The Stranger and Her Friend

by TheUrbanMoose

XXV: Drop Shock

Celestia planted her hooves on a wooden railing, and leaned forward to look over the edge.

That’s a long way to fall.

Not that she could truly tell. Her whole sense of elevation had long since been skewed with the loss of an earthly horizon. Far below her, stretching in all directions for miles and miles upon end was an endless blanket of light grey clouds. The earth as a whole was completely obscured; the storm became her new reality.

And what a storm it was!

The airship they rode upon was huge enough to carry nearly one-hundred pegasi, plus ten unicorns and ten earth ponies – approximately one hundred and twenty passengers and crew in total, and even then, it was not quite at its complete carrying capacity. Its hull, crafted from a seamless blend of wood and metal, and lined with an abundance of lighter-than-air cloudstuff, formed into a shape that reminded Celestia of a boat; that was, if boats could fly, and were triple the standard size. The amount of cloth used in its sails and the balloon that held it aloft could have been made into hundreds of blankets. In honor of its gargantuan proportions, the transport-class airship had been aptly named “The Colossus”.

Yet, for its grand size and masterwork construction, the airship was nothing, nothing compared to the storm that it sailed above. Celestia had, of course, known that clouds were big. More than once, she had been required to fly among them during training, learning to manipulate them with her hooves. Even still, she had never seen them as anything more than that; simple objects in the sky, never really seeing and comprehending them on a truly accurate scale. Trees and buildings were, in her mind, bigger, even though she knew it was not so. Perhaps it was because she was not a “true” pegasus, but the cloud layer never appeared to be anything more than a deity’s painting on the ceiling of the earth.

But never before had Celestia been at such an extreme altitude. Looking down upon the clouds as she was, she saw them from a drastically different perspective – and it was like watching mountains drift by.

It was the first “attack storm” Celestia had ever seen up close, but her veteran squadmates told her it was the greatest they themselves had ever laid eyes on. Celestia would never have expected to see such savage beauty in something pony-made. The cloud blanket far bigger than the floating city itself, and was laced with cracking flashes of blue lightning that would shake the airship whenever they appeared – the frequency of which was practically every second. If heaven existed, and if heaven had an ocean, it would almost certainly look like the thundering blue-grey sea beneath them; perhaps Tempesta, the Goddess of Storms, made her home in someplace similar.

“Celestia.”

She almost jumped as she felt a hoof clap her on the shoulder. She turned to see Lieutenant Lightning Sky standing close by her. She pushed off the railing and planted all four hooves on the deck of the ship.

“Hello, sir,” she said mildly, a hint of excited chatter on the edge of her voice.

He set his hoof down. “How’re you feeling, soldier?”

“Not bad,” Celestia said. “Maybe a little nervous.”

He smiled. “Don’t be.”

Celestia smiled back, watching the lieutenant casually set his hooves on the railing next to her. Beside him, she merely peered over.

“Quite the sight, isn’t it?” he said, looking out over the storm.

Celestia nodded. “It is.”

“Yeah…” Lightning said in a half-sigh, still staring dreamily into the crackling clouds. “I never get tired of it.”

A moment of silence passed between them. They were on the bow of the ship looking forward, watching as they sliced through some of the higher free-floating clouds. Behind them, the rest of the crew was alive with activity. Some shouted orders, some worked the sails, another worked the steering, but most of the sound came from the pegasi of the Maiden’s Battalion, donning their armor, readying their weapons, and rallying with the unicorn to which they had been each assigned. They were nearing their destination, after all. Only ten minutes till.

“How’s your family?” Celestia asked. “Cream Sky and… Amber Sky?”

“Cream, my daughter, and Amber, my wife. That’s right.” He eyed her with approval. “I’m surprised you remember.”

Celestia looked off, the twinkle of a small but pleasant memory in her eye. “I couldn’t forget Cream.”

Lightning had a nearly identical expression. “Yeah, she’s something… and she hasn’t forgotten you either. Amber’s always worried for me, but Cream is just pleased as pie that you’re in my unit. I think.” He shrugged. “Her hoofwriting is still a little sloppy.”

Celestia smiled. “Can she fly, yet?”

He shook his head. “No, not yet.” He paused. “To be honest, I’m not sure if she ever will.”

Celestia looked at him, frowning and tilting her head. “Huh? Really?” she asked. “What makes you say that? Did she have an accident?”

Lightning laughed. “An accident? Oh, no. That filly is more reckless than I was as a kid. No doubt she’s gotten into a dozen accidents in my absence, and she’ll get into a dozen more before I’m home. I would feel more sorry for her mother than I do for her.”

Celestia gave him a curious look. In the time she had known him, the Lieutenant had never been anything but sober, responsible, and orthodox to military procedure. She found it impossible to imagine him as a reckless youth.

He smiled a while longer before letting it die down. “No, it’s just the way she was born. She’s got these tiny little wings that I doubt will ever really cut it, even when she grows up. She’s a… a ‘flutterer’, I guess is what it’s called.”

Celestia’s gaze fell. “Oh… I’m sorry.”

Lightning shook his head. “It’s really a shame. She’s got twice the heart of anypony else her age. In a different world, she could be a member of this battalion, no problem. But you know something?” He looked back out into the clouds, pausing at the sight of a particularly large lightning strike. “There’s a reason she’s got so much heart. It’s because of her wings. Her tiny little wings have given her a reason to try – and try she has. Her disability has made her stronger than she ever would have been otherwise. Do you know why I write to her about this?” He swept his arms forward at the awe-inspiring, yet oddly tranquil world of clouds before him. “And not the chaos below? She asks me about my job – I think – and that is, realistically, what my job entails. Chaos. Killing. But these are the things I send home. So why write about this?”

Celestia merely shook her head.

“Hope. She loves reading about it. She loves reading about you, incidentally. And she knows if she is ever going to experience it firsthoof, she will need to learn how to fly.”

“Oh,” Celestia simply said. It sounded a bit cruel to her.

Lightning seemed to sense her thoughts. “Some fillies might take it bitterly… but not Cream. She lets herself be motivated by it. It provokes her to try. It gives her hope. And if she’s ever going to have a chance at flying, she needs all the hope she can get.” A sad half-smile appeared on his face. “The hardest trials make the greatest people.”

They stood there for another moment. Celestia wondered if she should speak, but before she could try, Lighting Sky pushed off of the railing and backed up a few steps.

“So we’re approaching the drop zone soon. Are you completely geared?”

Celestia blinked, and then briefly looked down at herself, running her hooves all over her gear. She was wearing the traditional pegasi armor – light plate complemented with chain – and her front hooves were both encased in the cylindrical gauntlet of a switchblade. It all felt very familiar, even if she usually preferred the heavier earth pony variant. However, she found that high altitude missions demanded some interesting additions. Over their armor, everypony aboard the airship sported a thick, light-tan coat of rough material with a high collar or wrapped scarf protecting their neck. As Celestia discovered, passing through the high atmosphere could be cold, and passing through stormclouds, even colder. Additionally, she wore a set of flight goggles that currently dangled around her neck, to be worn in conjunction with a maskless helmet. A pegasus was naturally rugged when it came to weather, no matter the form, whether it be defense against lightning, resistance to cold, or being able to see through the rushing wind at high speeds. For this mission, however, they would need everything they had been issued.

She looked back up after quickly patting herself down. Everything was accounted for. “Yes, sir.”

He gave a short nod. “Good. We’re in the same group. Follow me, and let’s go get you enchanted.”

“Yes, sir.”

He started off, and Celestia followed close behind.

The squads were broken into groups of six or seven pegasi, plus one unicorn. Their particular group was meeting at the stern of the ship. The walk there was no small thing, considering all the ponies scrambling about on the deck and the length of the ship to begin with. She considered flying there, but Lightning had already instructed her not to. It was too easy to get caught up in the wind currents around the vehicle and fall overboard. In normal conditions, a pegasus could easily catch up to the airship, but the massive storm below them changed things. It may have been pony-made, but it was still a force of nature.

So, she kept her hooves on the ground, dodging past other soldiers while following the Lieutenant. They descended a set of wooden stairs to the main deck, and Celestia idly viewed the other groups as she sauntered towards her own. Already the enchantings were taking place. The deck was crowded with tired unicorns and faintly glowing pegasi.

“So are you ready for this?” Lightning asked, speaking loudly over the bustle of the crew.

“Not really,” Celestia called back. “I don’t suppose I’ll get the chance to reconsider?”

Lightning laughed. “I hope you don’t mean that! Cream would be heartbroken if you didn’t come along!”

“Well then, I guess I’ll just have to!”

Lightning slid around an earth pony moving a huge cannon to the side of the ship. Celestia recognized her as Lance Corporal Allez – the twin sister of the mild-mannered swords instructor, Captain Garde. They shared a friendly hello as she passed, but Celestia felt like it was marred by the somewhat sickly look on her face. Earth ponies were not meant to fly, or so it was said, and looking back on it, Celestia could not think of a single one who appeared to be enjoying themselves. After the drop, the Colossus would be brought around to the port side of the city and used as way to transport all the civilians to safety. If the earth-tribe soldiers were not absolutely necessary in helping to keep the ship secure, none of them would voluntarily be aboard.

“Oh- Hold up, Celestia.”

Celestia bumped into Lightning’s outstretched arm and stopped in place. Blocking their path was a pegasus and unicorn, engaged in the middle of an enchanting. She watched in fascination as the mage held his illuminated horn near the chest of the pegasus that stood before him, almost close enough to jab him. Soon, the whole pegasus was enveloped in a deep, pulsating blue that seemed to resonate with the glow of the horn. The effect reminded Celestia of telekinesis in the way that the energy enveloped the subject; and yet, this spell simply looked and moved different in a way she could not describe.

“C’mon.”

Celestia snapped out of her gaze and looked past the group, where Lightning Sky stood at the base of another set of stairs that led to the stern. Celestia carefully walked around the group in front of her, and followed him.

They stepped up onto the elevated stern of the ship. Waiting for them was a group of five pegasi, plus one very tired looking unicorn.

“Oh good… you’re here.” A pink-maned, green-coated unicorn greeted Celestia as she approached her group on the stern of the ship. What was her name, again? Misty? No, Minty. Minty’s posture seemed to sag, and her chest heaved in heavy motions. Dark creases formed underneath a pair of sunken eyes. The pegasi behind her radiated with a faint blue.

“Let’s get you enchanted…” she sighed following an outward breath. “Come over here… and stand… yes, just like that. Now stay still, please.”

Celestia watched Minty’s horn glow a light pink, and closed her eyes as the unicorn pointed her horn her direction. For a few moments, Celestia felt nothing, and then almost yelped as a sudden sensation took root at the hooves of her hind legs. The feeling was oddly effervescent, as if a thousand bubbles brushed past her skin, slowly working its way up from her hooves to the back of her legs. She squirmed as she felt it slide across her flank.

“Don’t move,” Minty demanded in a strained voice, sounding as if she were having trouble breathing. Celestia did her best to accommodate the request.

After another fifteen seconds, although it felt much longer, her entire body was enveloped by the bubbling, tickling sensation, having finally come to a completion on her snout. Her lips were pursed and her nose wrinkled, and the tingling persisted. Finally, she heard the unicorn in front of her sigh, and felt a certain release about her own body. She opened her eyes to see Minty holding her head low to the ground and breathing heavily.

Celestia brought her hooves up to her eyes. They were radiating a faint blue, similar to all the other pegasi aboard. To her discomfort, the sensation had receded, but did not completely fade. She looked back and deployed her wings, giving them a few experimental flaps. A faint blue trail of magical particles was left hovering in their wake, floating like motes of dust in the sunlight before quickly disappearing. If she moved her wings fast enough, those particles would crackle and pop.

She folded her wings in again. “Thanks,” Celestia said, nodding to her enchantress. She merely nodded back, and then was escorted by somepony to the lower decks and into the bowels of the ship, where presumably, she would get some rest before the battle.

“Enchanting is hard work,” Lightning Sky remarked, standing beside Celestia. “Or so they say.”

She idly hummed her agreement, playing with her limbs and fidgeting in place, still unused to the feeling. “So how does this work again?”

Lightning turned to her. “How does what work?”

“Storm… something. What was it?”

“’Storm dropping’?” Lightning offered.

“Yeah. The plan is to drop behind lines, surprise the enemies guarding the quarantine, secure the hostages, and bring them to the Colossus and the other airships waiting to the east while the enemy is distracted by the frontal assault… er, right?” Celestia looked to him for confirmation, which he gave by nodding. She continued. “So I know that, but in that meeting they mentioned a ‘storm drop’. I… don’t actually know what that is.”

“You don’t?” She shook her head, and he shrugged. “Well, I couldn’t tell you about the magic of it. I just know the practice.”

“What’s wrong with normal dropping?” Celestia asked.

“Oh, nothing’s wrong with normal dropping. This just works much better.”

Celestia’s assigned group of pegasi had gravitated over to the railing of the ship – a structure they soon knew they would be vaulting. After that, it was a long, long fall to the city below. If Celestia understood correctly, that distance would be crossed and that fall completed in almost no time at all.

“High altitude drops have always been used by the pegasi as a form of strategy,” Lightning continued, “even before the tribes united. What we are about to do is simply the next level of that. What makes storm dropping special is the speed.”

She could have imagined it, but Celestia thought she saw a giddy smile tug on the corners of the Lieutenants lips.

“That enchantment everypony just received is a package deal, so to speak. A full suit of boons, buffers, and protections designed to do one thing, and one thing only; to get you from here…”

He tapped on the deck of the ship.

“…to wa-aaaay down there…”

He pointed over the side of the ship, supposedly through the clouds and at the unseen ground below them.

“…in the blink of an eye. Falling at terminal velocity, even through cloud cover, the sinisteeds have some way of knowing about our approach once we get close enough. They can sense it, somehow. With what you’ve got now, however, as soon as you hit the cloud layer- bang! You’re gone with the lightning.”

There was no suppressing it; the smile had spread across his lips in full view. Lightning Sky looked so pleased with his explanation, so content to have said it, Celestia almost smiled back in amusement. It was like hearing a colt excitedly explain his favorite hobby to a friend.

“I understand all that,” Celestia said, “I just… how does it work? Why do you go so fast?”

Again, he shrugged. “Like I said, I only know how to do it, but… well, in laypony’s terms, you ride a bolt of lightning.”

Celestia blinked. “You… what?”

He smiled. “Sounds mythical, I know. With this enchantment, you fall at normal speed until you hit the cloud layer. Then, a bunch of different things happen. The magic attracts lightning towards you, makes you a living conductor. A bolt must be naturally occurring nearby, but in storms like these, that generally doesn’t take long. Once a bolt happens to strike near you, it is attracted directly towards you, and at that moment, the enchantment acts as sort of a shield. In addition to protecting you from the shock, it… I guess, ‘pushes’ you along the tip of the bolt until it reaches end, upon which you are ejected towards the ground unimaginably quickly. If you’ve ever seen lightning travel… well, you’ve never seen it travel. It’s practically instantaneous, and really, when successfully performed, a storm drop is supposed to look and feel more like teleportation than anything else.”

Celestia’s brows rose, her expression slightly awed. “And because of the speed, even if they do detect us…”

“They aren’t given the time to react,” Lightning Sky finished, giving a satisfied nod.

“What about the landing?” Celestia asked. “I don’t know if I’m a good enough flier to handle that.”

“Don’t worry. Agility is good, but the most important thing for this maneuver is actually strength and stamina, both of which I am told you have. As long as your body can take the rough treatment – and it is rough – the enchantment helps to displace the force of landing. It ends up looking a bit like the sinisteeds’ suicide dive, crater and all. Of course, it helps if you land on your hooves.”

Celestia nodded her head, thoroughly impressed. After talking for another small while, reviewing tips and techniques, Lightning Sky excused himself to go and make final preparations for the drop. Celestia joined the rest of her squad, making sure she was familiar with them all. There was Rainy Day, a gloomy looking pegasus with a grey coat and flat white mane, and Sunny Skies, who, in Celestia’s opinion, looked extraordinarily similar to herself. Proudsong, the pegasus who had perpetuated the hoof wrestle between her and Crumble was in her group. Cloudscape, an orange pegasus with a mane like fire, was the newest recruit in the Maiden’s Battalion. Green, a large, aptly named pegasus who reminded her oddly of Apple Crumble, was one of the oldest.

Eventually, the Lieutenant returned. When Celestia saw him, she was immediately puzzled. Something was not right, something was missing. Eventually, she realized what it was.

“Uh, sir?” she voiced, catching his attention. “Are you dropping with us?”

“Of course I am,” the lieutenant said. “Why?”

Celestia extended her wings and flapped them twice, creating blue sparks in the air. “You don’t have your enchantment.”

He blinked and stared at her for a moment before flashing a sly, mysterious smile.

“I won’t be needing it.”

Celestia lightly scowled, wondering if it was a joke or a trick answer. “But sir…”

“Did I ever tell you how I got my cutie mark, Celestia?”

She looked to the corner of her eyes, trying to recall what his mark even was; a black cloud with a bolt of blue lightning, if she remembered correctly. Looking back at him, she slowly shook her head. Except for the new recruit, the pegasi in her group shared some meaningful glances.

“No? Do you want to hear it?”

She nodded.

Lightning cleared his throat. “When I was nine years old, we lived in Cloudsdale, and I got into some trouble with my parents, and ran from them by hiding in our neighbor’s weather balloon. Don’t ask me to remember what the trouble even was, but I remember it was bad enough to make me hide so long that I fell asleep in that basket. Somehow, while I was sleeping, it got untied from its post and drifted away. The wind currents weren’t strong that day, but the balloon just floated up and up and up…”

He chuckled and looked away towards the open air, as if he would see the same thing happening to another colt just like him. “When I woke up, it had been hovering in place for a few hours, and a storm cloud had formed underneath it. I looked over the edge and was instantly terrified. I wanted to go home! So, I remembered everything I had ever learned about flying through storms… and then ignored all of it, choosing instead to jump out of the side of that basket and right headfirst through the storm. Of course, I was eventually struck by lightning, and what happened next was… well, a clumsy predecessor to storm dropping, but storm dropping nonetheless.”

“But if there were no unicorns…”

“Didn’t need them. Still don’t. They developed the enchantment after studying me.”

Celestia stood in bewilderment. Is everypony in the Maiden’s Battalion some sort of legend? she thought. The sentiment was followed soon with, Reckless youth indeed.

The tent was dim, the only illumination coming from a nearby magelight hovering near the ceiling. Rain pounded on the roof in a never ending stream of white noise, steadily dripping through in certain spots and spattering heavily to the grassy floor below. Even under the protection of the tent, not much time would pass before the grass was completely waterlogged.

“I highly disapprove.”

Lucky grunted. “Is there any pleasing you?”

Clover shot him an impatient look, but moved on.

“I simply fail to see how sending Celestia on a specialized mission, performing a maneuver she has never tried, freefalling from miles up, propelled on a literal bolt of lightning into the center of the strongest enemy position in the entire Middle Antlertic theater, all on the eve of what is predicted to be the bloodiest battle in years, with the understanding that Celestia has never actually participated in a proper battle… I simply fail to see how that is safe.”

“It’s not safe,” Lucky said, his expression and tone impassive.

“No,” Clover said. “It is foolish. Is this how you intend to spend the life of our alicorn? A suicide mission?”

Lucky turned and scowled at her. “It’s not a suicide mission,” he said harshly. “If I thought it was, I wouldn’t have sent a hundred soldiers, highly capable and very valuable, to do the job, and I wouldn’t have based the rest of my strategy in the assumption of its success.”

“Hmph. You mean ninety-nine capable soldiers and a single unpredictable mare.” Clover held an elderly scowl. Accentuated and framed by her natural wrinkles, the creases on her face were deep and disappointed. “I cannot believe you did not tell me about this beforehand. I may have disapproved, but at least you had my support in sending her to battle. This, however… I cannot condone it.”

“Well, regardless of what you condone, she’s already up there.”

“I know.”

Lucky had no response. He tugged idly at a string around his neck, checking for the tenth time to make sure his cloak was on tight.

“On that note,” Clover continued, “you very well know what would please me, and that opportunity was robbed of me several months ago.”

Lucky sighed, and turned to face her.

“Listen, I-” He paused, let his gaze stray for a thoughtful moment, and then started again. “I’m not against her. I don’t want her to fail. I don’t want her to die. And maybe I don’t show it, but I do care about what happens to her. Celestia is…”

He trailed off, and cleared his throat. “She’s important. Obviously, she represents a costly investment… for all of us.”

Clover raised an eyebrow. “So why deploy her like this? And please, child, do not tell me it was because the hierarchy told you to.”

He bobbed his head noncommittally. “Well, that’s one reason. But it’s not what you think,” he added quickly, seeing Clover’s scowl deepen by degrees. “She simply needs to participate in some form, and believe it or not, this is safer.”

Clover raised an eyebrow, and shifted her weight away from him. “Do tell.”

“A storm drop is visually impressive, but is not actually too hard with the help of a good unicorn operator, or so I’m told.”

“Do not try and soften the blow,” Clover interrupted. “I have worked that magic before, Lucky Break. I helped perfect it with Lieutenant Sky. I know how dangerous it is.”

Lucky drew his shoulders up and inhaled, his whole body tensing before he released it with a breath. “Regardless, the pegasi aren’t dropping into the middle of a hot zone. They’ll arrive at a lightly guarded area of the city, whose forces will be even thinner with our distraction on the frontlines. Their orders are to get in and get out as quickly as possible – meaning they’ll secure the hostages and escape the city before meeting any large resistance. I know how it sounds, but trust me, this is safer. In the coming battle, there is no position that will be meeting less resistance than this.”

He paused, listening to a particularly loud crack of thunder. “Besides, if it weren’t for this mission, the hierarchy would likely demand I put her on the frontlines. I do not want to do that.”

Clover watched him closely, her eyes narrowing as she scanned for any trace of dishonesty. “Are you sure you have thought this through?”

He nodded. “I have.”

“It sounds like an excess of conjecture to me.”

“Well, we all know how good I am at that.”

Clover hummed. Lucky was becoming all too familiar with that wrinkled scowl of hers. He saw it exceptionally often these days, and almost all of the time, it was directed at him.

“Do you regret siding against me, Lucky Break?” Clover suddenly said in a low murmur.

“What?”

“In that first meeting, all those months ago, when Celestia’s fate was being decided. I felt it would be best for her well-being to study and train in a controlled environment, back in the safety of Canterlot. You thought she should be out here, fighting. Obviously, the council sided with you.” She stepped closer, and her voice became slightly more impassioned, even beseeching. “In these past few months, seeing all you have seen, knowing all that you know, watching Celestia grow and listening what she had to say… Do you regret your decision?”

Lucky was silent for a long while. When he spoke up, it was quiet, as if he did not want Clover to hear it in the first place. “Perhaps.”

Clover tilted her head, and frowned. Her expression, in that moment, was oddly melancholy, almost as if she pitied him. Lucky hated it. “Then I hope, for all our sakes, that your confidence in her abilities is not misplaced.”

“It is not her abilities I doubt,” Lucky disdainfully muttered. “Just her wisdom. And isn’t that your department, Master-Adept?”

Clover turned away from him. “Hmph,” she said in an uncharacteristic growl. “I am too old for the struggle of war, Lucky Break, but if something happens to her, I will march right through Manehattan and the gates of hell itself to find you.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

With one last scathing look, she vanished, the tent flap fluttering with the sudden burst of air. Amid all the lightning strikes, the solitary pop of Clover’s spell went almost unnoticed.

Lucky sighed. Remain detached, retain control.

He did not feel very detached at the moment. In fact, he felt quite the opposite.

The Commander exited his hastily erected tent and into the driving rain of what was soon to be the Manehattan battlefront. It was only a few miles away. There were a few outlying structures on the mainland, then one of three enormous suspension bridges leading to the island, and then the city itself. Through the dark grey gloom of the gathered clouds and the torrential downpour of the attack storm, all he could see from this distance was the famous Manehattan skyline. It was scattered with the silhouettes of inelegant square buildings, and though the structures were not nearly as refined, their size was enough to rival the soaring towers of Canterlot itself.

Closer to him, his gaze shifted upon the nine hundred soldiers that were under his command. They looked up at him awaiting command, all garbed under dark-shaded cloaks intended for stealth.

Such a large city, Lucky thought. Such a small force.

Additional reserves, easily ten times their own size, were sitting behind them… just like they always were. The Maiden’s Battalion was the spearhead of the attack… just like it always was. Lucky’s spirits seemed to chill faster than the rest of his body.

He took a deep breath and went unto his comrades, ready to lead at least some of them to their deaths.

“We are two minutes from the drop zone!” the Lieutenant called, his voice booming over the crew of the ship. The noise would not ruin their surprise; they were far too high above the city, and the thunder would have drowned it out regardless. “Check your gear, and verify with your enchanter that the magic is in proper order!”

Despite her many previous assurances, Celestia made a final check of her gear. Thirty seconds later, she had verified all of her equipment to be present, and thirty seconds more, one of the unicorns with enough energy to still be standing gave her enchantment the all-clear. Her heart was racing. She was ready.

“Group one, status!” the Lieutenant called.

There was a pause. A distant shout came from the other side of the ship. “Yours to command!”

“Group two, status!”

The reply was the same. “Yours to command!”

One minute later, Lieutenant Sky had cycled through all thirteen groups until all of them had declared their readiness.

“We are one minute out! Groups will drop in five second intervals, to be notified on my mark! Remember, we are all to regroup in the lower market, center of the quarantine area! Victory in battle, and Harmony after!”

“Victory!” the crew repeated in unison.

“All squads, stand by!”

And then, after the last of his voice had echoed out into the wide open sky, there was silence. The wind whipped by them, as loud as it had ever been, and the ever present storm beneath them ceaselessly raged on. The thunder continued to shake their ship with powerful, bass tremors and, for the first time, Celestia could actually hear the rain below, the sound of it floating up at them from all directions, quiet and even gentle, but so obviously massive, like rushing air at the bottom of an abyss.

“Thirty seconds!”

Celestia could only stare at the mountainous grey of the storm below. Very soon, she would be part of it.

Behind her, Celesia heard the soft hoofsteps of somepony approaching them. She looked back to see the helmspony muttering into the Lieutenant’s ear. They both looked up in the same direction, and he pointed towards just beyond the front of the ship at what seemed to be a relatively small, high-flying storm cloud, broken off from the attack storm below.

“It’s just deterioration,” Celestia heard Lightning mutter back. “Not likely dangerous. Keep her steady through it, you can divert once we’ve dropped.”

The helmspony nodded, and returned his post, righting the dual shafts that controlled the direction of the ship.

“Fifteen seconds!”

Celestia’s heartbeat quickened further as she and her squad pressed themselves close to the railing of the ship, all in a line and facing the same forward direction. She lifted her goggles onto her eyes, adjusting them to fit securely as possible. It was obvious they had been used before. Dozens of tiny scratches were visible on the transparent lenses, though none of them were too obscuring. In fact, Celestia thought it gave them character.

The Lieutenant began counting down.

“Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven!”

“Wait! Stop the ship!”

“Six! Five! Four!”

“Stop the ship!!”

“Three, two…” Lightning trailed off, and the whole crew looked around, A small voice had sounded relatively quietly under the booming volume of the countdown, yet despite it being overpowered, it was the only other noise, and instantly drew everypony’s attention.

The voice sounded again, apparently coming from the bow. A blue pegasus bent over the forwardmost part of the ship, wildly pointing at… Celestia could see nothing apparent.

“Contact, twelve o’ clock!” the pegasus cried. “Divert course!”

There was a silence. “It’s just a storm cloud, Snowy!” the Lieutenant called to him across the ship, eliciting some chuckles from the crew members.

“No, it’s-!”

A sudden massive tremor shook the ship, interrupting the response. If anypony was still amused, their smile instantly vanished.

“Lieutenant…?” Celestia murmured. He put his hoof up, silencing her, and craned his head forward, perking one ear forward to the sky.

“Did the ship get struck by lightning?” Celestia heard one of her squadmates quietly ask.

“That’s not lightning…” the Lieutenant murmured. Suddenly, he moved over to the side of the ship, peering with squinting eyes over the railing. The rest of his squad followed suit, Celestia included.

The ship was peacefully cutting through the seemingly random, out-of-place storm cloud that had floated to their elevation. It was certainly uncommon, but not abnormal… but therein was the problem; even Celestia knew this cloud was peculiar. It stirred and shifted beneath them, as if it were alive. Its color was abnormally black, except for a sudden flash of green, streaking across it like a comet-

The ship was suddenly shaken again, and this time Celestia heard the splintering of wood, as well as an odd, distant buzzing noise. Her eyes widened. Somepony else shouted it.

“Sinisteeds!”

The crew suddenly burst into a frenzy of activity as heavy flight jackets were shed and switchblades were deployed.

The Lieutenant took huge strides, standing at the front of the elevated stern and shouting orders to his crew, all while removing the last of his unnecessary gear. “All hooves on deck! All squads, ascend and engage! Protect the ship! Protect the balloon!”

Celestia immediately scrambled away from the railing, trembling hooves fiddling with the buttons that held her jacket on. One by one, her squadmates, and indeed most of the crew, finished before her and dove off the side of the ship and into the storm cloud they sailed through. Only she and Cloudscape, the new recruit, remained.

“Hurry it up!” Lightning called to them.

“I- I’m trying!” Her hooves only trembled with greater force. One of the clasps near her neck was stuck, thoroughly intertwined with her scarf. Below them, she could hear shouts and the clashing of steel, interspersed by more thundering crashes that were no doubt the result of diving sinisteeds breaking into the hull of the ship. The buzzing noise was getting louder and louder.

A flight jacket went fluttering past her.

“Got it!” the recruit cried. He took a moment to plant a longsword in his mouth before charging towards the edge of the ship, where he was immediately stopped. Instead of hearing the whoosh of air like Celestia expected to, there was a sudden thud, followed by the scrambling of more than one set of hooves.

She looked over. A sinisteed had landed right in front of him. And then another to his left.

Celestia had never seen one up close before. Their skin, for they had no fur, was black as pitch, and seemed to be in a natural state of decay, even to becoming porous in their extremities. Their armor was a simple matte grey steel, nowhere near the quality or protectiveness of her own. Pairs of fangs glistened wetly in the sunlight, impressing the appearance of a natural predator, and their beady blue eyes seemed to reflect her fear back at her. They had insectoid wings that hummed when in use, and sported a single, twisted horn. Wings and a horn – just like her.

The recruit reacted surprisingly fast for such a sudden surprise. His wings deployed in reflex, and he swung his longsword while simultaneously jumping and spinning backwards in half-flight, regaining his poise as he landed. The attack actually caught the first sinisteed across the neck, immediately dropping him.

The other dove forward to attack him, brandishing what looked to be the sinisteed version of the switchblade, a hoof-mounted blade that jut out to the side and curved forward, looking very much like a modified scythe.

Celestia still struggled with her jacket. Without freeing herself of it, she could not deploy her switchblades or move very quickly at all, for that matter. A frustrated whimper escaped her lips as she tugged more forcefully on her scarf. Still, it did not come free.

Another sinisteed landed near the recruit, then another, and another. Soon, it was all he could do to constantly backpedal, as he was left with no opening to attack.

A thud sounded behind her. Celestia froze, and slowly turned. A pair of beady eyes and a sharp snarl were there to greet her.

Celestia cried out and jumped back as a flash of matte steel came her way. She dodged again and again, locked in a hopeless duel in which she had no weapon. She could not keep this up, not dressed as she was. Her stiff dodges were not enough. With each attack, the blades came closer and closer-

Edge forward, just a little.

Celestia’s eyes widened as she did not quite make her dodge, and the sinisteed’s hoof-mounted scythe came into contact with her chest. It cut swiftly through her scarf and coat and scraped along her chestplate underneath. In a panic, Celestia’s horn glowed, and she pushed the sinisteed away with a sudden burst of force.

She danced backwards, feeling inexplicably more flexible. She looked down. The final clasp had been cut free, and her jacket was falling off her shoulders. Her gaze wandered back up to the sinisteed.

They looked at each other with wide eyes, and were motionless, each waiting for the other to make their move. Celestia’s eyes flicked down, then back, then down again– and she began to frantically rip the jacket off her shoulders. The sinisteed saw the cue and charged.

She freed her back hooves first, then another one of her front hooves – and then yelped as the sinisteed was suddenly in front of her. Her jacket still dangled off of one hoof, and as she tried to back away, she tripped over the cloth that rested upon the ground and fell to her side.

Celestia thrashed around until she was able to see the sinisteed. It was reared on its hind legs, both hooves and blades in the air, ready to crash down upon her.

Well, don’t just lie there.

Celestia did the first thing that came to mind and rolled, throwing her caught hoof towards where she presumed her attacker to be. The maneuver worked; the jacket tangled around the sinisteed’s head as it attacked, blinding it and forcing it to miss.

It snarled as viciously as any animal as it thrashed about with the improvised blindfold around its eyes. Celestia could smell its rancid breath, even from a distance. She got up and, before the sinisteed had any time to recover, charged and buffeted it with her chest, sending it spiraling down the nearby stairs to the main deck.

“Stay down!” she shouted, huffing with satisfaction. She straightened her chainmail, which had fallen loose during the scuffle, and stood a little taller, a feeling of triumph growing in her chest.

That feeling instantly vanished as she looked over the deck, and saw the state of the ship.

Sinisteeds covered the Colossus like a plague from bow to stern. There were a hundred or more, easily enough to outnumber the crew. Every crew member fought for survival, the makeshift battlefield having broken out into many unfair duels. Aerial dogfights between pegasi and sinisteeds zipped over the ship and sometimes even through it, speeding through the massive holes gaping in the sides of the hull.

“Arrgh!”

Celestia whipped around to see the recruit still dueling the same four sinsiteeds that he had been previously.

She armed her switchblades, extended her wings, and dove forward.

The first sinisteed she downed with no struggle, wrapping her hooves around his neck and drawing back with blades forward. It let out a throaty gurgle before it fell to the ground, a deep red puddle quickly pooling quickly by its head.

The second turned to face her and made an effort to dodge, but Celestia was already upon it. Her first attack was met with a grazing blow, and her second, a full on thrust into the ribs. It fell, fruitlessly thrashing towards her, snapping its jaws and waving its porous hooves, but its injuries were simply too much.

In the corner of her eye, Celestia saw the two other sinisteeds were still pursuing Cloudscape. It became too much for him, and he eventually broke off from the fight, dropping his longsword and leaping off the railing of the ship, extending his wings and deploying his switchblades. The sinisteeds followed him.

Celestia did as well.

She experienced a moment of vertigo before extending her wings and chasing after them. She was not the most accomplished flier, but she would not be outmaneuvered by a pair of pony-sized bugs.

Celestia pursued them to the top of the balloon that held the airship aloft, and realized she had entered a whole new battlefield. Pegasi and sinisteeds were everywhere in the sky, pursuing and being pursued in such a frenzy it reminded Celestia of a hornets’ nest.

The pegasi were faster, but the sinisteeds were more maneuverable. Celestia was able to catch up with the sinisteeds she pursued, but as she made a dive towards one, it dropped and she missed, wobbling midair as she struggled to regain control.

Its friend was ready to attack her for her vulnerability when it was caught by a sudden force from the completely opposite direction. Another pony had dived into it, resulting in a fantastic crash that would have left any but the toughest seeing stars. She turned to see who it was, but of course, only saw the chaotic battle around her. She offered a silent thank you to the gods, and hoped they would convey her gratitude.

Celestia looked ahead towards her remaining target. Beneath her goggles, she squinted. It was gone.

She let out a huge wheezing breath as, without warning, a huge force hit her from above, crumpling her wings into her body and sending her spinning into a wild freefall. She lost all sense of direction and control, with the blue sky above and the grey clouds below blending to be one sickening mess of colors.

Eventually, she evened out – and through no fault of her own. A pair of sinisteed arms wrapped tightly around her own, preventing her from moving or deploying her wings. She struggled against them, becoming more frantic as she realized where they were headed. Celestia screamed as she dropped head first towards the balloon of the airship. She did not realize she had gained that much elevation-

Wham!

Celestia’s jaw collided first with the hard canvas, the rest of her body following suit.

“Stay quiet.”

Lucky stood at the head of a raft large enough to hold him plus twenty other soldiers, with dozens of other rafts advancing in a staggered formation alongside him. His hood was drawn over his head, as was the hood of every single soldier in his company, their cloaks obscuring the shine of their armor.

They did not need to paddle, as the current took them to their destination: the shores of Manehattan. The storm they sailed through was designed as such, with a furious wind blowing them this direction. However, the journey was not effortless. The transports they rode upon had flat bottoms and doors that dropped at the front, making them excellent for landing, but horrible for deep, tumultuous water, of which they undoubtedly crossed. The hull did not break through waves, but rather rode over the top of them, making the occupants experience every little rocking motion the Manehattan Channel had to offer. More than one pony had been made seasick because of it.

The gap between the island and the mainland was father than he remembered – a little under a mile, if he had to guess. He looked up at the structure hovering ominously above them. The bridge really was a marvel of engineering. Soon, it would be theirs again.

The entire Maiden’s Battalion, save for those that were airborne, was traveling in stealth upon the waters. They crossed directly under the eastern bridge; two separate elite battalions came from the southeast and the north. A friendly force, much larger than their own, blockaded the entrances to all three bridges, and made no attempt to hide themselves. So long as they did not attack, the hostages would be left alone, and they would be an ample distraction to cover for their surprise assault. The battalions infiltrating would flank the forces on the other side of the bridge while the main force advanced, all while the storm droppers rescued the hostages. It was perfect.

The shore was closing in, and fast. Under the cover of his hood, Lucky smiled. There was no opposition to be seen. Their success was all but assured.

“Draw swords.”

The ring of metal could be heard throughout the bay, though to Lucky’s pleasure, it was no louder than it absolutely had to be. The driving rain and frequent thunder effectively masked the sound of their movements, so that they were no more than ghosts upon the water.

The shore was upon them.

Dozens of rafts hit the shallow land, each being towed a small ways in by a team of pegasi. Soon after, the doors on their front dropped to form a small walkway, and the team aboard the raft piled out onto the land.

Lucky remained at the head, ushering his group of twenty out of the raft. Unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies alike rushed passed him. After they had all gone past, he followed suit.

His hooves hit the sand.

“Halt!” he frantically whispered. “I said halt!”

His group had been trotting forward but still technically waiting for him to lead; now, they all were stopped, looking back and giving him an odd look.

“Sir?” somepony whispered.

“Shh!” Lucky put his hoof up to quiet him, and slowly crept forward to the front of his group. Putting his helmet up, he scanned the scene before him. The concrete began not far from the shore, and the buildings not much farther than that. Besides their planned objective, there was not much to see.

His soldiers shifted uncomfortably behind him. They were not to attack until he ordered them to, presumably by charging himself; and the other groups were not to attack until they did. The other battalions were to attack at approximately the same time they were. If their Commander had a problem, there was no way to signal even a temporary hold, and anything but a simultaneous attack would be a sure loss of effectiveness. And yet, the entire Maiden’s Battalion, in formation, weapons drawn, completely ready for battle, stood idly on a hundred yard stretch on the bank of Manhattan.

Lucky knew it, and did not care. Something was wrong…

He heard soft wingbeats end in a landing beside him.

“Lucky!” said the whispering voice of Apple Crumble. “What the hay are yeh-?”

“Move!”

Without warning, Lucky wrapped his arms around Crumble and tackled him, taking them both to the ground. A furious whistle sounded just above his head, followed by a dull thunk. Lucky and Crumble raised themselves to their hooves and looked back. The soldier behind them had been hit with an arrow, and lay dead on the ground.

The edge of the city was suddenly very alive with activity. Hundreds of pairs of beady blue dots found their way to the edge of their visibility, and the one, solitary arrow was joined by thousands more just like it.

“Ambush!”

Celestia instinctively righted herself, rolling to her hooves and deploying her wings, ready to again take off. The sinisteed who had grabbed her had released her upon impact, and stood a small distance away. She could not be sure, but if sinisteeds could feel emotion, and if they displayed it through expression, then she would have to guess that this particular one was feeling severely confused. It tilted its head and looked at her with wide, wondering eyes, a string of bug-like clicks escaping its mouth that Celestia could have sworn were bewildered in tone.

She rolled her head, shrugged her shoulders, and flexed her jaw as though she were ridding her mouth of a bitter taste. Her neck felt especially sore, but it was far from being broken as it likely should have been. She was still alive, and that was good enough for her.

Celestia took a moment to gauge the situation. The aerial skirmish was still raging, but to Celestia’s pleasure, they were winning. The sinisteeds were not as numerous as the once were, and she could see them dropping out of the sky all the time, very much like flies.

The sinisteed before her took a few wary steps back, its confidence seeming severely shaken. Before Celestia could think about counterattacking, it deployed its buzzing wings and jumped off the side of the balloon in a single motion, disappearing from sight into the raging battle around them.

Emboldened by their success, Celestia took to the air, switchblades singing as she closed in on another enemy.

If anything was her specialty, air-to-air combat was not it. She was decent in practice, but there was no preparing for the frenzy of it all, and the simple violence required when closing in on an opponent.

Her mind was considering just that when she closed in on the fleeing sinisteed, arms raised forward and blades deployed. Together they zoomed under the balloon and over the deck of the ship, where she caught it, missing with her blades but crashing into it with the rest of her body. They fell onto the deck of the ship and slid along it, her weight pinning the sinisteed on the bottom and grinding it into the rough wood. Eventually, they hit the railing.

A moment later, she punched, aiming for the ribs. In the next instant, it was dead.

She had not had time to think, or consider; she just acted. That was something she had not trained for. Supposedly, it was the type of trait that could only be bred into a veteran soldier, and that trait was, specifically, the ability to kill. Not simply to fight, but to mortally wound. Ponies did not have that natural trait, many of her trainers had explained. Only predators and monsters were born with the instinct.

And there she was, feeling all the more triumphant as she kicked the body over the edge of the airship, watching it tumble to the stormy abyss below.

The skirmish was nearing its end. Celestia forgot herself as she heard a sudden noise at the stern of the ship. She looked back to see the pegasus from before, Cloudscape, atop it, fighting a sinisteed. Covered in cuts, bruises, and having seemingly lost his helmet in the chaos, he did not seem to be winning.

Celestia, standing on the other end of the ship, took off towards them.

It happened too quickly for her to comprehend. Cloudscape, already fighting a losing battle, let his guard down for the smallest instant. The sinisteed took the advantage. She saw an unmistakable gleam in its eye as it pushed his hooves away and struck forward like a snake, sinking its long white fangs into the recruit’s neck. The pegasus was only able to struggle for a moment before his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell limp. His longsword fell clattering to the floor below, and the sinisteed pushed his unmoving body overboard.

Another life, taken...

The dull clatter of the sword echoed like a gong in her head, and something cold washed over her. The world seemed to slow to a standstill around her, the surrounding sounds of battle becoming oddly distorted and distant.

Gone, forever...

And in place of that same cold appeared an odd warmth, at first rising in her chest and then spreading throughout her body.

Her eyes rose from the recruit's weapon and fixed on the sinisteed, which still had its back towards her.

One life for another!

Finally, Cloudscape’s murderer turned around to her, and upon noticing her, gave a serpentine hiss.

Hatred.

Celestia gave a savage shout the moment before she connected with the killer. Her switchblades were purposefully retracted. The heat inside her rose, ignited like a spark, and turned into a raging fire which wanted nothing more but to consume.

She grabbed the sinisteed by the neck, pinned it against the railing of the ship.

Through the red haze of her narrowed vision she could see her first hoofstrike meet the sinisteed's face. She barely heard the crunch of bone.

An eye for an eye.

The beating of her heart, her heavy wheezed breathing, the pool of red starting to spread beneath her - all of these things were pushed away to the back of her mind. There was only her target and her hoof, descending upon it, again...

A tooth for a tooth.

And again...

“…Celestia…?”

And again... but it was not enough, it would never be enough. The fire inside her yearned for more. And, like a machine, her body kept pounding at the still figure in front of her.

“Celestia!”

Eventually, there was a great crash, and the thick railing broke. Without letting go, she used her telekinesis to bring the nearby longsword to her hoof.

“Stop it, soldier, that’s an order!”

She ran the sword through the black and red husk of something that had been so mangled, it was hard to envision it having been alive at any point in its existence. With one final grunt, she reared back on her hind legs and, using a combination of earth tribe strength and telekinesis, threw the remains as far away from the ship as possible. They flew for a while before finally arcing completely downwards. She watched as they dropped, blown about by the strong wind of the storm, disappearing in the distance.

“Hey!”

Celestia felt a hoof come to rest on her shoulder. Her head snapped around, her face still contorted into a vicious snarl, her body tensing to fight.

Lightning Sky retracted his hoof and took a surprised step back, but the irritation on his face did not lessen, only becoming mixed with a measure of confusion. He stood taller and leaned aggressively towards her.

“What the hell was that?” he demanded, the scowl on his face deepening.

Celestia seemed to snap back to reality, her body weakening by degrees. Her own snarl gradually vanished, and the blurry edges of her vision became clear again. Her pattern of breathing did not change much, but in her chest, she felt as though her lungs now drew breath out of necessity, not desire.

“I… i-it killed…”

Her entire expression seemed to falter. She looked around, down towards the mess that sat right at her hooves. Blood and bone and bits of gore were scattered across the floorboards here and there like a slaughterhouse. She scrambled away from it, disgusted then to find both of her front hooves stained nearly to the elbow in blood. Wherever she stepped, a faint impression of bloody hoofprints followed. In desperation, she scraped them along the floor, only to find herself painting crimson brushstrokes across the wood with no real loss of color on herself. Her whole body began to tremble, and she suddenly felt very dizzy. Seconds later, she vomited.

“Sir! The sinisteeds have been repelled, all personnel have returned to the ship!”

Lightning Sky hesitantly turned away from the sickened alicorn to a green pegasus who had landed nearby.

“Casualties?”

“We don’t know yet. Twenty pegasi downed, maybe.”

“Twenty…” Lightning murmured. “And the non-fliers?”

Nearby, Celestia was locked in a fit of coughing. Eventually, she ended it with a strained gag.

“Mostly okay. Maybe two or three casualties. The sinisteeds went mainly after the pegasi, I think. The ship itself is losing altitude with several small holes in the balloon, but it should still be able to do its job.” The soldier nodded to Celestia. “Is she gonna be okay?”

She turned towards them. Her eyes were sunken, her head was craned low, and her whole body was feebly trembling as if due to fever. She had a miserable grimace on her face.

Lightning glanced back at her, keeping his gaze locked there for a long time. Eventually, he turned back.

“Organize the remaining pegasi who are still air-worthy into squads, and line them up. This drop is going to happen. And fetch me Corporal Allez. Celestia is in no condition to fly.”

The pegasus nodded and took off. At the mention of her name, Celestia looked up and immediately spoke in protest.

“Sir, I can still fight.”

“No, you can’t.”

Celestia perked up, surprised at his answer. With her shoulder, she wiped some of the residual bile away from the corners of her mouth. “I am still air-worthy!”

“No you’re not.”

“But-!”

Lightning wheeled around to her. “You’re sick, Celestia. You’re in shock. And besides, your enchantment has lost its impact absorption spell, and nopony has the energy to renew it. You’d likely break your legs when you hit the ground below. What, did you waste it on something?”

Celestia blinked, and she idly rubbed at the armor on her neck. So that was how she was still alive.

“Doesn’t matter,” Lightning continued. “You are not coming.”

Corporal Allez found her way to the stern of the ship, and presented herself. A thin, wiry cut ran across her cheek, stained with dried blood. “Lieutenant.”

“Allez,” Lightning addressed, nodding to her. “You are to see that Celestia-”

“I’m fine!”

“-does not leave the ship-”

“Let me be of use!”

“-under any circumstances-”

“You said the impact absorption isn’t required!”

“Lieutenant!” a voice cried from across the ship.

Lightning Sky gave an uncharacteristically frustrated growl as he turned. “What is it?” he shouted back towards the ship.

One of the soldiers spoke up. “You’re… going to want to see this,” he said, pointing over the railing.

The Lieutenant stomped over to the edge of the ship, and set his hooves on the railing, peering over at the clouds below. After a moment, he shook his head, and swore under his breath.

Celestia trotted next to him and looked over the edge, as did almost the entire crew. Silent murmurs rippled through them. All Celestia saw was the broiling black clouds below, still in a state of thundering and constant unrest.

She continued staring until, in the corner of her eye, she saw something move far below them. And then something else, and then something else. The clouds seemed to stir, becoming even more fitful than they were before, until…

She heard Lightning whisper next to her. “Gods help us…”

Tens, then hundreds, then thousands of sinisteeds emerged at once from the stormy sea far below them, circling inward and upward from all directions in an enormous black swarm that blot out the sight of the clouds, almost to the point where they themselves appeared to be a great, vengeful attack storm. The collective buzzing of their wings was the vastest noise Celestia had ever heard, and the most terrifying. This was no longer a collection of enemies. It was a force of nature. Fighting them would be like trying to defeat a tidal wave with a sword.

The Lieutenant pushed off the railing and turned back to the ship. “Sinisteeds inbound! Ninety seconds to arrival! Pegasi, prepare to drop!”

Celestia whipped around towards him. “What?” she said incredulously.

“There are hostages below. This mission has to happen. Up here, there is no hope for us.”

“But the ship-”

“The ship is lost!” Lighting said. “If we drop, the storm will push us out of their reach, at least for a little while, and maybe then we can still do some good. Up here, we are dead ponies.”

“What about the crew?” Celestia shouted back, sweeping her hoof towards the ship. “They’ll die if we leave!”

A fiery indignation lit in her eyes. It was inhumane, it was cold, and calculating, it was… it was just like Lucky.

“And they’ll die if we stay. Everypony who stepped aboard this ship knew the risks. They know the meaning of sacrifice, and I dare not let it be in vain. I suggest you don’t either.”

Celestia had a prepared response on the tip of her tongue, but it suddenly dried and withered in her open mouth as an unbidden, horrible memory played in her mind.

War is not easy, and neither is it painless. Lightning Sky has long since come to terms with the notion and meaning of ‘sacrifice’. I suggest you do the same.

“Now get ready to drop, Celestia. They are almost upon us.” The lieutenant walked away, moving towards the main deck and rallying the pegasi to him. “Sixty seconds!” he called. The buzzing was getting louder.

She simply stood there, speechless and helpless. Doing what he wanted her to do, what everypony else appeared to be ready to do, seemed impossible.

“Hey.” A hoof came to rest upon her shoulder. Celestia turned to see Allez, her head tilted and expression sad. Celestia was slightly taller than her, but right now, she felt so small.

“It’s alright. He’s right.”

Celestia simply shook her head, not knowing what to say. “No,” she managed in a tiny voice.

The buzzing got louder. “Forty seconds!”

“I’ll be okay,” Allez said softly. “We’ll all be okay.”

“No,” Celestia simply repeated. “You’ll die.”

Allez scowled. “Don’t tell me what to do. Remember when you fought me in the dueling ring? I officiated afterwards because I respected you. Don’t get weak on me now.”

The buzzing got even louder. “Thirty seconds!”

Celestia cast her a pitiful look. Allez, on the other hoof, was full of bravado, wearing a huge, cocky grin.

“Besides, you know I’m a good fighter. Not all hope is lost. And this ship is pretty big. It’s not called the ‘Colossus’ for nothing, you know.”

There was a pause.

“Allez, I-”

“No, hang on. I need you to do something.”

The buzzing was so loud, Celestia could barely hear Allez speak. “Twenty seconds!”

Allez’s confidence wavered just a bit, her smile lessening ever so slightly. “Would you-” she paused, choking on her words. “Would you tell my stupid brother to step out of his shell and get a marefriend? You remember Garde, right? Captain Garde?”

Tears were openly streaming down Celestia’s cheeks. “Yes. Of course.”

“Ten seconds!”

Allez said something else, but Celestia could not hear her. The red earth pony seemed to realize this, and instead of repeating herself, she pushed Celestia towards the railing and pointed down, giving her a pat on the back.

Celestia tried to look back at her, but Allez was already gone, rushing down to the body of the ship to prepare, somehow. Her gaze swiveled forward again. Countless sinisteeds in all directions below were now a mere hundred yards away and closing, fast. There was seemingly no gap between any of them – bursting through would be difficult.

“Five!”

Celestia’s eyes hardened, her body tensed.

“Four!”

She wiped away the tears on her face, only afterwards realizing she had probably left a big red smear on her cheek in their place.

“Three!”

She shut her helmet, and without waiting any longer, she jumped off the side of the ship and tucked her wings, slipping into the relief of an open air free-fall, far ahead of the rest of her comrades.

They could not keep this up for long.

After the initial volley of arrows, the sinisteeds had begun to use their dive ability en masse. It had been impossible for the unicorns to form their prismatic shield wall to protect their comrades. Such a maneuver required absolute concentration and perfect unity, both of which were in severely limited supply under the intense fire they were receiving. The most any one unicorn could do was shield his or her immediate area with a frontal wall that was more or less for personal use, being only wide enough to cover an area for them and maybe one or two other ponies. Everypony else was made to endure the rain of arrows, and soon, the field of emerald sinisteed comets that no solitary force shield could withstand.

The Maiden’s Battalion would fight to the last pony if it had to, but Lucky was no fool. In this kind of situation, he would have normally ordered a retreat – except there was no retreat to be had. Between the 21st, the rocky shore of Manehattan, and their rafts that would only go where the current took them, there was simply nowhere to go. The pegasi could have escaped, but not a one of them would even consider leaving their unit in such peril.

Deploy switchblade.

Lucky raised his hoof above his head while simultaneously brandishing his blade. An arrow flew directly towards his neck, but deflected away as it bounced off the steel. He looked behind himself and swore, seeing the arrow buried deep in the flank of another soldier. It was a pegasus mare who had landed for only a moment, and now cried out in pain as she eyed the shaft protruding through her chainmail. Nevertheless, a moment later she snapped the shaft down to its base, and returned to the sky.

Lucky rallied his force in an attempt to make one cohesive whole, and was met with some success. They were constantly besieged by sinisteeds that tore at their ranks from all sides. The pegasi had trouble actually staying in formation while still trying to repel the airborne enemies that assailed them. Lucky, standing in the very center of his battalion, looked over their number. The shifting, shouting, unorganized mass was probably as cohesive as they were going to get.

Nowhere to go, nowhere to go. The phrase repeated itself over and over again in Lucky’s mind. But there is one way.

“Forward!”

His voice nearly drowned in a sea of other superiors using the Voice to give their own commands, but everypony recognized his – and forward they went.

Their progress was measured in mere feet at a time, and often, they were pushed back down the small, rocky hill that lead to the city. The first instance of concrete, and by extension, the city and where they would actually be fighting on even ground, was a mere one hundred yards away. At the rate they were going, it could have been miles and not made a difference.

Lucky could hear fighting on the bridge above them, and could only assume it was the regular army. Not that the 21st could expect help from them. They could be held for hours or even days on what was essentially a narrow corridor of combat. So much for their plan to flank the enemy.

Throw knife.

Without hesitation, then drew a knife from a belt around his shoulder and threw it away and into the enemy crowd, arcing it at a specific angle. He did not know why, and had long since grown out of questioning such feelings. Perhaps it saved his life somehow.

A long half hour, their struggle went on, and though they had achieved a semblance of unity, their own number lessened all the time. The arrows could be blocked, but they never stopped coming, and some were bound to slip by. The comet dives could be dodged away from, but never truly avoided, as rocks would be thrown up from the impact and the green flames would explode and burn at the skin of all around.

During it all, Lucky stayed in the center of his force, taking it upon himself to make sure the battalion stayed together.

A roar, the likes of which he had not heard in a long time, forced him to reconsider his role. It was almost lost among the hisses and clicks of the enemy and the screams and shouts of his own soldiers, but it was unmistakable. Without further warning, a dozen minotaurs crashed through the sinisteed hordes and towards his own force.

He pushed and shoved to position himself at the front of his battalion, putting a claymore in his mouth and shoving the hookshot onto his left hoof. There were others who could command.

The minotaur coming directly towards him had a knife protruding from one of its eyes.

Throw another.

He did, and then charged forward, away from his company.

He fired the hookshot towards a blinded minotaur, yanked back once it made contact, and pulled it to the ground, heavily slashing as its head slid on the rocks in front of him. If minotaur hunting was a sport, Lucky wildly thought, it would have been a record time.

Next.

Momentarily forgetting about his battalion, he deliberately placed himself in the midst of the enemy. It would have been a foolish thing to do in normal circumstances, but they simply were not making enough progress. He adjusted his priorities to allow for injury so long as he survived and was still able to fight. Then, he let them come to him.

Celestia fell faster than her blood could follow.

It was interesting, and was, oddly enough, the only thing she found herself able to focus on. She had been falling so long – a full two minutes, if she had to guess – that she had lost a certain sense of gravity. Occasionally she would flap her wings to give herself a small boost of speed, but she found the small reward was not worth it for the pain it caused. The carpal joint on her right wing had been slashed, or ripped at, or something of the nature; she could not twist her head around to properly check, or else it would break the form of her dive. The way the rushing wind froze at the wetness of her wing was proof enough.

In fact, now that she thought about it, she could feel that sensation all over, as if she had just bathed and was now standing in a strong, freezing wind; except she knew the reality of things was far from that. Her forehead just above her eye, the base of her neck running up to her ear, up and down all four of her legs, and running along from her ribcage to her flank, anywhere the plate armor was absent and the chainmail was loose – she was stricken with a whole-bodied sensation of stinging cold and burning pain. Such was the toll exacted by the sinisteed horde.

But they were behind her now, and she fell faster than her blood could follow. Streams and globules of it broke off and trailed behind her, lost to the atmosphere. As if she could outfly her own mortality, it stayed out of her eyes and out of her way.

The cloud layer was approaching quickly now. It looked so odd to her, as if she were going to crush her skull on the mountainous clouds that she had so readily admired not so long ago. Of course she would not – if a pegasus, or alicorn, did not want to interact with clouds, then they did not, simple as that. She would pass through it as easily as everypony else. Whether or not she crushed her skull on the other side of the storm remained to be seen.

It was seconds away. The blue sky above disappeared from her peripheral vision, and before her, there was only grey that became darker with each passing second. She presumed she was still in the lead of her eighty or so pegasi comrades, as she could not see any of them. Every single one of them could have been taken by the swarm, and she would not have known it.

Soon, she felt the influence of cloudstuff; she could have collided with it right there, if she so desired. Instead, she simply allowed herself to become soaking wet as she passed through, until finally, she was in the storm proper.

It did not take long. The process was simple, and in that encircling abyss of grey and flashing blue, she felt as though she had all the time in the world. She positioned her hooves the way Lightning had taught her, and slowed her dive by a small degree.

Seconds passed, and she felt a tingle at the back of her body. She suspected it would have been comfortable or even pleasant if it were not for her wounds. She heard a crackle, loud enough to reach her over the rushing wind in her ears. Less than a second later, there was a deafening bang and she was gone, leaving the peaceful abyss behind and rocketing downwards at a speed she could scarcely comprehend.

“Rose! Ro-oooooose!”

A frantic voice echoed through the narrow corridors in the basement of the chapel, but the little filly on the main floor could barely hear them. The shouts were her mother’s, she knew, and they rang a particularly loud bell in her mind, but at that moment, the call of curiosity was louder still.

This chapel was one of the smaller ones. Manehattan did not have a proper cathedral, but rather, many scattered churches for the ponies around the city who wanted to attend. Small as this particular chapel was, Rose thought it was very pretty. The light streaming in through the stained windows was lovely, even if it was so dark outside. In fact, the windows seemed to make it brighter. And when the lightning outside flashed, they positively came alive.

Crack!

She jumped in place and clutched her doll just a little tighter. That one was loud, and really bright!

“Rose Lily, where are you sweetie?”

“Honey, we need to get out of here.”

“We are not having this discussion right now. Rose! Rose!”

On either side of the chapel, there was set a single large window that was completely clear, the only ones letting in unfiltered light. Rose hustled towards one of them, her haste making up for the short steps she took. She hopped up onto one of the pews and stood on her hind legs, struggling to get a better view of outside the chapel.

It was as miserable as ever. The same storm had been raging for days, flooding much of the city and even damaging some of the taller buildings unlucky enough to get struck by lightning. Entire sections of the city had gone up in flames before the rain could put it out. Curiously enough, the refugee quarantine had remained completely safe – at least, the parts that were on high ground.

“Rose Lily! You come here this instant!”

“I’m serious, we have to leave.”

“Just stop it, Silver!”

Crack!

Rose’s heart jumped to her throat, and she nearly fell away from the windowsill. That one was even louder! Who knew thunder could be so-

Crack!

Crack!

Crack!

The filly’s eyes widened in excitement as the same magnificent sound repeated itself once, twice, and then seemingly a hundred more times in extremely rapid succession, amplifying and reverberating into one utterly massive boom that literally shook the foundations of the building. Dust fell free from the rafters, a chandelier hanging from the ceiling shook, and below, she could hear the scream of a certain scaredy-pony. But it was not scary. It was cool!

“No, I’m not going to ‘stop it’. I’m trying to save us!”

“You heard that just now, right? That’s them. They are going to save us!”

“You know they’re not. He knows they’re here. It’s not a surprise anymore.”

“It’s the Maiden’s Battalion, Silver. The Maiden herself might be on her way!”

“And what if she’s not?”

“She is. Ro-oooooose!”

The filly still had yet to really hear them, and she was not about to. Her eyes were transfixed on the scene playing out before her. She had to crane her head to look nearly completely upwards, but what she saw made her eyes twinkle with wondering awe. Almost directly above them, a meteor shower was happening!

“We can escape in the chaos. They’re not going to be watching us with the battle going on. We can do it.”

The voice was wavering now. The pony shouting it was in tears. “Rose!”

A hundred falling stars rocketed towards them, each wreathed in its own halo of brilliant blue light. Streaking behind them were a hundred sparkling blue comet tails. The sky was practically filled with them. What a sight!

Her parents had told her what was supposed to happen, what these comets actually were, but deep in her heart, she knew what this really was. It was a sign from the gods. Her family was not very religious, but this was simply that. Otherwise, how could it be so beautiful? It was the Pantheon telling them that the monsters would go away, the storm would clear up, and everypony was going to be happy.

“Rose Lily!”

She let out a puff of air as she was grabbed around her middle and yanked away from the window.

“Mommy!”

“Why did you run off?” she asked, running her hoof through her mane and over her cheek, inspecting her for injury.

“I-”

“That was a very naughty thing to do, Rose. Very naughty.”

“But mommy, did you see?” the filly said, pointing towards the window. “Everything is okay!”

A moment later, there was another series of incredible crashes, lacking the same piercing treble of the lightning, but making up for it in a rumbling bass that shook the very pebbles on the ground. Rose smiled as she felt it rumble through her body. Her mother and father shared a meaningful look.

Her father shrugged. “Too late now,” he murmured.

Her mother shot him a look before turning back to her. “We’re going back downstairs. Don’t you ever run away again. You hear me, Rose? Never again. It’s dangerous up here.”

Bashfully, she nodded. “Okay.”

Her mother yanked her daughter up onto her shoulder, and made for the basement staircase. As they descended, Rose suddenly cried out.

“Charles the Brave! Go back, we forgot Charles!”

Her mother’s tone was terse. “We’ll get your doll in the morning, sweetie.”

She was still protesting as they shut the door at the bottom of the stairs, joining the hundred or so other survivors huddled together in the completely dark basement.

When they had received the battle plan that came with the latest food drop, telling them to designate several spots to hide until reinforcements arrived, the little church on the hill had seemed like such an appropriate spot to await salvation. Now, they were not so sure.

On a windowsill, Charles the Brave sat alone and forgotten, impassively watching the fallen stars emerge from their craters. One of them did not look to be in very good condition.

“Celestia!”

She stirred on the ground. Her vision swam in her eyes, as if someone had placed a blurry filter in between her and the world. Her entire body felt unpleasantly heavy, and she felt so, so tired. She was not entirely sure how she got to where she was, or even where she was to begin with; the scene before her was a blend of muted greys that all mixed together, and squinting to sharpen the image only made her head hurt. Moving in even the smallest of motions made areas of her body experience incredible pain, and she would have felt more content to simply lie there without moving a muscle, becoming mercifully numb in the freezing rain.

“Celestia!” the voice repeated.

“I’m fine… I’m fine!” Celestia mumbled. She raised her head, blinked hard, and the world became a little sharper. She vaguely remembered trying to slow her descent… and then tumbling down the side of a building… or something like that?

“Get up, c’mon!” somepony urged, lightly tugging at her hooves. Celestia looked their direction; it was Lightning Sky. “It’s not safe here, we gotta move!”

Celestia scowled, nodded, and looked down, clumsily grabbing his hoof and pulling herself up. Stinging pain assailed her during every moment of the maneuver. She hissed as a particularly agonizing sensation stemmed from her ribs and made her entire body shudder in reaction. Behind the raw pain, she felt a twinge of fear – she could feel her skin rip as she stretched it the wrong way.

“No no no no no…” Lightning murmured. “Not good, not good. Green!”

Celestia, hanging off of the Lieutenant’s shoulder, glanced over as a pegasus landed next to them. “Sir!” he acknowledged in a gruff voice.

“Take Celestia somewhere safe, and gather whoever you can find to help the wounded!” Lightning pointed with his free hoof. “There are civilians inside that church. It’s the closest safe zone, take the nearby wounded there. The civilians might be able to help.” He glanced at Celestia, who seemed to be more or less aware of her situation. “Maybe some of them are doctors, or nurses, or… or something.” He looked back towards the soldier. “Go, hurry!”

Green nodded. “Yes, sir!”

In the next instant he was by her side, and she felt herself being switched between bodies on which to lean.

Lightning continued, shouting over thunder and constantly pattering rain. “I’m going to rally our forces and do what I can to get some of the civilians nearer to the docks to safety. The other airships are still en route, and we have to be ready when they get here. In the meantime, just… just do what you can!”

Without waiting for an acknowledgement, Lightning Sky took to the air, moving as quick as his namesake, and Celestia felt herself tugged in a certain direction.

“C’mon, milady,” the stallion said. “Let’s get yeh to the church.”

Much to her dismay, Celestia’s senses had finally awakened, and she was made aware of just how horrible her situation truly was. The rain was a constantly driving force, and seemed to have a suppressive effect on both her spirits and her body, simultaneously urging her to find the nearest place of cover and making her feel utterly miserable. Her body itself was in the most pain she had ever been in, including the violent duel she had with Lucky weeks ago. At least then, Doctor Cross had been nearby to treat her wounds and tend to her broken jaw. Now, she was being dragged through the rain and mud to a building filled with frightened civilians, where there may or may not be any help at all.

Manehattan itself seemed to be the site of a miniature apocalypse. Buildings were crumbling – some were even on fire – and the streets around them were, at the moment, completely empty.

The city seemed to be more cramped than Canterlot was, even if the overall scale of the cities were similar. While Canterlot was regal, elegant, and even inspiring, the theme of Manehattan seemed to be “economy”. The streets were tighter, the brick buildings were largely unadorned, and the architecture sported no apparent originality or attention to aesthetics. Of course, she supposed the effect was worsened by the events as of late.

“Yeh feelin’ okay, milady?” the pegasus aiding Celestia asked, watching her gaze swivel about at the scene around them.

“I’m okay…” she murmured, just loud enough to be heard over the rain. Only then did Celestia realize his wing was extended protectively over her head, acting as an umbrella. She looked at him. “It’s Green, right?” He nodded. “You wouldn’t happen to be related to Apple Crumble, would you?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “Heh, no. Funny story, though-”

He stopped, and both his and Celestia’s ears perked up. Something was making noise at the end of the street…

Green’s eyes widened as he saw two friendly pegasi fly around the corner and come straight towards them, pursued by half a dozen airborne sinisteeds. He acted quickly.

“Can yeh make it the rest of the way?” he quickly asked, already removing Celestia’s arm from around his neck.

Celestia looked towards the double doors that led to the church. They were only ten yards away, easily within walking distance, even for her. She quickly nodded, staggering in place as he let go of her. Without another word, he took off, pursuing the sinisteeds that had already passed them without noticing.

Left alone, Celestia nodded to herself, and walked towards the doors of the church. Each individual step resulted in a pitiful amount of progress. Due to both the pain in her legs and the constant hammering in her head, she frequently wobbled unsteadily, and more than once, Celestia thought she was going to fall over and not be able to get back up. She was able to keep her balance, however, and sixty agonizing seconds later, she finally reached the doors, bursting them open with a quick telekinetic push.

Another ten seconds, and she was inside.

She magically closed the doors behind her to stop the howling wind from chilling her further, and walked a little further in. The cathedral – no, not a cathedral, it was too small. The chapel was the only building she had seen that sported some decoration. In the midst of what was one of the leading centers of industry, this small temple to the Pantheon had a quaint charm about it. It was a relief to see the shrines after such a long period without; she thought she might say a prayer or two. Now was as good a time as ever.

Celestia began shuffling towards the front of the church, but stopped as she heard a series of hoofsteps to the side. She craned her neck to see a teal-coated unicorn mare emerge from a nearby staircase that led to what Celestia presumed to be the basement. Were the civilians hiding down there?

“Thank goodness you’re he-”

But she stopped, mid-sentence and mid-motion. Celestia saw a familiar expression play over the mare’s features, marring the relieved smile she had worn before. Her eyes wandered across the many wounds that crisscrossed all over Celestia’s coat, playing over her disheveled mane, her sunken eyes, her blood-stained hooves, her red-gold armor, and finally, her wings and horn.

Though she had given it no thought before, Celestia realized she should have expected such a reaction from the hostages of Manehattan. The mare reopened her mouth, and when she did, it was not because she wished to speak to another rational being. A terrified scream escaped her lips and she retreated back down the stairs to her hiding place.

Celestia looked forward again. So, she could not expect help from the civilians. Oh well.

She wandered to the front of the chapel. The journey took her a whole minute, and when she got there, she attempted to kneel in reverence. Instead, she simply collapsed onto the floor.

Two hundred of Equestria’s finest soldiers lay dead on the shores of Manehattan.

Two hundred of the Maiden’s best.

Two hundred friends, two hundred brothers and sisters, lay dead.

Lucky stood firmly on the concrete of Manehattan, looking down upon the shore with his helmet mask up, barely able to hear the regular army as its ranks marched by. Their soldiers looked down upon the banks as well, and he almost wanted to scream at them. What right did they have to see the Maiden’s soldiers like this?

The bodies were scattered everywhere, and lay in every position, sporting many causes of death. Two hundred sets of shining gold armor lay worn and unused upon the ground, their pale occupants having since lost their need for them. Sinisteeds, minotaurs, and gods knew what else were grotesquely scattered among them.

He heard heavy hoofbeats stop beside him, and instantly knew it was Crumble.

“Commander.”

Lucky closed his eyes, and gave a sad shake of the head. “Just…” His lips curled into a snarl, and his eyes reopened with a rekindled fire. “Dammit! Arrrgh!” He began pacing back and forth, stopping to punt a stray helmet that lay on the ground away and into the water of the Manehattan Channel.

“Why? How?” he shouted. He looked back and closed the distance between him and Crumble until their faces were inches apart. “How?”

“I don’t know, Lucky,” Crumble said evenly.

“Well why the hell not!” he yelled, breaking away from him. He paced back and forth, intermittently shouting, cursing, and muttering to himself. “He knew, he knew…” He turned back to Crumble. “Somehow he knew!”

Crumble waited until he was sure Lucky was not going to say anything more, and then responded as evenly as he could.

“Lucky, righ’ now, we can do one thing, and one thing only. Our job.” Crumble instinctively reached a hoof to stroke his beard, then set it back down. His beard was currently slick with rainwater, and his hoof was not the cleanest it had ever been. “If Discord knew about us, then he knew about our strike team, which means they are in way over their heads. That’s a hundred o’ the finest bein’ flanked on all sides, not to mention our sunshine.”

Lucky shook his head and scowled, pointing underhandedly at Crumble. “How did you not know about this?” he growled, his tone accusing.

“I could ask yeh the same question,” Crumble returned, his voice even deeper. “Now, Commander, are yeh goin’ to fix the problem, or keep moanin’ about it?”

Lucky looked away. His scowl cycled through several emotions before settling on one that seemed defeated. He hung his head and sighed. “I’ll kill him.”

“And I promise I’ll help.” He put his hoof on Lucky’s shoulder. “There’ll be time to grieve later. Right now, there are things that need doin’. The battalion waits on you.”

It was a few seconds before Lucky spoke. “Do you know the orders they gave me?”

Crumble nodded. “I do.”

“What do you think?”

Crumble shook his head. Even beneath his helmet, Lucky could sense his doubt. “It’s your call, Commander.”

“Okay,” Lucky murmured, nodding to himself. “Let’s go.”

Crumble took a few steps back and swept his hoof forward. “After you.”

They took off, galloping past the marching soldiers of the Equestrian army.

Friendly forces had taken enough of the city to set a small, unoccupied space as a rally point for the 21st division, but no more than that. The island was massive, and there was so much city left to take. It boggled the mind, the fact that so much remained when they had already put forth so much effort. The full might of the Equestrian army crashed down upon this one city like a mighty hammer blow – and not unlike a hammer blow, they had unintentionally eschewed all hopes of precision in favor of brute force. Their initial plans, crafted by none other than Lucky himself, had miserably failed; brute force was all they had left.

How many more corpses would it take until victory was theirs?

Tens of thousands of soldiers filed across the bridge and into the city. The 21st division had been the only one to successfully complete their task in securing an entrance across the channel. The northern and southeastern bridges were still in enemy hooves; the 21st’s elite counterparts who had been tasked with taking them were no more. The frontlines were a bulge in Equestria’s disadvantage; and yet, no order came for them to retreat or regroup. Conditions were far from perfect, but this was their only chance. Any retreat would leave them recuperating for another few precious months. In that time, Discord’s hordes would replenish, and this whole attack would have been in vain. It was now or never.

The rain was ever present, and the city itself was cramped and confining. Manehattan was a veritable metropolis. The only growing things to be seen had been planted there by the citizens; not once did Lucky see something that he thought might have been growing wild, unless it was a weed. Not that one could look very far to begin with; the line of sight was horribly limited. Despite the seemingly geometric layout of the city, it was obvious that nopony had really planned it in any particular way, but rather, it had just sprawled out as necessity grew. Blocks were mostly square and uniform, but every so often, one would be a highly irregular shape, completely destroying the uniformity of the rest. Streets twisted in upon themselves, leaving dead ends and loops aplenty. In conjunction with the slight fog rising from the streets, there was a pervasive sense of dread and claustrophobia, far from how an ideal battle should have been.

The tall structures created narrow corridors for the army to march through, and even the lower flying pegasi had to keep their eyes peeled unless they wanted to break their neck on the side of a building.

“There they are!” Crumble shouted over the rain.

They exited into a small clearing where stood the remainder of his battalion. A few unicorns held a simple shield spell above the whole of them, just powerful enough to block the rain while they prepared.

Lucky and Crumble passed through the shield, both of them instinctively shaking the water from their bodies. The ponies inside were a frenzy of activity, quickly checking the gear and dressing the wounds of their comrades before the order was given to move out. Belts buckled, plate armor clacked, chainmail rattled, bandages ripped and swords rung as the Maiden’s Battalion dutifully prepared itself. As Lucky stood a little taller and moved closer to the edge of the group, a few murmurs rippled through the crowd, but they ultimately quieted down.

The rain hitting the shield umbrella made for a dull, muffled sound, almost as if they were indoors. It only made the noises on the inside louder.

“Attention!” Apple Crumble called. They were already looking at Lucky regardless.

Whenever issuing battlefield orders, Lucky always put on the same immovable mask of steel. That dark scowl, mixed with the perfect amount of contempt, superiority, and disappointment, was something everypony had simply gotten used to. The pony underneath was well-intentioned, if a bit abrasive.

Looking at the crowd before him, that mask instantly faltered. His scowl lightened into raised brows, and his grimace relaxed into a bitter frown. Lucky did something he was told never to do. He inexplicably saw them not as soldiers, but ponies. Mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters and children. Ponies thrust so very deep into a hell they had no right to be in, cast with a fortune he would not pronounce upon even the vilest of criminals and murderers. Ponies with hopes, fears, dreams, and souls. Ponies that he would have to look in the eye to say,

“We have come very far, and we must go a little farther.”

His words echoed throughout the magical chamber. They were relatively quiet, lacking both the stern resolve of direct orders and the grandeur of an inspirational speech. Nevertheless, beneath it all, they could hear truth. Commander Break meant what he said.

“You all have two options. The 21st division is more selective than it was in the past, but at least one tradition endures. Everypony who serves is a volunteer, and anypony may leave at any time. If you wish to leave, you may do so. Your other option is to stay and fight.”

Slowly, Lucky unclasped his helmet and drew it off his head, ruffling his orange mane and looking back up to address them. When he did, he saw that not a single pony had moved. A spark of the smallest hope lit in his eyes.

“I can only speak for myself when I say that I have no options. I will stay and fight because I must. You all have your reasons for fighting. They are strong and they make you strong – otherwise, you wouldn’t be here. Faith unto zealotry, patriotism unto passion, anger unto wrath… I cannot say.”

Lucky looked sideways to see Crumble giving him an approving look. Normally, he would have been annoyed, feeling condescended to. At the moment, he felt only gratitude.

“Already, our losses have been terrible. But I find myself still compelled. I ask anypony who feels the same to take one step forward.”

Lucky almost jumped back as, all at once, the crowd moved a collective one foot closer to him. Ponies still tangled in their readjusted armor hopped; those injured limped or even crawled if they had to. The entire domed shield shifted forward with them.

Lucky could not help but to flash a small, determined smile.

“The orders are to take the bridge to the north,” he continued. “That’s not what we’re going to do.”

A murmur rippled through the crowd.

“Our drop team is somewhere in the inner city, surrounded on all sides with nowhere to run. Without help, they will surely be decimated. We won’t let that happen. We’re not going to abandon our friends.”

His words prompted many nods of assent.

“The blood of the slain cries out from the ground, and it cries for-”

Revenge.

Celestia gasped. The sound carried through the empty room, echoing a few times before completely diminishing. Her form still lay crumpled on the stone before the shrines. Gently, she stirred and lifted her head. She squinted and blinked in rapid succession. Her vision was surprisingly clear.

I never wanted it.

Quickly, she got to her hooves. An enormous wave of pain crashed through her entire body, hailing from all parts and coming in all forms. Aching, stinging, tearing, bleeding – each sensation seemed to reach the highest possible level of severity it could be without immediately killing her. Celestia felt as though she should have blacked out from the sheer magnitude of it. Instead, she simply chose to ignore it.

There was a huge, sudden bang on the doors of the chapel, but they did not open. She assumed her low, crouching fighting stance and drew one hoof up, deploying a single switchblade.

She extended her wings, and found that she could not push her right wing to its full length. She tried to force it, and a pained yelp escaped her lips as she was rewarded with an extraordinary ache, the worst she had ever felt. It was something on the inside, feeling like a very deep bruise. Drawing it close, she ran her hoof along the edge of the wingbone, and there she felt it. Midway between the base and the tip, her bone was dislocated, bent in the completely wrong direction.

Or rather, I never wanted to want it.

There was another bang at the door. Outside, she could hear the shouts and sounds of an intense conflict.

Celestia scowled, and walked over to a nearby pew. Extending her wing as far as she could, she set it against the back of the seat for leverage and put her hoof near where the dislocation was. All of the first aid lessons she had with Doctor Cross seemed so long ago.

She took a few quick breaths, closed her eyes, and pushed.

There was a straining, creaking sound, followed by a soft, fleshy pop. Her vision filled with stars, and she screamed in agony.

It’s such a selfish thing.

The door shuddered with the force of yet another collision.

For a few seconds, all she could do was stand there and stifle what would be agonized sobbing into teary whimpers. She grasped at her wing with trembling arms, and gagged as waves of nausea overcame her.

Eventually, she was able to release her wing, letting it go but still cautiously hovering over it with shuddering hooves. Gingerly, she tried again to extend it. The pain was incredible, but she pushed through it and stretched her wing as far as it would go. She inched back towards the center of the chapel and assumed a battle stance, leaving a dripping trail of blood wherever she stepped.

In her peripheral vision, she could see her own self. Her coat no longer seemed to even be white, so frequent were her wounds. Some of them had been bandaged. Did she do that herself? Her memory was full of holes.

And yet, when they told me their plans, I…

The doors burst open, and no less than a dozen pegasi in golden armor stormed into the chapel. Riding on their tails were two dozen sinisteeds.

Celestia dove forward, carried swiftly on her injured wings.

One sinisteed she met head on, moving in the exact opposite direction. Her momentum was greater and she had been prepared. The switchblade on her extended hoof caught it directly in the chest, and she pushed it backwards, essentially tackling it to the ground.

Without delay, she spun her entire body and swiped above herself, catching a second flying sinisteed across its unarmored belly. It went sprawling across the chapel, leaving a great red smear on the smooth stone floor.

The offer was tempting, and yet so repulsive. At first, I wanted to say no.

A third landed behind her, occupied with somepony else. She reared her hind legs and bucked it in the head. Its neck snapped forward and it fell limp.

A fourth engaged her specifically. She parried it with ease, and slashed at both of its legs, then its neck. A fifth and sixth met similar fates as they attempted to duel her. A seventh tried to fly elsewhere in the chapel; pursued and downed it easily. An eighth managed to sink its fangs into her upper leg, underneath the chainmail. She hissed in pain. While still in midair, she retracted her wings and simply free-fell to the chapel floor. The sinisteed tried to disengage, but Celestia deliberately held it there with its teeth still sunk until they both crashed into one of the pews below, completely shattering it.

With a mixture of savagery and grace, Celestia moved and flew around the room, aware of nothing but the enemies who attacked her or, barring that, her next target.

The twelfth was simply standing there, with its back turned. The foolish creature had no idea she was there. This would be easy. She retracted her blades, dove towards it with wings outstretched, and tackled it to the ground. Once it was there, she deployed the blade on her right hoof, pulling her arm back for a savage thrust-

“Stop!”

A sudden force pushed her away. Deftly, she rolled with the blow and landed on her hooves, snarling as she recovered with her arm cocked and ready to attack.

Except there were no enemies. Before her stood Lightning Sky.

Her eyes widened, and slowly, she lowered her weapon.

“Lieutenant…”

She looked behind him. The creature she had tackled was not a sinisteed at all – just a black-coated pegasus with a dark mane.

Celestia shook her head. “I… I didn’t…” Her mouth opened and shut in an effort to speak, but no words were coming out. Her hooves trembled. She felt the dizziness coming back to her.

Had the black pegasus been the only one she mistook for an enemy? She looked around, and saw only sinisteeds, dead or dying.

“Watch it,” Lighting said tersely. His voice was raspier than usual.

“Lieutenant!” Another pony came running to his side. “Sir, you shouldn’t be fighting! And… gods have mercy… neither should she…”

Lightning turned towards the soldier. As he did, Celestia saw two black arrows protruding from his side, as well as a multitude of cuts that put him in no better condition than herself.

“No,” he breathed, sounding suddenly very tired. “Go downstairs… see if there’s a doctor. And barricade the doors.” He turned and coughed into his arm. When he drew it back, it was stained with a small spattering of red.

“On it, sir!”

Celestia was slowly backing towards the shrine, shaking her head. Everything was falling apart. It was all becoming chaos.

“What’s the situation at the docks?” somepony shouted. “When do we get these civilians out of here?”

“We’re not.”

“Sir?”

Celestia felt her flank hit the stone of the first altar. She kept on backing up until her whole side was pressed up against it, and then gently let her hooves collapse beneath her, sliding down until she lay on the ground. She was only vaguely aware of somepony helping Lightning Sky towards the back of chapel as well.

“The airships… meant to evacuate the hostages… gone.”

“Gone, sir?”

“Destroyed. The sinisteeds… we loaded the first one to capacity, and then they…” He let out a wet cough. “The ones we escaped from the sky are coming for us. Are those… are those doors barricaded?”

Celestia’s eyes fell closed. Her heart hammered against her chest, and what blood she had left pulsed through her veins in record time. Nevertheless, she felt herself slipping.

“They are. Lieutenant… Lightning… what do we do?”

Slipping, and somepony was calling her name.

“We make a stand.”

Slipping, and somepony was calling her name, but not actually calling for her – she knew it through some sort of context, and all she could think about was just how strange that was.

The dream seemed to last forever.

And why shouldn’t it?

I said it right in front of everypony, right to his face. It was the last thing he heard me say. I regret it so much. At least it was the truth.

“One of us has to survive, you know. To tell Cream.”

Sunflowers always grow facing east. He told me that once. I didn’t believe him, so he grew his own to prove it to me. Turns out, he was right.

“Celestia…? You awake?”

‘It’s because they like to watch the sunrise,’ he said. How naïve.

“Celestia…? Doctor! Somepony get a doctor!”

And then, after he grew them, he would pick them for me whenever we passed through. I don’t even like sunflowers that much. It was so childish. I almost asked him to stop. I’m glad I didn’t.

“No, not me, her! I don’t- No, I don’t care if she’s an alicorn, just do it!”

I couldn’t stand being around him off-duty. Following me around like a lovesick puppy. When I told him to go away, he would – but not for long. Eventually, it was just easier to let him follow, albeit at a distance. Were it not for that talent of his, I would have kicked him out in a heartbeat. Then again, if it were not for that talent of his, I wouldn’t have hated him so much.

We were young, still practically foals.

As time went on, my heart softened, and his hardened. The war robbed him of his hope, made him into a cynic – but whenever he was around me, that same, stupid charm came floating back to the surface, if only a little slower. I don’t know what it was, but I think I felt sorry for him.

Years passed – and it did take years – but I stopped hating him. In fact, eventually, I think I…

There was an enormous pounding at the door. Buzzing, louder than she had ever heard it, drowned out all other noises.

Years passed – and it did take years – but I realized something. He gravitated towards me because I gave him hope. I mean, of course I did. I gave everypony hope. That was my job. But that wasn’t all. I don’t think he knew it, but he gave me hope.

Amidst the horrors of war, in a world that everypony knew was doomed, he… he made growing up fun. Exciting. Something to be proud of. Like a foalhood should be.

And when we were “grown-up”, the march that took us to battle was all the more painful, because we had so much to lose. Because we could lose each other.

All of that is gone, now. Discord took it away.

The offer was tempting, and yet so repulsive. At first, I wanted to say no.

But I didn’t.

They made it sound so easy. Perhaps it was, in the same way suicide is easy.

But I made the right choice!

I told them it was about finding peace. I told myself that, too. I had to tell myself that all the time, even before. That the ponies of Equestria deserved better! They deserved safety! They deserved Harmony!

They deserved Harmony.

I told them that, and one of them had the audacity to tell me that it didn’t matter. Well it did matter! This was my life, and IT MATTERED! Ponies say things like that, and I wonder if they forget who we’re fighting, and the things he’s done!

This war was supposed to be in pursuit of peace. Well it’s not.

Discord doesn’t care about peace. Why should I?

Discord. Hatred.

For what I lost, Discord will pay. I swear he will pay dearly.

“She’s awake!”

Celestia’s eyes snapped wide open. She found herself looking straight at Lightning Sky, who lay on his belly before her, leaning in close to her.

“You’ve lost a lot of blood, just hold still for a second!”

She felt somepony just out of her sight tugging at her limbs, wrapping a bandage around one of her hind legs. Eventually, she heard the pony rip a bandage and tie it to a close.

“Can you move? We have to get to the basement!” Lightning struggled to his hooves.

There was another enormous banging sound, and the double door entrance to the chapel rattled with recoil. Every able-bodied pegasus, unicorn, and earth pony put their combined effort into keeping it shut, soldiers and civilians alike.

The door shook yet again, hit by some huge force on the other side. Celestia knew it would not hold for long.

“Quickly! We have to… Celestia?”

There was another bang.

And another.

And another.

“...your eyes…”

The door burst open, throwing the soldiers and civilians that held it closed to either side. An endless black sea teeming with translucent wings and fangs and steel poured through, instantly swallowing those closest to it.

Hatred.

Hatred.

Hatred.

Revenge.

A great conflict raged across a singular front in the city of Manehattan. In the streets, soldiers fought bitterly against Discord’s hordes. The ring of clashing steel sounded without relent, and the air was filled with a great, collective shout, the product of mares and stallions and beasts exerting themselves to the utmost. Any semblance of order had been completely done away with. Unicorns fought alongside earth ponies, who fought alongside the ever mobile pegasi. Enemies of every kind populated the streets in a never-ending horde. An obsidian ocean of sinisteeds stretched back to occupy every visible street, and in the midst of them, minotaurs bellowed, manticores roared, and the occasional hydra shrieked its displeasure as they all waded towards the front.

In the very front and center of the battle lines, a group of soldiers clad in gold were pushing their way towards the innermost part of the city.

Duck.

Lucky Break tilted his head forward as a sinisteed flew overhead, taking a swipe with its hoof-mounted scythe. The very edge of it clipped his helmet, leaving a thin, wiry scratch directly over the top of his head.

He did not dawdle in his recovery. To do so would have meant death. He brought his head up just as the blade of a sinisteed came his way. He parried it and took full advantage of the created opening.

The front was nearing a crossroads as the Equestrian forces pushed the hordes eastward towards the sea. On one corner of the block stood a residential building, inside which some of the soldiers took refuge. They stood at windows on multiple floors, firing arrows and pyrokinetics into the crowd of enemies below, while the pegasi did their best to repel the sinisteeds trying to swarm their position.

“Lucky!”

His ears perked up as he heard a familiar voice. He glanced over the fray to see Apple Crumble wading towards him, pointing down the street and shouting something. Lucky dispatched the opponent he was fighting and momentarily disengaged from the conflict to move towards him.

“What?” he said, pushing through the crowd of soldiers, many of whom were his own.

“Down the street!” Crumble repeated, frantically pointing. “It’s-!”

He was cut off by a tremendous roar. Lucky’s eyes rolled in his head as he looked in the direction of the source.

“Yeah, that!” Crumble shouted.

A hydra, impatient and frustrated at the prospect of having to wait its turn, was stomping down the street and towards the crossroads, crushing its own allies in mindless aggression. Lucky could have sworn at least one pair of its eyes were on him. He drew his sword, and prepared to charge.

Order a withdrawal.

Lucky immediately changed his mind. He sheathed his sword and took a deep breath. “All forces, withdraw!”

His command almost drowned in the riotous sea of noise, but it was audible nonetheless. Little by little, the Equestrian soldiers backed up into the narrow street behind them, though the enemy did not break off, and the slams of the hydras footsteps were getting closer and closer by the second.

In that moment, Lucky heard a large disturbance in the air behind them. He looked back, and sure enough, an armored frigate airship moved heavily through the air, floating just above the buildings and coming to a slow stop above the lane of their street. On the sloping curvature of its hull, fifty-five hatches swung open, and fifty-five cannons were rolled forward to point at the ground. For a few long seconds, the ship hovered unsteadily in the storm, giving the cannoneers time to obtain a lock on their target. They did not have long; the hydra was moments away.

“Hit the dirt!” somepony shouted.

Technically, it was stone – but nopony needed to say it twice. The Maiden’s soldiers either ducked their heads or went into a full-bodied drop, and the cannons fired.

A sudden cacophony of explosions could be heard everywhere in the city as cannonballs and grapeshot flew over the heads of the soldiers, fast unto invisibility. Stone and dirt were flung high into the air as the crossroads practically erupted under the barrage of heated iron.

The ship stayed in place until it was done firing – a process that took less than five seconds – and slowly floated away, circling around while it reloaded. When Lucky looked back up, he saw the carnage of the attack in all its glory. Vast sections of the enemy had been obliterated, and the hydra lay on its front, dead, its body full of holes.

The dust had not even settled before the two sides rushed forward again, fighting over the corpses of the fallen.

Lucky Break was a whirlwind of activity, blocking, dodging, and attacking. His method was brutal and utterly efficient. Aside from simple fighting, he often performed actions that did not always make sense, and sometimes never would make sense; yet, he always came out on top.

Over a lifetime of combat, he had simply become used to following the impulses. What came next, however, was utterly perplexing, even for him.

In the corner of his eye, in the building standing on the northeast corner of the crossroads, a section of the front still held by the enemy, he saw something impossible.

His eyes widened, and he danced away from the frontlines, craning his head above the chaos to get a better look. It could not be! Yet there it was, looking out at him from one of the base floor windows.

A pegasus flew past his line of sight, and though the moment in which it was broken was brief, when he looked back, the impossible thing was gone.

He shook his head. There was no way it had been real. That would be absurd.

But he had to know for sure.

He tightened his jaw around the claymore in his mouth. His eyes narrowed, and through the thin slit in his helmet, he set his gaze on the building across the way, setting a mental marker over the window he had seen it through. His gaze then lowered to the enemies in his path. They were already dead.

Wait.

He waited for a few seconds, rocking quickly back and forth on his hooves.

Wait. Wait.

Go.

Lucky rocketed forward, blowing past his own frontlines and into the wall of sinisteeds. He jumped and twisted his body, crushing the first one he met in a great downwards swipe, then bringing his sword back up to kill the one to his left. He stabbed a third and left the claymore behind, still impaled into its target. After, he simply galloped, pushing through the sinisteeds that were in his way and killing the sinisteeds that stayed in his way. A multitude of attacks slipped through his defense but bounced off of his thick plated armor. It did not phase him; he had a destination.

He became a veritable plow, charging into the enemy lines, so much so that many of the enemies simply elected to remove themselves from his path, rather than risk trying to stop him. Eventually, when he was close enough, Lucky drew the hookshot from his belt and fired it towards a third floor window, leaving him enough clearance to draw himself off the ground and swing towards the first floor window he was aiming for. The spearhead crashed through the glass and caught onto something on the other side, and he swung towards the building, putting his rear hooves forward as he got nearer to the glass.

The window shattered and the pane snapped in four as he bucked through it and simultaneously let go of the hookshot, propelling himself into the building.

He landed and tumbled across the floor, his armor taking the brunt of the damage. Quickly, he got to his hooves and drew his shortsword, preparing for invasion from the same way of entry. Oddly enough, no sinisteed seemed to have seen him enter. Or perhaps they were too scared to pursue him?

He heard a loud chunk come from upstairs, presumably the third floor. Before letting it go, he had activated the withdrawal function on Cotton’s hookshot so he would be able to retrieve it later.

At the moment, it did not matter. Nothing but his search mattered.

Quickly, he drew the curtains on the window he had crashed through without attracting any attention. The rest of them were boarded up; in this building, he was alone.

Lucky brushed himself off, removed his helmet, and looked around. It seemed to be some sort of office. A large counter, possibly a reception desk, preceded two smaller hallways that lead farther back into the building. The whole interior was economically constructed from brick, stone, or wood, preserving a very “traditional” Manehattan feel. The sinisteeds did not seem to have touched the place; Lucky supposed even their army was not big enough to occupy every building.

He stepped forward, and his hoof made one of the floorboards squeal. Everything seemed unnaturally quiet here, despite the literal war occurring not far behind him.

“Hello?” he called. There was no response. Cautiously, he proceeded towards the desk.

“Sheriff Knox…” he muttered aloud, reading a nameplate on the reception desk. So it was a sheriff’s office?

Suddenly, he heard a noise directly behind him. He whirled around to see the tail end of something, or somepony, galloping around the corner, into a separate hallway and out of sight. Lucky’s eyes widened, and he immediately went after them.

“Wait!” he cried, not caring who or what heard him. “Please come back!”

He whirled around the corner the figure had taken, and saw another exit, still swinging back and forth on its hinges. He sprinted forward as fast as his heavy armor would allow and burst into an alleyway on the other side of the conflict, behind enemy lines. Thankfully, no enemies were waiting there for him.

The galloping hoofsteps echoed off the walls, and he caught a glimpse of the elusive pony as it twisted around yet another bend. His heart skipped a beat, for he knew it was indeed a pony. Sinisteed hoofsteps were similar to their own, but had a certain muffled sound to them, a result of their pliable hooves which felt more like rubber than an actual hoof.

“Hey! Stop!” he yelled, galloping forward. His heavy armor and equipment were incredibly loud in the empty alleyways of Manehattan, the plate sliding against itself and his many tools and weapons rapping noisily against the exterior.

He slid around the alleyway, and caught yet another glimpse of the fleeing pony – except this time, it actually seemed to wait for him, stopping and looking back to make sure he was following before taking off around the next turn.

“Please don’t go!” he shouted. Of course, even as he turned the next corner, they vanished out of sight.

For a full minute, though it seemed like much longer, Lucky was led through a veritable maze of alleys until he had lost all orientation and absolutely no idea where he was. Not once, though, did he lose the chase. Corner after corner, he galloped without relent.

It’s impossible, he thought, over and over to himself. It’s not real. There’s no way it’s real.

Finally, the alleys came to an end. The pathway emptied out into a medium-sized courtyard with no entrance or exit but the one Lucky stood at, surrounded on all sides with the red brick of Manehattan residential buildings. There appeared to be an old fire escape on one side, but the staircase at the bottom had collapsed, so unless the pony could fly, which he knew they could not, then escape was impossible.

There stood his quarry with nowhere to go.

The only illumination in the stone courtyard came from the darkened sky, and a shadow was cast from the buildings farthest away from him. The mysterious pony was there, their gaze swiveling left and right as they looked up the structure. Eventually, their head lowered, and they simply stood there. Perhaps they were waiting. Perhaps for him.

Lucky did not move. He dared not.

The half-obscured form of the pony in the darkness was not proof enough, and however fast his heart hammered, however short his breath was, he tried his best to remain skeptical. With an insane hope bursting at the seams of his whole being, he deployed his switchblade, cocked his arm back, and spoke.

“Turn, stranger. And come into the light.”

The pony turned where they – where she stood and walked towards him, out of the shadow of the building.

Lucky felt his heart stop and his blood turn to ice.

If only for a brief instant, the clouds seemed to part and the grey courtyard was lightened by the smallest of degrees. Not that he needed it to see her now. Her mane was a rich amethyst hue, full, flowing, and beautiful; and the fading yellow of her coat was more radiant than he remembered. And those golden eyes… he could swim in them for hours…

His hoof fell unceremoniously to the ground, where he idly retracted the blade. For a long time, Lucky simply stood there and stared; and she was content to let him. His breath became heavy, his mouth was slightly agape, and he wore a confused, disbelieving scowl. Several times, the muscles near his lips twitched as if he was going to speak, but nothing ever came out.

Eventually, he shook his head, lightly and to himself, and spoke the only rational thing he could think to say. It escaped his lips as the feeblest of whispers.

“Daylight?”

She tilted her head, a lock of purple hair gently falling away from her eyes.

“Hello, Lucky Break.”