Duster felt sick. He wasn’t ill, but what he had seen in the south weighed so heavily on him as to cause a physiological reaction.
”You're certain of this?" a no-nonsense Charging Lance asked.
The scout nodded, "Yes, sir. I saw a force that had to number in the hundreds of thousands."
"That's new," the inquisitive stallion murmured to himself, seeming preoccupied. "Was there anything else in your observations that you found noteworthy?"
“They were gathering together. They weren’t continuing south beyond where we saw them.”
Thinking about it in the silence that followed, Duster couldn't come up with anything to add. Charging Lance tilted his head in thought; he was practically staring, which made Duster feel uneasy.
"Are you related to Captain Sparklefly?"
A bit surprised but the question and its directness, Duster fumbled a moment before replying, "Yes, sir. Yes, I am, sir. She's my sister."
"I see," Charging Lance replied, looking grave. "You've been out scouting, so you may not have heard. Your sister was taken captive when we stormed the capital."
The panic that flooded through Duster must have been evident on his face. The battle had gone so well overall that he hadn’t considered his sister might have been harmed. His heart began racing.
Charging Lance continued, "She's okay. We have recovered her and her entire company. I have only heard reports as to her condition, but I was told that she is well and won't suffer any permanent damage."
Relief washed away nearly all of the tension that had been building. The feeling was so powerful that even the timberwolf threat wasn't a concern at the moment.
"That will be all, unless you have anything else," Charging Lance finished.
"No, sir. Thank you for letting me know that Sis... that Captain Sparklefly is well."
Charging Lance nodded slightly and said, "Dismissed."
Walking out of the castle, Duster found himself almost in a daze. He was so grateful that Sissy was not hurt that it confused him. He seemed to spend most of his time angry with her, but in that moment he realized that he didn't hate her, not really.
...
Sparklefly was overcome with feelings of emptiness and loss. Perhaps even greater still was a sense of shame. Though Ash Eater had stopped short of the threatened brutal violation, she had given up their winter strategy. She was a traitor. She felt dirty. Nitro hadn’t been the only prisoner they discovered in the depths of the caves. He and another twenty-eight that had been in the caverns under Canterlot for an extended period of time succumbed to dehydration and died. Nearly every member of Sparklefly's company had survived the incident.
Sparklefly herself felt as if a hole had been punched through her heart. It was a consuming wasteland that swallowed every ounce of joy she knew. This led to no small amount of confusion. She should have felt happy to see R. The fact that he’d charged in to rescue her was the stuff cheesy romance novels were made of, and yet, the specter of panic and fear was still strong inside, though she was now back in Canterlot. She sat waiting, her body tightly wound still, in the hospital as her entire team was being examined by doctors.
‘Just keep breathing,’ she told herself as she rubbed her bandaged eye. ‘You don’t have permission to panic. You’re a grown mare. You have to take care of the family.’
Her mind wouldn’t cooperate. Somewhere, deep down, she suspected that she hadn’t been rescued at all, that the battle had been lost and changelings had brought her to Canterlot to get more information from her. Each passing minute made her more certain of the lunacy of such a supposition, but her soul had withered either way. Hoof-steps approaching made her draw up, coiling her body even tighter than before. It was a doctor and nurse that she didn’t recognize.
He looked down at a chart that had been prepared when she’d first arrived before glancing up to meet her eyes, “Captain Sparklefly?”
She nodded at him.
The doctor passed the chart to the nurse and drew closer, his gaze having moved to Sparklefly’s circumspect posture. She felt herself tense and recoil slightly. The doctor shopped short.
“You are among friends here,” he said with practiced bedside-manner.
Slowly, Sparklefly forced her limbs to relax, sitting in a more natural way. The doctor started with her head, shining a light in her eyes and then working his way down her limbs and trunk, looking for injury. She winced at the lightest pressure on her ribs. The stallion tsk’ed and gently continued.
“I don’t think anything’s broken,” he muttered to himself.
The mare’s breaths were fast and more shallow than was normal. The doctor readied his stethoscope and placed it against her ribs.
“Take a deep breath and hold it, please.”
She complied. He made another tsk. He also took her temperature, blood pressure, and poked and prodded a few more times before backing away.
“Physically, you’re in good condition,” he concluded.
She wasn’t sure if he was awaiting a response, but he stood there staring at her face. Something seemed to be working in his mind as his golden eyes commanded her gaze.
“Physically,” he repeated. “Is there... anything else you want to tell me?”
Sparklefly cleared her throat and shook her head, “No.”
The doctor took a breath, “You know, it is not uncommon for soldiers to come back with more than just injuries of the body. Unfortunately, that’s all I can actually diagnose without some cooperation on their part.”
“I’m just tired,” a bitter-tasting lie came far too easily, “and I want to get back to work.” She couldn’t talk about what had happened, not with anypony. She’d be court-marshaled if she were lucky. Nitro was the only one that knew what she had said, and his death had complicated Sparklefly’s options going forward. Until she made up her mind, it seemed best to keep her own council.
“If it helps, I’m not a military doctor. I’m sure you’re familiar with doctor-patient confidentiality.”
She nodded, but didn’t reply as her body drew itself up again. He made a final tsk and began marking on her chart.
“You’ll be glad to know that your comrades who were rescued with you will all be back to duty in a day or so. As for yourself, you are good to go. Just be sure to take in plenty of fluids over the next couple of days and you'll be fine."
Sparklefly nodded. The Canterlot Hospital was filled with wounded who were recovering from the injuries they'd gained in the battle to retake the city. She trudged through the corridors and made it outside, finding herself downtown. Being here again felt somehow disconnected from the last time. In the wake of the destruction of the city, it was like a different place entirely.
She wished she had been in a better state to have seen her medic friend, R, again. He’d stayed with her until help had come and given her a bandage for her ruined eye. Her feelings for him had become complicated. If she hadn't been in love with him before, she certainly was now; she longed to have expressed as much when he found her. Another part of her felt it unwise. The heart may yearn, and hers certainly did, but she couldn't afford the distraction. Her standing in the EUP could be destroyed if rumors of fraternization began spreading. Though, that now seemed the least of her worries.
Sparklefly hadn't made it two steps from the hospital’s front door when a familiar voice greeted her.
"You had us all worried!"
A shiver of fright ran through Sparklefly before she recognized Scootaloo’s voice. She attempted to tease, but she wasn't herself certain if it was actually funny, “What took your rescue party so long?"
"Hey," came the reply with a quizzical look, "Deflating a bad situation with humor is my job!”
The normal interaction eased Sparklefly’s disposition somewhat, “Don’t you mean misdirecting any situation with bad humor?”
The pegasus snorted a laugh, “Maybe that was it.” Becoming serious, she began digging in her pocket, “I found this. I’m afraid it got a bit mangled, but I fixed it as best I could.”
Scootaloo held out Sparklefly’s eye patch. The original strap had been ripped away, taking some of the patch with it. The side with the cutie mark was mostly intact, the obvious repair work aside. Some new red cloth had been added to fill out the missing piece. Another strip of it had also been crudely made into a new strap. The stitching was rudimentary at best, but Sparklefly felt warmed by the gesture.
“Thank you so much,” she replied as she took it.
Within moments, she had removed the bandage wrap and donned her eye patch once again.
“Good as new,” she forced a smile.
Scootaloo nodded with a slight grin that quickly faded, “Come on, we've got a new HQ for the Taskforce, and we need to bring you up to speed."
Sparklefly had mixed feelings. She wanted to warn everypony about what she’d divulged to Ash Eater, but that would put her own future in serious jeopardy. Additionally, she’d likely have to tell them what had happened down there. She shuddered and pushed the thought from her mind. They began walking briskly down city streets toward the castle. Repairs and cleanup were already in progress, which had the benefit of making the capital feel alive again. There was so much rubble that all they could do for now was pile it up in heaps until it could be taken away.
“I couldn’t have missed that much,” Sparklefly said. The silence that answered her brought concern. “Is it bad?"
"It's bad," Scootaloo answered stoically.
They continued to the castle in silence. Even burned and damaged it looked much more grandiose walking to the main entrance. They submitted to being magically scanned at the outer wall and main gate. As they crossed the long corridors in the castle, they passed signs of a recent fight inside. Shattered windows had been swept into the corners; the shards had ripped the carpets and wall tapestries. It looked far worse for wear than it had when Sparklefly had last been inside.
"What happened here?" Sparklefly asked.
"The changeling queen and a number of her minions, posing as you and your company, tried to assassinate Shining Armor," Scootaloo said grimly. "She failed, and is now in our custody. The rest were captured or killed.“
Sparklefly's heart leapt at that news, but Scootaloo's expression was far too grave. Something must have been seriously wrong to prevent that from being the big news. Sparklefly tilted her head questioningly, but Scootaloo led on silently. They approached a large wooden door, and voices could be heard inside as they pushed it open.
"Oh, please," Pacer said, "It's a bunch of stick-dogs. It's nothing we can't handle."
"I don't think you grasp just how many we're talking about," Masher countered. "We're talking hundreds of thousands."
"So? What else is new? We've been in this situation for over a year.”
Skyflame interjected, "What is new is how they are forming up. They've been attacking as a rabble until two days ago; now they're positioning themselves in force."
Charging Lance and Flittergear were silently listening to the exchange.
"Well then put me in charge of a division and I'll take care of them."
Shifting in his seat, Charging Lance spoke, "Even you're not that much of a fool."
Silence followed for a moment, and Flittergear spoke, "Welcome back, Sparklefly."
The others now noticed that they had arrived and greeted her warmly. The attention made her uneasy.
"Thanks," she said. "I haven't been brought up to speed yet; what's going on?"
Charging Lance answered, "All timberwolf attacks have stopped as of our capture of Queen Chrysalis. However, scouts are now reporting some kind of massive gathering of the beasts at Apple Loosa. Our best guess is that there are already more than five-hundred thousand and more arriving every hour."
"Five-hundred... thousand..." Sparklefly heard herself say. She felt numb, almost in shock at the thought of it.
"While it is not necessarily evident what this means," Masher added, "we're all fairly certain they are massing for an attack."
"Not all of the timberwolves are committed," Skyflame observed. "Scouts report seeing several thousands still lurking near strategic positions throughout Equestria. My hunch is that as many as a third of their total number is not part of this gathering."
"Why a third?" Charging Lance asked.
Skyflame shrugged, "As I said, just a hunch. If it were me, I'd leave sufficient force behind to continue challenging us on all fronts while this force gets organized. If they do, then they can start sweeping through, destroying every city they come across."
Sparklefly felt sick, and silence gripped the rest of them for a minute or so.
"Why now?" Scootaloo asked. The others all looked at her. "I mean, what do they gain by doing this now? They've had sufficient force to group up like this for at least six months."
The lack of answers was unsettling, though somewhat therapeutic for Sparklefly. For the first time since the darkness of the caverns, her mind was not fighting against her.