The boat that had departed the Regia was one of several, a flotilla of small craft that sped upriver with the help of magic. Each contained reinforcements enough to help supplement the forces currently in the city of Trottingham, or what remained of them. The ponies had been informed that Trottingham had been attacked, and the city was now dark. It was very likely that Celestia herself had led the attack, no doubt to recover Rainbow Dash, while the bulk of her forces massed in Ponyville, hoping to push through where the Forest was thinnest.
The plan was for the elite Lunar Guard as well as the best-armed of the Ever Free Fighters to ride upstream to a fort that had been created last year, known as Fort Dauntless. Commanding the river, it sat on a hill overlooking much of the surrounding forest save for a circle that had been cleared around it in order to prevent sneak attacks. They were only hours from the stronghold, having left the Regia at noon. It was nearly sundown, and most ponies in the boats were silently contemplating the setting sun as they moved into the gathering dusk.
Sweetie Belle was no exception. She sat near Scootaloo, clutching the pack of supplies she had been handed as she stepped onto the boat. The jambiyah that had been given to her by Mahtaram was belted securely around her middle, like she had seen the Gryphon do, along with several other knives. In addition to this, she was wearing armor. Originally, she hadn’t wanted to wear the boiled leather gear, but Rarity had insisted.
“If you are absolutely set on charging off into battle, with a child no less, you are not going unprotected. You can count yourself lucky I let myself be persuaded by Pinkie Pie.” she had said. “You’re wearing the armor, and that’s final.”
It wasn’t that bad, not really. Scootaloo was wearing a similar getup, though hers was more focused around protecting her forelegs and shoulders, with minimal padding along the sides. Fastened to her side was a pair of simple steel shoes, ones that would make her blows much more effective in combat, easily deadly to anypony not wearing armor, and troublesome to those that did.
The two of them sat in the stern of one of the boats, where they had been since the beginning of their journey. The mood in the boat was largely subdued, save for the cheerful conversation of the few Ever Free who had somehow made it into the skiff. These were the ones who had not seen combat, and were either masking their nerves with false bravado, or were genuinely excited about the upcoming battle due to their lack of experience.
A hulking Lunar Stallion shook his head. “Reminds me of Whitetail.” he grumbled. “Here’s hoping that it won’t turn out similarly.”
Sweetie tilted her head curiously. “Whitetail…Scootaloo, wasn’t that when you were first working for the Ever Free?”
The orange Pegasus grunted. Opening one eye, she looked at Sweetie Belle. “Yep. One of my first assignments.”
“What was it like?” the unicorn asked.
The Lunar stallion chuckled. “Trust me, kid. You don’t want to know.”
That was the wrong thing to say to Sweetie Belle. She felt the curious reporter in her stir at the dismissal. “Now I really do. I know it was a military defeat for the Ever Free, but what was so bad about it? We in the capital didn’t hear much about it other than Equestria won.”
Scootaloo sighed. “Look, I really don’t want to talk about it. It brings up a lot of things I’d rather keep buried.”
“Scoots, I know every one of the team member’s backstories except for yours. I know that the battle probably had something to do with why you joined, and why you decided to come inside of the Everfree rather than operate outside.”
Sweetie Belle leaned in, making eye contact with her friend. “And I’m willing to bet it has something to do with the fact that you didn’t once attempt to talk to Rainbow Dash while we were in the Regia, not even briefly.”
That did it. Scootaloo sat up straighter, and examined Sweetie Belle with all the intensity of a hawk. “Fine. I can’t keep any secrets from you. Especially now. So I’ll tell you exactly what it was like.” She looked at the stallion seated next to them. “You want to help me out with this?”
He leaned in as well, the three of them forming a small circle. “I’ll listen, and chime in where I’m needed.”
Scootaloo nodded, looking at Sweetie Belle again. “So tell me what you know about the Battle.”
Sweetie Belle thought. “It involved the Guard, some of the Third and Fifth Fleets, the Regulars, and took place near Ponyville. Estimated casualties on the Ever Free’s side were around four thousand, as opposed to the thousand or so ponies lost on the Equestrian side of things. It lasted one day, and was fought over…something in the Woods.”
Scootaloo nodded. “You’ve got the basic bones of it. But what you’re lacking are details.” She inhaled, looking up at the reddish sunlight filtering through the trees. Sweetie Belle got the feeling that Scootaloo wasn’t entirely there anymore.
“I was under contract with the Ever Free after my delivery business went under. Too many security checks can get bad for mail, you know? So I was desperate, and asked around for work. A pony that wasn’t a pony approached me in a Hoofington and offered me a job. And wouldn’t you know it, it was in Ponyville. He wanted me to scout out the route to the Whitetail from the woods. I was sort of on the edge about the whole thing, but the money was too good to pass up. I loaded up my scooter and trekked back to Ponyville. I got a job delivering mail in the city and in my spare time, I sent the occasional message back.”
The stallion nodded. “I remember looking over some of those reports. I was in the Lunar Reserve then, before I got called up. They were helpful.”
Scootaloo continued. “And then, I was offered another job. There was a massive undertaking being instigated by the Ever Free. An army of nearly six thousand would be marching out of the Ever Free to the Whitetail Woods, to seize the supply caches that were apparently hidden inside of the forest. If I helped to move goods with them, not only would I be well paid, I would be taken into custody, inducted into the rebellion, and provided for as an agent. Now, it was summer then, and things were looking good, but I knew fall wouldn’t be far away, and then would come winter. And the last winter had nearly killed me. No home or job. I’d freeze to death. A spot with the Ever Free was looking really good.”
“So you took the offer.” Sweetie Belle said.
Scootaloo nodded. “I did. The appointed date came, and it was hot and dry, like it had been for weeks. A good breeze was coming from out of the west, and from the south came a column of armed and armored ponies. The made it right around Ponyville without entering the town.”
“That was on Lady Twilight’s orders.” the stallion rumbled. “We were to avoid the town so as to give us a bit more time and to keep civilian casualties to a minimum.”
“In they went, and I with them. The group I was with threw open this trapdoor in the middle of nowhere, started hauling out sacks of beans and crates of lantern oil. I loaded up with a few packages, and handed them off to the runners waiting by the forest edge. I went back and got more, and once the door was emptied, we did it all again. Until the reports came in.”
“The ponies in town had alerted Canterlot. They had a radio tower set up near town hall, recently built, and soon enough we saw airships on the horizon.” the stallion said. “We didn’t have a lot of flyers, and those that were available were being used to ferry messages between teams. We had about half of the supplies back in the Everfree already, but we were going to have to fight for the second half.”
Scootaloo’s voice grew a bit shaky. “I was just about to exit the treeline when the first rounds came in. You know those cruisers the Navy has, big and mean. One of the forward facing arc guns let loose right as I hit the treeline, and I watched a ball of magical lightning as big as my head tear up three ponies in front of me. But I couldn’t stop, otherwise I was a goner. I kept my head down, charged through, and dropped my bags near the Forest just as the rest of the Navy came in overhead. They were Third Fleet, the skeleton guard left in Canterlot while the rest were away on exercises. But that wasn’t all. They had troop carriers with them.”
Sweetie Belle could see the Pegasus’s hooves shake, and she reached out, cupping Scootaloo’s hoof in her own. The Pegasus smiled gratefully and kept talking, like she couldn’t get the words out fast enough. “I went into the Forest for the last time, right as they lifted out the last of our supplies. I found out later that we were the only team to get all of what we had come for. But what supplies we had salvaged would help the Ever Free to limp through until harvest, which was in a few short weeks. Now we needed to fight our way out. And that was going to be tough. Some of the Guard had already landed on the ridge between Ponyville and Whitetail, and there were more arriving. We were already under fire when we made it back into the treeline.”
The stallion nodded agreement. “We had already begun to trade spells with them, but they were beginning to dig in on that ridge, and it overlooked our entire escape route into the Everfree. Every time we tried to make a break for it, they would light up the edge of the woods with spellfire, and the ones that made it through got torn up by the Navy’s guns in short order. Another wave of transports rolled in, and they deployed Regulars, who advanced further down the hill and started to set up proper field fortifications and siege weapons. We were getting hammered, and so we pulled back into the woods.”
Scootaloo continued. “The Third Fleet was bad enough, but when they started hurling rocks and firepots into the trees, it got really bad. Nopony knew who was in command, who was with what company of ponies, and everypony was running around like chickens trying to form up proper battle lines. Every time we got something set up, the Navy would swoop in and pound it into the ground. We tried sending up fliers, but the Air Corps was in the area, and they kept us on the ground. And then, after hours of this, the Fifth Fleet arrived.”
Sweetie Belle knew the story of the Fifth Fleet. Based in Fillydelphia, it had been largely destroyed by Twilight Sparkle and Spike after they had tried to escape the city. They, as well as Golden Radiance, were responsible for nearly half of the Fleet going down in flames over the city. After the rebellion had been well and truly underway, Detrot’s mighty industrial complex, by and large unused in recent times, had been shifted into overdrive. The Fleet had been assembled in a matter of months, with replacements rolling off of the line, bigger and better, in days. Within a year of Twilight Sparkle’s rebellion, the group of airships had been totally rebuilt or revamped, even those who had not been damaged.
“They hit us from the north and east, driving us back towards the last southwest corner of the Woods we could still hold. Half of the trees were straight on fire, and we had lost easily a thousand ponies. Finally, we were out of options, except for one. A quick team of runners would start a fire to the southwest of Ponyville, and turn it dangerous while pointing it towards the town. We’d use it as a distraction, punch through their lines, and make it into the Everfree.”
Sweetie Belle’s eyes widened. “You mean the Ever Free started that fire? The one that…”
Scootaloo nodded. “That one. I volunteered. We were each given a bag containing a specially treated fire crystal, the kind we’d normally use in demolitions. One of the engineers had modified them, instead of the explosion coming out all at once, it was a controlled bleed of heat. We waited, right there on the edge of the Woods. I could see the explosions lighting up the ridge in front of me, and the spells kicking up dirt near the treeline.”
She gulped. “My hooves were shaking, my heart was pounding, everything seemed still for a moment…and then the whistle blew, and we were off. It felt like a race at first, like a weird kind of fast marathon, you know? Until the first shots came in, and one caught the pony next to me in the satchel. He lit up like a candle. I can still remember him screaming. Then it didn’t seem like a game anymore.”
She clenched her hooves, clearly back on the battlefield. “I just remember running, and running, and running until we reached our destination. I looked back over my shoulder, and out of thirty volunteers, I see that eight beside me made it. We’re on the hills right outside of Sweet Apple Acres. And I thought when I arrived that I’d feel bad about setting fire to that hillside, but all I could think at that point was how burning all those apple trees was going to save my flank. I got out my crystal, and the others got theirs out, and we get ready to set fire to the fields. And just as I get ready to tap mine in, the absolute worst happens. There’s a sound like thunder, and streaks start filling the sky. One fiery, like a comet, one made of thunder clouds, one flat white, and one just trailing lightning out of nowhere. And of course, the one at their head. A streak in every color of the rainbow angles itself down towards us, and it’s all I can do to tap my crystal before Rainbow Dash lands on the hilltop.”
Sweetie Belle and the stallion both looked at Scootaloo, watching her recount the events of that day, events that clearly still meant something to her. “There was no stopping the crystal once it started, and two others had managed to activate theirs as well. They were the first two down. She whipped a crossbow out of nowhere, chambered two shots, and took them both down before they could get more than half a dozen paces clear of her. She only missed me because I tried to close with her. And I paid for that.”
She lifted her wing to reveal a white line, puckered and twisted, underneath. “She did that. With a dagger that she left inside. I hauled off and decked her in the face, and I ended up breaking my hoof in three places. Of course, after that the others had managed to activate theirs, even though the rest of the Solar Wing had landed and began to run down the survivors. She didn’t even bother to use another knife on me. She knew I was done for. I looked into those eyes, and I saw something that I had hoped never to see Rainbow Dash express towards me. It was contempt.”
Her voice shook. “That almost hurt worse than the knife. She was my idol, growing up. I had respected her, in a way, even though she was on the other side. I thought it showed that she had morals. Morals I didn’t agree with, but still. And then I found out that not only did she not extend that same respect to me, she looked at me like I was worse than trash. I was nothing more than a traitor to her at that point. But that wasn’t what was important to me. I needed to survive. The route behind me was closed, so I did the only thing I could do. I charged forward.”
The stallion tilted his head. “Into the fire?”
Scootaloo nodded. “Bleeding into the fire. Luna, it was horrible. Rainbow Dash almost chased me down, but I think she decided it wasn’t worth it. That knife had nicked something important, so I was bleeding everywhere. But it missed the artery she was aiming for by less than a quarter of an inch. Woozy, broken, bleeding and burning, I tumbled down that hill, through the fire and flames to a ditch. It was a drainage ditch for the farm, not with water, but it still had plenty of mud. I pulled the knife out, packed mud into the hole, bound the wing up with my satchel, and passed out.”
Her voice grew stronger. “I woke up at least ten minutes later, and everything was on fire. The fields, the trees, even some of the ditch. But I could see my way out. That ditch ran along the edge of the farm, running towards the Everfree Forest. I could hear the last ponies retreating from the battle, and I gathered up my strength and followed them. It was long, and I fell a few times, but at the end of the trip, I stood alone, walking towards the last medics outside of the Everfree. I gave them my name, the company I had been arbitrarily assigned to, explained where I was, and passed out. I woke up in Trottingham three days later.”
The stallion whistled. “That’s damn impressive, kid. That fire you set was what gave us the diversion we needed.”
“What happened on your end?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“The fire they started got noticed in a big damn hurry. I was fighting in close along the front lines, repelling Regular charges, when I saw the smoke begin to go up. A minute later, a hefty chunk of the fighters gets pulled off of the line, helping with the cleanup. The Air Corps goes too, and the Third Fleet, almost out of fuel, peels off towards Canterlot to bring back water to fight the fires. If there had been any rainclouds around, they might have been able to contain the blaze, but the sky was clear as could be. It had been for days.”
He stretched, cracking his back. “I fought off the last charges with my platoon, and then we fell back as per usual, except we didn’t establish another line. We just cut and ran towards the flames, heading around the back of the fire. We took some shots along the way, and I lost a few good friends in that dash to the Forest. But most of us made it, and splitting the forces like that saved a lot of lives. If we hadn’t had that blaze, every single one of us would be dead or imprisoned now.”
A cry went up from the first boat. The Fort could be seen in the distance, low and solid in the last lights of day. Torches burned along its length. Ponies patrolled the walls in force, and Sweetie Belle’s heart swelled. To move large numbers of ponies, Celestia’s forces would need to come through here. But this Fort was the greatest stronghold of the east, manned by some of the finest ponies that the Ever Free could offer. There was no more defended position outside of the Regia, and Sweetie Belle was to be included in that defense. If there was any safer place for her to be, she couldn’t imagine it.
Celestia spread her wings wide, drawing on the power she had stored during the day. Behind her, the city of Trottingham burned, consumed from within by the fires of retribution. Three full Legions of ponies stood at her back, with her Sunborn waiting patiently. Not a one of them had been bested in combat that day, and a very few had been wounded. And they still hungered for combat.
With a minor effort of will, a lance of energy streamed from her horn, splashing across the Forest in front of her. Immediately, it flared into a hellstorm of fire and heat, consuming the leading edge of the thickly packed trees in an instant. She did not trust the Forest, especially at night. It would have to go, she thought, burning a wide swathe for her forces to march through. With that gone, she would have little trouble reaching the Regia.
Radiant Zenith’s head snapped up from the text she was reading, her body perfectly alert.
“What’s wrong?” Twilight Sparkle asked, looking up from her map.
“There is a disturbance on the edge of the Everfree.” Radiant replied. “A fire, a very wide fire…” her voice broke off. “Oh, that pompous, arrogant little tyrant!”
Twilight had never seen Radiant Zenith quite as angry as she was right then. The mare’s coat began to glow silver, and her eyes narrowed as smoke began to leak from her horn. She rose smoothly, gazing out towards the east, towards Trottingham. “So, Celestia thinks she can intrude on my Forest, does she?” Her horn lit up, and suddenly Twilight was very much aware of the power her erstwhile ally wielded. With a hiss and rush of wind, the light on her horn went out. Radiant Zenith smiled, her teeth suddenly pointed. “Well, I’ll just lay out the welcome mat for her, shall I?”
Lightning crackled across the sky in blue and green and black, as Radiant Zenith finally began to exert herself. “I’ll send her every beastie, every rotten and dead thing that slithers and crawls throughout my Forest. Poison and death and slow, creeping rot, or my Power is forfeit. She’ll rue the day that she stepped foot into my woods, Twilight Sparkle.” A twisted smile crept across the unicorn’s face, and Twilight got the feeling that she was enjoying the thought of slaughtering those who had transgressed upon her. A low roar echoed through the woods. Then another, and another, followed by the yipping of wolves and the shrieking of bats and other, less savory things.
Radiant Zenith turned to Twilight, and the expression on her face was one Twilight had never seen before, nor ever wanted to see again. Radiant Zenith wasn’t afraid, or angry, or confused. She was hungry.
“Now they are in my world, Twilight Sparkle.” Radiant Zenith chuckled. “My land, my rules.”
Twilight Sparkle felt a chill run down her back, and realized that she felt almost sorry for the invading forces. Almost.