Spitfire lay in the hospital. She had been hit hard in the battle. Who knew Laurence had been this prepared, this powerful, this...overwhelming? She and Rainbow Dash had hurried after Celestia after the distress signal had been called. Even though Spitfire had been adamant about going alone and let the rest of their team defend Dash, the cyan mare had powered through her weakness and insisted on coming. Her Loyalty demanded it.
Snorting a little bit at this line, Spitfire suddenly winced. She had hurt her muzzle quite hard and had some hairline fractures there. The unicorns were already trying to fix up some spell for that but it still hurt. She looked at the new picture in her room. Since Spitfire had been small, she always remembered the hospital rooms fixed with some pictures of Celestia. Now there were pictures of Laurence. She really hated that jerk. So there had been some problems with his family because of Celestia! So what? Most ponies simply grew up and accepted their losses! But no, Laurence couldn’t. Shifting a bit under her covers she wished her uniform back. Well, any of her uniforms at least. This hospital gown was...unpleasant in comparison to the outfits she usually wore.
Back then, Dash and her nearly had finished Laurence before they had been interrupted. By his reinforcements of course. That bastard of a pony wouldn’t do anything on his own now, would he? Suppressing a snarl at her thoughts because that would only hurt her, Spitfire sighed instead. It was almost like a fairy tale in a sense what had happened. In the last possible moment, then when Dash had been captured and Spitfire had been beaten, he had appeared. Sky Hawk. Like a mighty brown phoenix he swooped down through a window, crashed into her attackers and charged Laurence. It was...majestic in a way how he weaved and shifted under Laurence's attacks but the two pegasi had been too even in their power, too close in fighting skill to finish their fight fast. Laurence had backup and his backup was strong. Spitfire did everything she could to keep him safe but they were only two ponies against a whole battalion. They had been forced to flee and so Laurence had taken over.
It was sad. They had been so close but in the end it didn’t even matter. They had been too weak, too few and last but not least, too powerless to win. Sky Hawk had carried her when they fled. He was bleeding from several bruises and cuts but he carried her. It was shameful, Spitfire was a professional flyer but when he did it...Spitfire had simply snuggled into him and had felt safe. He had made her feel safe when she had trouble flying. Sighing once more, Spitfire looked over to the next bed. Sky Hawk lay there. He had carried her all the way to Manehatten, to some good friends he had, only to break down from his wounds. He had gotten emergency treatment from the nearby hospital. After a look at her, she had been treated too. She explained the events that had happened. Of course she didn’t tell everything. She was no novice in that situation. She just told the situation of 50 ponies attacking them and the both of them holding out for half an hour before fleeing.
There had only been a knowing look from the nurse that treated her after the story. Well, if she left the situation out of that, combined with how popular she was...Spitfire blushed. Yeah, the story sounded really corny like that. Well, not that she minded with Hawk but...
Letting out a sigh, Spitfire relaxed. That had been two days ago. Sky Hawk hadn’t woken up in that time and Spitfire was worried about him. The only other thing that kept some of her attention had been the ‘new royal crowning’. Laurence had crowned himself a long-lost prince. Seems like everypony forgot to mention Blueblood in their story though. Whatever had happened to that pony?
Suppressing a groan, Spitfire shifted again. She hated lying down for several days. She hated doing nothing, hated hospitals, in short she absolutely hated it here. Too bad she was forbidden from leaving. After her first attempt they locked the windows and door with some spell. The only good thing was that Spitfire wasn’t alone. Without Sky Hawk here she would go crazy here. If only he would wake up!
Closing her eyes in pain - she had frowned again - Spitfire stretched a bit. Laurence sure had been busy. Most, if not all pictures of Celestia had been torn down and burned. Any mention of Celestia had been taken away and replaced by Luna of all ponies. The ‘official records’ of the Nightmare Moon incident sounded now like this: Princess Luna send her personal student, Twilight Sparkle, to Ponyville to meet her soon to be friends and loyal element bearers. Together they defeated Nightmare Moon and turned her into Princess Luna who, in her weakened state, released Princess Luna of her prison and allowed the sun to shine once again. Now, that Princess Luna was free, she forgave Princess Luna from imprisoning her and let herself (instead of her sister) live with her in the palace. Princess Luna thanked her personal student, Twilight Sparkle and her fellow element bearers for giving her herself back.
Ridiculous. Absolutely stupid. But everypony believed it. Why? Laurence said so. Luna was the ‘official’ ruler but with his crowning and her social awkwardness he basically ran the whole country. And everything he said was believed without any protest. How could all this ponies simply forget their beloved princess? Their story even looked false, for Tartarus’ sake!
Rolling to her side she looked over to Sky Hawk. Was he...he woke up! Thank Celestia, Luna and Faust! Her prayers had been heard! Hearing his groan and his question were they were, Spitfire smiled a sad smile. “We are in Manehatten, in a hospital your friends trusted. Sky Hawk...we lost. Laurence won, he is the new ruler of Equestria right now. You know what this means. Our entire organization is against us right now for defying their rightful ruler in his glorious plans.” Spitfire said, spitting her last words out with distaste. She saw him shifting to her and finally saw his lovely brown eyes again. “I’m glad you’re alive, Spits.” he said, an odd smile on his face. “I wouldn’t have forgiven myself for letting you alone with Laurence. Did you...did you find any notice of Dash or the other elements? Anything that could maybe help us?”
Spitfire sighed. “Sky Hawk, you don’t understand. We lost. We lost everything. We have no base loyal to us. We have no teammates willing to fight the good fight but the two of us. We have no hope of breaking into the royal palace and attacking Laurence undetected and even IF we did, he is our boss now. There is nothing anypony could do, not even you. We even lost Dash, for Luna’s sake! There is simply no way we could turn this around...” she said, staring with pleading eyes. Subdued and silent she continued “Please, Sky Hawk. You are hurt. Please rest and let this case rest. At least for a while. I...I can’t bear to see you hurt.” Choking a bit and blinking any tears away she simply stared at Hawk, awaiting his decision. He looked into her eyes for a long time, before sighing. “Okay, I at least wait until we are both rested before lifting another hoof against Laurence. But we got to save Dash, Spitfire. We owe her at least this much. Her and all the other bearers too. Okay?” he finally said, his voice for once full of emotion. Nodding only once Spitfire couldn’t help but grin. Even if there was no EIA anymore, even if there was no justice in Equestria anymore, she still had Sky Hawk. Together they would save the elements and then...well Spitfire always thought about retiring.The stunt flying was nice but lately the thrill had been steadily getting less and less. Maybe Dash could take over? Celestia knows Soarin would love that idea...and if she retired, maybe Sky Hawk would live with her? It would be a well deserved retirement after all the stress of the last days. Smiling a bit Spitfire snuggled into her covers. Now this was a nice idea to look forward too. Maybe Hawk would agree?