You will meet again, Luna had said.
And meet again they had. Except that now, what did they have to say?
"How is the regiment?" Rainbow asked quietly.
"Same as it was when we left." Soarin's face stayed cold. "Yours?"
"A couple of mines and deaths, but I guess this point we are all used to it, aren't we?" She smiles weakly. "You can't survive this without getting used to it. You have to."
"That changes nothing, Rainbow. It still hurts."
"I agree." She pauses. Then she sees a strange dark glow. "Wait, is that-"
Something smacked her to the ground but there was nothing within her sight. Fragments of metal were littered around the ground.
A bomb.
"Soarin! Soarin!" She called. No response. The only one she was with. Scootaloo - there was no more use in worrying. There was Luna who was much more powerful than her.
And the soldiers. It had been too long.
Glowing horns, metallic bodies, bloodshot eyes.
Sombra's soldiers.
Ambush.
There was nothing she could do but fight.
All she knew was to take deep breaths. The robots had their weaknesses - depending on the build it could be under the jaw, under the wing, or under the hoof. Never easy spots to reach.
Well, I better get on. We have a destination. She thought. And she was not going to be cowardly. A robot turned a back to her, and she managed to reach the hoof and jaw. It fell way too easy.
Turning around, she faced a few others surrounding her.
She had to act. She slammed a hoof into the closest one, ducked the second, and tripped the third.
Altogether, not bad. Except that there were too many for her. And try as she might've, she wouldn't break free. Not until they retreated.
Staring her down, they began to surround her from above, and then she realized.
There were more.
There was no way she would fight all of them. Charging into the center, she knocked a few from the sky and pushed a boulder down as she reached a clifftop, and in her own awe and horror she saw wriggling figures and pieces of scattered armor then Soarin.
Soarin?
She felt herself plummeting down the cliff and screamed.
This had not happened to her.
Why?
She crashed into the rock, and it budged. It was enough for Soarin to pick himself up but then she saw his wing.
The one look was enough to tell her that it needed to be amputated. And they were being surrounded by minions again, more menacing with Soarin's blood splattered on their armor.
"Take the left!" She cried as one pummeled into her, and in the midst her helmet slipped off.
Make good use, she would say. She hurled the metal into the uncovered knee of one of them minions, and it fell.
"Left!" She cried again as she felt a gust of wind bite into her right shoulder, and prayed that Soarin would not be hurt.
There was no one to help, she realized.
Quickly scanning, she ducked below and rock and heard the sound of metal on rock. Then it were the hissing pain on her back and she knew she had been cornered. Too many. Throwing out punches and making use of a knife, she slashed at the helmets and plunged the knife into any part that would cause pain.
It worked.
Using the leverage, she flew back after pulling the knife out, still slick with blood.
Blood.
It wasn't as simple as minions and robots.
How much of it was on her hands?
The hard landing snapped her out of her daze as she slashed her way back to Soarin, who was clearly not well, being surrounded with a crushed wing.
If she could do it again, she could save him.
As fast as she could carry herself, she flew upwards into the clouds, until the blood below was merely a dot of red among the barren landscape.
Survive, Soarin. She pleaded silently.
Then she fell until the resistance started to form. Her wings flapped furiously as she struggled to go on. The heat and electricity in the air caused her mane to stand on an end, and it was pure pain that entered her hooves.
She heard a boom, but she knew nothing else as she landed into the minions surrounding him, dazed.
~~~
"Rainbow Dash?"
Everything hurt like flames licking her bones, burning away any flesh that obstructed it's way.
"Rainbow?" A murky shadow of blues found it's way into her scope of vision.
"S-Soarin?" She croaked. That voice was not hers.
"I still want to tell you, that I still care. And thanks for saving my life." He smiled sadly. "There is no way that I am going to stay after this. They are sending me back. To train new army recruits."
"You're going back." She repeats.
"Yes." Soarin said softly. "Don't miss me too much. I might be tempted to return if you do." He crouched down next to her.
She could see the burns and bruises on his forehead. The rainboom trick worked too well. Most of them were far enough.
"After that, you basically eliminated half of the minions fighting me." He smiled. "Apparently the metal suits don't react as well as our clothing. Most of them got stabbed by the suits. I am in your debt, Rainbow. I wouldn't have survived without you there." A shadow flitted across his features, but it was an instant that it disappeared in.
"No problem. This is what I do. I mean, you are the only one I have left." Rainbow said softly. "Lightning's leading the resistance. Luna told me that much."
"What else?"
"That you are with her."
"I'm not dating her. Jeez, Dashie, thought you'd know."
"I have no words for your profound stupidity." She coughed into a handkerchief.
He saw red.
"I'm not stupid and I'm part of the resistance. And I can't just make more soldiers for Celestia to kill. That's my problem."
"I'm not stupid and you can't wait to get the fuck out of this war." She countered.
"Maybe, but I've had enough bloodshed for a lifetime."
"Celestia has had enough for thousands of lifetimes. How does she not die from the fright?"
"Some ponies don't need a conscience. But do you think Luna is truthful? I mean, what she is saying is not as believable as I'd like to think."
"She has no reason to lie." Rainbow said. "Celestia has every reason to lie, and I doubt she's faking her love for Sombra."
"How?"
"I don't think anyone can stay even remotely as obsessed about freeing a pony that will cause them only trouble. She's going to have a lot of explaining to do even if she succeeds."
"So? That's still enough to rid us of Celestia."
"She's not that powerful, Soarin. I've seen it. She has mortal limits." Rainbow shook her head. "Celestia can fight for much longer and have you seen her attacks? They are vicious." It was a well known fact that Celestia was leading a charge against Sombra, and they were much more successful than any other regiment.
"Now that you say, I don't even know. We aren't unicorns." He smiled weakly. "And I'm no longer a pegasus."
"I won't say about that." They turned around and Luna stood before them. "I can help. If you will, that is."
"Are you sure?" Rainbow asked skeptically.
"I can. Look." She detached Rainbow's prosthetic wing. "Here." A swirl of mist surrounded the stump that was left, and some feathers grew. To their amazement, they saw bone growing. Luna sealed the stump and removed the base of the metal wing. "What did I say?" She smiled. "I studied with the best. I poured my life into these studies. I'd come out decent."
"Do him." Rainbow said. "He won't ask. Too stubborn."
"Not yet. Can't have people being suspicious. He's too high profile." Luna shook her head sadly.
"So you do keep up with what's going on?" Soarin raised an eyebrow.
"Why not? The better to understand this world that I've come back to." Luna laughed. "And don't worry, I sealed the room. No one can come in, and it's best that they probably forgot about us. Remember, this is a war. There is no spare effort. The ones who have another breath are curing the ones who have no skin left."
A small blow hit Rainbow.
Was it just then that she really felt the full force of the war?
How long had she been ignoring what went on around her?
"What is your plan?" Soarin asked.
"I need more resistance. Someone to lead. Someone to help me plan according to this time of yours. I'm still stuck a millennia ago, I'm afraid. And I need my army. I've recruited an army of ten thousand, but that is not even nearly enough. I might be heartless, but my soldiers will not sacrifice themselves to take down Celestia."
"I am tempted to say that you will make a better Queen." Rainbow's voice, although still hoarse, was icy with conviction. "But at what price? This will not happen without blood being spilled."
"It is my life if any must be lost." Luna enunciated the words, one by one, staring into her eyes. "I am no Celestia."