Star Flight

by Dainbow Rash

Chapter Six: A Losing Battle

The chaos of one hundred frantic voices and the clopping of a swarm of desperate hooves filled the command center of the rebel camp. The Primus military had made their initial attack, already killing two rebels. Their fried bodies were wheeled through the bustling room to the infirmary. Ponies gasped as they looked upon the state they had been left in.

Starflight watched from the side sitting by Rainbow Dash, who had decided to give him the silent treatment again. He was filled with fear of going into battle against the Primus military and the sadness Rainbow Dash was giving him with her silence didn’t exactly ease his mind.

Rainbow Dash honestly didn’t want to make her friend feel that way. She knew, though, that if she started showing the compassion and fear she felt, she would melt into a mess of tears, just like the day before on the Votum.

“We need to get at least 200 soldiers out there, now!” Sarge said, walking up to Starflight and Rainbow Dash. “Starflight... are you prepared to go out there?”

Starflight nodded reluctantly. They had given him his uniform and Up-link back, while also equipping him with an outdated assault rifle that was supposed to be the rebels’ key to victory. His head ached more when he considered the dilemma of fighting against the military he swore allegiance to. Could he be tried for treason, an offense punishable by death, if he was captured? He gulped as he was lead outside to fight a losing battle.

When Sarge opened the heavy steel door to the outside Starflight was overwhelmed by a flurry of offensive scents and sounds. The metallic banging of lead bullets being shot rapidly out of the barrels of the old rifles was mixed with the high zipping sounds of plasma zooming through the freezing night air. That same air was filled with the heavy, nauseating scent of gunpowder and blood. This is what it felt like, what it sounded like, what it smelt like to be outnumbered.

A long line of armed rebels formed behind Starflight. He placed one shivering hoof in front of the other as he stepped outside. Rebels valiantly ran past him, firing into the lines of soldiers that were invisible to Starflight. He fought and winced, trying to spot an enemy, but the snow that blew through the air blocked his sight. He was dizzied by the sounds, sights, and smells. The cries of fallen ponies were but a distant wail to him. He stood, shell-shocked, a sitting duck waiting to be shot.

Before a ball of superheated plasma could incinerate him, Starflight was rammed on the side by a very large metal object. It sent him flying across the snow, to a side of the battlefield that was now mostly deserted besides the solitary corpses of ponies resting in their own blood. Starflight writhed on the floor, attempting to catch his breath, feeling like at least three ribs were broken. He struggled to his hooves, turning to see what had hit him, when he saw his enemy for the first time.

It was worse than the thought. The pony was heavily armored, every inch of him was covered in some sort of high-tech steel casing. Starflight would have mistaken it for a robot if it’s movements weren’t so convincingly organic. This one was obviously injured and his suit of armor was malfunctioning and sparking. Stumbling after the winding blow he landed on Starflight, he turned once again to the pegasus pony he had just downed.

Starflight once again found his body stiff and unable to move as the mechanically-enhanced pony galloped wildly towards him. He braced for impact, expecting to be injured worse than the first time. Charging at full speed, the pony growled behind his sparking suit of armor.

And then everything became clear.

Rainbow Dash was still inside the main hub of the camp. Sarge led her to the position he wanted her in. She didn’t want any part of it, but she felt she needed to do it for Starflight.

“We need you to lead the technical staff and the children to the safe tents at the other end of the camp.” Sarge said as he opened a door to the outside, away from the battlefield. “And take this...”

Rainbow Dash gave the pistol he held in his hoof a surprised look. “You want me to use that?” she said, flabbergasted. “I don’t even know how!”

“It should come natural to you...” He held it closer to the filly. “You probably won’t need it... but those Primus goons are a cunning bunch.”

Rainbow Dash growled at his choice of words. Reluctantly taking the gun in her hoof, she shot Sarge another look. “Ok. But this is all I’m doing for you wack-jobs.”

“Very well...” he said as he walked away briskly.

Rainbow Dash turned to herd the ponies out to the tents, when her ears picked up a familiar voice.

“But I want to stay with you, Hopey!” Jazz said, holding on to one of Hope’s forelegs.

She tried to shake him off, fighting ineffectively against the foal’s pleading gaze. “It’s just until we can push the enemies back to Froggy Bottom Bog!” she assured the foal. “You’ll be safe. I promise!”

Her surety reminded Rainbow Dash of a particular unreliable pegasus. Then she started wondering about him. Was Starflight ok? He was fighting a military with superior skills and technology, she to worry.

“I have to go...” Hope smiled sadly. “Go with Rainbow Dash... she’ll take care of you!”

Jazz looked disappointed. “Ok... if you say so...” he pouted as he turned to Rainbow Dash.

She was no good with foals, so she tried to procure a convincing smile. “Yep... that’s me... care-taker...” She turned to the group of over fifty ponies, half of them foals, that needed to be escorted. “All right, everypony! I need every one of you to stay in a neat, single file line!” She placed the gun Sarge had given her in her bag and hovered above the large group of ponies.

They followed her instructions with a murmur, forming a more organized row of technicians and young ones. “Now... march!” she said, channeling her inner drill instructor. The ponies lumbered in the direction Rainbow Dash pointed her hoof in. She flew through the door ahead of them, scanning the horizon for enemies. The freezing wind made her wings stiffen.

Hope watched from the doorway, admiring the filly’s determination, even when given such a small job. She chuckled to herself and turned away to look for a good place to view the raging battle outside.

After Rainbow Dash successfully tucked the ponies into a safe tent, she turned away, trotting proudly back to the hub. The distant booming of bombs and pitter-patter of gunfire disturbed her slightly. She wondered how many casualties had been taken with each almost-inaudible shot.

More badly burned troops were taken in through the spacey hub. Some were alive and clearly in a great deal of pain, and some, the lucky ones, had already passed on. The bodies reminded her of one of the colts she had gone on a mission with, Trigger. The most unwelcome memories attacked her head and burned in her stomach. That fateful day on the Haydes was the day that everything took a turn for the worst.

Underground, Sarge was speaking with a few high ranking officers about their next plan of action. He didn’t seem to notice when Rainbow Dash snuck in to sit silently in the corner. She tried to calm herself, but the room wouldn’t stop spinning. She blocked out the unpleasant conversation the stallions were having on the other side of the room with memories of her friends back in Ponyville. Thinking about them made her realize how much she missed them, and how she would do anything just to return to that peaceful land and forget all about the mess she was in here.

Without warning, a frazzled-looking colt rushed in. His light-brown mane was unkempt and some of the hairs on his flanks were singed. “Sarge, sir!” he said frantically, saluting to the startled commander. “The enemy... they have us surrounded!”

“What do you mean, lieutenant?” He broke away from his other conversation and focused on the on-edge colt.

“The safe-tents... they’ve been attacked!” This struck a chord with both Sarge and Rainbow Dash.

“Dear Celestia...” he said breathlessly. “Any casualties yet?”

“Yes,” the colt said solemnly. “At least twenty, sir”

“There were foals in there!” Sarge growled indignantly. “The Primus military... they fight with no honor!”

Rainbow Dash’s jaw hung open. The ponies she had just escorted... almost half were dead! She ignored the sickness and uneasiness the day’s events had given her as she galloped back towards the tents.

The distant sounds of the battle were now amplified by one-hundred. Fire roared, bullets banged, lasers zoomed, ponies and foals wailed. Rainbow Dash felt a burning anger and an electric fear. She was able to grasp just how hopeless the battle was when she laid eyes on the heavily-armored Primus soldiers. Staying on the sides of the new battlefield, she stumbled to what looked like the last safe area. Injured ponies were assisted by those who were slightly less hurt. Only a handful of the original group was unscathed. Besides the extermination that was going on close behind her, everything seemed to be under control, until she spotted an orange and purple pony with her face buried in the snow.

She covered her head with her hooves, her chest heaved with silent sobs. In front of her laid the small body of a blue foal. It’s bottom half was burnt, covering it’s unmarked flank with ashes. “Hope...?” Rainbow Dash approached carefully, the sounds of the battle faded in the background. “Are you... hurt?”

The filly didn’t answer, she continued to ignore the fiery battle that surrounded her in favor of mourning her lost friend, Jazz.

Everything was clear. Crystal clear. The sounds, the sights, the smells. They all faded away. Time seemed to slow.

Starflight found himself staring at the charging, metallic pony, noticing things he hadn’t seen before, analyzing ever inch of the pony with incredible clarity. The spot on his neck where the helmet met the main body of armor was damaged. An inch of brown fur was exposed.

Somehow seeing the opening, Starflight grabbed his archaic gun in his mouth, and hearing nothing but the stomping of his enemies feet, pulled the trigger with his tongue. One bullet zoomed through the air, lodging deep within the bulky ponies neck, felling him instantly.

The world around Starflight sped up again. The abrasive sound of war flooded his ears, shaking him out of focus. He stared in disbelief at the still pony on the ground. He had just taken a life, but the thing that bothered him most was that he didn’t know how he did it! He was frozen in place, by all accounts he should have been rammed into next week, and then killed. But some unbelievable ability made itself manifest at the last second, and then disappeared without a trace in a second.

The rebels had been pushed back closer to their camp, the Primus soldiers advanced. Seeing the death of one of their comrades, a couple of heavily-armored ponies rushed the pegasus, catching him off guard. They grabbed him and dragged him in the opposite direction of the camp.

Starflight struggled and bucked in an attempt to escape their grasp, but they were firm. They didn’t immediately kill him, which proved slightly confusing. They carried him silently away from the fiery battle-zone, to a much more quiet area. It was secluded from the fight, hidden in a large, rocky canyon. Many ponies armored similarly to his captors were spread around the temporary base, with thin fur tents set up around the area as well.

He was thrown onto the snowy ground in front of a soldier. This one was adorned with red stripes on the shoulders of his mechanical armor, his eye-slots were covered with glowing red glass. He looked like an angry demon towering over Starflight. “He’s unmarked...” said one of his captors behind him. “he’s definitely Ante-magister.”

Those unknown phrases made another appearance. Magister. Ante-magister. What did it mean? And why did it sound so familiar?

“How did he get here?” the demon pony asked in a deep, urgent voice.

“We don’t know, sir...” the captor responded. “We weren’t expecting any... were we?”

“No, I’m sure of it.” the demon pony said thoughtfully. He threw his head to the side, gesturing for the captors to leave. “You’re dismissed. I’ll get the information out of him.”

Perfect weather for another interrogation Starflight thought. He mentally prepared himself for another beating as he lay silently in the biting cold snow.

“What is your name, soldier?” he asked as the captors trotted away.

Slowly staggered to his hooves, Starflight looked up to the disturbing pony’s face, or rather, helmet. “Starflight.” the pegasus grunted.

“Tell me, Starflight.” the frightening pony helped Starflight to his hooves, surprisingly. The deep urgency faded into a much more bouncy and youthful voice when the captors trotted out of earshot. “How did you get all the way over here? You’re a long way from home!”

Was he being... friendly? “Spacetime vortex...” he mumbled, trying not to show signs of confusion or fear.

“Those are killer, dude.” The pony said, raising a metallic hoof to Starflight.. “I’m Hailstorm, the Dark Cloud, Magister High Priest.”

Starflight shook it carefully.. “Why are you attacking these ponies?” he questioned, looking at Hailstorm suspiciously.

“Right to the point! That’s rad, dude!” he said as he reached for his helmet. Pressing a button, Hailstorm’s helmet depressurized and opened. His face was symmetrical and smooth, his mane expertly gelled and combed. He gave a winning smile to Starflight, who looked on with confusion. “I like to talk to my friends, face to face, you know what I mean? It’s nice to be just, like... chill, you know?”

“Uhhh, yeah... sure...” Starflight sat on his haunches and gave the High Priest an incredulous look. He wondered how revered the title of High Priest actually was. “I get it... I think...”

“Come over here, bro!” Starflight was surprised to see the High Priest was already halfway to a small tent. “We can chill in here!” he called.

Starflight tried to shake the confusion out of his head as he trotted to the tent. It was warm inside, a few other armored ponies sat there, chatting with each other. “Soldiers! You are dismissed.” Hailstorm’s voice regained it’s deep urgency. “The tent is required for special business.”

The ponies swiftly sat up, saluted, and trotted uniformly out of the tent. “You like how I did that?” Hailstorm turned to Starflight when the ponies were gone. “It took me, like, forever to get used to using all those big words and stuff.”

“I can imagine...” Starflight said as he found a seat on the cushioned floor. “Those are killer, dude...” he added dryly.

“Finally, somepony who gets it, man!” he said happily. A wide smile spread across his face. “All of these other ponies are so... stiff.” he said the last word with a look of disgust. “You know what I mean?”

“I hear you... dude.” Starflight said with a faked smile. “So are gonna, talk about--”

“Yeah, of course!” he said, focusing, with some difficulty, on the matter at hand. “So you want to know why we are killing all of those ponies, right?”

“Yes...” Starflight assured.

Hailstorm sighed. “I... we... they... hmmm.” He sighed again. “Let me put it this way... I’m pretty sure these ponies are pretty rad... but they don’t follow orders, you know!? They just do their own thing, and I’m, like, all for that, but ponies like them have no place in our galaxy, dude... believe or not, I’m following orders! I’ve never been one to waste time questioning these things, you know?”

Starflight stared incredulously at Hailstorm’s proud expression. “You mean... you’re killing these innocent ponies... because they’re not good enough!?” he asked with horror.

“Yes!” the High Priest said with a smile, but then stopped to think. “Wait... no! It’s not just that, there are plenty of pretty crappy ponies that don’t do anything in the galaxy, but these ponies, the Equestrians, they fight us! Nopony else does that and survives! The thing about these ponies is... they do! They somehow survive no matter how many troops we send! Their trouble, much more than their worth.”

Hailstorm looked like he had more to say, so Starflight just continued to stare, appalled by what had just been proposed.

“And it’s been taking, like, forever to get rid of them!” he said with exhaustion in his voice. “They don’t give up! But I think we’ll have them running scared before long!”

“And why is that?”

“We’ve finally got the support of the higher-ups way out there...” he said, pointing to space. “Now that we have the last of them running around out in the open we can can just blow them up from the sky!”

“I don’t know if I can let you do that...” Starflight tried reluctantly.

“What? You just landed in the wrong place and those Equestrians just tried to mess with your head!” he tried. “ I don’t blame you for killing that soldier. You can still chill with the Primus military, no worries! You won’t even be tried for treason.”

Starflight thought for a second. “A Primus cadet, my friend, is still in that base!” he exclaimed, remembering Rainbow Dash.

“Bummer,” Hailstorm dismissed. “The orbital laser is charging and will be ready in, like, ten minutes. We’re already pulling the troops back!”

“You have to delay it, just for a few minutes!” Starflight’s heart skipped a beat. He jumped to his hooves and pointed to Hailstorm fiercely. “You can’t let her die in there!”

“Dude, I don’t know...” Hailstorm sincerely looked as if he wanted to do something, but couldn’t. “We don’t have a few minutes... this could mean the difference between victory and defeat!”

Starflight growled and jolted out of the tent without a second thought, flapping his wings as fast as his body would allow.

“Wait!” Hailstorm called out the tent. “After him!” he pointed to a group of soldiers that were lounging by a campfire.

Rainbow Dash zoomed back to the hub at the center of the camp, begrudgingly leaving Hope in the middle of the booming battlefield. She couldn’t help but feel that something had happened to her already, and it was too late to ask Sarge for assistance. What would Sarge think? If his daughter died on Rainbow Dash’s watch, would he be mad at her?

The bone-rattling bombs and ear-splitting gunshots went off closer to the hub than ever before. A continuous stream of soldiers rushed out to battle while an equal amount of injured soldiers were dragged back to the infirmary.

Rainbow Dash ran through the main room of the hub, trying hard to ignore the moaning and shrieking of burned and dying colts. She urgently scanned the bodies, living and dead, looking for the only stallion who had a chance of saving Hope. Every second, the thought of Hope being blown to bits out there became more realistic.

Upon spotting the frantic stallion, Rainbow Dash whispered a silent thanks to Celestia and galloped in his direction. “It’s Hope! Come quick!” was all she blurted out before she began flying back to the filly’s location.

Sarge dropped everything and rushed after the rainbow-maned pony at the mention of his daughter’s name. “What is it? What happened to her!?” he called from below her.

“Nothing! Yet. I hope.” she assured. “But it’s Jazz! He’s dead and now she won’t budge!”

“Dear Celestia,” he whispered slowing down a bit. “Jazz is dead!?” The revelation almost floored him.

“I’m sorry Sarge! I really am. But Hope will be next if we don’t get to her now!” Rainbow Dash called as Sarge fell further behind. “Pick up the pace!”

Reaching Jazz’s final resting place, Rainbow Dash frantically pointed to Sarge. “Hope! I found your dad! He’s here to--” she called to nopony. Hope was gone. Jazz laid alone in the freezing ground, lifeless.

“Oh crap!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, hovering closer to the body. She took another look around, shielding herself from the chaos beside her. “She’s gone!”

“Rainbow Dash!” a familiar voice called before the ponies had time to react. “Sarge!”

They both looked to the worn-out pegasus as he lowered himself to the ground in front of them. “Starflight! You’re okay!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed with relief, stopping herself from hugging him, as she felt it would appear cheesy.

“Yes!” he said, frantically turning to Sarge. “Sarge! I need you to pull back your troops. The military is doing the same! They have an orbital laser! Less than ten minutes! Lead them to the underground bunker!” he blurted out and zipped off without another word.

“But...” Sarge started sadly as Starflight flew away. “... my daughter is still out there...”

Rainbow Dash could see the fear and the sorrow in the earth pony’s eyes. Strangely, she empathized with his apparent pain. Rainbow Dash figured she must have looked the same way the day before on the Votum. After a moment she found herself saying, “Sarge...”

“Yes?” Sarge turned to the hesitant filly.

“You go pull the troops back...” Smiled with spilt sincerity. “I’ll find Hope.”

Sarge threw his forelegs around Rainbow Dash, to her surprise. “Thank you, cadet!” She could hear the crack in his voice. “Just... please be careful! And don’t lose her! Don’t lose Hope!”

Sarge quickly released the slightly embarrassed filly and galloped quickly to the now quieter barrage on the other side of the snow field.

Hundreds of ponies were scattered across the field, charred, with melted snow around them. The abrasive sounds became less and less frequent, they faded in with the sounds of howling wind through the snowy mountains before long. The sun hadn’t risen yet, it didn’t seem like it ever would.

Starflight flew over the almost deserted battlefield, calling back the few troops that had made it out with the ability to continue fighting. Sarge ran to the opposite side of the camp, where a larger battle was taking place.

The falling back of the Primus soldiers was mistaken for an advantage by the rebels, and they followed them back to the camp. Fortunately, Sarge caught them before they could reached the heavily fortified camp and be massacred. The rebels trudged back to the hub, stepping over the multitudes of bodies. The canyons and basins were silent now, even the wind ceased.

Rainbow Dash soared high above the smaller battlefield, scanning the white ground for an orange dot. As she rounded the field for the fourth time, she prepared to turn back and give Sarge the bad news, but as if Celestia wasn’t done handing out miracles, she spotted some orange fur buried in the snow.

She cowered next to what looked like a wrecked robot, but as she lowered herself to the ground, she saw pony’s fur under holes in the chassis. The soldier sparked and smoked, but showed no signs of life, so Rainbow Dash turned her attention to the weak, shivering pony on the opposite side.

Hope cried loudly, her body shook with tremors and sobs. Snow blew through the air, blinding Rainbow Dash and hiding Hope.

“Hope!” Rainbow Dash called through the deafening wind. “We need to get back to the camp!”

Hope’s sobs stopped for a slightly longer interval, but they soon continued without a word.

“Let’s go!!” Rainbow Dash yelled, biting Hope’s tail and pulling hard on it. She looked to the broken filly. “Hope... I know this is hard. I know what it’s like to be... sad.” she got of to a weak start.

Hope quieted herself to hear the struggling pegasus attempt to reason with her.

Rainbow Dash winced, the wind quieted. She regretted that this was how it had to go down.“I know what it’s like to lose... friends.” she choked out, searching inside of herself for anything that could get them out of this situation. “But sometimes we have to... brave through it. I thought I was brave at one time...”

Hope turned to Rainbow Dash. Ice covered her pained face. Rainbow Dash softened her expression. Offering a weak, yet sincere, smile, she continued.

“But there’s more to being brave than just, not being afraid of the dark or big scary dragons.” The words flowed out of her now, she felt the weight of each of them as they left her body. “There are worse things to deal with. And your dealing with one of the worst right now... and I’m sorry. But right now, some really bad ponies have orbital lasers aimed straight at us, ready to fire, and if you stay out here you won’t be the only one that dies. Your father is so worried about you... and he won’t get to safety until he knows you’re safe, I know he won’t. So please... be brave, Hope...”

At that moment, Hope’s mouth hung open and gaped with understanding. At least that’s what Rainbow Dash thought before the filly pointed a hoof behind her and squeezed out, “Rainbow Dash! Behind You!”

Rainbow Dash twirled around to see the broken down soldier pony slowly rising from the snow. His suit smoked and protested as he raised himself to his hooves. A laser-gun mounted on his shoulder began glowing, causing the air to warm up. Rainbow Dash shot out of the way just in time for the laser to zoom right by her.

Hope screamed with pain. The laser shot right past Rainbow Dash landing squarely on Hope’s flank. She quickly and tearfully covered the affected area with snow and resumed cowering in the snow.

“You!” Rainbow Dash growled. A deep, fiery anger burned inside Rainbow Dash, hotter than the soldier’s laser. She yelled as she lunged towards the pony, who was charging up a fresh laser-beam. As she rammed into the soldier at a high speed, she scraped her side on the sharp edges of the ponies armor. Clenching her teeth tightly, she kicked off the pony’s helmet with her right foreleg, revealing a youthful stallion beneath.

The fearful expression in the young pony’s eyes cooled her anger. But she didn’t want that. She looked around the deserted battlefield for something to fuel her rage. The bloodied and burned corpses of Equestrians did the trick. “This is your fault!” she roared, kicking and stomping the helpless pony’s face.

The soldier grunted, weaker and weaker as the force of Rainbow Dash’s kicks became stronger and stronger. She lost track of how long she had been stomping on the now lifeless face of the soldier. She didn’t want to stop. It felt too good, too natural. The warm, refreshing blood splashed onto her face. She found herself smiling wildly as bones cracked under her hooves. Before long she was laughing. She had never felt this way before! She knew at that moment that this, this is what she wanted to do with her life. She couldn’t return to Ponyville, she didn’t want to, she couldn’t do this back home.

Hope’s desperate voice brought Rainbow Dash back to reality. “Rainbow Dash! We have to go now! You said it yourself!” she called, fearfully staring at the crazed, bloodied filly.

The blue filly broke from her ecstasy, remembering the orbital strike that would occur in minutes. She shook her head and glided over to Hope, picking her up and zooming towards the center of camp. Sure enough, Sarge waited anxiously by the entrance, alone. He scanned the horizon and began waving his hooves in the air when he spotted the two airborne fillies. Rainbow Dash swiftly lowered herself to the ground, tossing Hope abruptly to her father. All three of the exhausted ponies rushed to the underground bunker to wait out the storm, with only seconds to spare.

After the muffled cacophony of booming explosions and high-pitched lasers subsided, Sarge reluctantly led Starflight and Rainbow Dash outside, instructing the few surviving rebels to stay in the bunker. Once the bunker hatch opened, the damage was immediately apparent. The main hub’s roof was completely gone. The walls were badly burned, and at least one was missing entirely. The remains of the terminals and computers were sparking or shattered. Piles of smoking rubble lingered all around the interior. Sarge brought out a flashlight to light the way through the seemingly eternal night.

They eventually struggled their way into the hangar, which was in no better shape than the hub. An object, covered by a tarp, sat in the corner, a few pieces of wall balanced on top of it. “Here we are.” Sarge said as he began clearing the rubble from the top. “You’re free to go!”

Rainbow Dash’s tired mind couldn’t grasp what was happening. Her body was exhausted and her adrenaline supply was dry. She looked to Starflight in hopes of finding some understanding.

Sarge pulled the tarp from the object with his teeth, revealing an untouched Liberator waiting for Starflight under it. “Wow!” Starflight said brightly. “I can’t believe it survived the attack!”

Sarge looked down sadly. “Yeah... lucky you.” he said with apparent disappointment. “The spacetime rip is still active up there. It should be safe to take you right back to where you left off.”

“Safe!?” Rainbow Dash and Starflight questioned simultaneously.

“It’s hard to believe, I now.” Sarge assured. “By now we’ve studied enough of them to accurately determine which ones are safe and which are not. This one is definitely safe. It’s almost like it brought you here for a reason...” he held on to the last words.

“So...” Starflight said, ignoring his instinct to fear the spacetime rip. “Are you sure you’ll be ok without us?”

“We’d be dead without you, honestly.” Sarge said with a questionably sincere smile. “You’ve done quite a lot for us already. The Primus military thinks we’re dead, so all we have to do is relocate and bide our time. We’ll be back to hit them harder than ever before long!” he finished with a new wave of pride.

Starflight smiled, relieved. “Good luck...” he said. “... and keep fighting.” Starflight gave a respectful salute to the stallion, who looked more confident than he did only seconds ago.

After the two Primus soldiers boarded the ship, Starflight sighed. He began taking off as Rainbow Dash slipped into unconsciousness.

So many questions filled Starflight’s mind before they arrived unexpectedly in this very unpleasant future Equestria. And now as they were leaving, a fresh wave flooded his already full head. Who were the magisters? Why were the Equestrians fighting the Primus military? What was causing the rips in spacetime?

He decided to leave the worrying for another time. Soaring above the wasted rebel camp, he offered a silent prayer to what ever Deity controlled these kinds of things, that the Equestrians would be safe.

The Liberator beeped in warning at the spacetime rip. Starflight piloted the ship faithfully into the invisible portal, leaving the Equestrians to their fate.