cuts and bluish bruises that looked pretty painful but really weren’t too bad. His wings creaked like an unoiled door hinge after constant use holding his weapon. Some red blood drizzled over his muzzle from a cut just below his eye that Janelane could see would eventually heal into a near-invisible scar. “Sir, I’m not asking you to believe me. I’m asking you to give them a chance.” The tired red Pegasus took in a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “They’ll be under your command. We’re in no position to keep them under guard as prisoners, which I doubt they’ll like anyway, and we’ve lost too many in that last assault. I’ll pull the remaining Atlanteans from your section here to reinforce this area. Given that you’ll have experienced Doms with you, you should be fine. I’ll also shuffle a couple more of our guys around, get Platinum some more troops. Jiminy, I hate sudden events like this.” “Yes, sir.” Janelane was about to walk away, but remembered to salute. He returned it, adding, “The Colonel will have to know, but that’ll be in my after-battle report.” She nodded, understanding his meaning. The turncoat Doms under her command had until the end of the day to prove themselves. She turned and hurried to her trench section. “All Atlanteans, pack up and move left to Warrant Dawn. His orders.” They did so with gusto. As soon as the last one left, a runner from Crimson came up. “Ma’am, Princess Mirage is coming from behind us. She’ll hold the area while you advance quickly to the enemy lines. If you make it alive, support will come in, but we need a rally point on the other side of no-mare’s-land and a route to it that’s safe enough to cross without dying.” “Tell Warrant Dawn we’ll do what we can.” She whirled around to her peers. “We’re gonna hit those sonsabitches in about ten minutes! Let’s move!”