//------------------------------// // Chapter Five: Equestria 2474 // Story: Star Flight // by Dainbow Rash //------------------------------// “While there’s life, there’s hope” Cicero Primus Galaxy, Starship Votum, Primus Year 269230769W - Rainbow Dash woke with a gasp. She sat up in her bed, shivering in her own sweat for the fifth time that week. After undertaking a particularly dangerous mission on the abandoned star colony Haydes, Rainbow Dash became caught in a vision that haunted her nightmares ever since she returned to the Votum. When Rainbow Dash awoke in the infirmary three days after the mission ended, she found Starflight sitting by her bead, holding her hoof, his eyes bloodshot and pained. His face lit up when she finally came to. Upon sensing that he hadn’t slept for the duration of her infirmary stay, she advised him to return to the dormitory and get some rest. A nurse later informed Rainbow Dash of just how long she had been unconscious, and how Starflight refused to leave her side until she woke up. Rainbow Dash was silently grateful to her friend, but at the same time she felt worried. The thought that Starflight had blamed himself for everything that happened clouded her mind with guilt. After staying a few more boring days in the hospital (It might as well be a few years Rainbow Dash thought), she was released to resume training. Excited to finally be back on her hooves, she happily caught up with the rest of the cadets and got back on track. Everything seemed to be running smoothly, until the day the visions returned. Rainbow Dash was doing a routine flying drill, when her sight was overtaken with darkness. She wasn’t sure what happened to her physical body when they returned, all she could see, feel, hear, was her friends, being mutilated by her. It happened exactly like it did on the Haydes, nightmares that seemed far too real assaulted her. That was only the first in a string of recurring episodes. With every vision her mind became damaged more and more until it got to the point where she was no longer fit to take part in training. With the last glimmer of hope in her frayed soul, she desperately tried to convince her drill instructor to give her one more chance, to no avail. The last reason to stay with Starflight on the Votum and become a member of the Primus Military had just been snatched from her. Her feeble mind tried to come up with reasons to continue the hopeless quest to learn what she had seen in Ponyville on that fateful day, and more recently, the horrors she witnessed on the Haydes. For some indescribable reason, the decision to leave Starflight and all of the demons that followed her around the Votum was a hard one to make. It should have been such an easy decision. She had never felt depression so deep. So deep that dying would feel like a mercy to her. Why then, could she not just leave? Trade in all of the terrifying dreams that haunted her mind for a peaceful life back in Ponyville? Starflight was too busy with the duties of a First-lieutenant to even notice Rainbow Dash’s struggle. After the immense relief that came after Rainbow Dash woke up, it didn’t seem like anything else could go wrong. He was sure she would be just fine. They hardly spoke, the realization didn’t even set in until one night Rainbow Dash woke up screaming. Starflight galloped into her room upon hearing her. The crying filly bravely brushed it off as a bad dream and told Starflight to go back to bed.. After that night, Starflight kept an eye on Rainbow Dash for the rest of the week, but she put on a brave face around him. One night, Starflight entered the dorm angrily. Walking in on a sobbing Rainbow Dash. His furious expression softened upon seeing her dark pink eyes swollen and drenched in tears. “Rainbow Dash... are you okay?” he asked carefully. She rapidly brushed at her face with her hooves, wiping away the bitter tears. “I’m fine!” she quickly retorted, sniffing. “Rainbow Dash... I know something is wrong.” he stated firmly, walking closer to the couch she was laying on. She gave him a pleading look. “No! No there’s nothing wrong. I was just...just--” her mouth said, but her eyes told a different story. She gestured for him to leave, although she needed him more than ever. Starflight lowered himself to Rainbow Dash’s troubled face. He grabbed her hoof, against her efforts to pull away, after a short struggle, she succumbed and allowed Starflight to hold it in his hoof, gently brushing it. “It’s okay, you can tell me... I want to help” he said softly. Rainbow Dash’s eyes began to ache. “I-I-I” she stuttered, trying to hold back a new wave of tears, but they made their way out effortlessly. “There’s no reason for me to do this anymore! I don’t remember why I chose to join this stupid army! I don’t care why! It’s just...” she bawled, causing Starflight’s eyes to go wide. She hesitated on the last word. “Just what?” Starflight coaxed gently. Rainbow Dash covered her eyes with her hooves. “It’s not worth it anymore... I’ve lost my friends, my home... my happiness... everything...” she sadly choked out. “Oh Rainbow Dash...” Starflight sighed. He could tell exactly where this conversation was going. “This isn’t how it was supposed to be!” she shouted, more angrily than sad. “I was supposed to travel the stars and meet new friends! I was supposed to be an awesome soldier that beat up bad guys! But I’m not...” she lowered her voice. “I’m just... depressed. It doesn’t make any sense!” she began to raise her voice angrily again. “Why do I keep on seeing myself killing all of my friends!? Why can’t I just sleep for one minute!? Why am I losing hope?” Starflight felt a twinge of guilt. This was all news to him, and he was supposed to be her friend, someone who could help her. He resolved to begin acting like it at that second. “Rainbow Dash... this is all my fault.” Starflight tried to alleviate some of the pressure that Rainbow Dash was cracking under. “You wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me. If I just kept you out of everything... I could have saved you all of this trouble. You deserve better... you’re too young to live like this...” Rainbow Dash looked stunned at Starflight’s sudden confession. “Starflight... it’s not your fault... It’s--” “It’s not your fault, either!” he cut her off to stop her from placing any more blame on herself. “I know.” she spit resolutely. “I don’t know who’s fault it is... but you can’t blame yourself...” she said as she gave a weak smile. Starflight gave Rainbow Dash a hopeful look. His stomach growled, standing up, he suggested they talked about it more over dinner. Rainbow Dash agreed, she hadn’t eaten a good meal for days. Rainbow Dash regained her composure and spoke with Starflight as she did before their first fateful mission. Her head ached from all the crying, but she found herself feeling better with food in her system. They chatted and smiled like old friends, which was a relief both of them. However, Rainbow Dash sensed Starflight was keeping something from her. She wondered why he stormed into the dorm like he did. “Starflight...?” she asked after a momentary silence. “Is there something you’re not telling me?” she cocked her head innocently. The pleasant smile faded from his face. “Well... kinda.” he said with a sigh. “I just got done talking to Captain Acharis...” Rainbow Dash listened, giving Starflight a perplexed look. “...and?” she pushed. “She wants us to go on another mission...” he cringed. “Oh, is that it?” she smiled. “just be careful! You’ll be fi--” “She wants us to go on another mission...” he cut her off. Rainbow Dash’s ears dropped. “Oh I-I don’t think... I don’t know--” she squeaked, looking for an excuse to stay. Starflight frowned. “I tried to convince her to give you some time... to recover.” he said thoughtfully. “... but she insisted” The last word was said bitterly, clearly full of indignation. His words hung in the air. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and began to think, something she had tried to avoid doing the past few days. Ask him to take you back to Ponyville! Betray him like you betrayed your old friends! The unwelcome voice echoed in her head. She felt a deep pain stab at her soul, she didn’t conceive those words on her own, but they made sense. She fought against the urge to beg Starflight to take her back home. She wanted to stay so bad... at least she thought she did. “Rainbow Dash... I know my promises probably mean nothing to you by now...” Starflight broke the empty silence. “But I promise... It’s an easy mission... you don’t even have to leave the Liberator...” Rainbow Dash pondered his words. Starflight had promised that nothing would happen to her on the Haydes, but the opposite was true. She was grateful to be alive, but sometimes she wondered if things would be better if she wasn’t. She wanted to disregard Starflight’s promise as coldly as he probably expected, but something inside her wouldn’t allow it. “... Ok...” she squeezed out weightlessly. Looking at her half-eaten daisy sandwich, she found that she had lost her appetite. “I’m... I’m going to bed...” she said dejectedly. She turned from the table and quickly trotted to her room with her eyes to the floor. She couldn’t bear to see Starflight’s reaction. She wanted so badly to convince Starflight that she was up to the mission, but she couldn’t even convince herself of that. Starflight watched his friend trot away, wanting to say something, anything, to make her feel at ease. He felt his sadness fade back into anger at his Captain. He was sure, as heartless as she seemed, if Acharis could just see the condition Rainbow Dash was in, she would change her mind. He cleared off the dinner dishes and returned to his room, expecting a rough night’s sleep. - The next morning, Starflight stumbled drowsily out of bed and into the living area of the dorm. Rainbow Dash was struggling into her leather uniform, attempting to pull it on with booted hooves. Starflight chuckled. “Maybe you should put the boots on after the uniform?” he helped. Rainbow Dash sighed and kicked her boots off. Not affected by Starflight’s seemingly bright mood, she secured her uniform to her body silently. “Did you get any sleep last night?” he asked more seriously. She shot him a glance that seemed to say, “What do you think?” “I’ll take that as a no...” Starflight frowned. “Listen Rainbow Dash...” he started. He waited for Rainbow Dash to look in his direction. After slipping her boots back on, she shot another glance that spoke for her, this one saying, “Get on with it already.” “I’m really sorry... about everything...” he tried, expecting another negative response. “I told you. It’s not your fault...” she said, but it didn’t seem that she believed that herself. “I know... but you haven’t left the ship for a week! There’s a infinite universe out there to explore! … and you don’t seem like you want to see any of it...” Starflight tried to strike a chord with Rainbow Dash. “Yeah... well I haven’t exactly had a good experience with the ‘infinite universe’” she mocked. Without saying another word she left the dorm, headed towards the ship dock. - A few minutes after Rainbow Dash entered the bustling dock, Starflight trotted up to her. She sat emotionless, waiting for Starflight to open the doors of the Liberator. Once again, he tossed a smile in her direction, but she deflected it with the grim expression painted on her face. Rainbow Dash honestly didn’t want Starflight to think she was angry with him, but without a stern exterior, her most prevalent emotion at the time, fear, would seep out. She couldn’t let Starflight see that in her, not again. Starflight wanted to say something to her, but he already spoke his mind, only to be shot down by her attitude of annoyance. He didn’t want to repeat himself, as he figured it would only upset her more. Hopping into the Liberator, Rainbow Dash folded her forelegs. Starflight was prepared for an awkward silence to fill the entire ride. “So...” Rainbow Dash began as the ship began taking off. “What exactly are we doing?” Starflight smiled at the opportunity to make conversation. “We’re just escorting a cargo ship.. no big deal. Maybe we can stop somewhere and pick up some books on the way back! I know how much you love books!” Starflight said with a large smile. “Hm.” was Rainbow Dash’s unsatisfactory response. Starflight’s smile dropped. Awkward silence it is he thought. After a few minutes a flying, the subject of the mission came into view. The Liberator received and sent many messages to the larger cargo ship, confirming it’s arrival and verifying that it was sent by the Votum. Starflight slowed the Liberator to an easy crawl, drifting alongside their goal. He studied the messages that flashed on the control panel carefully. Everything seemed in order until he spotted something that made his heart skip a beat. Massive~Irregular Spacetime Disturbance detected To Rainbow Dash’s surprise, Starflight began frantically pressing buttons and flipping switches. The same thing had happened on the day he met Rainbow Dash, the results were almost fatal, and the chances of him surviving something like that two times in a row seemed extremely slim. “What’s wrong?” Rainbow Dash asked as her eyes shifted to the frantic Starflight. “Nothing! Nothing is wrong. Just intercepting some messages from the ship.” he lied. Something was terribly wrong. This didn’t ease Rainbow Dash’s mind in the slightest. “It doesn’t look like nothing’s wrong!” she asserted. POP! Something near the engine burst, the sound dulled by the heavy metal body of the ship. The cockpit vibrated violently, lights flashed and sirens wailed. Rainbow Dash clutch tightly to her chair. “Starflight! You said nothing was wrong!” she yelled over the deafening sound of the crashing ship. Her attempts to warm up to the idea of going on a “safe” mission had just been thrown out the window. She screamed as the ship spun out of control, she lost sight of the cargo ship and the stars became lines of shimmering white, slowly consuming her vision. I’ve failed you again Rainbow Dash... was the last thought Starflight flooded his mind with before his head slammed hard against the door of the ship, causing him to lose consciousness. - ??? “Yes, he’s definitely a Primus soldier...” the voice of a mare echoed in Starflight’s head. “What about his partner, the mare? A hostage?” a deep-voiced stallion asked urgently. Starflight’s body screamed with pain. He lifted his heavy eyelids, everything was fogged over in a blur, but he could tell he was in a dimly lit room. He attempted to groan, but his dusty dry throat wouldn’t allow it. He shivered, it was freezing in the room, wherever it was. “No sir, it looks like... she’s a cadet!” the mare said, seeming surprised. They had Rainbow Dash! Suddenly, Starflight felt a nameless animosity for these mysterious ponies. “They’ve sunk lower than I thought...” the stallion growled and shifted. “Keep her restrained... we have no idea what they’ve done to the poor girl to make her join... just be gentle with that one...” Starflight squirmed, finding himself tied to a table, his forelegs spread out to his sides. The stallion seemed to be leaving, but upon seeing Starflight’s movement he turned around and faced him. “Who informed you about the attack?” he asked calmly, but with a threatening tone in his voice. “What attack?” Starflight rasped through his crusty throat. The stallion shoved a hoof under Starflight chin, pushing down hard on his windpipe. “Don’t play dumb with me!” he burst out. “Did you place a mole in our camp!? Were you a spy!?” Starflight gasped for air, but nothing entered his burning lungs. His bounded legs uselessly pushed against the ropes, attempting to stop the crazed stallion from choking him completely. Starflight had never pondered just how unpleasant suffocation could be, how terrifying it was. Adrenaline pumped through his body as he struggled. The stallion pulled his hoof away from Starflight’s neck. He gasped hoarsely and gratefully sucked in air. “TELL ME!” he shouted angrily, hammering Starflight’s ribcage with his hoof. The tied-up colt writhed in pain, clenching his teeth tightly. “I don’t know... what the hell... you’re talking about!” he rasped out again, wheezing. The stallion looked like he was prepared to hit him again, when a mare came trotting in through a pair of sliding doors. “Sarge, wait!” she held up a hoof, stopping him from doing any more damage, to Starflight’s relief. “This Up-link... it’s a V.101! They don’t even make these anymore!” she seemed to be excited by that. Starflight raised his head reluctantly. The stallion, a grey and black earth pony, stepped over to the purple mare. She was holding up Starflight’s Up-link, which was the newest model, he decided these ponies were not very well-informed. “And that Liberator, it was very outdated.” she continued. That was also untrue, Starflight’s Liberator was the standard issue model at the time. “Somethings not right here. I highly doubt the military would send such an... ill-prepared soldier to spy on us...” the mare suggested. Starflight lowered his head quickly as the stallion began approaching again. “Alright swine, I want answers, now.” he said urgently, standing above Starflight with his front hooves on the bed Starflight was tied to. “Where did you come from?” The pain in his throat and ribs slowly subsided. He gulped. “The Starship... Starship Votum...” he panted. He closed his eyes tight, expecting another blow to the stomach. “We were on a mission... to escort a cargo ship. That was all. There was nothing about an attack.” The interrogator growled. “Check the Up-link.” he said to the purple mare. “If there is one thing about our attack on there...” he chuckled. “well let’s just say... we have ways of punishing such an offense. Have you ever wondered what life would be like as an earth pony? Because you might just find out soon...” Starflight gulped at the implication. “Ok... if I can figure this ancient thing out...” The purple mare hummed as she trotted back out the door. The stern stallion shot Starflight an angry glance. He hesitated, as if he was going to say something, but after a moment he left wordlessly. - Rainbow Dash put up a fight. The captors originally intended to leave her unrestrained, but they found themselves strapping her to a small chair to talk to her. She thrashed and struggled so violently that a pair of large colts had to hold her down. Once they had her tied down, a stallion informed her that somepony would be in to speak with her momentarily. She spit in his direction, missing, but leaving him with a disgusted look on his face as he trotted out of the room. Rainbow Dash panicked, she panted and struggled against the straps until her forelegs became numb. She looked at her surroundings, the grey metal walls and floors were unwelcoming and cold. She thought of calling for Starflight, but he could have been on the other side of the building, and she didn’t know how large of a distance that was. Before she had time to ponder her situation any more, an orange pegasus with a straight purple mane trotted in. She was no older than Rainbow Dash, and she somehow looked familiar. Rainbow Dash chuckled coldly in her direction. “They sent a filly!?” she gave a cruel smile. “Are you gonna torture me?” she mocked, feigning a look of terror. The mare just gave a small laugh. “No, no, I won’t be doing any of that...” a confusing smile spread over her face as she slowly walked towards her. “Let’s just chat... that should be fun right?” - Starflight lay sprawled on the stiff, uncomfortable bed, breathing heavily and shivering. The two mares and the stallion left him alone in the cold room to stare blankly at the ceiling, wondering, fearing what his captors would do to him. He cleared his mind, retracing his steps to get a better idea of just what was going on. He had been caught in another space-time vortex, and somehow survived, being spit into some unknown planet or spaceship who’s inhabitants did not like the Primus Military very much at all. He contemplated on how they thought his Up-link and ship were outdated, when they clearly were the most advanced copy. And then it hit him. The last time he was thrown into a vortex, he traveled ten years into Equestria’s past. He cringed to think that he had now been thrown into the future. A future where the Primus military had enemies? That seemed impossible. The military had complete control over the galaxy, an agreeable control. They worked hard to keep order and peace throughout the many solar systems of their galaxy, so who would go against them? And why? The sound of the door sliding open startled Starflight. It was the stallion again. oh dear... Starflight clenched his eyes tightly. He felt the ropes that tied his forelegs down being loosened. He tentatively opened his eye to see the stern look on the stallion’s face. “Come with me.” he said surely. Starflight’s legs throbbed after the ropes were off. Slipping off the bed, he walked after the stallion through the aching of his back. They entered an open, dimly lit room. Mares and stallions clicked away on computers, speaking to each other in low voices. At the far end of the room was a colossal screen, lit up with a green map. The countries displayed on the screen seemed almost familiar. Almost like... … Equestria! Starflight looked at the map in disbelief. The technology in the room was far beyond the limits of Equestrians. Just how far from the present were they? He stared at the busy ponies as he trotted behind the stallion, and was surprised when he noticed they were staring back. Some of them looked curious, others looked angry. What had he done to them? The grey earth pony led him up a set of metal stairs in the corner of the room. Starflight continued to stare at the rows of computers and ponies in awe from the top of the staircase. The nearby beeping of a control pad caught his attention. He looked to the stallion who was pressing buttons on a large steel door. After the code was entered, the door clicked and the stallion pushed it open with some effort. When the door opened a sudden breeze of snow blew through the door. Starflight shivered again, shielding his face from the freezing cold white substance. “Let’s go!” the stallion demanded. Starflight stepped reluctantly through the doorway. To his relief, the stallion followed him. He wiped sweat off of his brow when he realized he wasn’t going to be stranded out there alone. They were in a small, secluded alcove on the side of the building. A few more stairs led them to what was apparently the roof of the building. Starflight took in his mountainous surroundings. Snowy, colossal mountains towered above the small base of tents and other temporary structures. Lanterns were spread about the encampment, silhouettes of ponies flashed in front of the lights occasionally, casting a shadow on the roof. A bitter cold wind howled through the momentous pillars of rock and earth, causing Starflight to shiver, feeling cold to his bones. The stallion stopped in front of a small shed. “It seems there may have been a misunderstanding...” he said, not looking at the shivering pegasus. Starflight was silent besides his chattering teeth. “I’ve been informed of a spacetime vortex opening directly above Equestria. That creates the possibility that you may actually be from Ante-magister times, so I’ll grant you that.” The stallion confused Starflight with his unfamiliar terms. “but, I will be keeping a close eye on you. We’re not going to send you back until you do us... a favor.” Starflight’s mind was boggled. How far in the future were they that even Equestrians knew so much about time travel? In his time, the top Primus scientists had a very poor understanding of it, and now it seemed commonplace to this stallion. Starflight felt a twinge of sadness when he realized that Equestria must have dropped their isolationist ideology sometime along the way. After he made an end to his speech, the stallion entered another code into another control pad on the door of the shed. It opened with a beep, revealing a pitch black room. He stepped inside, gesturing for Starflight to follow. Fortunately, the shed was much warmer than the freezing outdoors. Starflight stepped in gratefully as the stallion turned a light switch on. The floors and walls glowed with a bright green light, illuminating rows and rows of weapons lining the inside if the shed. Although they were almost definitely in the future, they looked far less advanced than the weapons Starflight had been provided with in the military. “These,” the stallion said, gesturing proudly to the rows of archaic weapons. “are our keys to victory!” Starflight looked questioningly at the stallion. There was only about 30 firearms on the walls of the shed. “But... there are hardly any...” he said carefully. The stallion looked disappointed. “Well we have a few hundred more in storage.” he said, as if Starflight should have known that. Starflight found it laughable that a such a small group of ponies would go up against the Primus military with guns that shot bullets rather than plasma. “You... is it just this group of ponies? Just you guys in this camp? “We are 500 ponies strong! I predict we will make a rather large dent in their forces by the end of the week! Then we retreat and rebuild our forces!” He seemed so sure of his plan. Starflight quickly lost respect for his captor. It soon became clear why he had never heard of the Primus military’s enemies. If all of them were so stupid and reckless, then they really weren’t a prevalent problem. “That’s suicide!” Starflight exclaimed at the stallion’s weak strategy. “What do you mean!? We’re on the verge of making a bigger impact on the military than ever before!” he said, clearly offended by Starflight’s remark. “Sure there will be casualties, but sacrifices need to be made!” “Do you realize how powerful the military is!? There will be thousands of ponies just waiting to crush your little rebellion! You can’t touch us!” Starflight said, finally feeling above the captors. “Why would you even go against the Primus military? They have a reasonable control over the galaxy, what do you not like about them!?” “You come from 1015 years in the past...” the stallion said, answering one of the questions floating around Starflight’s head. “Suffice to say... a lot has changed.” “The military has been the same for millions of years! Why would that change now?” he demanded. “I don’t believe we could go from being beloved protectors of the galaxy to a force hated by Equestrians in that short amount of time.” “I don’t expect you to...” the stallion said with a softness Starflight would not have expected from the same pony that had interrogated him only minutes earlier. He gestured for Starflight to follow him out the door. Reluctantly, the pegasus inched out into the cold wintry night. The stallion looked out off the side of the roof to the main body of the camp. “These ponies... we are one of the last pockets of resistance. We’re the largest, believe it or not. We’re the last best hope for Equestria... I’m not asking you to turn against your Primus military... trust me on that one... we’re going up against the Primus military of this era, the one that invaded Equestria.” Starflight couldn’t comprehend how the Primus military could take over a peaceful nation like Equestria. Had he had something to do with it? He dismissed that absurd thought the moment it entered his mind. “Maybe you’re right...” the earth pony continued before Starflight gathered a response. “Maybe we can’t win... but we’re not going down without a fight. Are numbers are small, but we’re fighting for what’s undoubtedly right. We’re fighting for the values Equestrians have prided themselves on for over two-thousand years. They may be lost on those immoral Magisters... but not on us. And we’re going to show that to them...” Starflight found it hard to disagree with the stallion’s powerful words. Equestria was peaceful, yes, but if the inhabitants were all half as tough and resilient as Rainbow Dash, the only Equestrian Starflight had the pleasure of knowing personally, then they would definitely keep fighting despite the odds. His mind was already made up, but before he let the Sergeant know that, he asked, “What have you done with my partner, Rainbow Dash?” “I will take to her, if you promise not to abandon us.” the stallions said, somewhat desperately. The choice of words pushed Starflight over the edge. The ponies were in dire need of help, and they were Equestrians, part of a nation Starflight felt an indescribable connection to. “You have my word.” he said firmly. A smile grew on the stallion’s face. - The orange mare was unfazed by Rainbow Dash’s stubborn sarcasm. When the blue filly decided it was time to get down to business, she dropped the snooty tone. “So where’s my partner? Did you find him too?” Rainbow Dash asked, ignoring the interrogator’s own questions. The orange mare’s smug smile parted as if she was about to say something, but was interrupted by the opening of the sliding door. Her laid-back disposition faded into nervousness when she heard the sound. “Hope!” the voice of a foal called as he zoomed through the door, trailed by a grey earth pony and a familiar white pegasus. “I’ve been looking all over for you!” he said, hugging Hope’s forelegs tightly. “Not now, Jazz!” she said through clenched teeth. Shooting Rainbow Dash a stern look (much to her amusement) she whispered into the blue foal’s ear. “I’m wooorking!” “Hope!” the stallion that trailed the foal boomed. “What did I tell you about performing military interrogations without my permission!?” Hope gasped. “Father!” she backed away with her head down in shame at the sound of his voice. “I was just... w-we were just chatting!” Rainbow Dash’s face was bright red trying to hold back laughter. It slowly started to fade into relief when Starflight began unstrapping the belts that held her in place. He looked to her sadly. “I’m sorry...” he whispered over the sounds of the earth pony (who formally introduced himself as Sarge on the way to Rainbow Dash’s room) berating Hope. Rainbow Dash gave an unreadable glance at the floor, as if she couldn’t even decipher her own feelings. Jazz cringed along with Hope during the lecture Sarge was giving. When the rage subsided, Hope looked as if she was about to cry. She looked down at the floor sadly before Jazz came back and gave Hope an even bigger hug around the forelegs. “I think you did a good job!” he said helpfully. She tilted her head to the side before nuzzling the small foal gratefully. “You weren’t even there...” she whispered, soliciting an embarrassed look from Jazz. Sarge raised his hoof as if he was about to lecture them further, but after a wave of compassion apparently flooded over him, he turned to the two pegasi that stared adoringly at the scene unfolding in front of them. “You two, with me.” he said with an annoyed grunt. Starflight and Rainbow Dash trotted out after Sarge, their eyes staying on Hope and Jazz until they were out of sight. “Rainbow Dash...” Sarge started. “Your friend her has agreed to help us in our fight against the P--” “I think it’s better if I tell her, no?” Starflight interrupted. Sarge allowed it, finding himself more grateful of that choice as Starflight explained it to her. Rainbow Dash went through a variety of emotions and facial expressions. At a few points during the explanation, she looked as though she was going to punch Starflight in the face. However, as his speech drew to a close, Rainbow Dash had a look of understanding on her face. “What do I have to do?” she asked, looking a bit fearful. “You have to...” Starflight stopped. A momentary thoughtful silence filled the air. “Well, I’m not exactly sure what you have to do. but don’t worry, I’ll make sure you don’t get hurt!” he assured. Rainbow Dash took that exactly how Starflight hoped she wouldn’t. “Psh, yeah. Let’s see how that works out...” she said under her breath, trotting back inside the room with Hope. Starflight sighed and dropped his head. I’m sorry... I’m so sorry. He wanted so say. He wanted to throw his forelegs around her a get her to trust him again. He wanted to make it up to her any way he could. He knew, however, that Rainbow Dash would just pull away, leaving Starflight looking like a fool. Starflight turned to Sarge to see his reaction. He was whispering to an unnoticed soldier with a worried look on his face. He nodded solemnly. Closing his eyes, the soldier walked away slowly, also looking very worried. “Sarge... what is it?” he asked carefully after the uneasy look on his face didn’t fade. “There’s been a change of plans, Starflight...” he gulped. “It looks like the fight for Equestria is starting sooner than I thought...” “How much sooner?” Starflight gasped, feeling his stomach drop. “Let me put it this way...” he said, glaring at the pegasus with a grave look on his face. “Grab your gun and head outside... now.”