//------------------------------//
// Chapter Seven: Us and Them 
// Story: Snowrunners 
// by Argonaut44 
//------------------------------//

The trickling drift of freezing cold water dribbled over its thin riverbed of smooth brown earthy rock; the sound of foam and bubbles bellowed out into the forest, crying out to be heard. 
And heard it was, by the twitching left ear of a cyan-colored pegasus pony with soft orange eyes, lying motionless on the pebble beach close beside the creek. She had been left beneath a fairly large log sitting atop a small grassy ridge, its bark ripped off in some places, and in other spots covered in grey-green moss. Frozen dew clung to the log in the form of tiny icicles, teetering underneath the brittle wood like sharp teeth.
She couldn’t feel a thing, at least at first, while her mind was trapped in a seemingly inescapable void of dark confusion. She could remember being upset, and in pain, but couldn’t recall what for. She felt as though she couldn’t move a muscle, as if she couldn’t even find the strength to lift up her eyelids or close her drooling mouth. 
Until, she heard it. The water of the creek cascading over small hills and around stray rocks, the sound of the wind gently swaying the branches of trees high above her, the sounds of far-off birds cawing and chirping. 
Then it all came upon her at once in a loud cry, her eyes springing open and the cruel cold forest air striking her unsuspectedly. She gasped for breath as if she had just been resuscitated, and immediately, she was overtaken by an unbelievably excruciating pain screeching out from her wings. 
She was still wearing her royal armor, which was stained with the occasional hideous crimson stain, the remnant of her own spilt blood. She groaned in agony, her wings still a disgusting mess of snapped bones and bluntly bruised muscle. She couldn’t resist the urge to take a look for herself at what had been done to her, slowly turning her head behind her. 
She practically threw up on the spot, at the sight of just how mangled her wings were. Bloody streaks and gashes laid over crumpled bones that jutted out in unnatural directions, black and purple bruises that seemed to radiate pain, not to mention how the faintest attempt at moving them sent tormenting surges through her body, so powerful that Guardian could swear she was going to faint yet again.
Yet, she was determined not to give in, not until she was truly helpless. She could still walk, though she decided it would be wiser for now to wait where she was until the pain in her wings could subside to some extent.
To her shock, her helmet was missing, her ears and wavy turquoise mane now exposed in the cold air. Her brightly colored hair touched just slightly past her shoulders. Guardian was in disbelief, both that her helmet had been removed from her head, but also, far more importantly, that the letter she had hidden underneath it was also missing. The letter, the entire purpose of the mission, had been lost. And, to Guardian’s horror, losing that letter meant failure, and innumerable deaths forthcoming.
Struggling not to cry, Guardian tried to focus on what she could still control, namely, perhaps helping her wounded wings. She winced, tears slipping out from the corners of her eyes. She could barely bring herself to make any effort to survive any longer, now that the letter had been lost and hope dwindled thin.  
Reaching into one of the small packs fixed on her armor belt, Guardian was relieved to see she was still in possession of her first-aid kit, retrieving it and laying out her supplies in front of her. She was first inclined to use her roll of bandages, though she knew it’d be difficult to bandage up her wings from behind her back, not to mention the pain that would likely coincide. 
What she did see was a syrette of morphine, a regulated amount approved for soldiers to use for self-application in case of emergencies where a doctor wasn’t available. 
Guardian had a mild phobia of needles, though after having her wings battered mercilessly for almost half an hour yesterday, she was confident she could ignore her reservations.
Twisting off the safety cap, Guardian flicked the syrette to ensure there was no bubble buildup, before positioning the device right above her left thigh, preparing to stab herself. 
She squeaked out a high-pitched grunt as she pushed the needle inside her thigh, and squeezed on the tube, injecting the contents into her bloodstream. She no longer had her canteen, though, as if by good chance, the nearby creek would suffice for what she was after next. 
Crawling towards the edge of the bank of the creek, Guardian extended her hoof towards the water, but then quickly reeled it back, caught off guard by just how cold it was. 
She regained her resolve and tried again, reaching into the water and splashing some at her wings from behind. She groaned as the water stung her sore injuries, though, after a few more splashes, the blood did begin to wash off. 
After a few minutes lying awkwardly on her side by the creek, she began to feel the morphine taking its effect, her nerves beginning to numb and her body starting to feel sluggish. 
She decided she was still too weak to be doing much about anything quite yet, letting her eyes drift down and her body go lax, allowing herself to rest for the time being.
Yesterday’s snowstorm was intense, but brief. The beach was barren of snow, and the snow on the grass higher up on the ridge behind barely reached a few inches.  
Guardian still wasn’t at all sure how she had gotten to this place, which was clearly somewhere in the forest. Silver was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Sundance, who was the last face she could remember before she first fainted. In her head, she cursed Fire Streak and his entire pack of devilish beasts, and was very much consumed by her anger. She had allowed herself to be tortured with the sole hope that she would survive and escape, and be able to see her mission through. But now that the letter was gone, she was without purpose, and without any hope that the ends of this terrible quest would justify the means. Guardian knew that today was the final day for the mission to be completed; the day set for the northern battalions to march to their dooms, now without anypony to stop them.  
For a few hours, Guardian made no effort to move from beside the creek, her eyes fixed on the coursing water that flowed past her endlessly. For no matter how hard she tried, it seemed the world would forever bar her from crossing the bridge to success. She cared less for the titles and honors and more for the respect and love that came with being a hero. She foremostly cared about being a good pony, though in the heat of Equestria’s Great War, it seemed good ponies were beginning to go extinct.
She hated to feel sorry for herself, to the point where she was typically unwilling to even admit to herself when she may have been dealt a bad hand in life. She had learned from a young age that complaining and self-pity were just distractions from any progress she might be able to make, though that perhaps should not have warranted an aversion to dealing with her insecurities in any facet. Her anxiety was wrestling her mind into a frenzy nearly all the time, though she did try and maintain a front of emotional stability.  
It seemed no matter what she tried, and no matter how hard she wanted to be good, her status never seemed to change. Certainly never in the eyes of her father, and barely ever in the eyes of her military superiors. She recalled what Sundance had described her as, a tool, and for some spiteful reason, that label stuck with her. Ponies that did great things were often left buried in ash, like Halo or herself possibly should she perish, nameless and forgotten. What could make them all proud, was what Guardian often wondered. She believed in doing the right thing, and in honor and respecting authority, all the things that she was brought up on in both her childhood and her military career. 
Her father’s resentment towards her had a more profound effect than perhaps even Guardian herself realized. Her endless pursuit of validation came not as a narcissistic quest for glory or fame, but rather as a hopeful attempt at some respect for herself, respect which had been incessantly denied during her adolescence. Her head was constantly a mess, doubting every decision she made, worrying about what other ponies would think of her. At her core, all she really ever wanted was to help other ponies. Though, unfortunately, her goal neglected her ability to help herself. 
And for Silver, her dearest friend, Guardian’s heart burned. She was gone, and Guardian had little clue as to where to look for her. In spite of their frequent tiffs and collisions, Guardian had never stopped loving Silver.
She recalled their first meeting, years ago in the training academy. She remembered the day fondly, struggling to decide where to sit in the mess hall, as she hardly knew anypony at all. She had spotted Silver sitting alone, and decided to sit with her, though Silver had initially been reluctant to start fraternizing with anypony. But they quickly took a liking to each other, and having a pony to depend on during training was always something to be grateful for. Guardian thought it to be a shame, if their friendship was to end in death in the mountain passage, apart from one another. She regretted some of the things she had said to Silver in the past days, though she only hoped she would have a chance to apologize to Silver herself. 
But regardless of if she or Silver were to survive, living would surely only mean more pain. For the letter was lost, and with it the lives of the royals’ three largest battalions. The war would very well be lost, and ponies like Fire Streak would come to dominate Equestria.  
Uncontrollably, tears fell from Guardian’s eyes, falling down her cheeks to the ground below. She shivered in the cool wind that blew past the waters of the creek, as despair seized her heart.  
She lay on the beach, aimlessly, trying to keep herself from falling asleep. Though it was perhaps not too late to deliver the message to the 19th Battalion across the river, without the letter she would likely just be ignored. And, after considering what she already been through, she began to doubt any resemblance of success coming out of this doomed mission. She wasn’t sure if she could even live with herself beyond that point, to live with the guilt of thousands of ponies’ lives lost. And worse, she had nopony around to help her, nopony but herself to blame. She lay still, stuck in place, with no desired past to return to and no future worth facing. 
On the pebble beach, for hours she lay completely still on her side. Completely still, all until she heard a twig snap from behind her in the forest brush. 
She weakly lifted her head to see what was approaching her, and was surprised to see a familiar face. 
“Are you alright?” asked Sundance, stumbling over some bushes near the log. He had other belongings with him, stashing them behind the bushes before he began cautiously walking towards Guardian on the pebble beach.
Guardian grunted as she tried to roll herself over without hurting her wings, though, despite her best efforts, that familiar dull stinging flashed a few times underneath her skin. 
Sundance hadn’t yet seen Guardian in daylight, and was again taken aback by her condition, just as he had been the previous night. Her soft eyes seemed blank  and empty in the grey morning light, and her initial motionless position on the beach first gave Sundance the impression she was dead. He gave an audible sigh of relief, as soon as Guardian had lifted her head, still confused as to what had happened to her and where she was.  
“I’ve just come from Pine Hearth. I brought some medical supplies, all I could,” Sundance said, raising a backpack that was presumably filled with said things. He set the bag down, waiting for some sort of reply. 
“You brought me here?” Guardian asked, close to slurring her words, slightly delirious from the combination of pain and drugs. 
“I did. Last night. You had fallen under, I carried you here,” Sundance explained.
“Where’s my friend?” Guardian asked, shakily. 
“She'd run off, lost her. I think she meant to lead the others away, to try and buy us time. She escaped into the forest, I think. I left you here last night, don't you remember? But I had to go back. It would’ve been a suspicious thing if I had been missing too, you see. I showed them your helmet and told them I found it on the eastern line, far from here. That should buy you some more time to escape, while you can still walk. Go north, across the river, like I assume you meant to. I can get you a boat, first we just-”
“My helmet!? Do you still have it?” Guardian interjected, despairingly
Sundance’s blank stare was an unwelcome sight, though he was only confused as to why the status of her helmet held any importance. 
“Do you have it?!” Guardian yelled, again startling Sundance. 
He slowly backed away and walked back over to behind the bushes where he had left his bags, and, to Guardian’s intense relief, he came back holding her very own golden helmet. 
“I told them I’d keep it as a souvenir. The Colonel let me. I figured you’d want it back. Here,” he said, walking back over to her. Guardian eagerly received it and checked the interior, and was delighted to see the letter was still taped inside. 
“Oh, thank Celestia,” she said, under her breath, dumping her helmet back on her head, cathartically. 
“Don’t thank her. Thank me,” Sundance said, half-jokingly. 
Guardian, who was now far more calmer since her hope had been restored, turned her attention to Sundance himself, whose cause for aid she still found suspicious
“You really didn’t know they were there?” she asked, still skeptical. 
“Really. I’m trying to help you,” Sundance said, with conviction. 
Guardian bit her lip, still uncertain she could trust him. Though, he was the only pony left who could help her, and beggars couldn’t be choosers.  
“You don’t believe me?” he asked. 
“I don’t know...I can’t think straight right now,” Guardian said, grunting as she readjusted herself. 
“Here, let me help you,” Sundance said, picking up the bag and approaching Guardian, whose face was pale and worn from blood loss and extended spouts of agony. 
“Leave it, you’re not a doctor...Have you got any morphine?” Guardian asked. 
“Morphine?”
“Yeah.”
“A little, but I really think I should try-” Sundance started. 
“You’ll just make it worse! Look, I’m fine, I can still walk, just not fly. I’m fine.”
Sundance didn’t seem convinced, though respected her preference, dropping the bag of medical supplies back to the ground. 
“Alright. As soon as you’re ready, I can get you to a boat, north from here. Then you can get to your-”
“What are you talking about? I can’t leave yet, not until I find Silver,” Guardian said. 
Sundance’s face fell with disappointment, happening to not be a fan of her loyalty. 
“Fire Streak’s called in every unit in the area back to Pine Hearth, to mount a search and eliminate for you and your friend. It was hard enough getting you out of there once,” Sundance said. 
“I’m not leaving her behind.”
“I’m trying to save your life, Guardian,” Sundance said.
“I’m happy for your help, but I’m not going anywhere without Silver,” Guardian replied, unflinchingly.
Sundance shook his head in disapproval, and glanced up at the grey sky above, taking a seat on the pebbly beach a few yards ahead from Guardian, who hoped he wouldn’t turn this into a real argument. 
“What happens if they find out what you’ve done?” Guardian asked. 
Sundance snickered, as if he wanted to discuss such things. 
“I don’t know. I would expect a hanging. But knowing Fire Streak, it’s never that simple,” Sundance said. 
Guardian noticed some regret in his eyes, as if he already expected to see through some terrible consequences for his actions. 
“I don’t get it,” Guardian said.
“Get what?”
“Why you’re with them. With ponies like Fire Streak. And your Queen...They’re all horrible.”
Sundance’s breaths began to grow long and uncomfortable, as his mind seemed to scatter over his own ethical deliberations.  
“They’re all the same, aren’t they...I’ve seen enough in Celestia’s royal halls to know that her reign isn’t all rainbows and harmony either.”
Guardian subtly shook her head, becoming exhausted from having to constantly defend the ponies she had sworn her loyalty to. 
“How much have you and your friend had to risk to survive out here? How much have you had to give up?” Sundance asked, though didn’t wait for an answer. “That’s what I couldn’t stand. I quit the guard, not just to run the farm. I couldn’t stand them anymore. Celestia, Luna, all the officers with their noses held in the air. They’d never risk sacrificing as much as they demanded from us. Our names meant nothing to them,” Sundance said. 
Guardian softened her hardened exterior, having realized that both she and Sundance shared similar experiences in training. 
“Is it foolish to want to love your nation? To love all the ponies who just want to live happy lives? That’s what I care about. I don’t know what you think of me, but I’m not out here fighting for myself,” Guardian said. 
Sundance leaned back against the log, moving his hooves along the small pebbles that covered the beach, his eyes wandering over to the scurrying water of  the creek.
“It doesn’t matter to them. It never did. They raise us up to be killers, for that purpose alone,” Sundance said.
“Your Queen won’t be much different, I don’t think!” Guardian said, in disbelief. 
“Maybe. Maybe not," Sundance said, "But the way things are, have got to change. And even if we lose the fight, I've got to hope that Canterlot's woken up a little."
Sundance fumbled with his hooves in his lap, as his doubts over helping Guardian began to pull at his heart. 
“I helped you because I owed you one. But maybe I just thought you were a pony worth saving,” Sundance said, glancing over into Guardian’s exhausted eyes.
He sighed, wondering whether the choices he had made would be the death of him.  
“The Coalition army is for the most part, coerced into serving. The Queen orders a village be raided, then she rounds up every pony she thinks can handle being a soldier, and that’s all. Then you’ve got ponies like Colonel Fire Streak, and that big guy with the scars on his face. Now those are the ponies who are just crooked in the head.” Sundance said. 
“And where do you lie?” Guardian asked. 
Guardian expected him to smile, though his face remained twisted with wretched forlorn. 
“I joined because I was...angry. They took everything from me. Everypony I loved, everything I owned, everything I depended on to keep my own sanity. Gone,” Sundance said, his words trembling over his grief. 
“I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t live under Princess Celestia’s rule after that. Not after those ponies responsible got to walk off. Nopony in Canterlot would even hear me out, because they had to protect their troops before their civilians. Even before their veterans. Because it’s not about honor, or patriotism, it’s about service. You work like the beast they want you to be, and when you’re all used up, they toss you aside to fend for yourself.”
Sundance had become unnerved, his shoulders taut and his whole body unable to sit still. Guardian, all the while, was beginning to feel more eager to prove him wrong. 
“Things always get better if you let them. What they did to your family was horrible. And I know what it’s like to want payback. But that never helps anything. It’s not fulfilling, chasing vengeance and all that. All my life I wanted to prove to everypony back home, my family, my COs, that I was...just somepony good,” Guardian said, as she began to feel tears resurfacing in the corners of her eyes. “Everything will be fixed one day. There’s good in everypony, I know it.”
Sundance’s eyes flashed with admiration for her persistence, especially under the context of her recent harrowing experiences.  
“This will all end one day, and maybe you and I can meet once more. This time, not as enemies,” Guardian posited. 
Sundance couldn’t prevent a smile of re-encouragement from pushing its way across his face, while Guardian beamed at him with eager commitment. 
“I’d like that very much.”
Guardian’s warm smile lasted a few more moments, until another wave of pain descended out from her wings. She groaned and fell back on her side, struggling to bare the red hot pain.  
“You should rest...If you really must find your friend, then we’ll look for her,” Sundance said. 
“Thank you,” Guardian said, deeply appreciating his change of heart. 
He gave a small nod and stayed where he was against the log, keeping watch over Guardian as she set her head back down and tried to rest some more.

Half a mile away, in another, denser part of the forest, a dirt path was cast in an unfavorable darkness, hiding small pits of thick mud and wiry grass. 
Six ponies, all draped in rain gear over their black armor, were walking on this path, coming to a stop around a certain spot, after one had raised his hoof to signal his discovery of something noteworthy. 
“Would you look at that,” said the leader of this rebel squadron, while he and the other five all encircled the end of the hoofprints they had been following for the past hours on the path. The prints seemed to veer off the path into the forest brush to their left, signaling the pony they were pursuing had gone trailblazing. 
“She must think she’s clever,” said one of the rebels, cackling with the others. 
“Shut up, all of you. Stay alert. This is a unicorn we’re dealing with. You two, fan out that way. And you two, over there. You, you’re with me,” said the leader, pointing to each of the five ponies he was addressing. 
   The rain first began as a drizzle, sprinkling down through the forest canopy over the six rebels as they made their way into the forest, weapons held at the ready. 
“I’ve already got a claim on this one, I’m third in line, after Hammer and that twat from the rangers get a turn with her,” said one of the rebels, whose name was Loose Screw, trotting alongside another rebel, Marl. 
“We’re supposed to shoot her on sight,” Marl recalled. 
“Have you seen this broad? Can’t let her go to waste without even a little bit of fun. Hammer’s in on it, so we’ll be alright.”
“Whatever,” Marl said, not very interested. 
“Hey, kid, if you even think about going to an officer about that, I swear, I’ll rip you apart,” Loose Screw threatened. 
“I wasn’t! I wasn’t,” Marl said, worrily. 
They both slammed their traps shut, when they picked up the sound of some movement through the bushes behind them. 
Loose Screw turned around first, and was immediately lifted up into the air by a ring of magic wrapped around his neck. He was flung straight into Marl, who was struggling to get his weapon aligned with the source of the attack. There was nopony in sight, though Loose Screw was still being throttled, his face being slammed into a mound of dirt. 
“Hey! Hey! Over here!” Marl cried, hoping the others would come quickly to help them.
His screams died in an instant, when he watched a pony jump down from above in the tree right next to him, staring him dead-eyed in the face. 
Silver Saber’s face was twisted with disgust and a mad rush for violence, which manifested into another icy, blaring burst of magic roaring out from her horn, rushing directly through a paralyzed-with-fear Marl’s face. The magical beam burned directly through his skull and brain, killing him. 
All the while, Silver had still been mercilessly throttling Loose Screw, who was helpless as he desperately struggled to find any oxygen. 
Silver peered down at him, narrowing her eyes as if he was the lowest, most despicable creature she had ever laid eyes on. 
“Still gonna be third in line?” she asked, though she didn’t care for any sort of response, as she squeezed her grip around his neck. A distinct cracking sound made Silver aware that he had been killed, the rebel’s corpse slumping over onto the ground. 
She spit at his cold body, turning around just as the other four rebels approached the scene, bewildered at the sight of their murdered comrades. 
“Give up! We have you surroun-” began the leader, before he was cut off by a ray of magic slicing across all four ponies horizontally, cutting each in half. The rebels, or rather, what was left of them, toppled down to the ground, Silver now the final pony standing. 
She glanced down at Marl’s corpse, and briefly wondered if she had been too cruel, though her doubts quickly subsided, as soon as she remembered what the rebels had put Guardian through. She turned around to start walking off, but then stopped herself, glancing back down at the dead Marl, who was still wearing his army raincoat and helmet, and suddenly Silver got an idea of her own.

Outside the town of Pine Hearth, large clusters of ponies could be seen marching through and out of the wooden gates of the rebel barricade. It was a grim sight, ponies in menacing black armor storming past twisted wooden poles of carved spikes and barbed wire. They all dragged their hooves in the mud, weary from what was for many a tediously long trek. There were close to five times the number of rebels now centered in the city compared to the previous day. The influx of ponies made it relatively easy for one fugitive unicorn to slip herself into the crowd. Draped in a heavy leather raincoat and fitted underneath a black metal helmet, Silver Saber fit right in with everypony else in the crowd, who didn’t seem to care too much for strict organization, to Silver’s delight. 
Subtly walking behind a small group of rebels ahead, she was able to step right through the wooden barricade of the town. Surrounded by the ponies who had all been brought here to kill her, Silver focused on remaining calm. She had her new plan, and she very much intended to follow through. If anything, for one last stand.  

“Sir, we’ve still found no sign of them,” said one tall rebel lieutenant with fuzzy dark blonde hair and a pale purple coat, Goldfinch. He was standing by one of the tents in the rebel campsite, having just finished his nervous approach up to a highly irritated Fire Streak. 
The colonel’s face was hot with frustration, and it seemed as though he hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before. 
“Everypony who’s idle, send them out as well,” Fire Streak muttered, “And the next time you come back here, Lieutenant, I expect good news. Nothing less.”
Unbeknownst to Fire Streak, standing in the snow right around the tent he was standing in front of was the subject of his inquiry, listening in from just a few feet away. Silver Saber kept herself out of sight from behind the tent, holding herself back from killing Fire Streak right then and there, despite how much she’d have liked to. She recognized Goldfinch as well, his black hat peeking out from the top of the slanted edge of the nearby tent. 
“Sir, if my word means anything, I don’t believe it to be right to carry out the order. These ponies here had nothing to do with those two royals,” Goldfinch said. 
Fire Streak glared at Goldfinch with utter contempt. 
“If you find yourself without the stomach to carry out the order, Lieutenant, then perhaps you should reevaluate your place here,” Fire Streak, intending it as a threat.
Silver backed away from the tent as soon as she heard Fire Streak trot off somewhere, Goldfinch now left in a pit of internal conflict over what to do with himself. 
Silver had assumed Guardian had already escaped across the river, soon to deliver the letter to the 19th Battalion, soon to finish what they had suffered so much to accomplish.
Her mission now, by her own inception, was not only to distract the rebels some more to provide Guardian a window to finalize her escape, but also to do what she could to help the innocent townsponies still inside the thorny walls of the town. 
Her first rescue target was Buckwheat’s family, whose house sat on the opposite end of the town from which she had entered. Despite her previous bitterness felt towards the now-deceased pony, she was still mourning his death, and more, she couldn’t possibly let Honey Pie and her children suffer a similar terrible fate.

The town seemed different, its old cobblestone streets largely barren and devoid of any signs of life. Most of the rebels were either out in the forests searching for Guardian and Silver, or otherwise somewhere back in the soldiers’ campsite. 
Stray fragments of litter and torn clothing blew across in the wind, and the dark morning sky above seemed to make every house and building seem black and empty inside.
Suddenly Silver picked up a distant whir, buzzing and chirping like an animal, echoing from the clouds above. The object was dark, nearly blending in with the anxious clouds that shifted and shook like cannons.  It could’ve been one pegasus, maybe three, but they were so far up in the sky it was quite hard to tell. 
Instinctively, Silver found herself inching towards finding cover, though she quickly recalled that as far as the enemy was concerned, she was just another rebel infantry pony. 
Not having to wonder long why there were rebel pegasi soaring up high, Silver’s attention was suddenly seized by a screaming shrill shell descending from the sky, breaking apart upon touchdown into a violent burst of fiery, stentorian devastation, roaring up from the earth like the gates of hell had opened up from below. Magical fire, red and orange with terrible streaks of wicked purple and green erupted into the air, sending dense, cascading clouds of dust, dirt, and debris hissing out in every direction. 
The explosion had enveloped a small portion of the forest not too far from the town, its distant smoking residue rising above the treeline, signaling to Silver where the earth-shaking blast had struck. 
She quickly scanned the sky again, though now that she had lost track of the pegasi, she likely wouldn’t be able to find them again. 
A second explosion sounded off somewhere in the forest westwards, and again Silver was caught shaking in fear, believing the blast to be descending upon her, despite it actually being over a half mile away.
Silver quickly returned to her search for Buckwheat’s home, hoping that all of the town’s ponies were just waiting inside their houses, that they were all still alive and well. 
She arrived at the doorstep to Buckwheat’s house, where she was surprised to find the doorknob had been busted off, and the door left slightly ajar. 
She nervously pushed the door open and stepped inside. 
Inside the house, the lights were all off, and the furniture had all been knocked over or out of place. The kitchen had been ransacked, and if anything, the place appeared to have been deserted.
“Hello?” Silver dared to ask, despite her fear that there were rebels inhabiting the place instead. 
Though, she received no reaction at all. The house was empty. 
Silver wasn’t quite sure where to find them next, unconsciously walking deeper into the house to explore, if only to satisfy some sense of reluctant curiosity.
She saw a pair of dolls lying on the ground by the kitchen counter, their legs and heads all torn off, white stuffing sprinkled on the hardwood floor.
She noticed a bowl of soup that smelled absolutely rancid, with flies encircling it, buzzing and hissing all the while. 
Disgusted, Silver finally checked inside the cellar, which had been completely emptied of all its stores of grain and vegetables. 
“Bastards,” Silver whispered, horrified with her presumption that the rebels had robbed Buckwheat’s family of everything they had. 
It was true that she had resented Buckwheat for casting her and Guardian out from the refuge of his home, though, given the assumption that Guardian was off completing the mission, it seemed the only morally correct thing for Silver to do was to ignore her past feelings and help some ponies who only wanted to survive the horrific rebel occupation.
Though for the moment, she wasn’t having success. 
Pausing to contemplate her next options, Silver was suddenly caught off guard by some voices outside, belonging to a group of six rebels, laughing and speaking with loud, thundering, careless voices. 
Silver panicked, and immediately made her way through the cellar towards the shelter doors, blasting the lock open and climbing her way through the left-side door.
She tumbled out onto the snow outside, and quickly regained her step, her eyes darting around for potential threats. 
The rebels, however, were on the front side of the house, talking with each other in the street. 
Silver backed away, slowly, unsure whether she would be spotted if she ran across the adjacent alleyway. 
She was then caught off guard by the first sparks of fire crawling their way up the roof of Buckwheat’s home, rising tall into the grey misty air. 
Silver’s eyes widened in shock as the house was engulfed in flame, and the nextdoor house as well, thick black smoke climbing up into the air. 
She slowly walked across the alleyway, and caught sight of the rebels, two of them unicorns, spraying malicious flumes of red hot fire from their horns, coating every house in town, destroying everything in sight. 
It then dawned on Silver, would had been done. The rebels, in line with Silver’s unforgiving assessment of their character, appeared to have thoroughly raided the homes of Pine Hearth’s residents, taking anything and everything of value. And to leave a lasting disgrace, they were burning all that was left.
 Struggling to hold herself off from attacking those six rebels right out in the open, Silver forced herself away and ran off behind the burning houses, coming up with a new plan as she went. 
Although the fate of Pine Hearth’s homes was now being set, the fate of its ponies still remained a mystery. 
Crackling fire seeped its way into Silver’s mind, restlessly reminding her of the immense destruction that had been caused, and likely as a result of Silver and Guardian’s presence here. 
Silver thought of her home, of how much of a tragedy it would be for all of her belongings to be stolen or burned, to be left with nothing but damaged dignity. To know that a loss of such an extent was being extracted to an entire town’s worth of ponies was an even greater pain to bear, especially as Silver found herself attributing the blame more and more to herself. 
She regretted it now, both how she had treated Guardian for the entire duration of the journey and her insistence on altering the course. 
And so the fires burned, and grew more terrible by the second, as if to mock Silver for her hopeless intention to defy fate and survive intact.
Stumbling over her own hooves as her walk progressed into a jog, and then into a sprint, Silver was beginning to succumb to her intense dread and paranoia that had burdened her all this time, and inside her head muttered low voices that spoke of nothing but shame, and death, and hatred. Her mind was like a furnace, radiating with anger and guilt, fueled by the very fires whose warmth Silver could feel clawing on her left side as she ran. 
Rounding a corner, she was already close to breaking down into tears. 
And then she saw it. 
If, by all reasoned explanation, it could be said that Silver’s state of mind had been withered down to a mere hanging thread after the events of the journey, it was certain that she was now edging on the breaking point. The thread was to be snapped. 
Around that corner, Silver had expected to find herself returning to some familiarity, even more rebel soldiers to distract her from the heavy pull tugging down at her weakened heart.
There were at the very least forty of them, forty ponies, lying on top of each other, assembled haphazardly and without any care at all. Some had their arms stuck in other ponies’ faces, and others with their bodies in strange, unnatural positions. They were old folk with lives well lived, children with worlds to explore, and regular adults with half-loved and half-hated responsibilities. All the same, lying together in a grotesque heap, like used-up animal carcasses. Their skin was pale from the cold, yet those with visible wounds had bright red blood oozing onto others’ bodies, and others’ eyes even still had some brightness in them. They were all dead, as dead as anypony could possibly be. 
Silver didn’t scream, she didn’t even gasp, or cry, or shield her eyes or anything of that sort. She was frozen, staring at the revolting pile of corpses that lay against the wall of a pony’s house, a pony who very likely was among the dead there. The house was now on fire, much like the rest of the town, and if Silver was to stay a few minutes longer she would likely see the bodies burn with it. 
She recognized three of them, the only three she could’ve recognized. Honey Pie, Buckwheat’s wife, her bouncy magenta curls now deflated and lifeless, and her two children close by, their arms fixed to be extended towards their mother, either by tragic coincidence or some malicious joke on part of the rebels responsible. Either way, it was close to bringing Silver to tears, an event that was notably rare for the stubborn unicorn. 
Silver’s heart was shattered, as she felt a sensation unlike anything before. She had seen horrible sights in her time. Mangled soldiers’ corpses, innocence-staining acts of bloodlust and cruelty, and even atrocious instances of innocent ponies dying undeserved deaths. But, staring at the cold pile of bodies that were soon to catch fire, Silver couldn’t find a way to make sense of it at all. Not in a philosophical sense, but rather in a practical sense. These ponies weren’t fighters. They were little more than victims for the rebel soldiers to abuse during their unwanted occupation, she had seen about as much. To murder them all, and neglect to offer even the slightest degree of courtesy or respect to them in death, just as little as in life, could only be explained as some sort of sadistic, undeniably evil act of punishment. Punishment of the town, for her and Guardian’s arrival and escape, despite the near majority of those ponies having absolutely nothing to do with it. 
She felt guilt, therefore, but not a kind of guilt that implied she would ever really be able to recover. She felt as though she had been damned, subjected to a soul-crushing weight that would rupture any ounce of self-respect or honor she could ever hope to mold in the future. For all these ponies’ lives taken so mercilessly, it was Silver who blamed herself. If she could switch places with them, she would, without hesitation. It seemed as though that’s what the universe was demanding of her now.
Her mind was a thunderstorm of agonizing guilt and aching despair. Her legs were shaking, and her heart was beating faster than normal, as if there was a clock she was racing against. 
She turned her head slowly away from the pile of corpses, after picking up the sound of a pony screaming. 
Her eyes blinked slowly as she took in the sights elsewhere in the town. The fires had spread, and now nearly everything was burning. Townsponies, the ones who hadn’t already been killed, could be seen frantically running up and down the street, being marched along by units of rebels, whose faces were blank and uncompassionate as they carried out a thorough reign of terror on the town. 
 Silver saw the townsponies' mouths move, and the rebels’ too, though she could barely hear any sound. The world had been reduced to a whisper, and Silver soon found herself in the center of a swirling fiery chaos, complete with a choir of screaming, pleading ponies, attempting to bargain for their lives with whatever they had left to offer the rebels. 
But the answer to all of them was the same, as Silver could tell. She walked past the ponies that were being marched along, tears running down all of their faces. Likely, all of them had lost loved ones already, not that their own fates appeared to be much better. 
Silver stumbled past the fires, and in passing alleys she saw numerous scenes of rebels cluttering over a mare townspony, rebels beating the life out of townsponies who refused or couldn’t bring themselves to continue obeying their commands, and a horrifying amount of additional corpses lying near burning dumpsters, hung from lampposts or stuffed in sewers. 
Silver watched as the few townsponies that hadn’t been killed were marched away, likely to be recruited or turned into slaves. She now knew the rumours to be true, that there was no sparing for children or the elderly under the rebels’ order.
  Sparks of guilt and sorrow flung through the rungs of Silver’s mind, tearing at her conscience and constricting her heart. She couldn’t comprehend it all, and what she could comprehend she could barely understand. She stumbled backwards, forcing her eyes away from the grueling sight of screaming, bloodied townsponies and burning homes.  
Such terror had seemed to only be conceivable in stories, as works of fiction. But what the world was showing her was the truth, and Silver was right in the middle of it. 
Her skin was pale, and though her hearing was beginning to return, she was barely focusing on her surroundings at all anymore. She could only think inward, and the more sense she tried to make of everything she was seeing, the more blame she put on herself. The fires raged, and the ponies screamed, and no rescue was to come for them nor Silver. It was Silver who could feel the tethers of reason begin to snap, whose conscience began to burn at the seams just as the town had. Whatever redemption could come out of such an atrocity, Silver could see no part in it for her. 
But despite her troubling understanding that hope truly was all lost for her, she was not yet spent, and she was not yet dead like the lot of those Pine Hearth ponies. And, despite the loss of so many, there was still one last pony whose life Silver could save. 

Stalking past the prim, organized tents of the rebel soldiers’ campsite, of which she had just returned to, Silver wasn’t entirely sure where to locate the pony she was searching for. 
Silver had never formally met Periwinkle Radiance, unlike Guardian. Though, as with most ponies in the royal army, she was well familiar with the proper, respectable captain of the 13th Velvet Regiment. Silver still couldn’t admit to herself that the Velvets had all been destroyed, that now only one of them remained, their leader, and it seemed her fate rested entirely in Silver’s hooves.
“Excuse me, corporal?”
Silver froze in her tracks, as soon as a stern young stallion’s voice caught her off guard. 
“Yes, you. I’m talking to you. Turn around,” the stallion instructed. 
Silver turned around, to face the pony who had called out to her. He had a soft purple coat and fuzzy blonde hair, with a speckled spread of stubble and a youthful face. He appeared to be only a few years older than Silver, though his tall, powerful stature put Silver on alert. Silver recognized the pony’s voice instantly, as Lieutenant Goldfinch, who had nearly caught her in Buckwheat’s home just yesterday. 
“I’d be correct to assume you’re with the Rangers?” he asked, perhaps judging by the uniform she had stolen. 
“Er, yes. Yes sir. 2nd Squadron,” Silver said, making up a unit name on the spot for the sake of seeming genuine. 
“2nd? With Captain Rover?”
“Yes sir,” Silver said, internally celebrating that she had made a working guess. 
“I’m sorry to make you nervous, I just noticed you seemed to be shaking, are you alright?” he asked, seemingly concerned. 
Silver had been shaking, still torn with emotional instability following recent events. 
“Oh, I’m fine sir. Just cold.”
“Very good, forgive me for intruding. Where are you headed?”
“I…” Silver started, pausing to concoct an excuse on the spot, “Just to see a friend down this way, my patrol is on break.”
“Ah. Very good. Carry on,” the lieutenant said, waving her off and turning around.
Silver gave a deep breath, especially anxious over nearly being exposed. 
She continued on her path through the campsite, aimlessly searching for where Periwinkle might be being kept. Until, she overheard something that would prove useful. 
“I hope they don’t kill those new ones. The Canterlot bitch is getting to be used up,” said a rebel sitting by a tent with a few of his friends, drinking from metal cans and shivering in the cold, “Used up and worthless.” 
“They’re gonna shoot ‘em on sight, and I say that’s what they deserve. Stirring up trouble, making us come back to this hog water town. There are fellas sitting in heated rooms in the Crystal Empire right now, and by the Queen’s goodwill, I oughta be with ‘em!” bellowed another, and the others gave a hardy cheer. 
Silver stood idly behind one of the corners of the tent, out of sight, listening in for any real information. 
“What do you say we get a last one in with her, for old times sake?” asked the rebel who had first spoken. 
“You’re on your own with that. I’m not walking all the way to the north end just for that.”
“Your loss.”
Silver’s ears perked up at the mention of ‘north,’ and, without delay, she changed her direction to head northwards.

Walking through the winding paths between tents, Silver eventually reached what had to be the northern edge of the campsite, with tall wooden crosses and barbed wire fences just a few yards ahead of her. 
She slowly turned her head to the left, towards one of the tents near the edge, at the sound of a pony laughing. 
“Alright, I’ve had enough. Let’s ditch,” said one of the voices, belonging to a rebel pony staggering out from the tent, another rebel catching up to him. Silver braced herself for whatever she would find inside, after waiting for the two rebels to leave. 
She quickly snuck herself inside the tent, where her heart immediately dropped.    
Periwinkle was lying on the ground, tied to a wooden stake that sat in the center. Her face was bruised, and she was covered in cruel marks and scratches. Her head was tilted to one side, and she appeared to be in some sort of trance. 
Silver quickly bent down beside the unicorn, gently grabbing her by the head, trying to shake her awake.   
“Captain, come with me, we have to get out of this place!” Silver said, desperately trying to lift Periwinkle with her front leg. The white unicorn was too weak to move, her eyelids barely hanging open, her mind foggy and her voice like a whisper. 
She said no words, only light, wispy groans, which percolated with suffering.  
Silver, though, was far too eager to restore her own sense of fulfillment, and refused to allow any more good ponies to die by her hoof.
Gritting her teeth in desperation, Silver zapped the ropes around Periwinkle’s arms and chest, disintegrating them into ash. She then wrapped her front leg around Periwinkle and swung her around onto her back, intending on carrying Periwinkle out to somewhere safe. 
Periwinkle’s body was weak and as light as a feather, and thus Silver didn’t have too much trouble baring her upon her back, swiveling around and making for the exit of the tent. 
Though, as soon as she took a step outside, she felt her breath stop short. Staring her dead in the eye was that Goldfinch, and surrounding her was a full company of rebel soldiers, at least fifty in total. In the front were a row of unicorns, who all had their horns glowing at the ready. 
“The second your horn starts glowing, you’ll already be dead,” Goldfinch said, smugly grinning as he glanced at the rebel unicorns. 
“Drop her,” he ordered, calmly. 
Silver was barely stopping herself from attempting to retaliate, but, despite how much it infuriated her, she was completely trapped. Her sole intention now was to survive the mountain passage, and if she was to die, she would hate for it to have been avoidable. 
Spitefully, Silver gently set Periwinkle down on the dirt beside her, staring daggers into the lieutenant’s smoky eyes. 
“Alert the Colonel. Take her somewhere safe. And if she tries anything. Just kill her,” Goldfinch ordered, speaking aloud for all the soldiers to hear. 
“Very nice attempt,” Goldfinch said, as a parting gift before the soldiers approached Silver and began attaching a horn restraint. She glared at him, promising herself to see Goldfinch dead if she was to manage an escape. Though, before she could spit out any relatiations, she felt a powerful object strike her in the back of the head, and then everything turned black. 





Silver opened her eyes slowly, to find herself restrained against a large flat wooden board, her mouth muzzled with tight leather, her legs each held down with metal cuffs. Her horn was locked tight in a solid metal cage, adding that uncomfortable but familiar headache that blocked out her ability to concentrate on casting any spells. 
But what made her disgusted wasn’t the predicament she found herself in, but rather the pony whose face was staring at her from the other end of the tent. 
Fire Streak was smirking, while Silver writhed and buckled in her restraints, attempting to break herself free, to no avail. 
“I was first going to have you killed, but it came to me that...Well it just certainly couldn’t end like that. Not after all this,” Fire Streak said, his devilish grin sending shivers down Silver’s spine. 
“I don’t know what’s become of your friend. Very crafty, taking up a disguise, I suppose I’ll give you that. But I am afraid craftiness won’t win you sympathy from me. Aw, what’s wrong? You look as though you’ve seen a ghost!” Fire Streak said, heartily laughing aloud, “Oh! I know, I know. You’ve seen them, haven’t you?”
Silver narrowed her eyes, and both she and Fire Streak knew who ‘them’ was referring to. 
“Yes...Do you want to know something? Something I don’t tell many ponies? It gets better every time. The more I take, the more they think what’s left is special! Sacred! But they’re all the same, aren’t they...They died like pigs. Like coal shoveled into a fire. Oh, the sounds they made. Whatever could you have done? Not enough, it seems. I don’t know what brought you back here, Silver Saber, and I don’t know why you were here in the first place. But I do know that you’ll be regretting it. You must regret it already. I’ll leave you to it then, I trust your last moments in this beautiful world are as horrible as they should be. Ta da!” Fire Streak said, leaving her with a final wave, before carelessly trotting out of the tent. 
The flaps were then shut, and locked, tightly, leaving Silver with just the guards who were still inside. 
And one other pony, one who Silver also recognized, unfortunately. 
Gash Hammer, who appeared even larger and even more imposing when standing above Silver on the wooden board, showed no resemblance of empathy as he eyed Silver up and down. 
He waited a few moments, just standing there in front of Silver as she trembled in her restraints, terrified of what was going to happen to her. 
“I don’t like ponies like you,” Gash said, his jaw tight and his words delivered as cold as ice. His voice was slow and heavy, like every word was either carefully thought out or physically difficult for him to say. 
“You ponies who pretend to be strong. From here you don’t seem strong to me,” he continued, turning away from her to reach over to a small table, picking up a large metal club with one hoof. 
“Your weakness is a curse. Ponies like you, you’ve allowed rats to infest a land that was once called proud. Those forsaken breeds, they don’t deserve to exist. The griffins, and sea ponies, dragons and other beasts, they have no right to a future. They are a disease on the face of the earth, they must be exterminated, for the greater good. We will be the ones to secure a future of peace for our children. While you only seek to pervert our world with lies and dangerous creatures of strange breeds. Filth! We will carry out this mission. If not today, tomorrow. If not today, then tomorrow.” he said, close to being enraged, as his veins throbbed and his eyes flared. His smile was wide and his nose was twisted. He had worked himself up so much, he seemed close to having a heart attack. But before that could happen, he took to releasing his anger via other means. 
Swinging the metal club directly into Silver’s knee, the audible cracking sound signaled to everypony in the room that Gash Hammer had struck his mark. Silver screamed into the gag, her back left leg, which had already been wounded after the wolf-bite incident, now severely broken. Though, Gash appeared to not quite be satisfied, slamming the club into her leg three more times for good measure. Silver had already burst into tears, clenching her hooves, unable to stop the pain from overwhelming her. 
“What do you say we take that horn off too, huh boys? She won’t be needing it anymore, I don’t think,” Gash Hammer said, laughing like a clumsy oaf, dropping the bloodied club to the ground and reaching onto the table for a large hacksaw. 
The other rebels were all snickering while Silver buckled in her restraints, the shiny metal of the hacksaw glimmering across to her. The very notion of having her horn cut off was absolutely terrifying, worsened by the knowledge that Gash Hammer very likely wouldn’t be gentle about it.
He raised the hacksaw up into the air for her to get a good look at it, before approaching her horn. She tried her best to move her head away, though his hard grip quickly kept her still. 
He smiled as if he had gone mad as he brought the hacksaw towards her horn, though quickly ran into an obvious obstacle, that being the metal magic restrictor that encompassed the entirety of her horn. 
“For the Queen’s sake! You, loosen this damned thing!” Gash Hammer ordered one of the guards. 
“But, she’ll-” the guard began.
“I’ve got her steady! Just loosen it, or I’m coming over there!” Gash yelled, his brutish, boorish, bulging build twitching as he narrowed his eyes at the back-talking guard.
The guard relented, picking up a screwdriver and approaching Silver’s horn. He carefully stuck it inside a screw on the restrictor, and began twisting.
Silver, however, had no intention of sitting by and allowing this all to proceed, and, taking advantage of Gash Hammer’s careless overconfidence, the very second the restrictor was loosened, Silver focused all the energy she had into a spell. And, right as her headache began to dissipate, that blast came, exploding the metal restrictor, and burning off the hoof of the guard who had been holding the screwdriver. Gash Hammer was flung back, as were all the other guards, while Silver was thrown off from the table, which had been torn apart during the explosion. The metal cuffs were still attached to each of her hooves, though she was now free from the table, which was enough of a victory to consider celebratory. 
Silver, however, couldn’t quite take the time to celebrate, falling under the enormous pain radiating out from her horn. She recalled Sundance’s warning yesterday about holding off from casting any spells too quickly, though to be fair, there hadn’t been much of another option.
While she was groaning in pain on the ground, Gash Hammer rose to his hooves, huffing deeply like a bear, turning to try and tackle Silver to the ground. 
The unicorn was faster though, lifting her head and shooting the brute right through the face, killing him in a bright flash of light, which again sent an intense wave of pain down through Silver’s body. Though, she was so full of pain, and guilt, and determination, that she persevered through the pain, proceeding to cut down every other rebel guard left alive in the tent, including the one with the burnt-off hoof, who had been screaming in agony for the past few moments.
She caught her breath, surrounded by the smoking carcasses of her torturers.
Silver wiped her face of dirt that had sprung up at her from the magical blast, and quickly came crashing out of the tent, hoping to escape before she could be captured again or killed. 
Outside, she was met by four unicorn soldiers who had been waiting in the vicinity of the tent, all confused as to what was happening. They all did a double take at the sight of Silver bursting through the tent flaps, covered in dirt and blood. Her leg was horrifically broken, though she seemed so out of her mind it was like she didn’t even notice.  
“Stop right th-!” began one, though he was interrupted when Silver’s rapidfire blasts came spraying out like a gatling gun, mowing down all four rebels before they could even put up a resistance. 
Not bothering to make sure they were even dead, Silver continued limping towards the exit of the town, her mind fragmented in half, her body broken and her mental state deteriorated beyond belief. The emotional grief and hopelessness, coupled with days of worsening sanity and repeated physical injuries, had reduced Silver to a paranoid ticking bomb, exploding at anything and anypony she came across. Every rebel she passed as she stumbled through the camp, even those who had been sleeping or just sitting by playing cards with their mates, were all treated the same. Slain without much thought, murdered in a vengeful, delirious rampage that was justified as retaliation for the senseless killing of Pine Hearth’s residents. In her wake was a trail of ash and agony, and soon the whole campsite was set to burn, the same as the town had by the rebels’ hooves. And at the source of this chaos was Silver, her eyes flickering like the flames themselves, the pain inside her heart and body manifesting into a horrible display of anger and pain, of which nopony who encountered it would survive. 





“Did you hear that?”
Guardian, despite still being in a foggy, sore state of mind, was very much able to hear the crashing blast of dirt and fire that had ruptured the earth, violent vibrations jolting her upright from where she was lying on the pebble beach. 
Sundance, who had been watching over the resting Guardian for a few hours now, had already risen to his hooves, while the rattling ground slowly began to diminish. 
“Can you walk?” he asked, suddenly, as he noticed a thick cloud of black smoke rising up from the tree line less than a half mile from where they were in the forest. 
“What was that?” Guardian asked, beginning to panic. 
Sundance marched over to Guardian and forcibly helped her up to her hooves, while she frantically scanned the forest for oncoming threats. She noticed the rising smoke in the distance almost instantly, and began to feel sick to her stomach. 
“They’re trying to blow us up!” Guardian exclaimed, shocked. 
“More like trying to force us into less dense woods...Come on, get your things,” Sundance said, while he picked up all of his belongings. 
“I haven’t got anything, remember? They took it all,” Guardian said, slightly annoyed that she had lost all of her traveling belongings, most of which she had held onto since training. 
“Oh, right. That reminds me, this is yours,” Sundance said, reaching behind the at the back edge of the beach to reveal Guardian’s golden spear. 
“I snuck it off from the camp, I thought you’d want this back too. You’re pretty good with it, you know,” Sundance said, extending the handle of the spear over to Guardian, who warmly received it. She smiled, appreciating his effort. 
“Where are we gonna go?” she asked. 
“Anywhere but here right now...If you want your friend back…” Sundance said, pausing as he did not yet know how to go about that plan. He had been thinking it over for hours now, but every outcome seemed to be the same. Capture, torture, death. Not exactly desirable in the slightest. 
“We can try making for the river first. Over the field next to it, I mean. We’ll be out in the open, but if we’re quick, we might just make it. We might be able to head through the gates and find your friend, if she’s still alive. Which is a big if.”
“I have to, she’d do the same for me,” Guardian said, firmly, though part of her wasn’t sure Silver would. 
Sundance reluctantly obliged her, though he already had an alibi of his own cooked up in case things went south.
They quickly took off through the forest, Guardian grunting occasionally everytime a leaf or branch rubbed against her horribly sore wings. Luckily her legs still worked fine, which meant she could keep up pace relatively well.

“There! I found her!” called out a voice from somewhere east in the forest. 
Guardian gulped, desperately running as fast as she could, to avoid being caught. She had barely survived her first experience with the rebels, a second time would likely be worse, possibly fatal.
“Don’t look back!” Sundance yelled, right as the first pellets of magical energy came soaring out through the forest towards them. Guardian hadn’t planned on it, though she was mildly comforted to know that she wasn’t yet alone. 
 	Luckily, the rebel patrol of eight that had spotted them were at too far of a distance to hit their targets, and soon every single one had run out of ammunition. In their heated, bloodlusting wrath, they had fired every single bullet they had, providing Guardian and Sundance an opportunity to gain an even greater lead. 
In a huff of frustration, the leader of that patrol, who just so happened to be Goldfinch, trotted over to the patrol’s radiopony. 
“Give me that,” Goldfinch said, aggressively grabbing a hold of the radio and headphones from the radiopony. 
Flipping a few switches, Goldfinch raised the headphones to his left ear and adjusted the frequency on the box, until the rough static was replaced by a low hissing sound. 
“One-oh-six degrees, ten minutes, eleven degrees, zero minutes. Don’t miss it! Over!” Goldfinch said calmly into the microphone of the radio. 
He was met by an awkward pause of rustling static hissing out from the radio, to his frustration. Glancing around at the others in disbelief, Goldfinch pressed a button and put the microphone back up to his mouth.
“Hey! Tin ear! Confirm the order! One-oh-six degrees, ten minutes, eleven degrees, zero minutes! Clock’s ticking!” Goldfinch barked, ferociously. 
“Received,” came a voice from the other end, prompting Goldfinch to continue and adjust the frequency a second time. 
“Colonel, this is the 10th search group. We’ve spotted them, heading northwest, towards the river. It’s the pegasus, sir. She has an accomplice, it appeared to be one of ours. That or another try at a disguise. Over, sir.” Goldfinch reported. 
“Arrange two units on either side of the riverside fields, I want that area under control. You, Lieutenant, I need back here, the unicorn’s escaped,” said the voice of Fire Streak. 
“Escaped?” Goldfinch repeated, shocked. 
“That’s what I said, so get your ass back here, now. The brigade will handle the pegasus. I’ll be with them myself,” Fire Streak said, with clear malicious intent. 
“Yes sir,” Goldfinch said, right before Fire Streak closed the line from his end. 
The fuzzy haired captain turned to the others, who all seemed a bit impressed that the colonel himself was undertaking this task personally.

Stumbling over the small bushes that lined the edge of the forests facing the large fields ahead, Guardian was delighted to see that the river was within sight. And to her right, far off was the outermost parts of the town barrier. Guardian’s eyes flickered, at the sight of smoke rising from the town. She could see the great fires that had engulfed the town, small embers having drifted through the air all the way to where she was standing. Against the dark grey sky in the distance, and past the green grassy hills, the brightly burning town of Pine Hearth was a rare beacon of warmth in an otherwise forever-cold world. 
“Come on! What the hell are you waiting for!” Sundance yelled from farther up ahead. 
Guardian quickly regained her focus and sped up to Sundance. 
Though, right as she was leaving the edge of the forest, the sound of a soaring object descending from the ground made Guardian’s heart skip a beat. 
Guardian ran as quickly as she could forward, as the screeching sound grew louder, and louder, until it was so loud it sounded as though the entire sky was falling down on top of her. 
Several yards behind her, the bomb that had been dropped from above touched ground, shattering into a hellish mess of shrapnel, dirt, and fire. 
Guardian stumbled over her hooves as the onslaught cloud of dust and dirt blew from behind her, adding a minor speed boost that helped propel her forward. The vibrations of the blast rippled through the ground, shuddering both ponies to the point they were close to falling over. 
The sound was so catastrophically loud, that Guardian believed she had gone permanently deaf for a second, though her hearing began to slowly return, albeit slightly muffled. 
“Don’t slow down!” Sundance yelled from ahead, as another bomb crashed into the earth, sending Guardian tumbling across a grassy hill, rolling over her injured wings, causing her to tense up in agony. 
She then heard the sound of a pony approaching her from the front, and was relieved, believing it to be Sundance having come back for her. 
Only it wasn’t Sundance, but rather the very last face she had hoped to see. 
Fire Streak had just landed in front of her, and soon a whole host of around sixteen other rebel pegasi all came down around them, surrounding Guardian while she was lying on the ground, a burning hatred radiating from her face. 
“You continue to disappoint me, Guardian Angel. You’ve already had a good day’s head start, and here you are, barely one mile. Helpless and alone,” Fire Streak said, stepping on her hoof as she began reaching for her spear in the grass near her. She squeaked in pain, as his hoof came down unforgivingly strong against her. 
Only, she wasn’t alone, unbeknownst to Fire Streak. And before he, or any of the rebels could be made aware, it was Sundance who got the surprise strike. 
He came up from between two of the rebels, and in one single motion, was able to slice through the backs of their necks with his sword, sending both ponies crumbling to the ground, dead. 
Fire Streak was caught off guard, as were all the rebels, who all turned over to see what had happened. That was all the distraction Guardian needed, concentrating on overpowering Fire Streak’s hoof. She managed to break free of his hard grip, grabbing a hold of her spear and springing up to her hooves. 
“For the Queen’s sake!” Fire Streak yelled, realizing that Guardian was being aided by a traitorous rebel soldier. 
Guardian immediately made her way towards two of the rebels to her left, chucking her spear straight through the jugular of one, before dodging the spear of another and bashing his head in with her hoof. She pulled her spear out of the rebel’s neck and stabbed through the rebel she had just punched, killing him in a thin spray of red blood. Three more of the rebels ran towards her, though Guardian was able to get her bearing before any of them could strike. She received the closest rebel with her spear piercing up through his chest, and the one right behind him received a slash across the side of his head. The final rebel came down upon her with an axe, attempting to tackle Guardian to the ground. She jumped out of the way, tripping the burly rebel over her hoof, and stabbing him through the back as he fell to the ground. 
She quickly turned to Fire Streak, who had just begun to lose his confidence.
Sundance was meanwhile distracted with the remaining nine rebels, leading them away from Guardian with hopes of buying her time to escape. Guardian had no intention of running though, not yet at least, not until she could settle things with one pony in particular. 
Guardian gritted her teeth in a rage-filled, glorious charge, running straight for the unprepared former Wonderbolt.
He was waiting for her, however, and, having already drawn his sword from its sheath, he cut down against the fast-approaching tip of Guardian’s spear, and attempted to cut back to strike through her neck. 
She was dead-focused, however, consumed with all of the resentment and humiliation that had been forced upon her from a young age. It was ponies like Fire Streak who she despised, ponies like him who made her desperate for some sort of justice. 
She blocked the attack , struggling beneath his strength as he pressed down on her with everything he had. 
“You’ve been used, Guardian. You were only ever the means to an end. The cowards who order you around have measured the value of your life, and they have deemed you worthless,” Fire Streak said, grinning sinisterly as he tried to break her resolve. She screamed in anger and pushed back towards him, successfully forcing him off of her. 
Fire Streak recoiled slightly as he stumbled backwards, regaining his posture as he excitedly prepared himself to move in for the kill. 
“Hardly impressive. Perhaps I’ll let my dogs eat whatever remains of you when we’re finished, though perhaps that would be a disgrace to even them,” Fire Streak said.
Guardian’s eyes burned with anger, despite her typical insistence on controlling her negative emotions. 
Before she could launch another attack, another of the rebel soldiers intercepted her, forcing her away from the laughing colonel.
While she blocked the approaching blade of the rebel soldier, Guardian saw from the corner of her eye Fire Streak, stalking towards an unsuspecting Sundance, who was also currently engaged in a fight with two of the rebels, being carried farther away from a struggling Guardian. 
“Sundance!” she exclaimed, before ferociously overpowering the rebel she was entangled with, gutting him wide open with her spear. 
Climbing over a nearby hill, she quickly found the others, all in a mess of crashing blades and grunting.
Over the hill on another large uneven plain of grass, there were large dark rocks sitting together idly, now with the additional decoration of a few rebel corpses left strewn about them, courtesy of Sundance. 
Guardian rushed towards Sundance to help him fend off the six remaining rebels that hadn’t already been cut down. Jumping over a low-reaching flat rock, she stuck her spear through the back of one rebel, and then swung around at another to her left, blood gushing out from his neck. 
Sundance noticed Guardian’s arrival while locking blades with two rebels simultaneously, all while Guardian struggled to get closer to him. 
Two of the rebels noticed Guardian, hesitantly turning to face the fire-eyed pegasus. She dove towards them, catching both off guard. One caught her spear straight through his chest, gasping in pain as she drew the red-stained blade free. She reeled the spear back just in time to block an attempted swing of a sword at her neck, and pushed back, seizing the opportunity to impale the rebel up the stomach. As the rebel lurched in pain, Guardian turned to see Sundance a ways off, having just finished stabbing his sword down into the last of the defeated rebel soldiers. They shared a look of relief that they seemed to both be alright, though they were terribly out of breath. 
Their joy was short-lived, though, when Guardian felt a pony’s front leg wrap itself around her neck, tugging back at her, choking her until she was forced to drop  her spear. 
Guardian glanced behind her and saw Fire Streak, his eyes burning bright with a menacing fury. He had her in a chokehold, with a sword in the other hoof, leveled dangerously close against her neck. Fire Streak’s face was covered in blood, his face deranged and his sword held in an unsteady grip. Guardian was overpowered, however, unable to break free from the colonel’s grip.  
“Alright now, Sergeant...You listen to me, and you listen closely...The both of us know what the penalty is for betraying the Coalition...I’m afraid your fate is very well sealed already…” Fire Streak said, grinning. Sundance scowled, for some reason having believed that he may have been able to help Guardian escape with his betrayal unnoticed. But the cat was out of the bag now, and he knew he had to make some decisions, quickly. 
“But her’s isn’t. Now here’s what you’re going to do...You’re going to drop that sword, and you’re going to turn around and kneel on the ground, with your wings folded down. I don’t have to kill the girl, I really don’t...Though she’s caused me enough trouble lately that I’d certainly like to. So I’ll ask one time, and one time only. Comply with the order. Sergeant. Or she dies,” Fire Streak said, snarling devilishly as she pressed the edge of his sword against Guardian’s throat. 
“S-Sundance, Don’t do it,” Guardian said, tears forming in her eyes, “They’ll kill both of us...Don’t do it,” she said. Though, if she was to die, the letter couldn’t be delivered, and she would have failed. But it wasn’t really her choice to make in her position, to her despair. 
Sundance hesitated, though with every second that passed he felt some sort of obligation creep its way into his subconscious, beckoning him to do something. 
“Time’s up,” Fire Streak said, laughing, as he prepared to slice open Guardian’s throat.
“Stop,” Sundance said, suddenly, dropping his sword to the ground. 
Genuinely, Fire Streak hadn’t expected the defective rebel sergeant to actually surrender, though it certainly made things easier for him.  
“Wonderful,” Fire Streak said, laughing maniacally as he knocked Guardian to the ground with the hilt of his sword, so hard that she practically fell unconscious upon impact. 
Guardian collapsed to the ground in a heap, and, taking advantage of a possible opportunity, she made the best effort she could to appear as if Fire Streak had, in fact, knocked her out. 
Her ruse must have been successful, as after a quick once-over Fire Streak began marching towards an enraged Sundance, who had already turned around and fell to his knees, awaiting what he imagined to be an imminent execution.
Guardian opened one eye and saw Fire Streak walk away from her towards Sundance, his sword at the ready. 
Guardian scrambled to her hooves, though she was still slightly disoriented from the recent blow to her head. She scoured the ground for her spear, and found it after a brief search. 
She sprinted towards Fire Streak, hoping to intercept him before he could proceed with killing Sundance. 
Fire Streak, however, had already noticed Guardian’s renewed attempt, spinning around the meet Guardian head-on.
She attempted to slash towards Fire Streak with her spear, though he was able to block it, the two caught in an intense struggle for dominance over the blade of the other. 
“You simply don’t know when to quit, do you?” Fire Streak said, seething as he put all his strength into resisting Guardian’s blade. 
Guardian couldn’t see where Sundance was, as she was too focused on pushing back against Fire Streak’s blade. 
Eventually the two both backed away from each other, panting in exhaustion and weary from so much fighting, Guardian more so. 
Guardian saw Sundance wasn’t where he had been kneeling earlier, though she did notice a trail of blood leading around the rocks. 
Before she could investigate, Fire Streak swung his blade back towards her, expectedly intending to cut open Guardian’s neck right then and there. 
She dodged the attempt at a fatal blow, and, in a heated flash of rage, stuck her spear straight through Fire Streak’s stomach, piercing through his flesh with ease. 
Fire Streak gasped in shock as blood began to spurt out of his mouth and from the new hole in his stomach. And, as Guardian pressed the spear harder through the stallion’s stomach, she brought her face closer to his, staring straight into his eyes with pure disgust. 
She then recalled the spear out from the pegasus’ stomach, leaving him to collapse backwards, limply tugging at his wound as if to try and heal himself. 
She stood over him, and, staring at the face of a pony in terrible pain, closing in on death, she suddenly came to the realization, one that she had been fighting for months now. She saw in Fire Streak the personification of all who had tried to hold her back, to belittle her and deny her any ounce of respect. But even for a pony like that, Guardian felt sympathy towards, and wanted to be merciful. 
She lowered her spear to neglect a finishing blow, and her face began to loosen. The two made eye contact, and Guardian hoped that they might be able to forgive each other, with the opportunity coming to a close. 
But Fire Streak held no such sympathies, reaching for a knife tucked away in his leg strap, attempting to stick it into Guardian’s hoof to have the last laugh. 
Guardian saw this coming, though, and proceeded to stab him straight through the forehead, brain and skull breaking off in chunks as she forced the spear free from the rebel colonel’s corpse. She took a deep breath, and she noticed her hoof was shaking slightly. 
“Sundance!” Guardian cried, right after realizing that he was still nowhere to be found.

Picking up on the bloody trail in the grass, Guardian rounded the corner of one of the larger dark rocks, where, almost immediately, she felt a cold spell shiver through her entire body, frozen in a wave of shock. 
There was Sundance, sitting in the grass, who had propped himself up against the edge of the large rock. His breath was coarse and wheezy, and he appeared to be fixated on something in the distance. The dark green shadowy forests lay far away in front of him, and the feathery grey skies also. 
“Oh no…” Guardian muttered, realizing Sundance didn’t appear to be moving. 
She sprinted up to him, kneeling down beside the stallion pegasus, who had his left front leg held over his stomach. 
His face was distant and cold, though he was still breathing. Guardian nervously reached to lift up his arm, and saw that he had been pierced through the chest, blood pouring out at an alarming rate. 
“Oh Celestia...Don’t worry, we have bandages, we can fix you...Silver! She’ll know something, she’ll be able to help you...Do you hear me? Hey! Are you listening to me?” Guardian said, almost frantically, as she tried to get Sundance’s attention.
He had already lost a decent amount of blood. To Guardian’s horror, it was apparent that she hadn’t made it to Fire Streak quite fast enough, and that the late colonel had left his revenge in the form of a blade stuck through Sundance’s chest.  
“I very much want to see them again,” he muttered, struggling to keep his breathing at regular intervals. 
Guardian had already dove into her medical supplies, applying pressure and using every drip of water left in Sundance’s canteen, trying her best to stop the bleeding. 
She had succeeded, to a minor extent, after wrapping up his chest in white bandages, the bleeding having been slowed slightly. 
“There! There...Now…” Guardian said, unsure what to do next. 
“It wasn’t worth it, I see that now,” Sundance said, ignoring Guardian’s attempts at helping him. 
“Don’t say that,” Guardian said. 
“I never could get what I wanted,” Sundance said, a small, remorseful smile struggling to make its way across his face, “I do hope I’ll see them again. My wife, my sons. I could never avenge them in life. What will they think of me now? Of what I’ve done?”
Guardian grabbed him by the shoulders, forcing him to make eye contact.  
“You’ve saved my life. And if I get this letter across the river, you’ll have saved thousands of lives. Not royal lives, ponies’ lives,” Guardian said, deciding to try her best and add some comfort for Sundance in his moment of need. 
Sundance’s smile slowly fixed itself into something more genuine, though the pain in his body was so powerful that it soon became overwhelming. Then Guardian noticed his eyes catch sight of something behind her. Or rather, somepony. 
Guardian turned her head to see Silver Saber, trotting towards the rocks, her back left leg visibly broken, her eyes held open wide, and maddened. 
Guardian could see that something had changed in Silver, or perhaps something to the effect of a breakthrough following a gradual descent into madness. She had blood all over her, though most of it didn’t seem to be hers. Black and grey ash had meshed into her coat, and if it wasn’t for her armor, the pony would have been barely recognizable. 
Sundance gasped for breath, gripping the wound in his chest as it bled through the bandages, ceaselessly. Silver’s head turned from a concerned Guardian to Sundance, who was too consumed with pain to pay any notice towards her. His movements began to lessen, and Guardian could tell that he would die if he wasn’t healed soon. 
“Silver, you have to help him, he’s hurt, bad,” Guardian said, cautiously extending her hoof up towards Silver, whose breaths were slow and drawn out, as if she was meditating over something in her thoughts. 
Her eyes were dizzying in their sporadicness. Guardian wavered, uncertain what had happened to Silver in the time they were apart. 
“Silver, you-”
“Used up and worthless,” Silver muttered, though Guardian couldn’t hear her. 
“Coal in the fire, died like pigs,” she said, her eyes ferociously darting towards Sundance. Her horn then began to glow, and Guardian realized what was about to happen. 
Before Silver could murder the unresponsive Sundance, Guardian jumped in front of her, her eyes desperate and terrified. 
“Silver! What’s gotten into you!?”
“Get out of the way,” Silver said, coldly. 
Guardian stared at her in disbelief.
“No, I’m not,” Guardian said, firmly. 
“Guardian...that pony is a liar, a traitor, the lowest, most despicable kind on this earth...Get out of the way.”
“Silver, stop,” Guardian said, unsure how far Silver was planning on taking this. 
“What would your brothers say, huh? Guardian? That pony, he and his kind are the ones who killed them! Dead in the dirt, and you didn’t even get to say goodbye,” Silver said, hysterically, “And how many others lost everything?!” 
She was close to crying now, and Guardian remained confused, and slightly disturbted, backing up gradually as Silver approached.  
“Choose a side, Guardian Angel, daddy’s little punching bag, if you even have the spine!”
Guardian tried her best not to allow her feelings to be hurt, slowly coming to the understanding that Silver was somewhat out of her mind. 
“Silver, you’ve got to calm down, you’re acting cr-”
“I mean it! Get out of the way! I’m ending this, right now!” Silver yelled, emphatically.
“Stop it!” Guardian said, shoving Silver back before the unicorn could attack Sundance, who was still groaning, propped up against the rock. 
Silver’s eyes were frantic, and inside her mind it was even worse. Guardian wasn’t sure how she would have to react, but as far as she could handle things, she set herself to prevent anymore bloodshed. 
“Silver…” Guardian said, nervously. 
Silver couldn’t stop herself from laughing. 
“Why are you helping him? Why? I’m the only real friend you’ve got left, and you’re the only one I’ve got left. Him? He’s not one of us. He wants to kill us, he wants to ruin our lives. I’m gonna ask you one more time, Guardian, get out of the way.”
Guardian shuddered, realizing that Silver truly did have no intention of backing down. 
“You’re really gonna do this?” Guardian asked, her voice quivering. 
“If I have to,” Silver said, burning with hate and a need for vengeance. 
“Silver...I’m not your enemy!”
“You’re with him! With them! You’ll be the death of us!” Silver yelled, her horn beginning to glow even brighter. 
Guardian took a deep breath and began cautiously reaching for her spear in the grass, raising it towards Silver, who was undeterred.
“You don’t know what you’re doing,” Silver warned. 
“Yes, I do,” Guardian said, sternly holding her spear in a defensive position.
Silver glared at her with a ferocious malice twinkling in her eyes, spun into a delirium.
Soon, Silver’s low, bull-like grunting progressed into a psychotic cry of anger, as her horn glowed brightly, aimed right at Guardian, who was slowly raising her spear up, struggling to commit to defending against Silver. 
Before Silver could fire anything from her horn, Guardian reasoned she would have to act first, rushing and tackling the unicorn down to the ground, right as the beam of magic came bursting out into the air. 
Guardian wrestled her to the ground, panickedly wrapping her left hoof around Silver’s horn to try and block out her magic. 
Silver was so full of rage however, that the heat radiating from her horn was strong enough to force Guardian to release her hoof, or else suffer second-degree burns. Guardian screamed and drew her hoof back, and was promptly shoved by Silver to the ground. 
 Silver spun around and fired two shots, one of which completely missed, the other of which skimmed against Guardian’s right shoulder, singing the hairs of her coat, causing her to cry out in pain. 
Refusing to give Silver the chance to kill Sundance, Guardian punched the maddened unicorn, three times in the face, and in response Silver took to slamming her teeth into Guardian’s arms, biting down hard, again sending Guardian toppling down to the ground. 
Silver, however, seemed to be more intent on killing Guardian now before Sundance, and Guardian quickly realized it, when Silver fired another blast straight towards her head. She rolled over on the grass, picking up her spear and whacking Silver over the head with the butt of the weapon. 
Silver felt some blood seep out from her mouth, and was beginning to get fed up, running at Guardian with full strength, even on her wounded leg, tackling Guardian to the ground, attempting to throttle Guardian to death. 
Guardian was pinned to the ground, unable to force Silver’s weight off of her, as the unicorn squeezed tightly around her neck. Now on her back, tears formed in Guardian’s eyes as her mangled wings were crunched and squished against the ground, as she bore the entirety of Silver’s weight on top of her. Guardian’s face turned red, then purple, and Silver seemed completely unrelenting as she pressed harder, all while Guardian’s head helplessly bobbed up and down under Silver’s grip. 
Guardian stared at Silver with terrified, heartbroken eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks, though Silver seemed completely detached from reality, and she showed no signs of stopping. 
Then Guardian saw Silver’s horn begin to glow, in what Guardian expected was a finishing kill, and, presented with no other choice if the mission was to be carried out, Guardian grabbed a hold of her spear and aggressively brought it upwards, sticking the blade deep into Silver’ side.
The unicorn suddenly snapped out of her deliriousness, her horn dimming and her grip on Guardian’s throat breaking apart completely. 
Guardian watched with tear-filled eyes as Silver stared down at her in shock, collapsing sideways off of Guardian onto the grass in a heap. 
“Silver!” Guardian gasped, desperately taking deep breaths before she was to faint from oxygen deprivation. 
Guardian picked herself up, though she was still partially wounded in more than one place now. She crawled over to Silver, who was lying on her back, softly groaning in pain and blood pooled out from her side into the grass. Reaching down to where Silver was laying, Guardian held the unicorn in her front legs, crying her eyes out in anguish. 
        “Oh Celestia, what did I do?!” Guardian wailed, horrified.
The tightness on Silver’s face seemed to loosen, and her eyes began to steady, fixed on the sight of her friend balling her eyes out.
“Guardian….I’m sorry,” Silver said, managing a weak smile as she reached up to hold her crying friend’s face, “I don’t feel it anymore,” she said, choking on her words as tears formed in her eyes too, “I don’t feel the pain. It’s going…” Silver said, her voice far gentler than typical. 
Guardian couldn’t bring herself to even dare to say goodbye, resorting instead to just crying ceaselessly. 
“Hey, Hey…” Silver said, struggling to speak as her wound bled profusely, “It’s not your fault...it’s my fault...I just can’t take it anymore...I can’t take it anymore,” Silver said. Guardian rocked Silver in her front legs, struggling to bear the guilt of her actions. 
“Silver, I-I need you,” Guardian sputtered, her cheeks flushed with a hot, somber red. 
“You never needed me….I’m not stronger than you, I never let myself say it...I'm sorry," Silver said, releasing all the pain she had held onto for so long. 
Guardian tried to calm herself down, focusing on savoring what moments she still had left with the unicorn. 
“Now you’ve got that letter to deliver, and you’re gonna do it. You’re gonna make this all right, and I’ll be proud of you. I’ve always been proud of you. You’re the only friend I’ve got left. So you’re gonna finish this, okay?”
“I will,” Guardian said, “I promise, I will.”
For the first time in months, maybe even years, Silver felt a new wonderful feeling descend upon her. In the center of the war, the center of so much destruction, and death, and hatred, Silver had finally discovered peace. Lying on the grass, with the cool breezes sweeping by her, and the soft overcast sky standing above the grass, Silver could finally forget about the world, of which she loathed, and herself, of whom she loathed even more. 
And, nearly bringing a tear to Silver’s eye, the unicorn saw another familiar face, or rather, a pair of wings. Bright blue in color, fluttering through the air carelessly, and yet every movement seemed to be intentional. Silver watched the butterfly dance through the air, and she wondered whether the beautiful creature was ever even real at all, whether it was just her mind playing tricks on her, beckoning her to grasp hold on what hope remained. And hope she had found, though only by her own end could she find it. She was free, free from the constraints of the world that had so consistently held her confined and discontent. The world seemed to be at peace, if only for a few moments, but that was all Silver needed. There was beauty in the world still, even in the smallest of moments, even in the darkest of time. The butterfly fluttered around her, as if it was bound to her, and Silver could feel her heart begin to free itself, at last. 
“Can you forgive me?” Silver asked, smiling wide a final time to Guardian, who was smiling too through the tears. 
“Of course,” Guardian replied, though her crying did make it slightly difficult. 
Silver laughed softly, as she felt the pain in her side began to worsen.
“That’s what I always loved about you…”
Guardian continued to hold onto Silver, even after the moment the unicorn fell limp in her arms. 
For a few moments, Guardian stayed sitting on the grass, rocking Silver side to side, struggling to accept the reality. 
She glanced over at Sundance, and saw that he too had already succumbed to his injuries, his eyes still open and his head hung low. The wind rustled through his hair, against his body that lay so still it was if he was a statue. 
Guardian was now completely on her own, with the fate of a few thousand ponies resting squarely in her hooves. If it was all up to her, then she knew that she had to succeed. For every pony that met their end to see that letter through, she owed it to them to ensure their deaths were not in vain. She was far too close to the finish line, and had lost so much already. There was no giving up yet.