Chapter 59
Emergency telegram, sent from Lady Xyris Petal, Knight Adamant, to Lady Orange Rhapsody.
UNSCHEDULED TRAIN SPOTTED BY SUPPLY SHIP EN ROUTE TO GRIFFON FRONT STOP TRAIN IS MOVING AT HIGH SPEEDS AT NIGHT STOP NOT DIARCHY IN ORIGIN STOP INFORM ALL DIARCHY TRAINS IN THE REGION AHEAD OF THE SUSPICIOUS TRAINS ROUTE WILL BE DESTROYED STOP SEND REINFORCEMENTS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE LIKELY ENEMY ATTACK STOP
North of New Canterlot City, 1113 AF
There was no light, only sound. Screeching, twisting iron, crashing furniture, cries of pain. Emberglow’s head swam when she slammed against the wall, and for a few seconds she lost track of everything. There was a crash of shattering glass, and she could feel the wind and cold air on her fur and wings.
Instinctively Emberglow spread her wings, catching herself in the air before she could plummet to the ground. Confused, her ears ached with the tumultuous noise that filled the air. Finally Emberglow’s mind caught up with the situation.
The train had derailed. And she’d been thrown free. Train cars lay scattered along the track like foal’s toys, each one jackknifing in a zig-zag across the hard ground behind them. The engine itself was upside down, and the car she’d been in was on its side.
“Rarity!” she cried, angling her wings in a frantic dive towards the car.
That was when the cannon fire began.
The sound came from above; Emberglow jerked her gaze up. An airship hung low in the skies.
It wasn’t a sleek, armored warship, but rather a fat barge, probably a supply ship of some sort. But it floated perpendicular to the train tracks; showing its broadside to the train. There were three gun emplacements on the side, and as Emberglow watched, all three of them fired, the bright flashes of exploding gunpowder leaving star-shaped retinal echoes in her vision.
One of the shells shot right past her, close enough that Emberglow could feel the rush of displaced air. It hit the dirt to the right of the train, spraying up smoke and chunks of broken earth. A second hit the car behind theirs, exploding in a horrible flash punctuated by screams. The third vanished in a pop of yellow light.
“Emberglow!” The princess’ voice cut through the chaos, and Emberglow locked onto it. It wasn’t hard; the princess’ horn blazed with a yellow corona as she projected a concave shield above her. She hovered over the train cars, trying to move the shield to intercept the iron death raining down on them from the ship above.
Emberglow flew up beside her, her head still ringing from being tossed from the train. “Majesty? What—”
“Find the Elements, Emberglow. They’re probably still inside. I’ll try to keep the cannon fire off us.”
Right. “Rarity!” she gasped again, dashing down to land on the side of the car, which now faced upwards towards the night sky.
The train car was dented and bent, its entire front section crumpled in and twisted sideways. She poked her head through one of the broken windows, noting the blood dripping off the jagged shards of glass that she barely avoided.
Her blood, most likely.
“Rarity? Anypony?” she desperately called out into the darkness.
Suddenly the car lit up with a golden glow, the light poking through the shattered debris that littered the inside of the car. Heartwing groaned from inside. “Here, Emberglow. What happened?”
“Don’t know. Can you get yourself out?”
“It will take a moment. Terminus and Topaz are with me. We’re fine, but I’ve got…”
He trailed off with a grunt, and the debris Emberglow could see shifted enough to make her heart stop for a second. “I can’t shift it quickly.”
“Be careful!” she shouted back. “What about Rarity? And Lofty?”
Emberglow listened carefully for a response, but there was only a slight groan of pain. It sounded like Lofty.
Her heart pounded harder, and she leapt through the window before starting to move among the twisted metal, broken furniture, and snapped paneling, looking for a sign. Anything. Behind her, she could hear Heartwing continuing to slowly shift the debris as he tried to free himself and the ponies with him.
“It’s too dark, I can’t see!” she cried out desperately.
“Are you…” Heartwing grunted, “…a Knight, or what?”
“Oh.” Emberglow nearly swore in embarrassment. She lifted her gauntlet and cast a light spell, a floating red orb that rose up to the top of the train car. It cast a thousand jagged shadows over the mound of luggage and wreckage.
Outside, she heard the sound of cannonfire again. Princess Flurry was shouting something, and Emberglow felt a pulse of fear for the Princess. She shoved it aside. She had orders.
“Can you see them?” Heartwing called. Emberglow shook her head desperately, before realizing he couldn’t see her, either.
“No!” she cried back, her voice high and thin with desperation. Rarity was underneath this. Rarity was in here somewhere. She could be hurt. She could be bleeding. She could be crushed, unable to move, unable to breathe. She could be dead. “I don’t even know how to…”
“Damnit, Emberglow, you are a Knight! Stow your panic, that’s an order!”
There was something about his authoritative voice that gave Emberglow pause. It was like a triage situation. Count to ten, and let out all her worries. Focus only on the task at hand.
One. He was right. She was a Knight. Two. Three. Four. She had better things to do with her time than panic, even though this was the first time Rarity had been in danger since they’d gotten together. Five. Six. Seven. She forced her frantic mind to run through every spell she could remember, every lesson that might have been useful. Eight. Nine. Wait! What about…
Ten.
Emberglow’s hoof wasn’t even shaking as she lifted it high, white glow trailing as she cast a spell.
“You’ve gone quiet, Knight. Everything okay?”
“Tracking spell, sir. I didn’t think of it at first, because I thought I lacked an empathic link.” There were spells that allowed a Knight to locate another pony, provided they had an object that the target held a strong emotional connection with.
“Forgot yourself?” Even tinged with the effort of his slow, laborious work, Heartwing still sounded amused.
“Yes, sir,” Emberglow said, carefully finishing the last of the less practiced runes before the spell took effect. She focused her mind on Rarity, on her scent, on the feel of her fur against Emberglow’s, the way they both seemed to melt together when they kissed. She thought of Rarity’s voice, soft and gentle at times, hard and strong at others, even her occasional whining and complaining. The spell seemed to snap into place.
It should have been simply an instinctive sort of sense; a mental line between herself and the target. That’s how the pony who had taught it to her, a Radiant guest teacher during her time at Old Canterlot, had explained it. The teacher had been going over search and rescue spells, such as those for smoke inhalation, night vision, and of course, tracking missing ponies.
But the spell was nothing like the instructor had led her to imagine. Sure, Emberglow felt the instinctive ‘line’, pulling her towards the debris. But her eye lit up with blue light; a dynamic, moving, living, breathing sort of lighting, a tether that tied her irrevocably to the pony that held her heart. The blue light pulsed with a heartbeat of its own, fast and frightened but alive.
It took Emberglow a stunned moment to realize it wasn’t her good eye she was seeing the light from; it was her blind eye. Ruthlessly she shoved the thought aside for later.
“Rarity?” Emberglow called, and the light leapt, like a startled kitten. “Rarity, can you hear me!” The light’s strobing quickened.
Emberglow stumbled and climbed over the debris, towards where the strange blue heartbeat led. There was a pile of luggage, tumbled down atop of a broken table. Emberglow shoved the bags aside, tossing them against the broken wall with a clatter, before reaching down to see if she could see through the numerous cracks in the wood of the table.
White fur. Purple mane. Breathing.
Emberglow almost couldn’t stop herself from heaving the table off of the mare; but that could have been bad. She looked up to the crack, one eye full of the blue pulse of magic, the other barely able to make out detail in the red glow from above. Both told her the same thing; Rarity was alive, conscious, and stuck.
“Rarity! Can you hear me? Are you okay?”
“Hard to… breathe,” came the weak reply.
“Stay calm, Rarity,” Emberglow was barely able to keep her own advice as she shoved loose pieces of rubble away from the table. “Are you in pain? Can you tell me where it hurts?”
“Sore all over,” Rarity whispered her response. “Something on my chest.”
It wasn’t proper protocol. Realistically Emberglow should have waited for somepony else, waited for some way to brace the wreckage so it didn’t slip and cause further injury. But she wasn’t willing to wait.
She braced her hind hooves as firmly as she could on the uneven floor, before heaving the table upwards. She heard Rarity’s gasp as she filled her lungs.
The blue light grew stronger. Emberglow rushed to her side, her gauntlet glowing, its white light in one eye, the spell’s blue in the other.
Rarity was breathing deeply. Her eyes were open. The blue tether, brought to life by Emberglow’s tracking spell, faded as she found her target.
“Are you…”
“I’m fine, darling,” Rarity insisted, but Emberglow wasn’t satisfied. She cast a diagnosis spell.
“M-minor bruising, sprained rear leg, one cracked rib,” Emberglow spoke aloud. She started casting, but Rarity held out her hoof and stopped her.
“Save your motes, darling. None of those are life threatening, and we have to find the others.”
“Heartwing’s got Terminus and Topaz, we just need to find Lofty.”
“He should be close, I heard him cry out right after everything started falling.”
There was no reason the same spell wouldn’t work again. And just like before, Emberglow already had an empathic link to the target. Lofty was one of her oldest friends, after all. She cast it a second time, this time thinking of Lofty; his laugh, the way he smiled at True, the dopey look he got in his eyes whenever he looked at Topaz.
Like before, the spell snapped into place, and her blind eye filled with light. This time it was a soft brown glow, the same color as Lofty’s eyes. It wasn’t as bright as the tether to Rarity had been, but it was still strong, pulsing with a heartbeat just like Rarity’s had been.
“He’s fine!” Emberglow called out. “He’s over…” she pointed with her hoof, and Rarity stumbled up next to her.
The tether of light drew them to to a couch, overturned, with a broken curtain rod and its curtain draped over it. Emberglow rushed over, with Rarity limping behind.
“Can you hold everything else steady while I look inside?” Emberglow asked.
Rarity smirked. “Emberglow, dear, of course I can. I’ve been doing all this magical dexterity practice for a reason, you know. Just tell me what you need.”
“Hold all the debris in place, except for what I’m moving.” Emberglow approached the overturned couch, and the entire pile lit up with a blue glow. She reached out and touched the curtain, and the glow faded. She pulled the curtain aside, and stuck her head in the small space where the armrest and the back of the couch leaned on the floor.
“Lofty? Are you awake?”
Her only response was a groan.
“Rarity? Can you feel if anything else is leaning up against the couch?”
“No, Emberglow.”
“Lift it very slowly, please.”
The couch raised up about a foot. Emberglow got down on her belly, wriggling forwards until she could see Lofty’s prone figure in the darkness.
“Can you put the couch somewhere else?” she called out.
“There’s no space for it, Emberglow,” Rarity sounded tense. “But I can hold it for a bit. If you hurry.”
Emberglow didn’t want to move him until it was absolutely necessary. She glanced at her gauntlet; the battery indicator was on yellow. Enough for a couple more spells.
She cast a diagnosis spell. “Coup-countercoup brain trauma, severe concussion, minor skull fracture. Something tossed him into the floor. The couch, probably. He’ll be fine, he just needs—”
The night outside suddenly lit up in a searing flash of light, and a second later a blast of thunder washed away all sound. Emberglow’s ears rang, and she instinctively shoved her hooves over them.
“…as that?” Rarity was shouting from somewhere. It sounded a million miles away. “Was that lightning?”
Emberglow shook her head. She couldn’t worry about that right now. The others would…
Once again, the world was washed out in a flash of white. This time she was more prepared; she covered her ears as soon as she spotted the flash. But the train rumbled, and the couch slipped from Rarity’s grasp above her, the cushioned seat pushing her into the floor.
“What’s happening?”
“You’re going to want to hurry, darling,” Rarity called, lifting the couch once again. “Something is going terribly wrong outside the train. There’s no clouds, but there’s lightning.”
“Pegasi weather magic,” came Heartwing’s voice from nearby. “Weaponized weather. It’s not the first time I’ve seen this. Emberglow, what’s the hold-up? We’ve got to get clear of the train!”
“I don’t want to move him!” she called back. “He’s had a head injury! It could make things worse!”
“Here!”
Heartwing’s yellow magic aura lit up the space under the couch, and Emberglow saw a battery, glowing with telekinetic force, moving towards her. She reached out and grabbed it.
“Thanks! More light would be helpful, too.”
“So needy,” Heartwing snarked, poking his head in the gap, his horn glowing brightly. Emberglow smiled a brief thanks before casting.
First, an anti-inflammatory spell, to reduce brain swelling. Second, a bone repair spell, to fix the fracture. She had to change out batteries between them; these were complex and motically expensive heals. But it was worth it. Lofty began stirring as soon as the first spell was finished, while she was still in the middle of slotting in a fresh battery.
“Wha—”
“Stay still. I’m going to try to move you very slowly, Lofty. If you feel any pain in your neck or head, I need you to tell me immediately, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, and Emberglow smirked. Very carefully, she took him by the shoulders and began to pull him backwards, out from under the couch.
Lightning flashed again, and Lofty yelped, covering his ears too late.
“Damn. Gonna have to deal with that soon,” Heartwing muttered. “Emberglow, hop to it! As soon as everypony inside is clear, I can get us all under a shield and we can figure out what’s going on outside!”
“There was only one airship, when I was out there,” Emberglow said, reaching once again to pull Lofty. He grunted with discomfort, but when she paused he shook his head.
“…’m fine. Just sore. Go.”
She pulled him out from under the couch at last, leaning him against the side of a pile of tumbled cushions. Rarity gave a sigh of relief as she set the couch down, and Emberglow took a chance to look around the train car, now lit by both Heartwing’s and Rarity’s horns.
Terminus and Topaz were standing next to each other; and Topaz rushed over as soon as Emberglow moved back from Lofty a little.
“Be gentle. He’s been concussed, but I healed him. He’ll need to rest, and he’ll be a little dazed for a few hours.”
“My brain tastes like peppermint,” Lofty said helpfully.
It was the same thing he’d said when Mercy Song had healed him of a concussion, all those years ago at the Ivy Seminary. Emberglow was about to say something, but the lightning did not abate, and the entire train car shook, tossing ponies about and nearly knocking them off their hooves. Emberglow had to spread her wings for balance.
“We have to get off this train!” Heartwing shouted as they all covered their ears, crying out in pain and dismay. “Can Lofty be moved?”
“If you do it very carefully,” Emberglow confirmed. Heartwing gave a curt nod and lit his horn.
“Everypony, quickly!” Heartwing lifted Lofty gently in his magic, and the six ponies made their way to the broken windows. Rarity cleared away the remaining shards of glass with her own magic so they could crawl outside. Emberglow and Terminus flew out, helping the others climb out on their own. Heartwing lifted Lofty behind him.
“I can move myself,” he grumbled, still looking a little dazed.
“No, you can’t,” Emberglow said. “Not until I’m sure you’re—”
Shots rang out, and everypony ducked.
“Shields!” Heartwing screamed, and two bubbles, yellow and blue, appeared around them. Emberglow dove to cover Rarity, her wings spread. She could hear pings of bullets ricocheting off of Heartwing’s shield, and she quickly cast her own personal shield.
“There!” Heartwing shouted, pointing with a hoof. A group of Empire soldiers were assembling, their armor glinting in the starlight, huddled behind another overturned train car. Heartwing dashed towards them, darting around everything in his path. Emberglow and the others followed. “Shield on me, Emberglow. I need to cast!”
Emberglow kept her wings spread, hovering over Rarity as they moved. She cast her shield spell, the white transparent orb springing to place a mere second before Heartwing’s yellow shield dropped. His horn stayed lit, and as he cast his throat glowed.
“IMPERIAL FORCES, RALLY TO ME!” he shouted, his voice booming over the cacophony of the battlefield. They reached the huddled soldiers, and Emberglow saw the looks on the faces of the soldiers by the light of their shields.
Terror. Confusion. Shell-shocked daze.
“Who’s in command right now?” Heartwing barked, and a shaky crystal mare with captain bars on his chest armor raised a hoof. “Name?”
“Captain Fizzberry, sir!” she saluted.
“Fizzberry, gather your fireteams and concentrate your fire at the airship. But listen for my orders.”
Heartwing pointed a hoof towards a tree-shrouded hill. “There’s Diarchy forces hiding somewhere in these hills.”
Fizzberry narrowed her eyes. “General? How do you…”
“Old Diarchy trick. They provide an easy to see, convenient target in close range,” Heartwing gestures at the airship, still booming with occasional cannon fire. “Meanwhile, a hidden nearby force prepares to ambush any fliers or scouts that peek their heads out of cover to deal with it.”
“Sir, but what about the Princess?”
The glowing form of Flurry Heart still lit up the night above them, firing beams of golden force at the airship above, all while she fended off cannonballs.
“Alicorns… are not something I’ve ever had to contend with in strategy before. We have to get her down to us before they actually start firing on her.”
Heartwing’s horn glowed and he shouted again.
“Princess! To me!” he called, and high in the distance Emberglow saw the princess turn and look down to them, just as the hill Heartwing had noted before lit up with the spark of gunpowder.
Emberglow didn’t see the bullets fly, but she did see Flurry flinch, jerking in the air as she was hit. She began to fall. Emberglow’s wings were spread before she even thought about it.
“Terminus, Emberglow, catch her!” Heartwing cried desperately. “Go!”
It was hard to keep up with Terminus, but Emberglow pumped her wings as hard as she could. It was still a strain; her wings weren’t entirely pushing the air like they once used to. But at least she could fly.
Emberglow’s eye locked on the falling form of the princess, and she and Terminus rapidly flew to intercept. Flashes of gunfire from between the trees on the hill peeled through the skies around her, pinging off her own armor and shield. She ignored them.
Flurry was alive when they caught up to her in the air. Terminus and Emberglow flew on either side of her, Emberglow hurriedly grabbing one forehoof while sliding under it. Terminus did the same with the other side.
“Hang on, Princess,” Emberglow said, hoping Flurry could hear over the rushing sound of the wind. “We’ve got you.”
With a grunt of effort the two of them flapped hard. The princess began to slow.
For a moment, Emberglow’s thoughts went to another time. Another fall. Another pony.
So easy to forget the past. Especially my father.
Emberglow gritted her teeth and flew hard, trying to banish the image of Gearsmith, as well as his daughter’s voice, from her head.
“Emberglow! We’re going to crash!” Terminus shouted. Emberglow didn’t spare the energy to nod. She’d done this before.
“Pull up in a curve!” she shouted back. “Running landing!”
Terminus pulled up just in time, and their hooves were already running in the air.
It was just like her rough landing in the Manehatten ruins. Only this time instead of an earth pony at her back, it was the much larger Princess.
They hit the ground, and Emberglow felt spikes of pain shoot up her legs as they nearly buckled under the impact. She ran, desperately trying to keep from falling even as she and Terminus did their best to arrest their momentum.
Terminus collapsed first, and the limp alicorn lurched to the side. Emberglow stumbled right after, the three of them rolling and tumbling in the dirt. Emberglow ignored the pain in her legs, gaining to her hooves as she rushed over to her two fallen companions.
Terminus was stirring, rolling as he groaned in pain. One of his wings was bent. Princess Flurry was on the ground, breathing, her eyes closed.
“Terminus! Can you cover me at all?” Emberglow cried as she reached the Princess’ side. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Terminus struggled to his own hooves.
“I got ya, Emberglow,” he grunted, even as Emberglow felt a bullet ping off her armor. His gauntlet glowed as he cast a shield over all three of them, before unslinging his rifle and crouching low.
Emberglow tried to ignore the patter of gunfire raining down on the shield, instead inspecting the Princess. She cast her own diagnosis spell.
Emberglow’s mind was flooded with information, and she recoiled. She’d never cast a spell like this on an alicorn before; she imagined nopony ever had. Her anatomy was nearly identical to most ponies, but the presence of all three thaumic nerve systems overwhelmed Emberglow’s magical senses. She tried to filter out the noise and focus on the injuries.
Three gunshot wounds. One through the princess’ right forehoof, one through her wing, the third through her chest. The first two were nothing; the bullet in her hoof was stuck against bone, but it hadn’t broken it. The wing wound had gone right through and only taken muscle with it.
The bullet in Flurry’s chest, however, was lodged right into one of her ribs. It had barely missed her heart and lungs, and she’d require surgery to take it out.
“Princess, can you hear me?” Emberglow asked, quickly writing another spell in the air as she spoke. The wound in her wing knit quickly. “How do you feel?”
It was an inane question, but she was mostly trying to gauge the princess’ lucidity, not truly assess her condition.
“I’ve… never been shot before,” Princess Flurry said, not opening her eyes. “Not… pleasant.”
“No, it isn’t,” Emberglow said. “Are you in much pain?”
“I’m fine,” the princess lied, and Emberglow laughed. Another problematic patient.
“Okay then, Princess. I’ve healed your wing wound, and I’m going to stop the bleeding on the others. But we’re going to have to do surgery on the other two, and frankly I don’t like the idea of performing surgery on you in these conditions. Are you okay to walk? Terminus and I will keep you safe until we get back with Heartwing and the others.”
“Are… are they safe?” Princess Flurry asked, and Emberglow nodded.
“You kept them safe, Highness,” Emberglow said. “Heartwing is rallying the rest as we speak. We’ll get you back there, then get these bullets out.” She paused. “I’m going to cast a spell to stop the bleeding, but it’s going to hurt like Tartarus until we get back, because the bullets will still be there.”
“I’ll manage,” Flurry groaned, and Emberglow cast the spell. The wounds over her last two gunshots knitted, and Flurry hissed. “It’s cold.”
“Healing sometimes feels that way,” Emberglow said. “Have you never been healed before?” Making small talk to distract the patient from their pain was an important part of a doctor’s bedside manner.
“Not like this,” Princess Flurry said. “Can’t say I like it.”
“Nopony does,” Emberglow said. “Are you good to run?”
“I’ll manage.” Flurry carefully stood up, spreading her wings. “Thank you.”
Her horn lit up, and a spray of bullets came their way, bouncing off Emberglow’s shield and armor as she threw herself in front of the Princess. Flurry ducked down with a yell.
“Horn off, Princess. I’ll keep you safe,” she said. With a chagrined look, the princess’s yellow magic dimmed to nothing.
“Time to go. Hurry,” Terminus took quick aim with his rifle and returned fire. For a second, the deadly rain coming their direction paused. “My cover fire won’t do much for long when they realize there’s only one of me.”
“Watch our backs, Terminus. Princess, on me.”
Emberglow spared a single glance to make sure Princess Flurry was following her through the overturned train cars. In the darkness, Emberglow could see soldiers helping their friends from train cars, rushing to cover, forming up in small groups.
“Rally under the shield!” Terminus called as they all ran. Soldiers perked up, looking their way. A few even piled in behind them, flowing around their princess as they surged towards Rarity’s barrier up ahead. All around them, soldiers pulled themselves out of the wreckage, salvaging equipment and weapons, before charging to the rally point.
Terminus kept up his cover fire as they ran, though it was obvious even to Emberglow that he could barely tell what he was firing at. In the cloud-shrouded night, it was hard to make out anything but the shine of unicorn magic, and the muzzle flashes of incoming leaden death.
Rarity’s shield was a bright beacon in the darkness, and they dashed towards it. Emberglow’s heart pounded with the effort of galloping, and she could hear Princess Flurry’s pained grunts behind her.
“Just a bit longer, Princess,” she called back. “Almost there. Then I can get that bullet out, and you’ll be just fine.”
It was meaningless, a bit of information she already had, but Emberglow knew a little encouragement could go a long way.
“Almost there,” she repeated, as much for herself as for the ponies and other creatures following behind her. There was only one last sideways train car before they reached the shelter of the shield. Emberglow felt a bullet ricochet off her own shield. “Just a little…”
Princess Flurry Heart cried out in agony, and Emberglow’s heart caught in her throat. She spun around to see the princess doubled over, cradling one of her legs.
“I got her!” Terminus called, before she could even backtrack to help her up. Princess Flurry moaned in pain as Terminus slipped under one of her wings, helping her to three hooves. “Just a sprain!”
Emberglow wasn’t sure. The hoof looked like it had been caught on some of the debris along the ground, and twisted painfully to one side. She flinched in sympathy, but kept going, rounding the corner and setting her sights up ahead.
The shield was just as strong as ever; Rarity stood in the center of the glistening white dome, proud and firm, her horn glowing blue and her eyes blazing with determination. It was as large as the shield that had once protected Emberglow and her comrades back in Manehatten, but rather than a group of Knights, this one was being maintained by a single, spectacular unicorn. If her heart wasn’t already beating hard from exertion, Emberglow imagined it might have been racing from something else, right now.
Heartwing stood right by her side, directing rows of unicorns and changelings to line up, preparing to return fire. Lofty was off at the shield’s edge, sorting out weapons and armor for the soldiers who were already rallying under the giant dome and trying to organize them into teams. Emberglow could also see Topaz, hard at work helping a group of medics with the injured.
“This way, princess,” Emberglow directed, starting to move Topaz’s way, but Flurry shook her head in refusal.
“No. Take me to Heartwing. Do what you need to do to get the bullet out, but my people need to see me leading. That’s an order, Marchioness.”
“You can’t…” Emberglow began, before Princess Flurry leaned over and stared at her. There was a fire in her ancient eyes, a rage that had built over a thousand years. “Okay. For now. But if you need more help than I can give, then I will order you to stand down. And you’ll obey that order even if I have to knock you out.”
“Who are you to give me orders, little pony?” Princess Flurry scowled, and Emberglow’s ears pinned back at the anger in those eyes.
“Standard procedure for the Discordant,” Terminus noted from the Princess’ side, as he began to help her over to where Heartwing stood. “Nopony outranks a medic when it comes to treating injuries. Not even an Empress or a princess.”
“There is no way that’s in your rules,” Princess Flurry snorted, while Emberglow and Terminus walked by her side.
“You know? I don’t know for sure, but I’d be willing to bet it is,” Terminus said philosophically. “How many bits would you put on it?”
Princess Flurry stared at him, and huffed, muttering something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like ‘insane old madcreature’.
Terminus smiled grimly. “That’s settled. Satisfied, Emberglow?”
She nodded.
Heartwing had set up a makeshift table in the center of the shield, right next to Rarity. On it was a crudely drawn map of the terrain, as well as the wrecked train. He even had a pair of changelings hard at work updating the tactical map, using small stones to represent groups of soldiers. Emberglow wondered how he already knew the lay of the battlefield.
The strangest thing was, however, the creature Heartwing was speaking to. It was a bird. An owl, to be precise.
“Yes, we’ve found the Princess. The counterattack can begin momentarily,” Heartwing said. “I don’t intend to stay here any longer than I have to. We’re exposed and vulnerable, and we have to push hard to hit Mount Canter before the forces in the city can be brought to bear against us.”
He glanced over at the Princess. “Thank Celestia you’re safe. Why aren’t you with the injured?”
“She’s stubborn,” Emberglow cut in before Flurry could answer, which earned her a dirty look. Rarity, even concentrating on her spell, managed a little laugh. “I’ll be doing surgery on her wounds, extracting two bullets while you two discuss strategy.”
“Quite,” Princess Flurry said. “So if I can find a place to lay down so the Marchioness can do her work, I’d be grateful.”
It didn’t take long for a pair of crystal ponies to arrive with a pillow and a bedroll for the princess, and even a field surgery kit, complete with bottles of water and a pair of fresh gauntlet batteries for Emberglow. Terminus and Emberglow eased the princess onto the rough ground, the bedroll barely providing greater comfort compared to the stone and rubble.
“Go quickly,” Heartwing said impatiently. “We have to move. As soon as we can extract our wounded and as much supplies as we can manage, we’re going to push through the enemy forces and rush the mountain.”
“We have no idea how many of them there are! Or how we’re going to stop that airship from raining cannon fire down on us!” Flurry grunted with pain as she rolled onto her side. Emberglow grabbed the surgery kit, removing a pair of razor sharp shears and going to work cutting away the Princess’ bloodied clothing around her chest wound.
“I have a good idea,” Heartwing gave a mysterious smirk, motioning to the owl. “We have friends.”
“You were close to Fluttershy, but not that close,” the princess snorted, and both Terminus and Heartwing flinched at the name.
“This,” Heartwing scowled. “is not a real owl, but rather a construct of illusion magic and unicorn creativity. One of my Knights uses constructs like this as scouts and messengers. She can hear everything we’re saying.”
The owl hooted.
“So what that means is, we have reinforcements. And they’ll be here soon.” He turned back to the owl. “Set up on the ridge just behind the enemy’s ground position. We’ll handle the airship, I need you and yours to keep the forces hidden in the trees off our flanks. We’ll rendezvous at the foot of the mountain, where the train tracks split off towards the city. I will have one of our unicorns send up an orange flare as soon as we’re about to begin our charge.”
The owl hooted one more time, then seemed to twinkle a bit, before vanishing into a puff of starlight and ephemera. Emberglow barely spared it a glance before returning to her work.
Her spell from just a few moments ago had made her task harder, but if she hadn’t closed the wound the Princess would have lost a lot of blood. She could see the bullet hole, a red, healing puncture wound that looked like it had been recovering for days now.
“Terminus?” she asked. “Could I get a light? Right over where I’m working, please. And Princess, are you sure you want to be awake for this?”
“I need to lead my people. They can’t see me down. It will be a disaster for morale.” the princess replied, through gritted teeth. “I will withstand the pain.”
“Very well,” Emberglow said. Terminus moved up on her right, shining a brilliant white from his gauntlet. She could see the wound in vivid detail, now. Carefully she grabbed a bottle of water from the surgery supplies and washed as much blood as she could away from the wound, before grabbing the scalpel. “I’ll do what I can for the pain without putting you under, princess. But it’s still going to hurt.”
“Do what you can. I trust you, Marchioness.”
The soft confidence in the Princess’ tone filled Emberglow with conviction, and when she glanced up Rarity was smiling in her direction. She nodded, raised her gauntlet, and cast a spell.
“Anesthesia first,” she said out loud, and the Princess nodded, her eyes becoming a little glassy as the spell took hold. “Then a metal detection spell. I’ll be able to…”
The spell was supposed to give her a sixth sense, an unconscious feeling of where the bullets were hiding, like invisible strings tied to her gauntlet. Instead, once again, her bad eye flared with light as soon as the spell took shape, and she could see the bullets embedded in the Princess, glowing with an unnatural orange light. She let out a gasp of surprise.
“Everything okay?” Terminus sounded worried.
Emberglow shook her head. “Later.” She lowered her hoof with the scalpel, slowly cutting along the wound. The princess twitched, hissing in pain, but it wasn’t the shouts or screams it could have been. Emberglow pushed aside all distractions, instead focusing tightly on the orange spots in her bad eye.
The glow seemed to pulse, throbbing like some sort of unholy tumor. Unnatural. Out of place. Wrong. She cut with her scalpel, dexterously parting the flesh until nothing stood between her and the invader currently stuck in one of the Princess’ rib bones.
“Forceps, please,” she dropped the scalpel on a small tray that had come with the surgery kit, and somepony, probably Terminus, pushed the requested tool into her hooves. She leaned down once again and carefully worked the tips of the forceps around either end of the distorted bullet. She gave a gentle tug. Nothing. The princess moaned in pain.
“This is going to hurt, Princess. Terminus, give her something to bite down on, please.
“Ready,” the Princess’ voice was muffled by something. Emberglow didn’t bother to look. Instead, she yanked hard, and the offending metal popped free of the bone. The princess let out a scream, trying to jerk upright, but something was holding her down. Emberglow glanced up. Terminus was at Princess Flurry’s shoulders, holding each one down with his hooves.
“Thanks,” she muttered, before dropping the bullet into the tray with a metallic clink. “Now I patch that one up, and we move onto the hoof.”
For the second time that night Emberglow healed Princess Flurry’s chest wound. With a somewhat clinical sense of relief she watched as the Princess’ breathing became more even. “Put out your hoof, please. This one will be easier.”
This surgery was much less dire, less life-threatening. Emberglow took her time, even as the malignant orange glow hovered in her magical sight.
Emberglow was impressed with the Princess; while she worked, Flurry Heart continued to speak with Heartwing, discussing strategy and arguing. Emberglow couldn’t fully focus on their words; she was too busy. But the Princess was dedicated to her duties even while she was being patched up.
“There,” she said finally, tying a bandage on the hoof. “Now, let me look at your other wound.”
The other hoof turned out to be a mere sprain, and a single healing spell had the swelling down to nothing. She smiled at the questioning look the Princess gave her.
“I’d prefer to keep you out of the action for a bit, in a hospital tent, but that’s not likely, is it?” she said softly to Princess Flurry during a lull in the conversation. Princess Flurry shook her head.
“All done, medic?” Heartwing asked, and Emberglow nodded. “Good. The advance starts soon. Your orders are to stay near the Princess. You are, after all, The Heartshield. Stay by her side no matter where she goes. And for Celestia’s sake, remind her to keep her own shield up. This is a war zone!” He snorted. “I thought your father would have taught you that much, at least.”
Princess Flurry opened her mouth, muzzle twisted with offense, but hesitated.
“I will keep her safe, sir,” Emberglow saluted.
“Good. No more frontline fighting for you, Princess. Not yet. I’d rather go as long as possible without our enemies seeing your true power. Keep them guessing and wondering what you can actually accomplish.”
The appeal to her ego apparently mollified the offended Princess, who huffed and stayed silent.
“Heartwing, darling?” Rarity called, her voice strained with effort. “Don’t forget the shield.”
“Oh, yes!” Heartwing said. His horn glowed, and the buckler of Flash Magnus floated through the air. “We retrieved this from our car. It might come in handy, Heartshield.”
“Right, thank you,” Emberglow said, strapping the buckler on. Princess Flurry gave it an odd look.
“You lot are full of surprises,” she muttered. “Last I heard, Spike had that. As well as the rest of the Pillars’ relics.”
“Mlinzi entrusted it with me,” Emberglow said, and the Princess looked surprised, then nodded.
“I’m sure he did. And it couldn’t have gone to a more appropriate mare. I thank you again for saving my life. And I do hope it won’t be a habit.”
“I hope I won’t have to, highness,” Emberglow said.
“Regardless,” Heartwing cut in. “During the charge, it will be your responsibility to make sure she is safe.” Emberglow nodded. “Don’t you worry about splitting your focus. Rarity will be close by, directing the unicorns among the Imperial forces.”
It had been a worry in Emberglow’s mind.
Selfish little foal. You care more about one mare than an entire army? What about all the other casualties? What about me?
Emberglow must have reacted visibly to Gadget’s voice in her mind, because she noticed Rarity was watching her with concern. She shook her head and gave her marefriend a small smile, meant to be reassuring, but Rarity pursed her lips with disapproval. Perhaps it wasn’t as reassuring as she thought.
Meanwhile, the Princess and Heartwing kept talking. At least they weren’t arguing any longer.
“Do we have numbers on casualties?” The Princess tried to keep her voice professional, but Emberglow heard it slip on the last word, breaking with emotion.
“Triage is well underway,” Heartwing said. “We’ve got seven dead from the train crash, and I know there have been a few killed in the attack that followed. We’re at least up to a dozen, plus several wounded.”
Heartwing and the Princess both shared a look, and Emberglow saw, perhaps for the first time, a shared understanding. There was centuries of pain in each of their eyes.
The moment seemed to last forever, but finally the Princess cleared her throat. “Salvage as many carts as we can. I will not leave our fallen to those Diarchy curs. Changelings can assume larger shapes to pull or carry as many supplies as possible.”
“That leaves our offensive power diminished,” Heartwing noted, and Princess Flurry flinched.
“I know. But there’s no other choice.”
Heartwing nodded in approval. “Very well. Terminus, I’ll need you as my voice. Please ask Commander Anastera to organize her forces to bear supplies. Marchioness Rarity and I will lead the unicorns in the vanguard. Imperial guard units will follow close behind, protecting the wounded, the princess, and the supplies, in that order of priority. We leave in ten minutes, if your patient is ready to travel, Emberglow.”
Terminus saluted and zoomed off to find the changeling commander among the assembling creatures. Emberglow looked up as the orders spread, zipping up and down the lines of soldiers like an electrical charge. Soldiers tightened straps on armor, readied weapons, and helped injured companions to their hooves.
She turned her attention back to Princess Flurry.
“Are you ready, Your Highness?” she asked.
The princess stretched each of her legs, only flinching a bit at the pain of her injuries. “As much as I will be. Is it always this messy? I feel like I barely know what’s happening any longer.”
“The scholars call it ‘the fog of war’, Highness,” Emberglow said softly. “The chaos and confusion of a battlefield. Especially a large one. It’s hard to know what’s happening beyond your own field of view. In the books, the truly great commanders always seem to be able to manage and see past it.”
Both of them glanced over at Heartwing. He was a pillar of confidence and assurance in the midst of the chaos around them.
“It’s hard for me to see him this way,” Flurry whispered. “He’s not the creature I knew.”
“If I may?” Emberglow began hesitantly. “He hasn’t been that creature for a very long time.”
“Tell me about the Heartwing you know, Emberglow. While we get ready to charge.”
“He can be a jerk,” Emberglow began, and Flurry let out a surprised laugh. “But he’s sweet. He hurts when his ponies hurt. And he hurts when he has to hurt others.” She remembered when he approached Brightblade under a flag of truce. It had seemed like some sort of mad scheme at the time. Now? She understood.
He’d been genuinely trying to stop the loss of life.
“I don’t know what he was like before. He must have been really aggravating.” She kept talking as she packed up the surgery kit, fitting it into her bags. Princess Flurry huffed in agreement. “I get that. I see hints of it from time to time. When he teases, when he’s habitually never serious when he really should be.”
“You truly are his friend, aren’t you?” The princess said, and Emberglow looked at her quizzically. “It’s in your voice when you talk about him. Genuine affection.”
“I suppose so,” Emberglow said. “He was the first to show me the truth. He saved me, in a way.”
“From the Diarchy?”
“Yes. But mostly from myself,” Emberglow said. Princess Flurry nodded, looking troubled. “I don’t expect you to see him like I do.”
“I’m starting to, though,” Princess Flurry said, sounding displeased. “And I don’t like it.”
The princess fell silent after that, and Emberglow took that as a sign that the conversation was over. It was fine, though; Emberglow knew that Princess Flurry was at least thinking about what she’d said.
Emberglow took a moment to glance over at Rarity. Her love was quite busy, moving up and down a line of unicorns. Each one wore the uniform of the Crystal Empire’s guard, the purple armor marred by mud and blood. But they all stood tall as Rarity spoke to them.
“…is going to be one of the hardest things you’ve ever done,” Rarity was saying, and Emberglow admired the firm conviction in her voice. “You’ve lived your whole lives in peace. Under the protection of a shield above you. But there are unicorns in this very country who are hiding who they are. There are unicorns being killed, their horns stolen barely after they’ve drawn their first breath. This is the first step. It’s terrifying. It’s ugly. It’s quite dirty and messy.”
Emberglow hoped she meant metaphorically.
“But it has to be done. And you are the right unicorns for the job. Princess Flurry and Empress Cadance chose you specifically for your skills, your dedication, and your loyalty. And I know every single one of you today is going to make them, and me, so very proud of you. Now, form up around Princess Flurry, and Marchioness Emberglow…” Rarity glanced her way, and Emberglow’s heart beat a little harder at the kind smile Rarity briefly showed her. “…and we shall prepare to make our marks on history.”
As speeches went, maybe it wasn’t the most practiced or poetic. But Emberglow felt herself lifted all the same. Rarity, with her perfect diction and the almost lyrical cadence of her voice, stilled her worries and filled her with confidence.
“Imperial Specialist Platoon ready at your command, Sir Heartwing,” Rarity turned to Heartwing and saluted. It didn’t have the crisp discipline Emberglow was used to; Rarity’s stance was too relaxed, and she had a cocky smirk. But she didn’t think Heartwing would care.
“Very good, Marchionesses.” It indeed didn’t look like Heartwing minded at all.
Terminus flew in and saluted as well. “Changeling squads are prepared, medics are loading the last of the wounded onto carts. We can move out as soon as you give the order.”
“Very well.” Heartwing’s horn lit, and his voice boomed over the sounds of gunfire and chaos. “Imperial forces, on my command, advance! Specialists, maintain a moving shield above us! Get ready to deal with the airship. Everypony else, stay close, stay tight, and get ready to face infantry opposition. Rarity, as soon as I sound the advance, I need an orange magical flare. At least two hundred feet high.”
“Yes, Sir Heartwing!”
“Okay.” Heartwing closed his eyes for just a second, a tight grimace of pain twisting his muzzle. But only for a second. “Advance at a trot!”
Everypony began to move at once, a hundred hooves and paws eating up dirt and snow as they rushed south. Rarity’s horn lit, and the orange flare zoomed high into the sky. Dozens of unicorn horns lit up, brightening the night with their glow. Even as the shield above them came down, dozens more took its place, all different colors.
The enemy in the distance certainly took notice; the Imperial forces lit up the night with their shields, inviting the deadly fire from above, as well as the hill to the west.
But there was something else. Emberglow could see flashes of light from the hill, as Heartwing’s hidden Discordants sprang into action. She could see at least twenty different gauntlets lighting up with spells behind the enemy’s position.
But she couldn’t pay that much attention for long. Princess Flurry stumbled, and Emberglow pressed into her side.
“Lean on me, Princess. I will help you march.”
“I’m on your other side, Princess,” Emberglow heard Heartwing’s voice. “We’ll trot together, and if you fall, Emberglow and I will carry you forward.”
Emberglow could practically see the Princess’ spine stiffen at that, and she walked a little straighter. She tried not to smirk. It was odd, really, that this ancient being, this immortal, was still prone to pettiness and pride.
Reassuring, in a way.
Emberglow didn’t have time to think about it, though. As they trotted forward, the cannons of the airship above fired again, no longer conserving their ammo. Emberglow never saw the shell hit, she only heard the scream of one of Rarity’s unicorns as the force of the ball smashed straight through the soldier’s shield and body.
“Leave her!” Heartwing called when Rarity turned. “The medics will help her!”
Emberglow had heard the way the scream had cut off suddenly. She doubted there would be anything left to help. But Rarity nodded grimly, tears at the edges of her eyes, and kept running with the rest of them.
Another cannonball splashed down just in front of their formation, showering them all with dirt and rock. Emberglow surged in front of the Princess, shielding her with wings and steel. The shrapnel pinged off of Magnus’ shield and her armor, and Emberglow barely hesitated to keep running.
“Emberglow, are you…”
“Keep moving, highness!” Emberglow shouted.
It became an orderly loop amidst the chaos. Run forward, duck under the oncoming fire, shield the princess. It almost became mechanical after a while, but Emberglow resisted the urge to look into the distance and see how the rest of the army was doing. She remembered one of her lessons from the Seminary about large-scale battles.
Your job is to follow your orders, accomplish your objective, and keep your immediate squad members and subordinates safe, Lady Amaranth had said. You won’t have time to worry about the larger battle around you. Focus on what you are doing. On the immediate task in front of you. Battles are won by soldiers all working together to accomplish one great whole.
It made it easier, in a way. There was a trust to it all. She could trust Heartwing to keep his eye on the big picture. She could trust Rarity to keep them as safe as possible from the cannonballs. She could trust the medics behind them to handle any wounded. She could trust the changelings to keep up with their supplies.
“What’s that?” Princess Flurry Heart’s voice was sharp with alarm. Emberglow looked up. Two more airships, their balloons dark blots in the shadowy sky above them, were swiftly joining the first.
“Reinforcements,” Heartwing spat. “We keep going. Rarity?”
“On it, darling. Fire Team Silk, Fire Team Cashmere, maintain shields. Fire Teams Taffeta and Satin, prepare to focus fire on the airships!”
There was a chorus of affirmations, and Emberglow watched the shields around them weaken as many of the unicorns began focusing on charging their horns for the eventual assault. It would mean they had to be even more careful, but…
No. Emberglow couldn’t focus on what they were doing, she had to focus on her task. Emberglow re-cast her shield spell, just in time for all three airships to light up the night sky with cacophonous cannon fire.
Emberglow had felt bullets ricochet off her shields before, but she’d never felt a cannonball. The force of the impact drove her to her knees with a gasp of pain. Overwhelming force crushed on her from above, even as the cannonball bounced off. She could hear a scream of pain.
“Emberglow! Are you… “
Emberglow was already forcing herself to her hooves, waving off the princess’ concern. “I’m fine, I’m fine. Let’s…”
“Heartwing!”
Emberglow looked to the other side of the Princess. Heartwing was down. His eyes wide with agony. One of his forehooves was a mass of blood, a jagged white shard of bone visible in the light of the unicorn horns all around them.
From below his knee, however, the rest of the hoof was just gone.
“Hold tight, sir, I’ll handle this!” Emberglow rammed down her growing panic and revulsion. She raised her gauntlet, quickly casting. Wound cauterization. Blood restoration. She couldn’t look into Heartwing’s eyes, but she could hear his rapid breathing.
“Emberglow. No. You have a job,” he panted at her. “You have to keep going.”
“Sir! We can’t…”
“I’ll take him to the medics!” Terminus was at their side in a flutter of dark wings. “Is he stable to move?”
Emberglow spared one last glance towards the horrific remains of Heartwing’s left forehoof. “He is.”
“Good. Go.”
“But Heartwing, darling!” Rarity called out. Her own platoon had pulled to a halt, and once again were focusing on shields only. “Who will…”
“Marchioness Rarity has the command,” Heartwing said firmly. Terminus scooped him up in his hooves. “Follow her orders. Rarity, get us to the rendezvous point.”
Emberglow watched her marefriend. Rarity’s eyes were wide, filled with panic. Then she clenched them shut, and Emberglow could see a tear leak out. Rarity nodded. “Y-yes, sir.”
“Good. You’ll keep us all safe, Marchioness,” Heartwing said. “I have the utmost faith in you.”
There was something bolstering about Heartwing’s unhesitating declaration. Even Emberglow felt it.
“Go!” he shouted, and Rarity’s panic and fear changed. She narrowed her eyes, set her jaw, and gave a grim smile.
“Yes, sir!” she affirmed, much more confidently. Even as Terminus flew back towards the medic, Heartwing in his arms, Rarity was already shouting orders. “Platoon, continue at a trot! Fire Teams Taffeta and Satin, we’re going on the offensive! Fire on those airships, and take them out!”
The running started again. Emberglow felt her limbs aching from when the cannonball forced her into the ground before. There might even be sprains. She spread her wings, flapping, not enough to get airborne, but enough to support some of her weight and take the strain off her hooves.
Meanwhile, from her right, dozens of unicorns began firing beams of light at the airships above them. The beams of force scored black scorches on the underside of the ships, leaving behind little more than singed wood.
“They have Knights on board!” one of Rarity’s platoon unicorns cried out. Indeed, even the little damage they were managing was soon blocked by answering shields from up above. Emberglow could see them hesitating, their eyes casting about with worry.
“Princess Flurry!”
It seemed Rarity’s own worry from earlier was gone. Only Emberglow seemed to notice the way Rarity’s legs shook; her voice was all confidence.
“You have practiced Aspha’s Arcane Transference, have you not?”
Princess Flurry nodded, a little nonplussed.
“Very well! Fire Team Taffeta, keep up your barrage! I don’t want them to realize anything is up! Satin, you ponies will begin charging your beams, but fire at the Transference spell! The rest of you, keep those cannonballs off us!”
Flurry’s magic lit up, forming a bright orb of yellow light at the tip of her horn. It was like a beacon, and Emberglow suddenly worried that it would draw in the cannon fire. She forced herself into the air on tired wings, placing herself at the ready to block any incoming shells.
The unicorns of Fire Team Satin all gathered around, their horns a rainbow of color. Each one fired a bright line of light at the orb on the tip of Princess Flurry’s horn.
“On my command, Princess, fire at the easternmost airship!” Rarity cried out.
“Yes, ma’am!” Princess Flurry cried, sounding a little surprised at her own readiness to follow Rarity’s orders.
Emberglow could see the strain of their fast pace was taking its toll; Rarity was panting for breath. Her own horn lit, cerulean magic brighter than any of the other streams flowing into Flurry’s horn.
The orb grew brighter and brighter, and another cannonball blasted into Emberglow’s shield spell. This time she wasn’t able to brace against it, and the force blasted her shield apart, bouncing her hard against the ground. Emberglow saw stars, groaning in pain as she forced herself to stand.
“Princess! FIRE!” Rarity screamed, and the massive yellow orb of magic became a gigantic beam, a great spear of light that lanced through the night air. It plowed through the side of the airship, leaving a gaping hole large enough for a pegasus to fly through without touching their wings to either side. Emberglow could see the airship start to list to one side, before something exploded on board.
Once again the sky was lit up; not by magic, but by shockwaves of concussive force. It was too far away to hear, but for a moment Emberglow could imagine the screams.
“How many?” Princess Flurry asked, her voice laced with horror.
“Now is not the time to think about that, darling,” Rarity called back.
Emberglow spread her wings, once again flying up to take a defensive position above the princess.
“I need to know, Rarity. Please, tell me—”
“Princess Flurry, begin casting the transference spell again,” Rarity sounded a little indescisive herself. “Prepare to fire on the northernmost airship. At my command.”
“Rarity, please—”
“You have your orders, soldier!” Rarity barked harshly. For a moment Princess Flurry’s eyes narrowed. She was about to argue. “Please, princess,” Rarity’s voice softened. “Later.”
“Princess, we need you!” Emberglow added her voice to Rarity’s and the Princess flinched, relenting as the golden orb of impending death once again formed around the tip of her horn.
The continued fire from above was taking its toll; another unicorn fell, leaving fewer to charge Princess Flurry’s spell. But once again the beams of force joined together, the growing orb of light a beacon for the army all around them.
Small projectiles pattered off Emberglow’s magical shield from up above. The airship soldiers had realized what was about to happen and were firing back. She held her physical shield above her, in case anything slipped through.
“Fire!” came Rarity’s cry again, and the blast of sunlight-colored violence once again rent the sky. This time the spell missed the hull, but blasted the airship’s balloon to pieces. The flying vessel began to plummet to the ground, even as the third airship started to turn and retreat.
There were a few parting shots from the ships cannons, but within moments it was out of range.
“So it’s done?” Princess Flurry asked, trying to catch her breath.
Rarity shook her head. “No. We can’t rest. We have to reach the rendezvous point. And if Heartwing’s Knights were unable to keep the forces on the hill pinned down, we may still have infantry ahead of us.” Her horn lit again with a voice enhancement spell. “Listen closely, soldiers! We cannot let our guard down yet! Keep moving forward, but keep your eyes out for approaching soldiers! There may be infantry in the trees, so I need you all lively and ready to act should we come under fire! Shield spells up and ready!”
* * * * *
Emberglow had never run so hard, or flown so hard, in her life. As soon as she thought her legs could no longer carry her, she took to the skies, flying alongside Rarity and Princess Flurry. She was a Knight; her body was capable of enduring something like this. The ponies behind her didn’t have that luxury. Many of them were flagging significantly, on their last legs, ready to collapse. Every time Emberglow was sure the army would be able to take no more, however, Rarity’s booming voice reached out.
“Have faith, soldiers of the Empire! We will win this day yet! Keep pressing on, your Princess and your Empress believe in you!”
Again, perhaps not the most eloquent of Rarity’s speeches; especially given that the mare herself was also habitually out of breath when she called out. But each little morale boost was a breath of fresh air into the flagging soldiers, pushing them just a few more steps forward, a few more miles along, a few more hills closer to their target.
“Is that…” Princess Flurry cried out, hope and desperation in her own panting voice.
It was the train tracks she was pointing at; the nexus of the line from New Canterlot City, the line heading north, and the line heading up the mountain. Their rendezvous point.
“We’re here! We made it!” Rarity couldn’t help but cheer, and a roar of approval managed to float from the line of exhausted soldiers. “Rest, secure the supplies, drink some water, slowly, and get ready for the next march. Platoon leaders, I shall require readiness reports in ten minutes. I shall be with Sir Heartwing and the medics.”
There were some groans at that order, but the ponies did as they were told. Meanwhile, Emberglow kept watching Rarity, a little stunned.
“Was she always like this?” Princess Flurry said at her side, sounding a little surprised. “I never took her for much of a military commander, back when I knew her.”
“You never saw her in wartime,” Emberglow reasoned. “Maybe… different circumstances bring out different parts of us.”
Emberglow took a moment to catch her own breath before turning her attention to the Princess.
“How are your injuries, highness?” she asked. “Any lingering pain? Any new pain?”
“Nothing. I am fine.”
“Very well, highness. Let’s get you to the medics. You’ve done enough, I think. We need to coordinate with Heartwing and Rarity.”
Emberglow was grateful that the princess didn’t bother to argue this time.
The medics were already hard at work. Emberglow locked eyes with Topaz, who was busy wrapping bandages around a Diamond Dog’s arm. The dog was gritting her teeth in pain.
Lofty was there as well, carrying at least twenty waterskins wrapped by their straps around his neck. He moved about the soldiers, offering drinks to everypony, and helping those too wounded to raise their own hooves.
Heartwing and Rarity were already deep in conversation by the time Emberglow and the Princess found them. Heartwing was laying back on a stretcher. A bandage was wrapped around his wounded hoof. Or, what was left of it. Emberglow flinched.
“…can’t rest too long,” Heartwing was saying. “For now we have the element of surprise. But if that airship gets back to New Canterlot City, they will know where we are. And they’ll send reinforcements. Our safest route is up the mountain.”
“I agree, darling, but look around you! The ponies are exhausted. We need to rest.”
“An hour,” Heartwing said. “That’s all we can spare. Then we start our march. Assign one of your fire teams to be our rearguard, destroying the train tracks behind us as we go.”
“Very well,” Rarity said. “Fire Team Linen had the least casualties. They’ll do well.”
“Good. Now we just need to rest, and wait for…”
There was a noise from the perimeter. Each pony stiffened, waiting to hear whatever bad news this was. Terminus flew in from above. Emberglow felt a flash of jealousy; Terminus didn’t look tired at all.
“Scout reports, sir, ma’am. The Discordant forces are almost here. Looks like they were able to break away.”
“Good for them,” Heartwing grinned. “Someponies are getting promotions after this. Help me up, we’ll go meet them.”
Emberglow opened her mouth, protests at the tip of her tongue. Terminus had the same expression on his face.
“Yes, let’s,” Princess Flurry’s voice preemptively overrode them. “I wish to thank our allies personally.”
Terminus and Emberglow both gave each other exasperated looks, but between the two of them they were able to help Heartwing onto Terminus’ back.
“Not a lewd word, rascal,” Terminus said, even as a mischievous sort of grin slipped over Heartwing’s pain filled expression.
“So you don’t want me to say anything about you giving me a ride?”
“What did I just say?” Terminus sighed, and Rarity giggled. “Okay. Let’s go.”
The party moved to the edge of the temporary encampment, to where crystal pony guards with rifles stood sentry. Emberglow looked out into the darkness, scanning for any hint of her compatriot Knights.
Through the darkness and the snow, Emberglow could make out several ponies pushing their way towards the Empire’s forces.
“Wounded to the front!” a unicorn mare called out from her position leading the mostly yellow armored Knights who filtered through. She had a nearly pure-white coat that blended in with the snow that spotted the ground, though it and her yellow armor was splattered with blood from the wounded pony who leaned against her. “Medics, link up with the Empire detachment and begin triage! The rest of you, split off and see what we can do to help the Empire ponies with their freight.”
She moved slowly up to Heartwing and the others, helping the limping pony at her side.
“Snowfall Shiver and Vex Blackwater, reporting as ordered, sir,” she said, saluting awkwardly so the pony at her side wouldn’t topple over. He nodded as well, though he didn’t lift his hoof to salute. Emberglow saw bandages over much of his face and left side, covering one eye completely over a matted green mane.
“Well done on your ambush, Captains,” Heartwing said. “Both of you. Blackwater, are you going to make it?”
“I’ll survive, sir,” the stallion said, his voice firm despite his injuries.
“Good. Report to the medics. Snow, you’re with Rarity. She’s in charge of the unicorn units, she’ll fill you in on the details of the plan. We rest for an hour, then we’re charging up the mountain.”
“Yes, sir!” the wounded Discordant said cheerfully, with a great deal of energy. Emberglow blinked, bemused, as he seemed to stand straighter as he marched off, unaided now, in the direction of the triage unit.
“I’ve never seen a pony so happy to be ordered off to the medics,” Emberglow noted.
“He would be,” the Discordant unicorn, Snow, noted sardonically. “He’s married to our chief medic. And still just as much of a lovestruck dope as he was the day they met.”
“Are your forces ready for another push, Captain Shiver?” Heartwing asked, and the mare nodded.
“A rest will help, sir. We bring healers and extra batteries. Even our wounded will be ready to support your assault.”
“Good! Get ready to…”
“EMBERGLOW!”
A far too cheerful and far too loud familiar voice burst out of the approaching Discordants, and Emberglow’s head snapped up just in time to catch the projectile hug launched her direction.
“B-bubblegum?”
“Emberglow! Surprise!” the mare giggled, crushing Emberglow in a tight hug. Emberglow grunted, pushing a little to dislodge her even as she grinned.
“I didn’t know you were here!” Emberglow said, excited.
“She almost wasn’t,” Captain Shiver deadpanned. “What with her tendency to ignore orders, break decorum, and interrupt important officer briefings.”
Bubblegum shrank down, ears pinning back, taking a step away, even as Heartwing started to giggle.
“Oh, I so missed being surrounded by my Knights,” he said, while Princess Flurry’s expression grew alarmed. “You know, I’m actually starting to look forward to what comes next, now.”
Emberglow glanced up the mountain above them, looming tall and dark and deadly. She wasn’t too sure, herself. But there was something about the irrepressible, bouncing mare standing right next to her that did lend a certain strength to her spirit. She ignored the foreboding mountain and turned a smile to Bubblegum.
“Me too,” she said.