Tears of a Fallen Star

by Priceless911


Ch11 Wounded Spiritually, Physically, Emotionally

Commander Bolt once again stood at the summit of Dragon Mountain, completely irritated at his surroundings. Commander Bolt looked at Equestria just like always only this time he didn’t pay attention to what he usually does. “I KNOW THIS DREAM!!! I’ve had it numerous times since Mist died! Who are you? Why are you showing me the same dog and pony show every night? ANSWER ME!!!”

As Commander Bolt wanted, he got an answer from behind. However, the voice that replied sends a string of emotion through his very soul, first shock then fear. The voice answered, “Getting a little irritated aren’t ya… Sparky.”
“M… Mist?”
Commander Bolt turned around as quickly as he could but Commander Mist wasn’t there, instead it was his spear, sticking out of the ground with Captain Stone’s bandanna still blowing in the wind. Commander Bolt approached the spear and asked himself, “But what does it mean, I’ve had the same dream every night since he died, why? What is it supposed to…”

The voice interrupted him, but this time it came from the direction he was just facing “Turn around and see what it means!”
When Commander Bolt turned around again, this time it was night, and Equestria was in complete ruins. The Everfree Forest was a chard field. Cloudsdale was lying across the ground in ruins. In addition, Canterlot, the great city of Equestria was a burning city of embers. The moon had a particular glow about it, as if the sun never again would rise. As Commander Bolt stared at the horror of the new Equestria, and asked, “What happened?”
The voice answered in a less than amused manner, “You happened! ya won the war. Yay. Good for you, sparky.”
Commander Bolt tried to defend himself, “But I didn’t…”

The voice came from above this time, “Your little crush is going to be the death of Equestria. What was it you said, the day you became commander?”
Commander Bolt’s voice from that day echoed around him “I never did find out about my past but I'm proud of what my future will bring for this kingdom. Thank you your majesty and I will not fail you.”
The voice continued, “Funny how things change sparky, or is this the future you had in mind? Is this what you truly wanted? To kill many, and bring the rest of the kingdom to misery”
Commander Bolt lowers his head in shame, “What do you want me to do commander? How can I prevent this?”

The voice replied, “I'm not your commander… not anymore. You already decided that a long time ago. Anyway if ya want to prevent this future then ya only have to know when you have lost, and give up.”
Commander Bolt replied with a little more irritation, “What do you mean give up? Years ago you taught me that giving up is only used when you can’t win, but every attack has an opening, so how can I give up when there is always a way to win?”

The voice came from behind him again, “Come on sparky, ya know that ya can’t always win. Do you even know how ya got here in the first place? Think colt! Use that head of yours; you’ll know when to give up when ya finally feel real pain!”
Commander Bolt lowered his head and replied in anger, “Real pain? You want me to feel real pain! How about watching as Equestria is shrouded in darkness under an eclipse that I defend, or being told not to admit something to the mare I love that I have been trying to tell her my entire known life, or killing the only stallion, I looked up to. I’ve felt pain before, and this scratch on my ear does nothing but reminds me of it every day! And you tell me that this isn’t the pain I will feel?”

A strong wind blew from behind Commander Bolt making him turn around to see what was causing it. As he looked toward the spear, he watched as an unidentifiable silhouette of a pony shrouded in mist appeared in front of him, and spoke, “When ya stare death in the face and it doesn’t even faze ya, then that’s when ya know that ya felt true pain.”
Commander Bolt was confused, “Stare death in the face? What do you mean?”

The silhouette trotted closer to Commander Bolt, becoming more recognizable with each step. However, when Commander Bolt was able to make out the silhouette’s appearance he took a few steps back in complete horror and fear. The pony standing in front of him was the mutilated pony that he lost consciousness next to, the dead corpse that was crushed beneath a boulder. Commander Bolt took a few steps back in fear but without paying attention to the ledge he slipped off with his hind hooves and fell half way off the edge holding himself up with his front hooves. While he hung there for life, he tried to open his wings but like the other dreams, he had no such luck.

The standing corps trotted closer, “You see sparky, when you look into the eyes of death your real fear becomes apparent. I hope you remember this lesson; it may save your life one day. Commander Bolt! You are dismissed!”
The ghoul stomped his hoof on the ground, causing the edge of the cliff to crumble beneath him. The portion of the cliff that Commander Bolt was holding on to crumbled and broke away causing him to fall. As he fell, images started to pass before his eyes, he saw Nightmare Moon strangling a celestial soldier. He saw a burning tower crumble and fall on top of him. He saw a filly and her foal cower in fear, in the corner of a room. He saw Captain Snow drop his sword in shock, Captain Drib fall from the sky, a single tear drop from Captain Stone’s eye, and Lieutenant Viscous raising her axe to him.

After the images passed, his body spontaneously burst into a pink flame, the flame burned him in a most agonizing way only further increasing his fear and agony, when Commander Bolt looked to the ground he could see Commander Mists spear with the bandanna waiting for him at the bottom. Despite the pain he was feeling from the fire, he tried as hard as he could to change his path but it was no use. No matter what he tried, his final destination was the tip of that blade.

The very moment the blade touched his chest, Commander Bolt opened his eyes and sat up as quickly as he could. Sweat poured down his face, and his heart was beating rapidly as he tried to catch his breath. Commander Bolt knew it was a dream, he knew it wasn’t real; he knew that despite of what happened in that nightmare, it wouldn’t really hurt him, he knew it the whole time. But his fear was still almost too much to bear, he had never been that afraid in his entire life, and it all was a dream. After a few seconds of catching his breath, his side started to hurt so he lay back down and looked around the room. Wherever he was, he knew that it was some kind of tent, nothing like he or his soldiers use but it was a tent either way.

Commander Bolt decided the tent had to be Zebrican, the designs on the tent posts matched those on Chief Rafi’s spear so it seemed to be obvious. As he looked around, he also noticed that it was night, the air was very humid, it was dark and he could hear crickets chirping outside the tent. His armor and shield were sitting at the foot of his bed battered and bruised, all except for the blade on his shield; he could guess that was General Roza’s doing, while he was unconscious. However, what really caught his attention was when he looked to his left. In a chair to his left slept Captain Stone, no doubt waiting for him to wake up. When he saw her there, he couldn’t help but feel guilty, the last thing she told him was to be careful yet here he was in a medic tent with cuts, bruises, and possibly broken bones, and the dried tears on her face didn’t help his guilt either. So he just quietly put out the candle that was sitting on the nightstand next to him and tried to go to back sleep with hopes that the nightmare wouldn’t return.

The next morning Commander Bolt woke to the sound of arguing and bickering between Captain Snow and Commander Orem, “Griffon, with our ability to fly will always stand out in the battlefield over an earth pony! We control the skies, and have eyes to see long distances so we are the superior solders!”
Captain Snow replied, “Surly you jest, griffon are barbaric humming birds! We earth ponies are civilized enough to not only read the lay of the land but we also fight without the worry of an attack from below so we have more focus with our actions. In addition, we are the better when it comes to warfare.”

Commander Bolt looked around the room and realized they were alone so he just sat back and watch the show. Then while the argument carried on, Chief Rafi entered the room and saw Commander Bolt sitting up, “Ah, commander my friend, it’s good to see that you still live.”
With the argument still carrying on Commander Bolt replied, “It’s good to still live Chief, exactly how long has this argument been going on?”
“Oh about an hour or so, I finally just decided to sit back and watch, it entertains me now.”
Commander Bolt smiled and replied, “Hey chief, watch this.”

Commander Bolt raised his voice so Captain Snow and Commander Orem could hear, “HEY!”
The two stopped their arguing and looked at Commander Bolt while he continued, “You know Pegasi are like earth ponies with wings so not only do we know how to read the horizons but we also control the skies and the weather it produces. So naturally we are the better soldiers.”
Captain Snow and Commander Orem looked at each other then back at Commander Bolt, and then they both replied in perfect synchronization, “YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!”

Chief Rafi laughed as the two went back to arguing, Commander Bolt shook his head and asked Chief Rafi, “So what’s the word on my condition? My side is killing me.”
Chief Rafi replied, “As it should, you broke a rib in addition to the other cut and bruises. Your lucky friend, death didn’t meet you this time.”
Commander Bolt smiled, “Well… if I were lucky then my plan would have worked, and I wouldn’t have had the chance to meet death. By the way, is Lieutenant Viscous all right? She didn’t get hurt did she?”

Chief Rafi’s expression changed to a more serious one, “She be fine, nothing but bumps and bruises, but your officers need some encouragement from their commander.”
Commander Bolt asked, “Why is something…”
Commander Orem interrupted, “Be grateful Bolt, if it wasn’t for me the battle wouldn’t have ended the way it did. The celestial commander was a pegasus hiding in the clouds like a coward, but he didn’t see me coming. He was dead before he even turned around. Ha, he was a truly pathetic pony, but not like you. Taking on a catapult like that, either you’re crazy or you got guts, and anypony who was crazy wouldn’t have survived that ordeal. So, as much as I hate to say it, and I really do, you got my respect commander.”

Commander Bolt replied, “That’s fine griffon but right now I want to know the status of my soldiers so can you keep it down fo…”
This time Captain Snow interrupted, “You’re talking about the others right sir? Viscous, Drib, and Stone?
“Yea, can you tell me what’s going on Snow?”
Captain Snow lowered his head, “None of them are in the best of spirits sir. Viscous is in a terrible state of depression, Drib is downright angry at you, and poor Stone is traumatized.”

At that time, Lieutenant Viscous and Captain Drib entered the room. Captain Drib stood at the doorway with an angry expression on his face while Viscous approached Commander Bolt with her head hung down in shame. Commander Bolt looked at her and spoke in a joyful manner to try to cheer her up, “Ah Viscous it good to see you well and safe. I was worried my act of momentary stupidity got you hurt.”
Lieutenant Viscous looked up at Commander Bolt and spoke with great worry in her voice, “I'm… I’m sorry sir… if you want to demote me than I understand… I’m really sorry sir. I… I truly am.”
Commander Bolt asked with the same joyful tone, “What are you talking about? You did nothing worth being sorry about.”

Lieutenant Viscous replied, “But I couldn’t stop the boulder. My magic wasn’t strong enough and because of that, you nearly died.”
Commander Bolt spoke seriously this time, “Lieutenant if anything, I owe you my life. The boulder hit in front of me, it’s that reason that I'm alive. If you didn’t use your magic, it would have hit me directly. You don’t have to be sorry about anything. I’m sorry for putting you at risk like that, especially since I didn’t know the full extent of your magic. If you want me to punish you then your punishment is to go to your quarters and get some rest. You had a long day yesterday and you deserve a break.”

Lieutenant Viscous was relieved to hear this but she still had to correct Commander Bolt on one thing, “Uh commander? The battle was two days ago.”
Commander Bolt continued to smile despite the amazement in his mind, “Seriously? Two days ago… Um… Right.”
She nodded her head, “Yes sir, you’ve been unconscious for two days.”
Commander Bolt mudded to himself, “Well that isn’t very good for our progress then, is it?”
Then he replied to Viscous, “Well then rest for all the worry you had since then. I feel terrible about that and I’m grateful you came out of the incident without a scratch.”
Viscous smiled in relief, “Thank you commander and I'm glad you made it out alive too.”

Commander Bolt turned to Captain Drib, “I suppose you’re angry at me for putting Viscous through that risk right?”
Captain Drib replied, “YOU’RE DAN…”
Lieutenant Viscous interrupted him, “Callous!”
Captain Drib lowered his voice and corrected himself, “You’re darn right I am.”
Commander Bolt stood up and trotted up to Captain Drib and stood in front of him, “Well I already said that I'm truly sorry, but if you won’t accept my apology then what will you accept?”
Captain Drib replied, “Your apology, and this.”

Without warning, Captain Drib reached out and punched Commander Bolt in the face, knocking him to the ground. When Chief Rafi tried to help him up, he refused the help and picked himself up off the ground on his own, then he stood up straight in front of Captain Drib, “I deserve that, so are we even now?”
Captain Drib couldn’t help but laugh at Commander Bolt, “Commander, I just can’t stay mad at somepony who is crazy enough to take on a griffon unarmed, challenge a boulder from a catapult, and then take a punch that he feels he deserved from his subordinate without so much as an angry expression on his face. Ha and all in one week too. You and me? We’re even, just don’t do anything that stupid again or I'll have to do more than just punch you once.”

Commander Bolt smiled, “Good to hear. Do you know where Stone is?”
Everypony in the room lowered their head in hesitation to answer that question. Even Commander Orem didn’t want to talk about her situation. Finally, Lieutenant Viscous replied, “Uh sir, you might want to know what happened when we found you in the ravine. You see we didn’t find you until about thirty minutes after incident you were lying in the center of an area where rocks and boulders blocked you from our view.”
Captain Snow continued, “After I rushed and took control of the catapult, Viscous galloped to me saying something about you missing after getting hit by the catapult, so we both went back to the area but we couldn’t find you.”

Chief Rafi continued the story, “After my medic told me that your archer was safe to fight, I accompanied her through the ravine but when we ran into your officers we decided to join the search, she found you first but it was not a happy discovery.”
Viscous continued again, “She found you lying in a puddle of blood next to a pony that had been completely crushed from head to tail. She immediately assumed the worst and went hysterical. She refused to go near your body, because she feared that the same boulder killed you like the pony next to you. She broke out in tears and even fell to the ground crying; I had never seen misery like that before. It took both myself and Chief Rafi to get her back to the convoy. About five minutes later the blue arrow went up and the battle had ended. It was after that when we finally got your body back to camp.”

Commander Bolt looked at the floor in guilt. He didn’t expect that she would act like this if something where to happen to him. He only had one more question to ask before he would go to look for her, “Did anypony inform Nightmare Moon about my condition?”
Commander Orem stepped forward “Myself and a few of my solders returned just this morning from delivering the message.”
“And? How did she respond?”
Commander Orem answered, “She only told use that when you wake up, we will continue to Cloudsdale and notify her when we get there.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”

Commander Bolt couldn’t help but feel disappointed that she didn’t react differently; the old Luna would at least send a message to get rest, or even come and see him. Nevertheless, Nightmare Moon didn’t even flinch at the thought. He only nodded his head and replied, “Then give the order to start packing up. We still have to get to Cloudsdale and we need to make up for lost time. While you do that I'm going to see if Captain Stone is alright.”

After Commander Bolt left the tent, he noticed General Roza giving instructions to some of her blacksmith’s. She noticed him trotting up to her and spoke, “Commander Bolt, it’s good to see you alive and vell, but shouldn’t you be getting your rest?”
“Actually I'm looking for Captain Stone. Do you know where she is?”
“She is at the top of the cliff near the entrance to the ravine, she needs you to talk vith her.”
Commander Bolt lowered his head, “Yea… I know… thank you general. If you could, get your troops ready to move out, I would like to reach Cloudsdale by nightfall.”
General Roza asked, “Vhy so soon commander? Shouldn’t you give yourself time to recover?”
Commander Bolt answered as he trotted away, “Orders from higher, I would like to rest but it seems Nightmare Moon wants to take Cloudsdale first.”

As Commander Bolt approached the cliff, he could see Captain Stone standing at the top wearing a grey bandanna. He didn’t know what this color meant but he knew it wasn’t a good color if this is the first time he had seen it. Commander Bolt flew to the top of the cliff and approached her from behind, “Gem? Are you ok?”
Without turning around Captain Stone replied with an angry tone, “Why are you fighting this war Star? We all have our reason for fighting with you, but through it all I never asked you because I respected your privacy… because I respected you, but I want to know. Why?”

Commander Bolt replied, “I have a goal I want to reach, but so long as this war is going on, I can’t put my focus into that goal. Once this war ends I can concentrate on achiev…”
“And do you think dying will help you achieve that goal!”
Commander Bolt was shocked to hear Captain Snow snap at him like that, “Gem you know I put my soldiers first that’s why I was at the most risk when I attempted the idea. As long as you and the others are safe than you can continue the fight without me.”

Commander Bolt could see tears falling from her face even though she wouldn’t turn around to talk to him, “You’re wrong commander, if you die then it’s all over for us too. Imprisonment, banishment or execution, this is the best-case scenario for each of us if we lose a battle. And we will lose if you die, not to mention the thought of losing a good leader and friend. If you die you wouldn’t be the only one affected, if you die I don’t know what I…”
Captain Stone stopped herself from talking, and then turned around to face Commander Bolt, and then she continued to lecture him through her tears, “You’re not fighting this war alone you know. We are all here, if one of use needs help than we all will help, if one of us gets lost we’re all lost, and if one of us gets hurt w…”
Commander Bolt interrupted her “We are all hurting right now! Gem I'm…”

Captain Stone interrupted this time only her crying could be heard in her words, “Do you know what I thought when I found you!?! I… I thought it had already ended, I thought that the war was now over, that not only did our time together as soldiers end but our time together period. I… I wasn’t strong enough to handle that thought. I couldn’t even stand after landing on the ground. I just couldn’t… I…”
Captain Stone hung her head down; her crying overwhelmed her to a point where she couldn’t speak.

Commander Bolt was surprised that she cared this much about him, he couldn’t believe the dedication she showed, then he thought about how she was an orphan and how he was the first friend she made after she left the orphanage. He could understand most of her feelings. He had the same feelings when Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Commander Mist took him in as a colt with no past.

Commander Bolt tried thinking of a way to cheer her up then he had an idea. Commander Bolt raised his head up and stood straight as if he was talking to a superior officer. Then he spoke with a serious tone, “Captain Stone, I understand your concerns and I have come up with a solution to your problems.”
Captain Stone looked at him with a still sad but confused expression, then he continued, “At your earliest convenience, I want you to retrieve some rubber tipped arrows and we will practice some direct deflecting training till your heart’s content, I will even attempt this blindfolded if you see fit. I know you always seemed concerned when the arrow hit me in the face, but you were always laughing on the inside.”

Captain Stone’s expression stayed un-amused for a few seconds but that slowly changed to a smile then laughter, Commander Bolt’s serious look also changed to a smile then he continued with a more comforting voice, “Gem, I truly am sorry and if there is anything I can do to make it up to you, then let me know.”
Captain Stone smiled and wiped the tears from her face. “Well there is one thing. When the war ends, I want you to come with me.”

Commander Bolt blushed and replied “Well… I… uh…”
Captain Stone blushed and tried to correct herself, “No, I mean I want you to come with me to the place where my parents died. I want to show you where my old house used to sit and where I would play when I was a little filly. I also want you to honor them one last time, just like we did Commander Mist, as their only daughter I think I owe it to them.”
Commander Bolt understood and replied, “Done! We will go see them as soon as the war ends, now let’s get back to the camp. It’s almost time to move out and I really need something to stop the pain on my side.”
Captain Stone smiled and replied, “You big foal, that what you get for trying to show off.”

The two laughed and flew back to the camp where the three commanders and the other officers were waiting for instruction, General Roza approached Commander Bolt, winked at him, then spoke, “I see the two of you have already made up, it looks like the rest of our journey vill be… a little more interesting, eh commander?”
Commander Bolt asked, “And what’s that supposed to mean general?”
General Roza turned around without answering the question. Commander Bolt looked at Captain Stone who blushed and shrugged her shoulders at the comment. Chief Rafi Approached Commander Bolt and handed him a flask, “Drink this friend; it will help heal the rib faster.”
Commander Bolt asked, “What is it?”

Chief Rafi shrugged his shoulders and replied, “I don’t know, but it will heal the wound in less than a day, and it tastes like something you would scrape off the bottom of your hoof.”
Commander Bolt didn’t know if he should drink it or toss it but out of trust he drank it. The taste was terrible but his side started to feel better. Then he noticed it not only felt better it had gone completely numb. Then his hooves went numb and he fell to the ground. Captain Stone rushed and helped him up, “What was that!?!”
Chief Rafi replied with a smile, “A side effect; it will pass in a few seconds.”
Commander Bolt got back on his feet and the numb feeling went away. “Uh thanks?”
Commander Orem patted him on the head, “Oh he’ll be fine Stone. He can take anything you can dish out. In fact he is starting to resemble the hero that Mist was.”
Commander Bolt who was annoyed with Commander Orem’s talon being on his head replied,
“Griffon, if you don’t remove your talon from my head, then I'll remove your other eye with my bare hoof.”
Commander Orem quickly removed his talon and backed away from Commander Bolt.

Commander Bolt gathered the others around to brief them on the movement, “OK commanders you will fall in just like the movement from the last position. Only this time I want you to select one of your officers to guard the supplies incase we are attacked again. The commanders nodded their heads and went to brief their officers on the plan. Commander Bolt then looked at his officers. Drib, Stone you two take to the skies for surveillance, the sky is clear today so you should be able to see Cloudsdale from here. Snow, Viscous you two will be at the front with me and the other commanders. I believe I owe each of you some kind of thanks… or sorry so I won’t make you guard anymore. We will move together as a team or not at all. So, how clear am I!?!”
Each officer looked at one another and smiled, then they all replied in perfect synchronization “CRYSTAL SIR!!!”

Captain Drib took to the sky to try to spot Cloudsdale while Captain Stone fired a signal arrow to signal the other commanders to move out. Drib called down to Commander Bolt, “Sir, I see Cloudsdale. It’s a clear flat path all the way there. No armies or cover to be seen… uh wait a second. Sir I’ve never been to Cloudsdale before, what exactly sits beneath the city in its shadow?”
Commander Bolt answered, “Well before the city was moved a few years ago it was over a portion of the Everfree forest but something caused the weather to act on its own there so the city moved to its current location. I hear there is a cemetery below it now. Why?”
Captain Drib replied, “Just wondering I see something in the shadows but I guess that’s just the tombstones. Other than that, the way is clear, on you order sir.”
Commander Bolt nodded his head and called out, “SOLDI… EVERYPONY!!! MOVE OUT!!”