In the cold cafeteria, hot food was being dished out with soldiers wearing their uniforms, lining up to receive them on trays. On the breakfast menu this morning was sliced carrots, toasted sandwiches of tomatoes and lettuce, blueberry pies, orange juice, and canned apples.
The cafeteria itself was rather unremarkable since it merely had the paint of yellow and several notices and schedules on clipboards.
Sitting beside a dressed up Maud who was taking a bite of the burned sandwich, an identically dressed up Pinkie rotated a can of apples around, then read the words on it with a dull voice: "'Granny Smith's Famous Canned Apples! If they're not Apple family apples, then they ain't apples!'"
She sighed, putting it back on the tray with her other food.
Rainbow Dash flew her way to Pinkie's table, holding a tray of her own.
Pinkie noticed the look on Rainbow's face.
Concern.
"Haven't you heard?" Rainbow asked, shifting her eyes left and right to make sure no one was eavesdropping.
"Heard of what?" Pinkie asked. "Did I miss something? I don't think I missed anything...well, not things but ponies, yes..."
Rainbow stopped. "Why? Family member died yesterday?"
Pinkie sighed again, looking away from her. "Limestone has a boyfriend."
Rainbow arched her brows, then frowned. "I see what you mean. Been away from your family so long, they're beginning to move on with their own lives, right?"
Pinkie nodded. "I kn-know they still love me, but...I also know they can't just think about me every waking moment of their lives..."
Sniffed.
Maud gave her a roll of tissue paper, then patted her on the back.
Pinkie ripped out a piece of tissue and blew her nose on it.
"I'll get it," a unicorn said, trotting his way there and then levitating the disgusting piece of tissue away.
He walked away and lobbed it into a trash can.
Pinkie rubbed her eyes. "Th-Thank you, girls."
She hugged Maud and Rainbow.
Rainbow struggled to get out of her caring grip.
Pinkie let go of them.
Maud resumed eating her burned sandwich with her audible crunches.
"So, wh-what did you want to tell me?" Pinkie asked Rainbow, facing her.
Rainbow leaned her head closer, over her tray of food. "Remember Fluttershy from way back in Cloudsdale and Ponyville when I got my actuator?" Rainbow gave her mechanical wing a tap.
"Yeah," Pinkie said. "She was a nice pegasus. Good friend of yours."
"Well...she's coming here."
Pinkie blinked. "To visit?"
"No. To serve."
Pinkie gasped. "But, her?! She's a fragile pony! How could she ever survive a full day out here, let alone a year? They'll tell her to kill the enemy—it's the only way!"
"It's not the only way," Rainbow corrected. "Fluttershy's enlisting as a combat medic. She's not gonna kill ponies—she'll be healing ponies."
"Won't they try to kill her first since she's, you know, the medic and all?"
"That's what I'm afraid of," Rainbow continued, her voice becoming shaky. "I think Fluttershy will be positioned a bit behind the front, but there will be emergencies where she could do nothing but move forward, and when those Crystal ponies realize she's a medic..."
Pinkie gasped again. "Then, down she goes."
Rainbow nodded, managing a mild expression, though her eyes moistened. "It'll be hard to see her out there. She's already nervous enough without having to think about getting shot down by an arrow or a boulder."
Pinkie looked down on her food, sulking.
"On the bright side," Rainbow went on, "Fluttershy will be with us, so that's the three of us together."
Pinkie looked up and smiled. "Yeah. That is something on the bright side."
Then, she made a quizzing face.
"But, when is she coming here?"
"Next month," Rainbow replied. "Right around Summer Sun Celebration."
"That's convenient," she commented.
Rainbow raised a brow. "Why?"
Pinkie picked up the can. "I could ask her about the pony she used to work with."
"You mean Applejack? But, why?"
"Because I'd like to know why these apples are sour!" Pinkie shouted, jumping on top of the table. "They're not sweet! They don't even look right! They're green and not red—they're not rotten or expired, but it's green and sour and—"
"Uh, Pinkie? You're attracting too much attention."
Pinkie stopped and looked around her.
The diners, the canteen workers, the janitors, the officers present—everyone was looking at her weirdly.
"Oh."
Pinkie sat down.
"Sorry!"
Everyone resumed their breakfast whether it was eating it or serving it.
Rainbow Dash trotted around the premises.
Sarcidano Base had few amenities. There was a rest and relaxation room by the cafeteria but it was merely an empty room where off-duty soldiers hung out when they were not exercising. Since nothing was provided for their entertainment, the soldiers brought their own forms of amusement to pass the time until the next operation. Board games were prevalent in the late morning—over there, Lieutenant Unharmed was playing chess with Private Boiled Sweets who was shivering all the way as he was losing pieces left and right. Miniature golf was set up there, too, with half a course already being played by amateur golfers, swinging their clubs and wildly missing their shots.
Rainbow entered the room and simply stood there, observing everything that was happening.
A couple of privates stood up and saluted her.
She saluted back with her natural wing.
"Any updates?" Rainbow asked one of them.
"None so far," answered Private Tee Box—it was on her stitched name tag.
"Alright. Continue with...whatever you're doing. I just don't have the time to stay here."
Rainbow left the room.
Rainbow was flying outside, patrolling with some of her Wonderbolt fellows. They were garbed in their bulky and armored uniform, yet they soared through the skies quick and nimble, feeling the flood of the wind.
Below them were immense ranges of mountains, most of them still fairly green in the spring, with only the tallest having peaks of snow. Behind them, spread-out forests with their leafy canopies, covering and hiding anything—and anyone—that happened to be moving there. Before them, past those ranges of mountain, was something different.
A gray, wintry land of nothing much. Cold, parched, and overflowing with Crystal activity. Dots flying in the air were enemy pegasi patrol, towers and other structures were Crystal bases.
"Do you worry?" she heard.
She looked to her left.
It was Soarin flying beside her in formation. "Do you worry about dying sometimes?"
Rainbow looked startled. "That was sudden."
"It's an honest question, Crash," he said.
Rainbow turned her gaze forward. "Sometimes."
"Me, too," Soarin said. "I know you get tired of me asking that question every so often..."
"It's clear, isn't it, Clipper?" Rainbow replied with a tint of frustration.
Soarin was silent.
The Wonderbolts continued patrolling.
In the Wonderbolts' locker room, a dozen pegasi either sat by the benches or stood at their lockers—all talking with each other but never lively, never quite enjoying the moment.
According to the clock on the wall, it was seven fifty-three in the evening.
Blue lockers with numbers on them. Wonderbolt posters—patriotic, zealous in their portrayal of those professional, elite winged forces; colorful poses, flying smiles, fervid words for Equestria: "Say 'Thanks' to the Wonderbolts!", "You aren't bombed because of these guys!", "The Wonderbolts: Soaring Higher!"
Rainbow Dash opened her locker.
Inside: notes, ribbons, medals, pictures of a happy Rainbow Dash getting along with her Wonderbolt friends.
Then, there were pictures of Rainbow Dash and her family. Those two cheerful parents, smiling for the camera and awfully proud of their daughter.
After them, photos of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy just being together—sometimes, Fluttershy attempting to hide from the camera.
Finally, pictures of Rainbow Dash, her family, Fluttershy, and the Shy family.
"Friends forever" was written in ink on one of those images.
Rainbow held that picture.
Held it tight.
Clutched it.
"Dash?"
Rainbow whirled her head around.
Saw Spitfire all armored up. "Are you OK?"
Rainbow bit her lip. Her ears drooped. "No, Spitfire. I'm not."
Spitfire drew her closer with a pull of a hoof. "I know. I'm not OK, too. I haven't heard from Mom for some time."
Rainbow bit her hoof, suppressing the tears about to spill over.
"But, we gotta move," Spitfire said. "Every second we delay is a second for Sombra."
Rainbow sighed and grabbed her helmet from the locker.
Night patrol. Night duty.
The same landscape which took on a grand and magnificent appearance hours ago in the afternoon assumed a mysterious apparel at night. The forests golden with dense foliage and pleasant trills became an enigmatic woodland where penetrating moonlight touched the grass and bushes with its delicate glow, where that once vigorous activity slowed to a crawl and only the occasional snapping of twigs popped up every hour or so. The mountains, dignified and illustrious by the intense shine of the sun, clothed themselves with the evening's shadows, preferring to disguise themselves and to be called "ominous"—for, under the blackness of the dark sky, only their outlines shimmered, and, to the untrained eye, these mountains would be a crude riddle until sunrise.
And, that gray, wintry land? It ventured upon sinister proportions as lines of lights were dimmed by clouds produced by the Crystal pegasi who were there flapping their wings and making, as if out of whole cloth, new clouds to mask the action being done underneath.
The Wonderbolt patrol navigated their way around, flying perilously close above the mountain tips.
"You see anything?" Spitfire asked, heading the formation.
"Not yet," Rainbow replied. "It's still clouds."
"I'm not seeing a lot," Soarin reported.
"Me neither," Fleetfoot informed.
The remaining Wonderbolts kept silent.
"Then, it's business as usual," Spitfire said, sounding tired. "Four more hours of the same—"
"Unidentified pegasus on our six!" Soarin yelled.
Several turned their heads around.
All of them kept flying forward.
"Don't hurt me!" that unidentified pony shouted, trying to catch up. "There's a mutiny going on back at base and—"
"Identify yourself immediately or you will be killed!" Soarin roared.
"Private Falatch of the Seventy-Eighth Division, Eleventh Battalion, reporting under Sergeant Pelote!"
"Good enough!" Spitfire cried out. "Wonderbolts, we're going back!"
The formation bent around and zoomed the other way.
Soarin picked up the poor messenger and carried him through the trip, enduring his incessant screaming.
The Wonderbolts swept through the open gate and into the base.
Guards there closed the gate in a hurry, equipped themselves with spears and arrows, and turned around, standing by the aerial team and facing the long hallway with them.
Several soldiers were laying wounded there. Medics applied bandages and medical dressings on some, always looking behind their backs.
Several lights broken, a few hanging from the ceiling with their wires. Lockers turned over, windows smashed—others running about, hastily readying their weapons.
"What happened?" Spitfire asked, prompting the nearest guard to pay attention to her.
The private stood tall, holding her spear. "Captain, there's been an insurrection led by Starlight's fanatics."
Spitfire shook her head and faced her team. "You heard that, Wonderbolts? Let's take 'em down before it gets any worse!"
Inside the rest and relaxation room, chaos.
A burly Earth pony smacked another uniformed soldier with an arrow, and then was knocked out by a big book to the face. More arrows fired, taking that pony down, but the pony with the bow and quiver was kicked and done in by a ribboned officer who was beaten by a glass pane.
That was only one of the many fights in progress.
The room was still fully illuminated, putting the riot in full display.
Rainbow Dash flew in and, by pure speed, took out the offending ponies and zipped out of the room and back into the hallway.
Flying by.
Eyes fluttering. "This c-can't be happening!"
Turned a corner.
Saw Pinkie and Maud fighting back against the insurgents, pelting rocks and then jumping to kick them out.
Turned another corner.
Stopped cold.
Saw another pegasus, covered in armor and helmet.
Trembling. "Rainbow Dash! This isn't what it looks like!"
"Of course, it isn't!" Rainbow yelled, striking her on the face.
She fell down to the floor, wings folded back.
"I'm tired of you phony pacifists!" Rainbow cried out, hovering before her. "What are you pacifist about anyway? You're not even being peaceful anymore!"
"I know!" she shouted, limping away from the mad Wonderbolt.
Around them, more ponies battling each other, throwing tables and shelves at each other while keeping to their spears and bows and swords—clings and clangs, screams before unconsciousness or death.
"Then, what are you doing?!" Rainbow shouted at her.
She coughed, taking off her helmet and revealing her white mane and her blue head. "You wouldn't believe me—I don't know if you w-will—but, I'm Night Glider and I want to say that I regret executing this mission!"
"Oh, you will regret it!" Rainbow said.
She held up her hooves in self-defense. "No, really, I do! I really do!"
Rainbow raised her mechanical wing. "Any last words, traitor scum?"
Night Glider took a deep breath.
"I was forced to do it! Clear Starlight's name just for once—she didn't order any of this! She didn't order the attack on Canterlot, she didn't order this attack...Double Diamond—he's insane and he managed to get Party Favor and Sugar Belle in the act! I'm the only one left, and they told me—they told me...th-they said I sh-should do this or else I'll be exposed or—"
Wing an inch closer.
"I just wanted to live a better life, not get pulled into dangerous situations like this! I don't like the war, but I...I wish I didn't say 'Yes' to any of this!"
Broke down in tears.
"Hey," Rainbow began, folding her wing closed. "At least you admitted it."
She opened her eyes. "R-Really?"
"As a witness."
Struck her with the wing.
Night Glider fell completely to the floor.
Dead.
Could hear nothing.
Saw the limp body on the floor.
Lifeless.
Then, sound coming back.
Hearing the shouts.
The screams.
"Rainbow Dash!"
Staring a million miles.
"Rainbow Dash!"
Staring.
"Rainbow Crash!"
She lurched around, saw Spitfire.
"We have to move out now! Crystals saw the base without our patrol and they're invading!"
Back in the outside, in that lush outside, pegasi were locked in combat—some grabbing on to each other and punching and kicking until one relented, others sticking to chasing the enemy until a decisive hit was made.
Crystal pegasi fell, dropping to the grass below.
Rainbow dodged arrows, boulders, cannonballs.
There, another squad of Crystal pegasi.
"Time to take out the trash!" she whispered.
Then, diving in.
Pummeled half of them without them noticing.
The squad turned around.
Hurtling at her.
Rainbow turned up, avoiding them.
Then, turned down.
Chasing them.
Defeated by the pair of Soarin and Fleetfoot.
"Dash!" Fleetfoot cried out from afar. "Don't risk it!"
"How else will I take the Crystal Terror down?!" Rainbow shouted before flying away.
Felt the rush of the wind.
Stretched her forehooves out.
Faster, faster.
Through the clouds.
Vision obscured.
Could still see her hooves.
The cone of wind forming around them.
"You can do it, Rainbow Dash!" she shouted to herself.
Looking down.
"Wait for the target and—"
Her helmet hit.
"Ow! What was—"
Mechanical wing hit.
Malfunctioning.
Falling.
"No, no, no! This can't be happening, not right now!"
Spinning, falling.
Flapped her good wing, pushing her away.
Gritted her teeth. "Come on! You've come this far—make it count!"
Spinning.
Falling.
Fast.
Seeing the ground approaching fast.
"As long as I could land on the forest, then I'll still be safe! I'll still be—"
Soldiers flowed from the base, some closing their bags as they left.
Under the night, under the trees, they hiked out of the way as more pegasi above defended the base.
Darkness, the only lights being that of the base.
Which were then turned off, plunging the fleeing warriors fully into the somber evening.
Soarin landed right beside the squad of Rock Troopers.
Looked at Maud and Pinkie. "H-Have you seen Rainbow Dash? I haven't seen her!"
"You haven't?!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I haven't seen her, too! Did you ask your other Wonderbolt buddies?"
"Yeah, but none of us have seen her!"
Pinkie gasped. "This is very bad! Rainbow's lost or...she might be dead or...imprisoned! What're we gonna do?!"
Then, she smiled.
She pulled a pigeon from a pocket in her attire, placed a camera around it, and shooed it away.
It flew to the sky, carrying the cumbersome camera with it and fading into the rest of the forest.
"And, what did you just do?" Soarin asked, puzzled by what he had just seen.
"Well, dogs could detect scents, but they can't fly, silly. So, I sent out a pigeon with a camera so not only will the pigeon come back, we'll also know where Rainbow is!"
Soarin arched a brow. "Uh, I don't think that's how pigeons work—and, even if they did work like that, how would it know what Rainbow's scent is?"
"Uh..." She flinched. "I really didn't think this through, did I?"
Soarin wiped the sweat from his face. "Let's hope pigeons work like dogs."
So, they continued walking.
Retreating from Sarcidano.
A strong wind was coming.
As with all inventions, especially in the prototype stage, a lot of things could go wrong simply because some parameter was overlooked.
One such parameter for pigeon photography was the weight of the camera.
Pigeons were not known for their strength, so a heavy camera tied around a pigeon was not the best of options.
The pigeon Pinkie had sent struggled to stay afloat in the air, flapping its wings as hard as it could. However, already confronted with the scene of arrows raining down everywhere and ponies scuffling below on the ground and trees wavering under a ferocious gale, the job it was given to accomplish proved to be preposterous.
But, if there was one defining quality this pigeon had, it was flying in the face of the impossible.
It flew on, at times bumbling and almost crashing to the ground but, either by a timely gust of wind or by pure wingpower, the pigeon was still in flight.
It headed over to a copse of pine trees and, deciding that it should take a nap right now, perched on one of the branches.
The pigeon thought that the camera was too much to carry for an extended length of time, so it walked its way near the trunk of the brunch where it was surprised that, instead of just finding a big enough space to place the camera in, it found a rainbow-maned pegasus who had closed her eyes.
It wrapped the camera around the pegasus's neck.
Perched itself on the branch.
And slept.