I... I don’t really know what I should tell you, and I don’t have much time...

My name is Harmony, I guess you’ll be reliving the past few months of my life. Have fun with that, I know I didn’t. But if we’re going to have any chance at saving Equestria, everypony needs to lend a hoof. And that means you need to know what we're fighting for.

So Listen up, ‘cause here’s our story.

Of all the things that have affected ponies, it is Duty that has driven us to our current state.

A nation stretching from the badlands in the west to the seas in the east, the Celestial Empire spans the continent; striking through the heart of the land once known as Equestria.

That land, where ponies once lived freely and taught each other the virtues of Friendship, is as forgotten as the harmony that characterized it. Maybe the geography is the same, but we’re a long way from those days of sunshine and rainbows.

When the Empire was founded, a veil of clouds built up over the nation, giving the land a sky to match its heart of stone. This shadow, looming over the vast Empire, sums up the life within pretty well. Everything about Equestria is grey, from the dead, barren land itself, to the hearts and minds of the ponies toiling away for their nation day after depressing day.

No pony even knows why the sky closed up; no pony can explain why the land seems to be drained of its color, its life. And of course, that’s because no pony tries to explain it. No pony cares enough. Our curiosity, our virtues, the things that once defined what it meant to be a pony, went down the same drain as our kingdom’s beauty.

A little over one hundred years ago, ponies across the land were united under a country ruled by two benevolent sisters. All three races of ponykind lived in peace with each other. There may have been a few issues, a minor crisis here and there, but the ponies of that time, the Golden Age of Harmony, always stayed true to their virtues, their Elements. Those Elements got them through thick and thin; there was never a problem that couldn’t be solved and never a chance that those protectors could lose faith in each other.

It’s a different story. Harmony between the three races is long dead. Earth ponies are at the bottom of the ladder, but pegasi don’t fare much better; they’re little more than puppets of unicorn magic now.

Unicorns command all three branches of the military, are the only race allowed to be elected as the Overseer of a city or hold any other position of power, and have made sure to keep the rest of us as oppressed and downtrodden as possible. They hide out in the city below the great marble palace of Canterlot, letting their pegasi and earth pony armies fight battles with only a few hundred unicorns to keep them in line.

Unsurprisingly, The Elements of Harmony may as well be an old pony tale. The six of them are either twisted into cruel reflections of what they once were or gone altogether thanks to the Celestial Empire. Their power was rooted in our ability to work together; they were the tools to access the Magic of Friendship. Today ponykind is so shattered and fragmented that I doubt you could use one of those old things to light a candle.

The Element of Kindness has faded from being rare to downright extinct in the Empire's borders. No pony can muster the effort to care for anyone else. Even families split apart once their children turn ten years old.

Generosity? Ponies have almost no earthly possessions, and even if they did, they certainly don’t have the word ‘share’ in their vocabulary. The only thing given freely is punishment. Punishment for the slightest infraction is dealt swiftly and harshly. Ponies either learn to fall in line, or they fall permanently.

Peals of Laughter are a rare occurrence, a mistake met with harsh words and even harsher beatings by those who associate laughter with a direct insult to their great empire. No pony can enjoy anything but the great benevolence of their Empress, and laughing at Her is akin to a death sentence.

Magic is, and always has been, a reflection of the ponies who wield it. The beautiful energy that once flowed from unicorns and alicorns has become corrupted by its misuse. And physical magic is not the only kind we have twisted. Our actions have altered the innate magic inside everypony, the things that once made us the exception, our compassion and natural gift for working out problems, have died. In their place there is only an empty void, filled with the darker, much more violent magic that allows us to march into battle against any and all who oppose us.

Honesty, perhaps, is the most lacking Element of them all. The Celestial Empire is built on a foundation of deceit and lies; the ponies who live in its towns and cities away from the front lines have no idea what truly goes on in their nation. Their lives are monotonous; they work in factories to produce weapons and supplies for the three branches of the military that keep them safe from the outside world. They do their Duty day in, day out; never questioning it, never even fantasizing that things could be different. Because the Empire’s announcements are the only way they hear about the world outside their lives, and how could their great nation lie?

The final Element, Loyalty, is the most common of them all. Everypony in the Empire is outstandingly loyal to their nation. But that Loyalty becomes corrupted as the ponies who exemplify it grow, because those ponies are Loyal only to an idea. The idea of a benevolent country making way for a brighter future by clearing out the horrors of the present. And that idea does not exist. So, surrounded by thousands of ponies who hold loyalty and its duties as their one and only strength, I find that true Loyalty, earned by ponies, from ponies, is, perhaps, the rarest Element of them all.

And who am I? To tell you all this? What right do I have to declare what is and isn't true?

I’m no pony special, I was just like you for the first fifteen years of my life. Plodding along on a path laid out for me before I was born. But then... then I found that the path others lay out for us may not be the one we are meant to take.

I’m not sure what my true destiny is, but I do know that this cause of ours is worth fighting for. I know that we need to stand together, because finding six ancient necklaces isn't going to fix the problems in this world, not even close. Ponies in this day and age are going to need more than that.

A Long Way From Equestria

Phase 1: Going Beyond Our Duty

Chapter 1: No Pony Special

I lowered my head, panting furiously. The sweat ran off my body in rivulets and splashed into the muddy puddle I found myself staring into. What I saw was no surprise. My washed-out charcoal coat, short-cut mane that could just barely be described as ‘yellow’, and stormy grey eyes had so little color already that water could do little to dilute them further. Even with the little wavelets disrupting the surface, I saw all I needed to see.

I saw the same, haunted expression that had been plastered on my face for the past five years. Goddess... had it really been five years now? All that time spent training... Training to become a killer.

That's not officially what I was doing of course. Technically I was training to join the Battalion, to get the highest position any earth pony could hope for. But that didn’t change the fact that even shooting the animal-like targets gave me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, and joining the earth pony arm of the Empire's military meant I would be killing a lot more than wooden bunnies. Being anything other than a soldier however, was out of the question for earth ponies like me, our one and only purpose was sowing the seeds of our enemies’ demise. At least it was for ponies who showed skill with the weapons of the trade.

I was breathing hard, my sides heaving as I stared into that puddle. I felt as if I had just run for miles... oh wait, I had.

“Harmony! Yer face ain’t gonna be so pretty if you let me catch you staring at it one more time! Move yer ass!” The bellow slapped me back into reality. I had stopped running to catch my breath for a few seconds... but for some reason I hadn’t been eager to start again.

I set off at a dead gallop once more, running as hard as I could to avoid another punishment from the Sergeant.

All four of my hooves pounded the ground almost simultaneously with each leap, my strides lengthening as I slipped into the serene state of mind that allowed me to ignore my complaining muscles. I kept my eyes forward, focused on catching up to my squad mates.

We were on a huge circular track in the center of the Training Grounds, which took up about a quarter of the Ponyville Encampment, my home. The track encircled an area where the stronger ponies practiced hoof-to-hoof combat, but this early in the morning it was deserted save for the nineteen other recruits sprinting around the field with me. A single lap was half a mile, and I was quickly gaining on the ponies from Gamma Squad, they were just as tired and just as strong as I was, but they lacked the ability to push past it as well as I could.

Each of us had some sort of specialized skill. The twenty recruits destined to be the ‘best of the best’ had been hoof-picked by Sergeant SteelSaddle himself. Gamma Squad was his unit, and he was one of the most feared Sergeants of the Empire.

Most of us could shoot straight, gallop hard, and fight with our standard issue hoof-blades well enough. But all nineteen of us really excelled at one or more of those skills. That’s pretty much all that set us apart from the rest of the Battalion, and what earned our unit the ire of the entire Encampment.

I covered ground fast, but the rest of my squad mates were just as hardy, and just as tired. Given that we did this on a daily basis, all twenty of us could keep going for miles and miles. And we did, thanks to our Sergeant, who liked to add a whole new mile to our routine each week.

Sergeant SteelSaddle liked to tell us that running was a great way to build up our self confidence and focus on the things that really mattered in life. A time to reflect on how hard you’ve worked towards being the best of the best.

That’s why I hate it so much. I have nothing to think about that could possibly be considered ‘fun’ or ‘happy’. I have very few life stories to reminisce over, my mother had died giving birth to me, and I never knew my father. My mind always wanders while I run, which is another way to block out the need for a break...

My future? That had been narrowed down to two possible paths from the day I was born. As an earth pony, I could either go into manual labor, like industrial production or working the fields, or get into the military and join the Battalion. On my tenth birthday, I was tested to see which path I had more potential in.

I was put in food production first, the instructors assessed my ability to plow a field straight, my knowledge of growing crops, and my work ethic. I was able to pass those tests with okay marks... but then I was put in a kitchen and told to cook something edible.

I’m able to say that I taught my instructor a new lesson that day, I showed him it is indeed possible to burn juice.

After that screw up, they forced me into the Battalion shooting test. I had never even fired a mouth-pistol before, let alone one of their bigger weapons. But they got one of the old rusted death machines hooked up on my side and told me to have at the wooden dummies on the range anyway.

The thing was called a rifle, it was a simple design really. Strapped to my right side with tough leather strands, the weapon consisted of a small black box with a long hollow tube sticking out several noses past my side. It was a marriage of steel and magic, the barrel could swivel to aim at any target in a wide area in front of me with smooth precision. It would automatically target the thing I was predominantly focusing on using some unicorn magician’s genius, and let off a perfectly aimed round whenever I stomped my right hoof while holding a steady line of sight.

Which meant that, to most ponies, it was pretty much useless in battle, who could aim like that while under enemy fire? I think they gave me the weapon as a joke, what good was an earth pony in the army when she couldn’t handle the kitchen?

I had never before looked to the future and seen anything but a clearly lit and guided path down one of two roads. Now, looking ahead and seeing only uncertainty, I was truly scared, I had never had responsibility for myself before. I had to prove that I was good at something, ponies who had no use in the Empire... were never seen again.

So I tried my absolute best with that damned weapon, I remember that day like it was yesterday. Because, of all the things that’ve happened in my life, that’s probably the most exciting to date. As I closed the gap between me and my squad mates, I drifted down memory lane, back to the first time my future changed forever...

It was a cloudy, grey morning the day after a big thunderstorm. My tenth birthday.

I had been led from the disaster I had created in the cook house to the big open shooting range on the west side of the Ponyville Encampment. The big earth stallion who had led me here had told me to take a good look around, because if I failed the test, it would be the last time I ever got the chance to see the place I had lived my entire life in.

So I had taken in everything I could, from the center of the camp that still held all the old buildings that used to make up the village of Ponyville, to the miles of tents and military buildings erected in an ever growing circle around it. The camp was surrounded by a several story high wall built from a mix of wood and stone, it was unclear whether it was supposed to protect us earth ponies from surprise attacks, which I had never seen nor heard of this far inside the Empire’s borders, or keep the lot of us contained in case of a rebellion, which seemed just as implausible to me as an enemy assault, who in their right mind could hope to fight the Empire?

These ruminations were driven from my mind as we at last arrived at the training grounds and made our way into the shooting range. My guide led me to the front of the range and then went to stand by the unicorn who would apparently be grading my performance.

I licked my lips, concentrating on the target directly in front of me, a big, hulking piece of wood. The crazy contraption hooked to my side slowly swiveled and pointed in the general direction of the big buffalo target... I kept my eyes locked onto the thing, trying to tell myself that it wasn’t real, and stamped down with my right hoof.

The rifle fired with explosive force, knocking me off my hooves and onto my tail. I had managed to chip away a part of the buffalo’s horn with my first shot, I only had nine more.

The ponies behind me chuckled dryly. That pissed me off, who were they to laugh away my future? I had only one shot at this, I couldn’t mess up!

The pony who had led me here had told me this was my last chance to prove I could help the Empire fight the evils of this world, which meant if I failed, very unpleasant things would happen to me. I may not like life here in Ponyville all that much, but I wasn’t willing to risk the alternative.

I refused to let these ponies take away what little control I had of my life, I wasn’t going to throw away my future because of one missed shot. I focused in on a small bunny, hidden at the back of the range. No, not a bunny, a dummy. A piece of wood that stood in my way to living a simple life. The smallest target there. I put all my anger, all my uncertainty and fear, into that rabbit.

My tumultuous thoughts came to a standstill, I narrowed my eyes, zeroing in on the offending object. The rifle barrel swung with much greater speed this time, and steadied right on the target I was eyeing. I didn’t even blink when I stomped my hoof.

I kept my focus on the rabbit and watched as it was obliterated by the shot, just... gone. I heard the chuckles behind me cut off abruptly.

I forced myself to stop dwelling over it, instead I switched to the next target, a small badger like creature. No, I couldn’t think of these things like that, a small wooden painted picture, closer to the front of the range.

My imagination was way too vivid. I could see each and every one of these targets as the real creatures they represented, and I couldn’t shoot them without seeing them die horribly in my mind’s eye. My head was a whirling hurricane of such images. I couldn’t block them out, it was a part of myself that couldn’t be cut away, not without leaving a nasty scar.

So instead, I found a small corner of my mind free of the surrounding chaos, a part that I could retreat to and look out at the world with absolute focus without the intervention of my thoughts. I could go around my disgust at this game I was forced to play.

The rifle seemed to respond much easier now, smoothly swinging to my new target.

The target shattered. Before I could dwell on it again, I swung to my next enemy.

And the next,and the next. Never stopping, never questioning my aim. The rifle roared with each shot, as soon as it went off I switched focus to a new painted shape.

I had gone from one side of the range to the other, down went the moose, the Diamond Dog, the antelope, the Zebra. I hit them all, bullets to the torso, throat, head, using all my knowledge of killing shots. It sickened me to think that I could do this in real life if I just went into this same little corner of my mind... but there were only two more, I couldn’t stop now.

I swung to face the last two targets, the pony shaped silhouettes. The first was a full sized cutout of an earth pony ruffian, standing in the middle of the range, I had purposely skipped it. I may be able to focus clearly like this, but I would not allow myself to lose touch with the part of me that hated killing. Killing ponies... That was taking this to the extreme in the moral sense, at least for me. I may not have a whole lot of pony friends, not even enough to count on one hoof, but I knew that ponies couldn’t be evil enough to murder, at least, not all of us.

I pressed my trembling lips together and narrowed my eyes again. An inanimate object was standing between me and my future. I shouldn’t be feeling this horrible about myself! I focused on that thought, but even logic could not quell the bile rising in my throat. I fought to keep my concentration. My determination wavered, but I chose a target, and it hardened.

The pony’s flank was obliterated, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I fought back my revulsion and turned to the last target, only one more...

It was far in the back, a tiny pony cutout high up on a catwalk across the wooden back wall. It was so small...

I shook my head, struggling to hold it together. I tried to stay locked in my little island of tranquility amidst the sea of roiling thoughts telling me this was just wrong. But I was slipping... I couldn’t do something my very soul was against, even if it was just pretend.

No! I had a chance to save my future! It was only... my revulsion overpowered my logic.

The rifle went dead, my concentration shattered. My hopes were crushed, I almost gave up.

I looked out to the arena again, and my gaze landed on the buffalo I had missed the first time. I could finish this disgusting test and still keep the peace with my pacifist self... sort of.

I plunged into that calm spot of my mind again, the rifle came alive, magic humming within it. Maybe I couldn’t stop this shooting, but at least I could control what it was I hit. I would not let this change who I was!

The entire head of the beast was punched off by the force of the shot, I guess aiming wasn’t the only thing my thoughts controlled.

I had used all ten of my shots, the standard size of the clip in most guns...
And I had only hit nine. Nine out of ten targets. I had tried my best, but it wasn’t quite there. I couldn’t bring myself to kill a little pony, even if it was made out of wood. It was just too detailed, it was sickening, why would we ever have to shoot little colts and fillies in the first place?

My mind couldn’t overcome my heart, I wasn’t that depraved, not quite yet. I kicked a hoof and turned to face my instructors, there was nothing more I could do now except await the fate I had earned with this failure.

Both of my spectators were looking at me with shocked expressions. I didn’t understand, what had I done?

“You told me this filly wasn’t worth shit!” The unicorn on the right said, he had a clipboard floating next him, from what I could see, it looked like he had doodled all over it during previous examinations.

“She managed to set the toaster on fire! She sure as hell ain’t worth shit in the kitchen!” The bigger earth stallion shot back.

“Well I’ve never seen anything even resembling accuracy with that piece of crap. If you’re looking for the best of the best, I’d consider opening your little club to fillies.” The unicorn said, eyeing the targets I had obliterated.

I was looking between the two with a dumbfounded expression on my face. The big, dull brown earth pony scowled at the unicorn, “You’re an asshole Painter.” But then he turned to look at me and his expression shifted to a more cautious glare, “Look, I don’t know how the hell you just did that. But you’ve definitely blown any records already set in this place outta the water. ”

“But... I didn’t hit them all...” I sputtered, unable to comprehend this change of fortune.

“You just shot nine targets in less than five minutes on your very first attempt at firing a gun. You have an amazing talent with that weapon. Welcome to Gamma Squad, my little markspony.”

I opened my mouth to reply that I had no idea what that was, when an odd feeling passed over me.

You should be happy. Take pleasure in your talent, why should you be ashamed of what you can do?

The thought seeped into my mind... but it didn’t feel like it was mine at all. Instinctively, I shifted into that state of concentration that had allowed me to fire the rifle, the voice in my mind, whether it was my own... or somepony else's was reduced to a faint whisper, and then it disappeared altogether. I had no idea what was happening, but I didn't like it. Was this some kind of sorcery? No. It had to be my mind playing tricks on me... it had been an exhausting day after all... But how could I live life as a warrior now? This was definitely not something I wanted to be congratulated on.

Then again... at least now I had a future, now I knew that I had managed to conquer my fears of shooting in order to secure my life again. Even if I hated the direction it had taken.

I shook the slimy thought out of my head, I may be good at this markspony stuff, but that did not mean I would take any joy in it. As soon as I thought that, I felt a shadow pass over me... not in physical sense, more of a mental whisper, like somepony had been looking in my head and decided they didn’t like what they saw. It was gone as soon as I sensed it, but I was left shivering in fear nonetheless.

I came back to reality, the stallion was looking at me with a confused expression. “Oh um... thank you? Sir.” I stammered, hoping he would overlook the long pause between question and answer.

He raised an eyebrow, but quickly shrugged it off, “Well go pack your bags little filly, I have a lot of work for you in the next eight years. You’re gonna have to prove that you can hold your own against the best this Encampment has to offer.”

With that I was apparently dismissed, he turned his back to me and spoke in low tones to the unicorn. I closed my eyes and hung my head, the best of the best? I was just a simple mare, with no dreams to speak of.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself staring into one of the many rain puddles left by the storm last night. The face staring back at me seemed... somehow duller than I remembered, as if another shade of grey had passed over my features, permanently.

I shook my head and stomped a hoof into the puddle, shattering the disturbing image. Shuddering, I went to pack my things. Maybe I would have to practice learning how to kill, but I refused to change me. I made a promise to myself that I would never allow this world to corrupt the person I was.

I was only ten years old then, I have struggled to keep that promise for five years now. It hasn’t been easy, and it definitely hasn’t earned me any friends among Gamma Squad.

Since that fateful day, my life had been drill after drill of combat skills, stamina building exercises, and practicing with all sorts of weapons in the shooting range. I got over my revulsion at shooting the targets after a few months, eventually realizing it made very little sense to hold back on the dummies when I may need these skills someday. But I promised myself at the very beginning that I would never treat real lives with such nonchalance, and I will hold that promise until the day I die.

We were on the semi final lap now, I was once again in the lead of our little herd, pushing aside exhaustion and flagging strength by losing myself in my memories. Now I came back to myself, putting on a last burst of effort to stay in line with Harlen, who was my one and only rival in Gamma Squad. We raced neck and neck, neither letting the other get too far ahead.

Harlen and I went way back, just like the eighteen other recruits running with us, but until I had joined Gamma Squad, it had been strictly a colts-only elite club, hoof picked by the Sergeant. When SteelSaddle had revoked that rule to admit me, Harlen had been top dog.

He was a biggish colt with a dull brown coat, his mane was a lighter brown with swaths of white matching his short tail. It was he who had been the most adamant about proving how much better colts were at soldiering than fillies. Specifically, how much better a colt like him was against a little filly like me.

He had challenged me to numerous races, target shooting competitions, and straight out fights throughout my time in Gamma. Unfortunately for him, we were pretty much evenly matched. In races I could keep up with him at long distance until he ran himself into the ground, and still keep going, but he usually managed to out-sprint me at shorter distances. Every time he invented some new twist on the target range however, all I needed was a rifle to kick his butt, I don’t think he won a single shooting match.

So, usually he just came at me, trying to catch me off guard and land a few good bucks before SteelSaddle told him to knock it off. Occasionally I was able to fend him off without a scratch, but more often than not we would both come away with bruises and bloody noses. The Sergeant, thankfully, left it up to me to prove myself to Harlen and the rest of Gamma.

Which, after a year and a half of consistently coming out equally or on top of Harlen in all his ‘colt supremacy’ challenges, I was able to do. Or at least, I had managed to prove that Harlen couldn’t get me kicked out of Gamma by revealing some sort of weakness. And thankfully, it seemed the colt was just above trying below the tail methods of getting me reassigned.

Gamma Squad works pretty coherently now, Harlen still calls most of the shots, which is fine since I have no interest in leading ponies. And he leaves me alone for the most part, only picking on me now and again for old time’s sake.

Harlen ran sideways right into me, smashing me out of my thoughts and off the track. I swore and kept running, leaping back onto the track and rushing to catch up to the colt.

Harlen laughed over his shoulder at me. When I caught up to him he was still grinning, he said in between pants, “If you had a Cutie Mark, it’d be a giant boulder. It reflects your personality and your agility.”

“And if you had one,” I said as we pounded down the track, “I’ll bet you’d have a flower, because it’d show off how much of a filly you are on the inside .”

He wheezed a laugh and shoved into me again, I pushed right back, insulting each other was pretty much the only sociable thing we did together. I only vaguely knew what Cutie Marks were, it wasn’t like anypony actually had one nowadays.

Before the Empire, you got a little picture on your flank when you discovered your special talent, that would pretty much tell you what occupations to watch out for later on. After the nation was founded, we only needed to know our race to be given a very short list of possible job opportunities, and given almost no free time in which to experiment and find our natural talents. So, as far as I knew, only a few very lucky ponies received a Cutie Mark, those were the ones who truly excelled at the things their race was forced to do anyway, like soldiering for earth ponies, flying for pegasi and magic or leadership for unicorns. Other than that, I hadn’t paid much attention to that particular history lesson.

Harlen and I raced into the final lap neck and neck, now I was fully aware of my surroundings and was giving the run my all, it had been a while since we’d really had a good race. Harlen seemed to have the same idea, we saved what little breath we had for pulling far ahead of the rest of our squadmates. I heard some snickers behind us, our little throw downs had been sources of great entertainment for the Squad in years past, they always encouraged us to have it now and then. Which, thankfully, Harlen usually declined, and instead challenged the pony who suggested it.

But still, every now and then a little competition made the day as close as it got to ‘fun’ around here.

I was running ragged now, the past 27 miles had taken their toll on me, but I knew Harlen was feeling just as tired, and probably a lot more mentally exhausted as well. I narrowed my eyes against the wind whipping past my face, throwing my mane behind my head in a dull yellowish flurry. I threw all my remaining strength into my legs, lengthening my strides enough to start pulling ahead of Harlen. The hot headed stallion snorted and pushed himself to the limit right alongside me. Together we covered the last half mile in well under a minute, galloping as fast as we possibly could.

I shot across the spot where SteelSaddle was standing a few noses ahead of Harlen. I turned and slid to a stop, throwing up a shower of dirt. Harlen skittered to a halt next to me, His sides were heaving and he looked like he was about to fall over. I wasn’t in any better shape, I felt like I had just run a marathon and then some... Which I had.

We caught our breath for a few seconds as the rest of Gamma finished their warm up routine. The Sergeant allowed us all a good five minutes to stop heaving before he gave us our next task. Harlen used that time to growl in between pants, “Best two outta three...”

I grinned and nodded at him, okay, so maybe I wasn’t the competitive type. But there was something about racing that was exhilarating. And it made our morning runs a heck of a lot more interesting.

When the squad was fully assembled in front of SteelSaddle , the Sergeant cleared his throat.

“A’right Gamma, good run today. Way to really put yer backs into it H’s, I expect the rest of you to keep up with them next time! Last pony across the finish line next time gets latrine duty fer the week!” He said, his gruff voice carrying clearly across the empty field.

I cringed, Harlen may be in charge of antagonizing me, but even he couldn’t keep the rest of these colts from eating us alive in return for the extra work. I also felt a surge of annoyance at SteelSaddle’s jibe, “H’s” was how he referred to Harlen and I, since we were commonly involved in whatever he had to announce one way or another. Before I anypony could groan though, the Sergeant started another monologue.

“Oh shut yer whining. You’re all s’posed to work harder than anypony else, if you need more punishment to do that, then that’s what yer gonna get! Now, onto to today’s schedule. Harmony, Harlen, you two will be fighting Lil’squeak and Big Sam in the hoof-blade arena. Darius an’ Fire Watcher will be-”

SteelSaddle cut off abruptly, he was staring with a grim expression at the sky behind the group of us.

I looked to the east, a huge contraption was just clearing the wall surrounding the Encampment, it flew low over the tents and then hovered directly over the Training Grounds.

The thing had two cylinders attached to a boxy, boat-like metal hull, the cylinders were topped off by large, rapidly spinning blades that kept the behemoth aloft. The middle of the propeller shafts glowed with the magic of the two unicorn pilots as they steadied the giant vehicle and prepared to land it in the center field.

The wind being kicked up by the thing was enough to make me close my eyes momentarily, it blew my mane around wildly and the dust being thrown around threatened to choke me.

I’d never seen one of the Empire’s transportation craft before, from what we’d been taught in our short lessons about the nation’s inventions, I knew that these things were extremely hard to create and balance so that they could be held aloft by relatively little effort on the unicorns’ part. Basically, it was an upside down trapezoid with a second story navigation room on top. Troops would be loaded into the large room on the bottom while two unicorn operators kept it aloft in the smaller, many-windowed space at the top.

The craft settled down onto the dead grass and the operators shut off the propellers, it was only then that I realized the thing hadn’t made any noise except for the air rushing past my ears, it was meant for stealth. I cracked open my eyes and wiped the dust off my face, the rest of Gamma squad was doing the same.

The title “Element of Honesty” was emblazoned on the hull. Given that these were incredibly advanced, and very hard to make ships, I guess having such a grand title made sense. The front of the boat-like body gave a hiss and a small portion of it lowered to the ground, creating a doorway With a ramp leading up to it.

Two ponies walked out side by side, an older, dull white unicorn mare and a grey unicorn stallion who looked around my age. The mare held her head high, nose in the air as if she didn’t want to damage it with the fumes of this earth pony pit, I immediately felt an irrational dislike for her.

”Sergeant SteelSaddle I presume? You’ll have to excuse our entrance, but time is of the essence, how quickly can your ‘Gamma Squad’ be assembled for a crucial stealth mission behind enemy lines?” The mare said, eyeing the Sergeant with something akin to disgust.

SteelSaddle balked at her. He looked caught somewhere between anger and disbelief, but he seemed to realize who he was dealing with and closed his gaping mouth. He responded gruffly, “Gamma Squad is right here, and as long as you’re ready, Lieutenant, we can go within the hour.”

The unicorn’s eyes widened, obviously not expecting such competence from the stallion. She most likely didn’t know and almost certainly didn’t care that SteelSaddle was one of the most seasoned Sergeants in Ponyville, and he knew without asking the rank of almost everypony who ever set hoof in the Encampment. Lieutenants were senior unicorns, specializing in taking control of small earth pony or pegasi Squads, such as Gamma, and running high risk, critical missions all over the Empire and beyond. They were usually old, much older than the young stallion standing behind the mare before us.

That mare narrowed her eyes, scanning the array of ponies gathered before her. She was doing a terrible job of persuading me that my initial opinion of her had been too hasty.

“In that case, make preparations to leave. Time is not something we have a lot of right now.” She said, obviously not liking what she saw in us.

The other unicorn stayed behind her, as if he was uncomfortable at the amount of attention they were getting from all these strangers. His mane was a fiery red with an orange streak down the middle, mirroring his tail and the color of his eyes. He looked unsure of himself, and very uneasy with all twenty of us staring at him.

“Well? Aren’t you going to introduce yourself to your new underlings, whelp?” The unicorn mare spoke to the younger stallion in a low voice, which carried clearly to the silent ponies listening in.

The unicorn stallion cringed, as if he was actually hurt by her words. The older mare huffed and stomped a hoof before turning to address the ‘underlings’.

“Listen up the lot of you! I am only here to ‘advise’ your leader. You will live and fight under the command of Firelight Sparkle.” She gestured to the unicorn behind her, who looked like he wanted to crawl under a rock and spend the rest of his life there.

I couldn’t blame him, I stood in the middle of Gamma Squad, so I could hear the nineteen snickering stallons, wondering what he’d been named for, his cute wittle mane, or his pretty filly eyes.

I kept still, head held high as I gazed coolly at the Lieutenant in training. He caught my eye, but did not hold it for more than a few seconds. I couldn’t blame my squad mates for making fun of him, after all, unicorns normally only called upon us when they needed cannon fodder, and this stallion was definitely not improving his status by hiding behind the older mare.

He seemed to realize that as well, for he drew himself up and walked in around his elder to face us. His eyes shown with a new determination.

“Gamma Squad, you have permission to make jokes about my name. I doubt the Empress herself could stop you. However, I will be leading this company into battle. And I need your cooperation to accomplish the mission that we have been given.” The fiery maned unicorn looked defiantly out at us, most likely expecting some sort of a response.

No pony gave him one, the snickers were replaced by silence, we were earth ponies, we knew where we stood, this unicorn didn’t give a crap whether we cooperated, he just wanted to look good in front of his superior.

Which he failed at anyway, “Oh for the love of... grow up Firelight. These ponies don’t need to ‘cooperate’, they need orders, and you’d better start giving them.” The veteran Lieutenant said, before walking back into the Element of Honesty.

Firelight looked taken aback, he turned to look at us, and was met with twenty silent stares. He sighed, seeming to deflate before us, “If that’s the way you all want to be, then fine. But if you want a hard-assed Lieutenant punishing you for the slightest infraction... you’re going to have to keep looking.” He walked into the Honesty with another word, leaving me with conflicting emotions, what was that colt’s deal? It wasn’t like he could actually care what we thought about him.

“A’right, y'all heard them. Get your things packed and meet back here within the hour, let’s show these unicorns how Gamma gets it done.” SteelSaddle spoke to us without his usual shouting. Which was a rare enough occasion, but it was clear he wanted to show these Lieutenants up as much as the rest of his squad.

Thirty minutes later, I had a standard issue SaddleBag strapped around my torso, a Hoof-Blade attached to my left hoof, and my Rifle fully operational on my side. Gamma Squad was all gathered and ready to go, we waited in casual formation outside the Honesty, SteelSaddle was already conversing with the Lieutenants in terse tones inside the contraption.

After a about ten minutes of waiting, the three ponies came out of the transport’s hull, “Alright Gamma Squad, I appreciate your speed, now everypony get inside the Honesty and we can get underway. We’ll be in the air for about two hours.”

Firelight Sparkle spoke authoritatively, but his words lacked the condescending tone of the Lieutenant’s. I decided that even if he seemed an odd pony for the job, I preferred following this fiery maned stallion over his elder.

I came to attention, the Squad formed up in two rows of ten and marched into the belly of the beast. We walked up the ramp and into the dimly lit interior. There was surprisingly ample space for twenty three ponies to stand or lie down in the hold, which was good since all of Gamma Squad definitely needed an hour or two of rest after our run. Naturally, Lieutenant Spite went to the front half of the ship and claimed that area for herself. Firelight however, chose a space nearer the rear of the vessel, right in front of me in fact.

His behavior was strange, dangerously informal, and... refreshing. I had only seen a few other unicorns now and then at the Encampment, calling on some squad or company to follow them into a faraway war. Up until now, I had never thought they worked the same way as us earth ponies did, they had always seemed so high and mighty, able to lay waste to hundreds of us without lifting a hoof. I’d never pictured them having their own pecking order and dealing with the same kind of bullcrap I did on a daily basis.

Once everypony had filed into the hull, the door rose by its own accord, glowing faintly with the purplish light of Lieutenant Spite’s magic. When it closed fully, several small candles set into the walls above us flickered to life, and I caught a faint glow coming from Firelight’s direction.

The Honesty’s blades started up, a dull thumping that quickly accelerated into a loud roar, apparently the quietness of the ship on the outside was more due to unicorn magic than any actual silence on the ship’s part. And why would they waste energy quieting the noise for us? The walls of the hull were seamless, the windows above were supposedly incredibly hard to make and extremely thick, but necessary for the two unicorn technicians up there. They had yet to even show their faces to us, and I doubted they ever would.

I glanced around the shadowy interior, the colts from Gamma Squad were all either looking as bored as I felt, or already lying down to fall asleep. A few seemed to be having second thoughts about this whole ‘flying in a metal boat’ thing, but there was no way they could back out. The best of the best had no choice but to do whatever was deemed necessary.

I carefully lowered myself to the floor, I was still shaking from the run and there was no point in tiring my legs for two hours. I leaned against the metal wall on my right, my rifle resting comfortably between the hull and my body. Firelight did the same ahead of me, but he turned around so that he was facing me instead of the Lieutenant, who appeared to be shooting him increasingly pissed off glares. I guessed she wasn’t really enjoying his attempts to integrate with the troops. He caught my stare as he knelt on the floor. He smiled a little and rolled his eyes in Spite’s direction.

I frowned, surprised that he took any notice of me. I wasn’t used to being acknowledged by anyone who didn’t want something from me.

He saw my expression and seemed to sigh. His horn glowed faintly, a dull yellow aura glimmering for a few seconds. I saw an equally faint bubble of yellow shimmer into existence around us, the roar of the rotors was immediately dulled.

“Hello, what’s your name?” Firelight asked, his voice easily audible within our little haven of magic.

I glanced behind him, but the Lieutenant had already given up being annoyed and lain down with her back to the rest of us. I decided there was no harm in humoring this stallion for a while. Not like I had anything better to do.

“Harmony? That’s a heck of alot better than mine.” He replied, obviously trying to get a conversation going. Whether out of sheer boredom or genuine interest I didn’t know, and didn’t really care.

“It’s nothing special, just a long dead abstract thought. At least you can find something that resembles your name whenever you want, unicorn.” I said, not caring at the pained look on his face. I knew who I was and what kind of a world I lived in, my name had always been an annoyance, an unattainable, long gone state of affairs. I suppose it wasn’t his fault that things were the way they were, but that didn’t stop me from being bitter about it.

“Well... the Empire is working on making your name a reality you know...” Firelight replied, clearly unsure of how to respond.

He looked visibly offended, “We just need to get back on the right track, the Empire is the only way we can bring back the harmony of old Equestria.”

I looked him in the eye, “Whatever you say. There is no other options anyway, I’ll follow you into battle, but don’t expect me to start talking philosophy with you. I am a soldier, and that’s all I’ll ever be.”

With that a I looked away, closing my eyes and trying to give the hint that this conversation was over. There was no way an earth pony like me could change the way things were; I was powerless to do anything more than march into battle under my superior’s command.

Unfortunately, this stallion wasn’t ready to give up just yet, “Surely you want to change the way earth ponies are treated? Don’t you want to be able to stand up for yourselves?”

I cracked an eye at him, trying to put the full force of my annoyance into the stare, “Earth ponies aren’t good for anything more than dying under your command. We don’t have magic, and we can’t fly. What good would it be if we tried to stand up to the Empire? We’d be slaughtered before we could even raise the white flag.”

“I’m not trying to raise a rebellion. I want to try and peacefully change how unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies think of one another. Surely united we are much stronger than this separation, we were made to work together.The Empire isn’t the problem, not really, it’s the ponies within it. We’ve lost what our ancestors once had, we’ve lost our compassion for each other.” He said, trying to get me to see his point of view. Kinda hard when I’ve been raised from birth believing I was only a little bit better than the piles of trash thrown off the Encampment’s walls everyday.

“We are working together. You’re good at leading, pegasi are good at flying, and we’re good at following orders. I don’t know why you’re even talking to me. It’s not like I’ll ever see you again after this.” I said. Hoping that would end the debate.

I was almost right, the debate did end, but my comment wasn’t the cause of it. We had been flying for a good hour now, the hum of the rotors had quickly become a faded background noise, especially in Firelight’s little sound bubble. I had just finished speaking, and my unicorn interrogator was about to reply, when there was a sudden cry from the navigation chamber above.

BOOM!

The whole ship was thrown violently to the left, throwing me onto my side and knocking Firelight to the floor next to me, the faint glowing sound bubble popped, bringing the noise filling the ship into sharp clarity.

We were losing altitude rapidly. At least, that’s what i assumed between the way I felt almost weightless, and the panicked cries from the unicorn engineers above us.

“We’re going down!” came the cry from above. Sending the earth ponies below into a panic; we had no control over anything up in the sky, and we definitely hadn’t been prepared for this.

Firelight leapt to his hooves amongst the frightened soldiers, “Lieutenant! Levitate the ship! We can keep it up long enough for them to land us!” he shouted across the hold.

Spite had been thrown to the metal floor as well, there was a panicked look on her face, but she met Firelight’s eye and nodded.

The Lieutenant got to her hooves, shouldering past the frantic earth ponies and standing next to Firelight in the center of the ship.

Together, the two unicorns closed their eyes, concentrating. There was a general cacophony of panicked shouts from the rest of Gamma Squad, earth ponies were not used to flying, and falling from the sky in a giant metal death trap was definitely something that set my mind to the brink of panic. But I knew we still had a chance, or at least, I hoped we did.

“Gamma Squad! Calm down you fillies! They need QUIET!” I shouted across the roar of the rotors. The insult, coupled with the little filly it was coming from, got everypony’s attention. I caught several enraged glares before Harlen stepped forward.

“Harmony’s right! Shut up, all of you! We can’t do anything, so we might as well let these unicorns do their thing in peace!” he looked around fiercely, staring down any who dared to go against him. None of them were willing to do anything, the situation was too dangerous for petty insults. With the crowd quieted down, Firelight and Spite’s glowing auras were visible around the hull, dull yellow and faded purple magics intertwining around the whole ship.

Our fall started to slow down a bit, and one of the unicorn engineers popped his head down from the hatch above, “Keep us aloft for as long as you can! The right rotor is blown to hell and my mate’s unconscious, I’m guiding us into a clearing!”

There was almost no change in Firelight and Spite’s expressions, but the Lieutenant grumbled, “Make it quick, this hunk of metal is going to kill us all.”

We waited for what seemed like hours, all but holding our breath, as we watched Firelight and his superior sweat with exertion, their faces slowly contorting into expressions of intense effort and pain. The Lieutenant’s horn burst into an overglow as she reached the limit of her magical strength, Firelight’s held steady. But after a few more minutes, he gave a grunt as a dull red aura flared into existence around his normal yellow. The craft continued to descend at a steady rate, the unicorn’s magic was only slowing our fall while the technician controlled it.

After what seemed like an eternity, five minutes give or take, there was a jolt as the Honesty crashed down on solid ground, driving into the earth and going several feet before it finally came to rest. Several of my squad mates fell to their knees, Firelight and Spite collapsed altogether as they released their spell.

I managed to keep my balance, staying on my hooves as the ship shuddered to a halt. The technician cracked the hatch in the ceiling once more, “Lieutenant! We’ve touched down somewhere in the Everfree Forest! The ship is going to take a while to repair and my partner is down for the count, he looks bad.”

“Well git your ass down here and help us open this door. We sure as hell ain’t going to be able to do anything to help trapped down here!” SteelSaddle bellowed up at him. The unicorn wrinkled his nose in distaste, clearly he hadn’t been talking to us.

“Don’t ever address a Corp Engineer like that again, you sack of manure. I was addressing the Lieutenant, and only the Lieutenant.” The pony above us sneered.

Before SteelSaddle could reply, Firelight groaned and got to his hooves. “Dazzle, get your sorry ass in gear, we have to get the hell out of here before whoever attacked us comes in for clean up.”

“I don’t take orders from you either Sparkle... but you’re right. I’ll get the damned hatch open.” The engineer once again disappeared into the ceiling.

“Friggin’ asshole... what d’you have in mind once we get outta here, boy?” SteelSaddle said, turning to face Firelight.

Firelight stood up taller under the Sergeant’s stare, “We need to get as far from the crash site as we can. Then treat any wounded and figure out where we are and who attacked us.”

“Alright then. Lead the way Lieutenant. Gamma, prepare to get the hell outta this thing. We’re following the unicorn, we still have a mission that needs doin’”.

A few minutes later the rear of the Honesty cracked open and fell away from the hull, letting in a flood of afternoon sunshine.Gamma Squad marched out as soon as the coast was deemed clear. I stayed standing near the exit, watching as Firelight and SteelSaddle conversed in low tones to each other. They seemed to come to an agreement and walked over to where the Lieutenant was still sprawled on the ground.

Firelight put a hoof on her shoulder and shook her, trying to wake her up. He didn’t have to wait long, the mare’s eyes shot open almost as soon as his hoof touched her, and she flinched away, lashing out at him feebly.

She coughed harshly and seemed to become more aware of her surroundings. “What... where are we?” She said, her voice raspy.

“We managed to land safely, one of the technicians is unconscious and the rest of Gamma Squad is awaiting us outside. We thought it would be best to wake you now and let you walk than try to carry you.” The fiery maned stallion said, taking a neutrally respectful tone in the face of her exhaustion.

Spite laughed harshly, “You fool. If I hadn’t woken, then you should have left me behind. Crippled ponies, and unconscious ones, are nothing but a burden to the rest, a true fighting force needs to maintain its strength, even if it means losing a few members who have become useless.”

Firelight said nothing, but he seemed to be bristling at her comments. From my conversation with him before, I was fairly sure he was angry at more than just the lack of thanks.

“Whether or not we should have woken you, I would like your advice on what to do with the Honesty, at this point it would make the most sense for us to hoof it the rest of the way to our destination. But we’d have to leave the ship here.”

The Lieutenant looked to him with shock, “Are you serious? We can not simply leave this ship. I can’t believe you would dare to suggest such a thing! You know how costly and rare these vessels are! We are lucky our mission was important enough to warrant one in the first place. To leave it in the Forest? Unthinkable.”

Firelight frowned, “The mission is more important than the ship Lieutenant, as are our lives. Our Duty is to the Empire and the ponies who serve it, not the technology we use. Whoever brought us down in the first place is sure to have seen our magic. We should leave while we still can, I just wanted to know if you think we should destroy the Honesty or lock it up somehow.”

Before the shock on the Lieutenant’s face could be expressed into scathing words, the hatch above the four of us popped open once more.”Alright the damned door’s open, but I ain’t gettin’ this bird back in the air anytime soon. Especially with Razzle unconscious....” The Engineer paused, seeing the Lieutenant, “Oh mam’, you’re awake. What are your orders?”

Spite lifted her head in a more commanding pose, seeming to find solace in the Engineer’s automatic respect, “Since Firelight has deemed it necessary to continue this expedition on hoof, I want you and your partner to stay with the Honesty, I fully expect the ship to be operational within the day. When it is up and running, set out to find us and pick us up.” She turned to Firelight, “There, now we can get moving to keep you and your ponies busy and still keep the Honesty.” She said with a smirk.

Firelight shook his head, “What happens when the enemy comes here and finds two unicorns occupied with fixing the most advanced ship in the Empire? Dazzle, that’s just asking for trouble, get Razzle on a stretcher and we’ll take you both with us, we can’t leave anypony behind.”

Dazzle shook his head, “Sorry Sparkle, but the LT’s right, we can’t leave the Honesty here and I’m sure I can get ‘er fixed up with a few hours of uninterrupted work. I’ll lock myself in and work with my magic from the inside, that way whoever comes lookin’ for me is going to be disappointed if they want an easy target.”

Before the grey coated unicorn could respond, the Lieutenant stomped a hoof, “Firelight, forget the arguing, I am your superior on this mission and I believe your lack of experience is clouding your judgment, the technology in this craft is worth much more than all our lives. And we must protect it as such! Now let’s get moving so none of your soldiers wander off in boredom.”

Spite huffed and walked past the ticked off stallion, SteelSaddle remained silent as the unicorns passed him, and then began to follow them. Spite didn’t give me a second glance as she stormed out of the ship and into the sunlight, Firelight gave a quick nod before he followed her, and SteelSaddle stopped in front of me. “Nice work back there filly, you sure know how to piss off a group o’ stallions. Now git outside, we have some marching to do.”

In the end, we formed up in two columns of eleven ponies each, with the Lieutenant leading the way. I was in the first pair of ponies, next to Firelight. He seemed determined to prove to me just how serious he was about changing things. I can’t say I cared one way or the other, it only meant I got to hear the Lieutenant rant and rave at us incompetent earth ponies under her breath with each little infraction.

We took off into the Forest about twenty minutes after our crash landing, leaving the stranded ship stuck in the mud with two unicorns still aboard. Firelight set us off in an eastward direction, saying that was the general direction we needed to head anyway.

The march was uneventful, but walking after that hour spent aboard the Honesty was a nice change of pace. Earth ponies liked to have their hooves on the ground.

We continued east for about an hour, taking a single break to allow the two unicorns to catch their breath for a few minutes and drink from a stream. The Forest around us was incredibly menacing, and more than once shots were fired from various places along the columns at the more malicious denizens of the gloomy maze of trunks.

We were following an old trail that wound through the trees, probably made by animals, or some very ancient ponies, it was about twenty hooves across, essentially a clear trough through the dark twilight of the Forest. Firelight was sure to steer us clear of any Poison Joke patches, as well as several other nasty plants that I had never heard of before. His only comment was, “You don’t want to know...” When I asked him what they did to ponies.

We had been fairly quiet throughout the trot, talking only when necessary and trying to keep as quiet as possible, both to avoid attracting attention from the monsters said to dwell here, and to keep off the radar should our enemies be more widespread than the group that had shot us out of the sky.

So when I heard a twig snap somewhere to my right, I was startled enough to spin and face it automatically, the instinctual movement sending the ponies immediately behind me on the defensive, they turned to look in the direction I was facing as well.

“CHAAAAARRRGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Came deep, growling bellow from the trees ahead of us.

The shadows on either side of the path we had been following came to life. Massive, lumbering shapes that eerily resembled the targets I had shot at nearly everyday of my life for the past five years detached themselves from the afternoon gloom and rushed the outnumbered and outgunned ponies in the pathway.

“Ambush! Everypony scatter!” I heard Firelight shout as the opening shots of the melee rang out.

“Fight back you foals! These beasts are no match for the Empire!” Spite screamed right alongside the younger stallion. Neither unicorn had enough energy for more than a few spells, and the beasts of the forest weren’t about to let them rest.

I turned my attention to the shadow charging towards me, the creature seemed to be wearing a black cloth over itself, no doubt to take full advantage of the shadows, but I could see where its face was, and also the short war hammer clutched in its mouth, raised to deal a crushing blow when it got in range.

I could almost see the bullet that would tear through the creature rushing towards me, could already hear the sickening thud as the Buffalo hit the ground. The rifle was locked onto the one open point in the charging beast’s defenses, all I had to stomp my hoof. It would be easy, simple. It wasn’t like the thing was going to hesitate when it got close enough to smash me like an insect.

The Buffalo bearing down on me seemed to realize the gun pointed straight at his face, but I saw the steel in his eyes as he narrowed them and braced for the end. It was too much.

I snapped my eyes shut, throwing myself to the right and rolling onto my back. The rifle’s lock onto the buffalo shattered; the beast lumbered past unhindered but very much surprised.

I couldn’t do it. I had made a promise to myself that I would never kill casually, and I refused to break it now. This battle didn’t even deserve that description; it was going to be a slaughter. There was no way killing that buck would change my squad mates’ fate. I doubted I could ever live down the guilt if I needlessly took a life and accomplished nothing for it.

I leapt to my hooves and ran to the edge of the path, sliding down into a shallow ditch as bullets began to fly from hidden shooters in the trees.

Firelight and the Lieutenant were in the middle of the path, a wavering force field around them as they tried to use their flagging strength to keep back the Buffalo that had surrounded them. The rest of Gamma Squad were either lying on the ground, dead or knocked out I couldn’t tell, or heading deeper into the forest in an attempt to shake their pursuers.

I gasped as something rushed at me and leapt into my hiding place, panting. I scrambled away and slid out my hoof-blade, hoping it would be enough to fight my foe in such close quarters.

“Harmony! It’s me! Keep your head down!” Came a warning hiss from the pony in the ditch with me. Harlen was lying on his side, obviously wounded as blood seeped into the dirt around him.

“Harlen! What happened? Where are you hit?” I asked in the same scared whisper, afraid to draw the attention of the other warriors still fighting the unicorns on the road.

He groaned, “They hit my flank. But I’ll survive; it’s just a graze. We need to get out of here! C’mon, we can sneak out while those two draw their attention.” He started to edge down the shallow depression, farther away from the skirmish.

I glanced back and saw the Lieutenant gasp and crumple to her hooves, the purple side of their shield collapsing under a particularly heavy blow from a large buffalo warrior’s charge.

Firelight turned to face the new threat, I saw a flicker of flame light up on his horn, casting a dance of shadows on his face, turning it into a terrifying expression in the afternoon gloom. The buffalo about to attack Spite saw it as well, and hastily backed up, scrambling to get away from this new threat, the big beast’s eyes widening in fear .

Firelight saw it too, and his face suddenly lost its ferocity. The fire on his horn died down instantly, and the shadows under the trees seemed to get even darker with its absence. The stallion shook his head, as if trying to dislodge a particularly unpleasant memory.

“What are you doing? This is a war you foal! Destroy them!” The fallen Lieutenant coughed as she struggled to get to her hooves.

“Never again.” was all Firelight said, the two of them were surrounded by about five of the big warriors; the rest of our assailants had gone off in pursuit of my fleeing squad mates. Although I was sure there were still a few watching the unicorns from the trees.

“Harmony! What’s wrong with you? Those two are already dead! We can still get outta here though. We have a chance!” Harlen whispered from farther up the ditch; he was preparing to plunge into the trees and run from the ambush.

I knew it was stupid to stay; I had nothing to gain and everything to lose. But for some reason I kept remembering the conversation I’d had with the fiery maned unicorn before me.

“The Empire isn’t the problem, not really, it’s the ponies within it. We’ve lost what our ancestors once had, we’ve lost our compassion for each other.”

I’d be damned if I left him here now.

“Well? What are you waiting for? Crush them and be done with this mess!” Came the same bellow that had started the ambush. I was guessing the leader was still hiding in the trees somewhere, watching his troops lay waste to my…

No, not my friends. Lay waste to some Empire ponies, ones who were probably on their way to do the same thing to his people. I was sickened by the realization, but I pushed past it as the warriors surrounding the Lieutenant and her protégé circled; wondering who would make the first move against the two unicorns. I may not like the ponies in Gamma Squad, but so far, the only pony I might be able to call a friendly acquaintance was Firelight Sparkle. And he was about to get wiped from the face of the earth if I didn’t step in.

“I’m not going to burn you, but that doesn’t mean I forgive you for slaughtering my people. Come and get me, I dare you!” Firelight called, trying to keep track of all five of his foes as his mentor once again attempted, and failed, to stand.

There was a sudden motion from the beast behind him, it leapt forward, hammer raised in a crushing blow aimed at Firelight’s back. The unicorn, however, had been expecting it.

He spun around, a flare of yellow magic from his horn blasting outward. The buffalo looked like it got bucked in the chest, hard. It flew several yards away, landing in a heap on the path behind Firelight. The blast of magic had staggered the rest of the buffalo as well. They opened their circle slightly; allowing me a clear view of the grey coated stallion as he panted, his horn still aglow with power, searching for his next opponent.

He let loose another ball of energy. It blasted into another of the buffalo who had been advancing on him, throwing the beast into the Forest and giving him a moment of respite, or so he thought.

The three buffalo seemed to figure out all at once that going one by one was no way to take this foe down. Firelight cried out as all three suddenly charged him, his magic blasted one to its hooves, but the spell was already too weak to even touch the other two.

The unicorn seemed to realize that at the same moment I did. He sighed, the fire within him that had kept him on hooves this long was snuffed out as the enemy closed in from either side.

It all happened in milliseconds, I realized I was already focused entirely on the fiery maned stallion who had tried so hard to do the right thing. I knew that I had to help, something inside of me had awoken when I realized that, unlike every other pony I had ever met, I actually did care if this unicorn made it out alive.

Save yourself, there is no point in wasting your energy on those who cannot help themselves. Do not turn away from your mission.

Remember your Duty to the Empire.

The slimy, evil whisper in my head was definitely not mine. But I had no time to feel anything other than a detached fear of it. I had a mission, an objective far more important than any given to me by the Empire. My mission was to save somepony who had shown me a little kindness, a little honesty.

The thoughts in my head seemed to come to a standstill, the adrenaline pumping through my mind slowing down the world around me long enough to pick and choose my shots.

I analyzed every detail of the buffalo’s motion, I picked my targets, and stomped my hoof with a finality that spoke volumes of my determination to help this unicorn. A finality that the thing in my head clearly despised.

BLAM!
BLAM!

I didn’t stop to watch as my shots incapacitated the two beasts; one shot hittiung the closest attacker in the back of the knee and bringing him down hard. My other bullet exploding into the far opponent’s horn, the sheer unexpectedness and blinding pain causing him to halt mid-charge.

I was already galloping towards them before they could cry out; I knew there were other dangers still lurking in the forest, but there was no way I could waste the element of surprise. I kept up my speed, jumping at the last moment and tackling the dazed Firelight into the shadows on the other side of the path.

BANG!
BAM!

Two shots whizzed into the dirt where Firelight had been sitting, dumbfounded, moments before. I bit his mane and dragged him further into the forest, pushing him over a fallen tree and leaping behind the cover myself.

Before any more foes could show themselves however, a deep thrumming came into hearing. A strange humming slowly growing in volume.

“I thought you took that damned thing out of commission!” Came the growled curse of who I assumed to be the leader of this band of buffalo.

The Element of Honesty cleared the tops of the trees from the direction we had travelled from. It seemed to zero in on us, flying fast towards the skirmish, or what was left of it at least.

“I’m on it boss, don’t worry.” Came a surprisingly normal voice from the trees ahead of the place where Lieutenant Spite was still lying. A big buffalo stepped out into the open, but what was formidable about him was less his size, and more the giant contraption hooked up to his back.

It looked like someone had taken a huge cylinder and slapped it onto a high-tech Assault Saddle mount, the giant barrel could be aimed with almost as much precision as my own weapon thanks to the small magical device set up on the wielder's left eye, and it looked like it fired huge projectiles. The perfect size for the explosion that had taken the Honesty out of the sky in the first place...

I continued to watch from my hiding place behind the log, it seemed the shooters still hiding out in the forest were either too busy watching the ship advancing on us, or they no longer considered me a threat and were searching for my squad mates.

I watched as the big buffalo with the cannon took a steady stance in the middle of the path, lining up his shot with slow and precise adjustments. There was no way the Honesty would ever make it out of this Forest with that weapon intact, but it looked nigh-impenetrable for the little rifle I had.

I would have to take care of the shooter to give us any chance of getting on board safely.

I sighed, and plunged into the focus that allowed me to use my weapon. My barrel twitched into just the right position to send a bullet straight into the buffalo’s rear, giving him a non-fatal but incredibly painful wound that should give the Honesty a chance to reach us.

I raised my hoof to take the shot, hoping that it wouldn’t be too terrible for my victim...

“NO! STOP!” I felt a large weight crash into me from the left, slamming me into the ground and kicking me across the forest floor. I slid to a stop at the base of a giant tree, winded... and confused as hell.

I scrambled to my hooves, my hoof-blade sliding out as I stomped and searched for my assailant. I found her immediately, an icy blue coated pegasus pony crouched into a combat stance, blocking my line of sight on the cannon-toting buffalo.

“Wha-who are you!?” I asked, completely stunned to see another pony out here, and a pegasus at that.

“Don’t kill him! He doesn’t mean to hurt anyone! We’re just trying to protect the families! Please!” Her eyes darted around rapidly, looking for some way to fight me, I realized she had no weapons to speak of, just some worn looking saddlebags bulging with supplies that she handled with ease.

“Crystal! What are you doing out here!? Get back! They’ll kill you!” The buffalo in the path behind her shouted. He had totally broken his aim on the Honesty, despite the ship being only a few minutes away now and growing closer with each second. Now his giant weapon was focused on one pony and one pony only, me.

I had no idea what to do. I definitely wasn’t about to kill this pegasus, but with that gun pointed this way, she might be my only salvation. “Wait!” I shouted, freezing the Pegasus in her tracks before she could fly away.

“I can’t let him kill the ponies in that ship!” I said, aware that the Honesty was almost upon us.

“Then tell them to go home!” The ice blue pegasus said fiercely, “Get them to leave us the hell alone!”

“I can’t do that! No one would listen to me, I’m an earth pony for goddess’s sake!” I shouted despairingly, desperately attempting to stall long enough for the Honesty to arrive. I had no clue; no plan. But I wasn’t about to start shooting these two, regardless of the giant cannon aimed my way.

The pegasus’s eyes widened as she stared at me. Covered in dust and panting from the day’s stress, armed to the hooves with a dangerous glint in my eye; I must look like a frightening soldier, not the helpless little filly I was when it came to deciding where my Duty ended and my compassion began.

“Crystal! She’s just stalling! Fly outta there or I’m coming in after you and then she’ll shoot one of us for sure!” The buffalo yelled, convinced I was preparing to kill this pony.

I looked over in the buffalo’s direction, and caught site of a flash of brown as somepony snuck past the brute. They were staying low to the ground in the shallow divot on the other side of the path, Harlen!

The brown stallion kept going. But he turned and caught my eye, a sad stare was set firmly in place on his features, he nodded up the path; where the Honesty was already lowering to the ground in a clearing back the way we had come. It seemed to be where the survivors of the ambush had gathered. I guess the buffalo had made their point and were retreating to preserve their energy... or they were getting everypony rounded up in one death trap, just waiting for the cannon-toting warrior to take them all out.

I turned my attention back to Harlen, he could distract the buffalo, give us a chance to....

Harlen continued on, not giving a backward glance as he crept past the buffalo and made his way towards salvation.

I felt that disgusting shadow slither through my head again,

You see? No pony is truly worth the effort of caring for them, give up on this foalish fight. Run away; who cares if they destroy the ship, as long as you’re not on it?

The ice blue pegasus was staring at me with conflicting emotions on her face, she must have seen my rapid expression changes as Harlen had turned his back on me; Depression, followed by the disgust at the beast within my head, and then cold determination. We didn’t have to fight these buffalo, they were rational. I could tell that from the way this one was trying to protect the pegasus, we could solve this without any more bloodshed.

I was about to call out to the big warrior. To try and make peace, when there was a hoarse cry from his direction. I looked past the pegasus and saw Lieutenant Spite, biting onto the buffalo’s hind leg with a ferocious expression, obviously trying to distract him.

I saw the sheer terror in the buffalo’s face as he reared up, unable to stop himself as he plunged back towards the ground. I saw the horrible outcome of what was about to happen.

“GET AWAY!” I screamed at the ice blue mare. The buffalo’s weapon went off a moment later as he stomped the ground, his mechanized Assault Saddle not registering that he no longer desired to shoot his target. A red blast of light flew out of the barrel, screaming towards me.

Either through sheer dumb luck, or because of my warning, the pegasus managed to launch herself into the air and flap furiously away before the projectile flashed past the space she had been occupying. I attempted to leap away, get behind some cover, but something seemed to freeze my limbs in place.

The ghostly shadow that had been plaguing me since my initiation to Gamma Squad seemed to materialize in full force.

You’ve proven that you are too dangerous to be allowed to live. You will never be able to help anyone ever again, you will forever be known as the mare who failed to do her duty when it was needed most.

The young, bright unicorn stallion known as Firelight Sparkle died today, because of you.

I managed to fall over on my side, feebly wiggling my hooves as I tried to fight the dark powers that were blanketing my mind, the only way I could even think coherently was by retreating to that small, sacred part of my mind. My mental Sanctuary.

I watched, detached from my body, as the end drew near. I had a lot of regrets; but above all, I was startled to realize that there was one thing I regretted more than anything else.

I regretted doing my Duty. I regretted doing what I was told because I was told to do it. And I regretted that my actions in the past few hours had been enough to bring about my death, yet had not been enough to make any real difference. And now, because of my stupidity; Firelight Sparkle was going to die.

The thought was enough to give me the strength to cry, a single tear fell from my eye, splashing onto the leaves beneath me.

The entire conversation in my head had taken place at the speed of thought; the missile was about ten hooves away now, slowly closing the distance as I watched. Trapped inside the one part of my mind that seemed immune to the Darkness that had taken my body.

My vision seemed to tinge yellow. I watched as the ball of fiery magic seemed to halt a few inches from my face, saw little ripples spread out across the sickly golden membrane that seemed to surround me.

And then the world imploded.

End of Chapter 1

Letter to the Reader:

Today I learned that ambushes suck, explosions are painful, and, more importantly; despite the way someone may look, act, or sound, you have no idea what they are like until you’ve had a real conversation with them.

The sarcastic looking receptionist could in fact be a brilliant philosopher with a million friends if you but stopped and had a conversation with her, and the popular jock may be an emotional train wreck just a few threads away from snapping when you come in and offer a hoof in true friendship.

***Author’s Note***

I would really like to know what you think of this! If you have any thoughts or suggestions on this story, please please please comment! It would be awesome to get some honest feedback! :D

If you liked this at all, please hold out your right hand(Or left, if you feel up to it). Now curl your fingers into a fist. Yes, good. Now stick your thumb straight up. There, now find the icon near the bottom of this page that looks similar to your hand. Eyup, that one. Now click it. Thank you!

Inspiration Credits: Kkat, and Somber & The Project Horizons Syndicate. As well as Alex S's Cutie Mark Crusader's Theme Song Remix.

Written and Edited by: Fluttersyke

(With help from Sorren and Chris, Thanks guys!)

***End of Author’s Blabbering***

(No really, you can go Home now)

A Long Way From Equestria: Going Beyond Our Duty

by Fluttersyke

Chapter 1: No Pony Special