//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Forgiveness // Story: The Gathering Storm II: Fires of Freedom // by WiskeyMikeOne //------------------------------// Chapter 10 Forgiveness *Rainbow Dash* “Do you think Whirlwind will be okay?” I asked Molotov. “Hard to say, he’s has been trying to find the best way and time to tell you what happened and the Mayor goes and ruins it!” Bon replied. “What happened?” “I think its best that you hear it from him and not us, just prepare yourself for a shock, Rainbow Dash,” said Bon Voyage. “Thanks for the heads up guys; I’ll go talk to him.” I turn around and flew back to the throne room. The door was ajar; I took a deep breath and pushed it open. “Whirlwind...you there?” I thought Whirlwind would still be at the table. I opened the door more to let some light in but all I could see was the table and the throne on top of the stairs in front of the window. “Where is he?” I walked up the stairs and looked out of the window, the view was amazing, and Manechester was beautiful at night I could see why Whirlwind loved this place so much. I looked at the sky above the city, there was one lone cloud right above the largest skyscraper. That's a weird looking cloud I thought to myself. I looked closer noticing a pony sat on it. “Whirlwind!” I flew up to the dome glass ceiling and opened one of the windows and flew towards him. His head was low it looked like he was crying. "But Whirlwind never cries." I thought. I landed behind him. “Whirl...you okay?” He looked back suddenly at me and then he took off, evaporating the cloud as he got airborne. “On no you don’t!” I chased after him, Whirlwind was always quick so catching him was going to be hard. I chased him down to the roof tops of Manechester then to street level, he kept taking sharp left and right turns to try and throw me off. I was now getting tired and I think so was he. “Okay this is getting old.” I climbed up then shot towards Whirlwind; I tackled him to the ground. When we finally stop rolling I pinned him down, he struggled. “I forgive you!” I shouted. Whirlwind stopped struggling, he looked into my eyes, I smiled back. He broke my hold on him and hugged me. “I never through I would hear those words from you Rainbow Dash” “How can I not forgive you? You’re my flight school buddy and for whatever reason you had to shoot me down, I'm sure it was the right thing to do” I hugged him back. “Awwwww.” I opened my eyes, we were in the middle of the street and we drew quite a crowd. “Hay Whirl I think we should get out of the street?” “Yeah that sounds like a good idea” After we dusted ourselves off we both went back to the restaurant that we went to earlier. Whirlwind wanted to tell me what happened during the invasion of Russhire. “Okay here goes. You, me and the rest of the Royal Guard Air Force Division were to support our individual flights of fighter bombers during the invasion.” “Yep I remember that.” “The bombers in our flights started their attack run at 2300 hours and you and I met up. There was no answer from our flights at 2330 hours we could only assume they had been shot down. You were bored and wanted some of the action.” “Yep that sounds like me.” “Yeah. Anyway you broke formation and dived down towards Stalliongrad, you took out a lot of targets firing on the invasion beaches I was above and behind you taking out AA positions and fighters that were determined to shoot you down.” “You always had my back.” “You eventually ran out of soft munitions and there was one position left in the center of Red Square still active, you started your attack run with hard munitions.” My heart sank; I would never use hard ammo that just isn't me. Hard ammo was used only to shoot down other aircraft if it were to be used on a pony...the outcome doesn't bear thinking about. “I tried talking you out of it but you wouldn't listen. That spell was just too powerful." “What did you do?” “I-I...I initiated protocol 6. I was the one who shot you down.” I gasped and had a flash back to when I was in the cockpit of my F-18. The HUD flashed red, the missile alarm buzzed in my ears. I looked up at the rear view mirror, Whirlwind's F-16 was right behind me, then I heard him say “Forgive me Dashie.” over the radio, then the missile launched and it dug itself into the tail of my plane. I ejected and floated down to the twisted remains of Stalliongrad thanks to my parachute. Whirlwind’s plane flew passed, I remember feeling betrayed and hatred towards him, and then sheering pain as the fire caught my wing. We both sat in silence for a while, Whirlwind couldn't look at me. It must have been hard to live with himself after that. “What happened next?” I asked. Whirlwind had his forelegs on the table, his head hang low. “I reported to command what had happened and flew home. My aircraft initiated self-destruct over the Everfree forest. I lived in the forest for the next nine months only coming out at night, it was safer. When winter came I had to go into Ponyville for food so I went in disguise. That’s where I met Applejack and she told me briefly about the rebellion in Equestria.” “Rebellion?” “The civilians had had enough of the Empire so they rebelled. Princess Candace led it but it lasted 3 weeks. As punishment Celestia banished all ponies to three separate sectors of Equestria. Unicornia for the unicorns, Pegasolpolis for the Pegasi and Earth for the earth ponies.” “No...” “When I was about to leave town the Empire showed up. Conscription of fillies and colts into the cadet forces was now in progress, not just in Ponyville but all over Equestria. Applejack`s family was meant to be exempt from joining the Empire. But Celestia lied, she always lies.” I could see Whirlwinds hoof shaking with anger on the wooden table. “What happened?” I asked. “They took...Applebloom.” “Buckers!” “No filly that young and innocent should be in the armed forces. It’s just wrong.” “What did Applejack do?” “AJ, Big Mac and I tried to save her but we were temporarily stunned by the soldiers. When I woke Big Mac and Applebloom were gone. On that day I promised Applejack I would bring Applebloom back and make the Empire pay.” We both sat in silence again for a few moments, and then the waiter came to our table. “Sorry sir but we have to close.” “Its fine, thank you,” replied Whirlwind. We took a stroll back to the castle along the beach, it must have been about midnight the moon was high up in the sky and the moonlight reflected off the still sea. “So after the Empire took Applebloom away what did you do?” I asked Whirlwind. “I found a group of ponies who had had enough of the empire and joined them; we were the Republic of Equestria. Mayor Mare was in charge of our group.” “What did you do there?” I asked. “Vandalized imperial property, assaulted imperial troops and posted propaganda all over Ponyville. In the next year and a half we grew a lot, we now had followers in Unicornia lead by Rarity and followers in Pegasopolis.” “Rarity was a rebel? I didn’t expect that.” I replied. “Neither did I.” We both laughed and continued our walk along the beach back towards the castle. I forgave Whirlwind and thanked him for the new wings; I think a big weight had been lifted from his shoulders that night.