A Midsummer Night's Dream.

by Killbles

Teamwork Or: How They Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Grizzly

A Midsummer Night's Dream
Chapter 17 – Teamwork Or: How they Learnt to Stop Worrying and Love the Grizzly

 
The sharp cry of drill instructor woke Rainbow Dash from her slumber.
“On your feet, move it, move it! Come on ladies!”
Rainbow Dash groaned and glanced out the window next to her bunk, her bleary eyes cheerfully telling her that the sun hadn’t risen yet. She groaned into her thin pillow, she hadn’t had an early start like this since her time in the Wonderbolts’ Academy.
“Up cadet! You know which way up is?” A mare who looked like she wrestled several Minotaurs before breakfast barked in Rainbow Dash’s ear.
With the sound of the drill instructor still ringing her ears, Rainbow dash leapt upright, her body protesting at the sudden movement. Her other dorm-mates received similar treatment, the pegasus physically hauling some of them free of their bunks and onto the cold floor. Rainbow dared to peek a look at the mare prowling next to her, her murky green eyes looked almost unnatural, too bottomless and too dark. She looked a little like Fleetfoot though the slightly greying mane was a dead giveaway that she was considerably older than the Wonderbolt.
“I’m Commander Raze, your chief training officer.” She announced to the dorm. She waved to a burly unicorn standing by the door with an almost laughably serious look on his face. “I will be your main drill instructor for the duration of your course, although sometimes sompony else, like this fine gentleman will take you for training. You will do everything we ask you to do without question or hesitation, clear?”
The room was deathly silent.
“Hmm, might be some promise in you yet.” She observed. “Now get outside! Go, go, go!” Raze barked.
Rainbow Dash stumbled towards the dorm’s exit, noticing a flood of other cadets already forcing their way down the hallway. She’d heard of Commander Raze before, she was a legend around the Wonderbolt Academy. She’d trained the likes of Spitfire and the previous leader of the Wonderbolts, Skyfire. The fact that the Jaeger Corps had gotten its hands on her was incredible, to say the least. She must’ve been verging on at least 70 years old now, well beyond the usual service career of most military types.
She had to discard the thought as she stomped outside with the other cadets and a wave of cold air drove the breath from her lungs. High in the mountains around Manehatten, the autumn felt more like winter and with the sun still hidden beneath the hills, the temperature was probably hovering somewhere in the single digits. The sky was a dark shade of blue streaked with the occasional cloud and a few pinpricks of light from an overly persistent star. In the distance she could hear an occasional deep boom of some sort of artillery. The sound made her mind focus and she took in their immediate surroundings.
After the alien’s orientation, she, along with the other cadets, had been billeted into the rather Spartan accommodation the academy offered. Out of the 300 or so ponies in her company, there was maybe 70 odd ponies sharing the long set of dorms with Rainbow Dash, a rough mix of earth ponies, an odd unicorn but many more pegasi. The other dorm rooms were being emptied efficiently, streams of ponies stepping out onto the wide, grassy parade ground.
“B Company. Form five lines, sixty in each!” Raze barked from the front of the formation, waiting for a few seconds as the group formed up into somewhat straight lines.
“Good, at least most of you can count.” Raze sneered, glaring at a unicorn who was out of place. Her fierce green eyes were enough to make the cadet move a line back without a word.
“As many of you will no doubt be aware, you are one of many classes that have been accepted into the Equestrian Jaeger program. Fifteen classes of three hundred, Forty-five hundred cadets. From each company, only twenty will make it through to the first cut.” She smirked. “I hope you like competition.”
Rainbow Dash cracked a thin smile, she was going to enjoy this.
“They aren’t paying me to talk though, I’m here to train your sorry arses into shape and weed out the weak.” She stopped prowling around and took up position at the head of the formation. “Push-ups, count off to 100! Go!” she barked, immediately leading by example and dropping to the ground. Rainbow Dash was all too eager to follow suite, the cold morning air was starting to clear her head and a morning workout was pretty much routine for her.
“97, 98, 99, 100!” Raze called out from the front she took a deep breath and rolled onto her back. “Sit-ups, count off to 100! Come on, pick up the pace ladies!” She barked, already steaming through her exercises like a machine.
Knee bends followed, then leg lifts, then more push ups. Raze was barely even sweating, pushing the cadets like they were super soldiers. Rainbow Dash was sweating now, thick beads of sweat forming on her brow and her breath started coming in ragged pants. Nopony else had stopped yet and she wasn’t going to be the first to bow out. Raze kept them going, short sprints, rolls and any other move the pegasus could come up with. Rainbow Dash started to realise this probably wouldn’t be quite as easy as she’d first thought.
“Rest.” Raze finally called out after what felt like an eternity. The first rays of the sun had started creeping across the field and the cool morning had become mild. The artillery below them had long fallen silent, leaving the only sound the consent panting of the other cadets and the occasional bird which had started calling out from the trees. “Get some water and have a quick break, we move out in few minutes.”
The other trainers wheeled out carts laden with bottles of water and passed them out. Rainbow took one thankfully and spread herself out on the grass, wondering how Pinkie and Maud were handling it. They were in a different group and she didn’t recognise any of the ponies around her.
She was so caught up with examining her surroundings she didn’t see the water bottle flying at her until it hit her in the side of the face. She instantly snapped around, fire in her eyes. Somepony was either very brave or very stupid to be throwing things at her. Her anger was replaced by shock as a figure, an athletic looking pegasus snapped into view.
“Hello, Rainbow Dash.” She sneered.
Rainbow’s look of surprise must’ve shown as the pegasus flashed a smirk at her. It took a few moments for Rainbow Dash to recover from her shock, a wave of disgust replacing the unfamiliar feeling.
“Oh, it’s you.”
Lightning Dust smiled thinly. “You seem surprised.to see me.”
The last Rainbow Dash had seen of Lightning Dust was her humiliating dismissal at the Wonderbolts’ Academy. She’d felt nothing but anger and disgust for the arrogant pegasus and it was fairly safe to say her opinion hadn’t changed much. Rainbow Dash was the type to hold a grudge, especially against somepony who’d nearly turned her friends into pancakes.
“Cat got your tongue?” Lightning Dust jeered. She laughed quietly, as if laughing at some joke that Rainbow had missed. She regained her composure at looked Rainbow in the eye. “How’ve you been buddy?”
“We are not buddies.” Rainbow growled back.
“I figured.” Lightning Dust said with a quick roll of her eyes.
Rainbow Dash glared back at her silently. She’d never quite forgiven Lightning Dust for almost killing her friends at the Wonderbolt Academy all those years ago, truth be told, she hadn’t seen the arrogant pegasus in the interim.
Lightning Dust picked up the silent cue instantly. “I get it, you don’t like me. Well, might come as a bit of a shock but I don’t really like you much either, Crashie. So how about this, you stay out of my way and I’ll stay out of yours. Comprende?” She explained quietly.
“Suits me just fine.” Rainbow said cautiously. She didn’t trust Lightning Dust further than she could throw a tank.
“Alright, on your feet! Fall in, we’re moving out!” Raze barked, vigorously encouraging some cadets off the ground.
Lightning Dust spun around to join the crowd, a thin smirk on her face. “Catch you around, Dash.”
Rainbow Dash glared after her silently for a few seconds, spitting her water bottle out disgust.
Screw getting ready to fight daemons, the daemons were already here.
 

 
   The next few weeks of the course played out pretty much as Rainbow Dash expected. Commander Raze pushed the cadets harder and harder, almost taking delight in seeing how far she could push them before something broke. Mental tests, lectures, tutorial and workshops started as well, leaving most of the hopeful cadets with a worrying amount of work on top of their almost sadistic workouts with Raze. By the end of the first week Rainbow found herself utterly swamped with class work ranging from mechanical fundamentals to Kaiju research and even circuit diagrams. Lightning Dust kept her end of their bargain up, for the most part keeping away from Rainbow Dash unless absolutely necessary. She caught glimpses of Maud and Pinkie here and there, Maud was making a mockery of Raze’s psychical training and was facing her coursework with her usual phlegmatic approach she took to everything with. Pinkie was having a little harder time of it but was still coping, her odd mental state and closeness to Maud had apparently interested some of her assessors so much they’d kept her enlisted despite not being the splitting image of fitness or rationality. It was a good thing as well, Rainbow’s company had suffered nearly a 30% dropout rate, a good portion of the potential cadets already having been weeded out or simply left on their own accord well before the first cut had been decided.
Even so, the pressure was still on. The date of the first cut was rapidly drawing closer and most of the remaining cadets were quite capable of stopping Rainbow from achieving her goal. Although she was performing well in the physical trials, she was struggling somewhat with the veritable tidal wave of knowledge she was supposed to somehow absorb during the first eight week semester. Most of her already limited free time was spent pouring over her engineering books or practicing the mental techniques they’d been taught. The work load was incredible, they were expected to not only be peak physical condition but also know each part of a Jaeger intimately. They had to be able to look after two bodies, their own and the metal one which they would eventually pilot. Commander Raze didn’t make things easy for them either, waking them at flat-out obnoxious hours, occasionally depriving them of rest if their performance wasn’t up to scratch and virtually making every moment that wasn’t spent in a class a living nightmare. It got to the point that Rainbow Dash started looking forward to her tedious coursework over Raze’s training sessions.
The old pegasus was particularly fond of rigorous and often mentally testing team-building exercises, such as carrying large, heavy and occasionally dangerous loads through a vicious obstacle course in complete silence, playing capture the flag against the army troopers and letting them use stun rounds while the cadets had nothing but their hooves, and, on one memorable occasion, organising a training exercise that was subject to an artillery barrage midway through. While the later had turned out to be fake, the howling of shells arching overhead and the explosions around them at the time (actually preplaced charges Raze was detonating) had been real enough to set almost all of the cadets on edge.
It was understandable then, when she introduced the cadets to a massive obstacle course a few weeks from the end of semester that she called ‘The Playground’, Rainbow Dash found herself sceptical.
“No tricks, no surprises, no catches and no artillery.” Raze explained, marching up and down in front of the greatly diminished line of cadets. “The last one to cross that line at the end though, can look forward to an exclusive, personal and very fun training session with me tomorrow morning.”
Rainbow Dash cringed at the thought, she had no desire to be the unlucky one who’d would suffer the veteran pegasus. She looked over the course carefully, there were dozens of routes to the finish; many of them involved vertical components as well as more conventional obstacles. Several paths were elevated above massive pits of mud and many of these paths just seemed to end abruptly. It certainly wasn’t a course for the light-hearted.
Raze enjoyed the looks of unease on most the recruits faces before continuing. “Alright, teams of three, let’s go!” Raze ordered loudly. Her ability to always be louder than everypony else always impressed Rainbow Dash. She must’ve practised yelling for a long time.
The cadets quickly formed up into teams, they had done this enough to know who they could work with. Rainbow Dash quickly grabbed a stallion by the name of Thunderblitz that she’d worked with a few times. He had proven to fairly reliable and the duo had spent a little time together out of Raze’s training sessions to either go through their coursework or quiz each other. Besides Pinkie, he was probably the closest thing she had to a friend at the academy. He was squat and well built, his face had a smile to die for and his mane looked like he had never touched it with a comb before. Although an Earth pony, he was very nimble and quick on his feet. He nodded in greeting as Rainbow Dash pulled him aside from the rest of the group.
“Got anypony else?” Rainbow asked quickly, looking around but only seeing fully formed teams figuring out a way through the course.
“Can’t say Ah do.” He said back with a heavy drawl. Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but wonder if he was somehow related at Applejack, he sounded awfully similar to the former apple farmer. She spun around, seeing no loose ponies hanging around.
“Might have to go with Lighting Dust.” Thunderblitz said, pointing out the irate looking pegasus in the crowd. From appearances, she seemed to be the only one who hadn’t managed to find herself in a team already.
“Uh…” Rainbow hesitated.
As if feeling their gaze on her, Lighting Dust spun around, her face in an expression of outraged disbelief.  “This has to be some sort of sick joke.” She complained, her mustard yellow mane bouncing around irately.
“It’s not a sick joke unless it involves a foal and a blender.” Raze snapped, suddenly appearing at her shoulder like a spectre out of fog, She gave the pegasus a push towards Rainbow Dash and Thunderblitz. “Now get with your team cadet.”
Lightning Dust didn’t move.
Raze glared at her fiercely. “You got your ears turned on, cadet?”
“I don’t want to work with her, ma’am.” Lightning Dust explained, pointing a hoof at Rainbow Dash accusingly.
“Well I’m happy not to work with her either, ma’am.” Rainbow butted in.
“You don’t want to work with her?” Raze asked uncaringly, looking between the two pegasi.
“No ma’am.” The two pegasi answered in unison.
“Well too bad, suck it up or I’ll chain you two together and you can do everything together. Everything.” The old Commander growled.
Rainbow didn’t object any further, Raze had been known to go through with several of her threats, regardless of how crazy they seemed. She tossed a glare at Lightning Dust suspiciously, unsure if she was comforted by the fact the pegasus was doing the same back.
Thunderblitz looked between them nervously, wondering if they were going to start clawing at each other. “Ex-girlfriend?” he asked, perhaps a little foolishly.
Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash rewarded him with a glare that would have stopped a Kaiju dead in its tracks.
Raze thankfully interrupted before Thunderblitz could make a fool of himself again. “One last thing, you won’t be able to fly or use magic in the Playground so don’t even think about it. If you do, somehow, you’ll be joining me tomorrow morning as well.”
Rainbow cursed silently. She knew there had to be some catch, flying through the course would’ve been too easy.
“You two better not slow me down.” Lightning Dust growled quietly.
“I’m sure we’ll keep up just fine.” Rainbow said back with a pointed look. She tore her gaze off Lightning dust and studied the course carefully, searching for the best way through it. The third dimension was messing with her head a little but she eventually figured a way through the course, hopefully a way that nopony else would think of. Some of the obstacles were deliberately set up in a way that working as a team would make them easier to traverse, she was confident in Thunderblitz helping her but less so in Lightning Dust. The way that the pegasus had distanced herself from Rainbow and Thunderblitz was enough an indication on how she wanted to do the course.
Rainbow pointed out her suggested route to Thunderblitz.
“Shouldn’t be too bad.” He agreed, setting himself up behind the starting line and waiting patiently for Raze to start the exercise. Rainbow had barely taken up position beside him when Raze blew a whistle sharply and they were off, galloping towards the course like their lives depended on it.
Rainbow darted towards the entrance she’d chosen, surprised to see Lightning Dust making her way up the same way. Rainbow scampered up the slippery looking incline, freezing with shock as she placed a hoof onto the start of the course. As soon as she had crossed the threshold, a magical tingle washed over her spine and out into her wings. She looked around with surprise, a faint blue aura had settled over her wings, locking them to her sides like they were glued in place.  She looked at Lightning Dust a few paces ahead of her, the cyan mare seemed similarly affected, struggling with visible frustration at her magical bonds. Rainbow cursed silently, Raze hadn’t been lying that they’d be unable to fly at all.
“Ignore it.” Rainbow ordered gruffly, dashing ahead with Thunderblitz in tow. Lightning Dust had a moment to look embarrassed, realising she was now in fact behind Rainbow, before galloping after them indignantly. They vaulted over a wide pit and slid down a ramp covered in obstacles, Rainbow still in the lead but constantly checking behind her, making sure the other two were following right behind her. They overtook another group and galloped across a narrow bridge, Lightning Dust clearing it barely a second before it tipped over, dumping the other group off into a pool of freezing water.
“Nearly there.” Rainbow said encouragingly, scampering up a wall before helping Thunderblitz up and over. She made to help Lightning Dust but the pegasus refused her help, climbing the wall with all the assurance of a squirrel scaling the rough bark of a tree. Rainbow took the lead again, bounding over a few low fences before skidding to a halt before a massive pit of mud. From afar the gap look small enough to jump across but up close she was far less certain. She looked around quickly, trying to figure out how to cross the pit.
“Looks like some sort of bridge.” Thunderblitz said, narrowly avoiding crashing into her butt face first. Rainbow looked down at the floor, quickly spotting a discoloured tile between her hooves. She stepped on it and a narrow platform slid out from the wall with a metal snap. She took her hoof off, the metal platform snapping back into its concealed position as soon as she removed her weight from button.
She looked across the other side, spotting the same discoloured patches. The ‘bridge’ had three such buttons, one on their side and two on the far side. A pressure sensor presumably prevented more than pony crossing at once and after one pony had crossed, made the bridge only activate when two buttons were held down. The two pads in the other side were too far for one pony to reach both, so it required the entire team to get across safely and efficiently.
“Okay, I’ll hold this button down, you and Lightning Dust cross. When you’re over I’ll join you.” Rainbow ordered, stepping onto the large red button. A narrow walkway slid out smoothly from the wall, creating a safe path across.
Lighting Dust bounded across quickly before Thunderblitz could take a single step forward, nervously eyeing the other teams as they made their way through the course. She was across in a matter of seconds and jammed one of the buttons down impatiently.
“Come on, let’s go!” She snapped irritably.
Thunderblitz looked down at the drop nervously. “Bad time to mention I don’t like heights?”
“Come on, off you go.” Rainbow said encouragingly, “I’ll be right behind you.”
Thunderblitz didn’t argue, edging slowly out onto the narrow walkway. It was a good ten metres drop into the mud pit below and there was no safety harness.
“Come on, watching you is like watching old people-.” Lightning Dust heckled.
“Lightning Dust, shut up!” Rainbow Dash snapped, cutting the pegasus off mid sentence.
Lightning threw a childish glare at her. “Make me.”
“I’m considering it.” Rainbow growled back. She couldn’t though, getting off her button would send Thunderblitz plummeting to a muddy doom.
Lightning Dust, to her credit, stopped jeering and instead focused on watching the other teams anxiously. Some were nearing the end of the course now.
Thunderblitz was a little over halfway across when Rainbow Dash started getting ready to cross, crouching down in anticipation and watching the stallion intently so she knew when she could move. She was so busy watching him that it came as a surprise when the bridge suddenly fell out from underneath him. He was close enough to the end that he managed to catch the edge as he fell, a cry of shock ringing out as his hind legs flailed uselessly in the air.
“What the-?” She started, her head snapping around to the button Lightning Dust should’ve been standing on.
The pegasus was nowhere to be seen.
‘That bitch!!’ Rainbow thought furiously, turning her attention back to Thunderblitz. “You okay?” she yelled.
“Could be better.” He grunted back, hauling himself up onto the ledge with a groan. He turned back to face her, trembling slightly. “Now what?’
Rainbow looked the obstacle up and down, there was no way they could get the walkway back for her to use and going around would take far too long, several of the other teams were already finishing. Rainbow Dash froze with shock, Lightning Dust was down at the finishing line, parading around victoriously. It seemed she had left the button so she could finish first, even at the expense of the rest of her team.
“Dash?” Blitz asked, snapping Rainbow Dash out her stupor.
“Might be able to jump it.” Rainbow guessed, her disbelief being replaced by burning rage. She took a few steps back, wishing her wings weren’t tied. If that was the case the jump would’ve been childishly easy, even a fairly flightless pegasus like Scootaloo would’ve managed it. With her wings bound though, the gap was more of a daunting prospect.
“Sure that’s a good idea?”
“Not really!” Rainbow said, darting forward and propelling towards over the gap before she could think about how much of a bad idea it actually was. The fall wouldn’t kill her but it would probably hurt a bit, not to mention the humiliation of being covered from head to hoof in mud. With a yell, she launched herself over the edge, flailing wildly in an attempt to grab the ledge. She came up just short though and with a pang of horror, watched the surprised face of Thunderblitz disappear past the edge. She tried to arrest her forward momentum but with her wings tied firmly behind her back there was little she could do to prevent herself from slamming into the platform’s metal support with a sickening crunch.
‘That’ll leave a mark.’ She thought, her head spinning wildly as she plummeted towards the ground like a brick. She had a moment to contemplate what imaginative torture she would inflict on Lightning Dust before smacking into the mud with a wet slap. It didn’t hurt nearly as much as she thought it would’ve, or maybe that was just because her head felt like it was being pounded on like an apple tree at Sweet Apple Acres and, in comparison, the crash felt like a soft prod. She spat out a mouthful of gunk, thankful that all her teeth seemed to be intact. If the drops of red that kept obscuring her vision and that mixed with the mud were any indication though, her face probably didn’t look that crash hot. She stumbled out of the mud uneasily, unsure for a moment which way was up. It took every ounce of strength to not just fall over in a heap, but Rainbow Dash kept going, struggling towards the end of the course with a dogged determination.
“Dash, you alight?” Thunderblitz called, almost sliding down the last stage of the obstacle course to reach her.
“Never better.” Rainbow giggled, blinking away a trickle of blood that obscured her vision. She brushed off the concerned stallion and forced her way into the group of cadets, ignoring the worried look she was receiving. Finding Lightning dust standing near the edge of the crowd, she staggered towards her quarry, nothing but sheer determination fuelling her motions.
“You.” She spat venomously, a few specks of blood flying out of her mouth as she spoke. It occurred belatedly to Rainbow Dash that getting angry right after smashing head-first into a metal support wasn’t the best idea but she smashed the thought down, any sense of rationality buried beneath a seething anger.
Lightning Dust spun around, a look of surprise on her face. “Gee what happened to you? Hit your head on someth-.”
“You.” Rainbow Dash interrupted furiously. “You arrogant… traitorous, piece of crap! You just couldn’t do it could you? You just had to be first, didn’t you?” She roared, her vision going blurry as she yelled at Lightning Dust.
“Winning is what I’m good at.” Lightning Dust sneered.
“Good, well I hope you win. I hope you make the grade. I hope you become a pilot, just so a Kaiju can eat you. Then it will spit you out because it’s never tasted something quite as foul as you.” Rainbow snarled, wanting to do nothing more than smash Lightning Dust’s smug little face in with her hooves until it resembled her own. She was aware that the entire field was gawking at her but she paid them no heed, her attention solely focused on the pegasus in front of her.  
Lightning Dust looked unfazed. She took a step closer to Rainbow Dash and grinned. “Go on, do it. Hit me. I know you want to.” She whispered.
Rainbow Dash suppressed the overwhelming urge to do so, she didn’t want to give the pegasus the pleasure of seeing her totally lose her cool. Her foreleg twitched slightly but she kept it firmly planted on the ground as a wave of nausea swept over her.
“Screw you.” She mumbled before finally allowing herself to pass out.
 

 
Rainbow Dash didn’t wake until the early evening. She had always been a fast healer and beside a few stitches holding a bit of her face together she seemed no worse for wear, The Academy’s doctor wasn’t sure if the wound would scar or not but the prospect didn’t bother Rainbow Dash much, scars were cool. She was eventually removed from the infirmary a few hours later, more on account of her constant complaining that aggravated the nursing staff than a completely clean bill of health. By the time she was finally free of the hospital it was time for the mess to start serving dinner. She made her way down the dining quarters with visible glee, her blood loss and afternoon exercise had left her quite hungry and unlike her experience with other military food, the Jaeger Academy actually seemed to be able to get its hands on good quality food for its students.
She made her way into the bustling facility, ignoring the occasional look she received from another cadet wandering past in the crowded halls. The mess was a massive long hall that could serve nearly a thousand ponies at a time. The sheer enormity of the place always struck Rainbow Dash whenever she entered, it was even more impressive when she remembered there were four such facilities around the academy, each one working around the clock to feed the veritable army of ponies that called the facility their home. While each of the companies had a designated hall, they were free to mingle with any of the various disciplines that they shared the facility with, creating a massive melting pot of ponies from all walks of life. It had a sort of chaotic and disorderly feel to it that for some reason was very homely compared to the regimented vibe the academy gave off.
Although Rainbow hadn’t bothered looking too closely, her company appeared to share the facility with a mix of mechanics, some J-Tech types and another company of ranger cadets. She lined up in one of the queues for food, satisfied that it took only a few minutes for her receiving a tray full of steaming potatoes, beans and a few fillets of a vegetable/soy/wheat combination that somehow tasted nice.
Next came the harder part, finding a place to sit and eat in relative peace.
She’d barely left the end of the lien when a stallion slotted into place next to her smoothly.
“Ah didn’t expect to see you out of the infirmary so early.”
Rainbow Dash jumped little, nearly spilling her tray of food over a diminutive looking unicorn trotting past her. She flushed red in embarrassment, she hadn’t expected anypony to suddenly sneak up from behind her.
“Looking a bit red there darl’.” Thunderblitz teased.
“You’re an arsehole.” Rainbow said, managing not to sound too flustered. Nopony had ever called her ‘darl’ before, and even if Thunderblitz was just being facetious, which he probably was, he was toeing a dangerous line.
“Let’s just go find a table.” He offered, brushing her words off like they were nothing. “I’m sure there’s somepony Ah know around.” He set off, his tray balanced expertly across his back.
“How do you know so many ponies?” Rainbow questioned, following behind him obediently.
He gave her a wry look. “Ah’m not afraid of chatting with strangers, and since Ah can put up with you just fine, everypony else seems fairly tolerable by comparison.” He said with a sly wink.
“Ho ho ho, Hehe… ha...” Rainbow laughed scathingly. “Very funny.”
“Can’t take a joke, can you Rainbow?” He jeered, dodging a pair of oil-stained mechanics going the other way.
She gave him a dangerous smile.
Thunderblitz laughed quietly and threaded his way through the hall, finally settling into a table crowded with a few burly mechanics cheerfully. “Evening boys.” He drawled.
A few cheers, jeers and cries of welcome erupted from the small group, evidently they were fairly familiar with the stallion. Rainbow Dash was tempted to leave but Thunderblitz was the closest thing she had to a friend around and she figured she could stomach whatever social awkwardness that could possibly ensure for the opportunity to have a little company while she ate.
“Who’s the gal?” One with a spiky red mess of a mane asked with interest. His voice had a distinctive twang that was unique to the city of Bolton.
“She’s a friend of mine.” Thunderblitz explained, a slight smile and a red flush ghosting across his face as a few whistles drifted down from the other end of the table.  Rainbow Dash was sure she’d die of embarrassment but managed to keep a level face, picking at her potatoes with a bored expression.
Red-mane leaned over to talk to Rainbow. “What’cha doin’ here? Learnin’ ta be a pilot like Mr. Grassroots here?”
Rainbow Dash nodded silently, looking straight at her potatoes like they were her one of her engineering books.
“That’s good, that’s good. Listen, you keep an eye on Blitz, he’s a clever stallion. He’ll do good, I’m sure of it.”
“She probably thinks he’s a damn hayseed.” Another one chuckled. “Given out his folksy wisdom…” He drawled, imitating Thunderblitz’s accent rather terribly.
Rainbow’s mouth twitched into a smile for a second.
Red-mane stood up, checking his watch quickly. “Can’t stay around and chat Blitzy-boy, gotta run to a class. Fantastic timetable.” He grumbled sarcastically. The other stallions jumped up with similar enthusiasm, most of them giving Rainbow Dash sly looks out of the corner of their eyes.
“Have fun kiddies.” He jeered, making kissing motions with his mouth before sauntering off with his fellow mechanics in tow.
“Ah’m so sorry ‘bout that.” Thunderblitz said awkwardly when he was sure they were out of earshot.
“Interesting friends you have.” Rainbow said, clearly unimpressed. She pondered if she’d be able to hit red-mane with a potato at range but quickly decided it would be a waste of good food.
“When Ah moved up to Bolton to study, they were my classmates.” His face flickered with a trace of a smile. “They were good times… Rasputin changed that though. Seeing that thing, just jump out of the harbour into the city, that was something else.” He fell silent, poking at his food unenthusiastically.
Rainbow looked at him expectantly but he seemed unwilling to share the story.
“You’re okay though?” He asked, quickly changing the topic onto more current affairs.
“My face is being held together by nothing more than good intentions and eight stitches.” Rainbow grumbled. “I live though, thanks for asking.” She flashed him a quick, appreciative smile.
“You’ll be right for tomorrow morning?”
Rainbow Dash groaned internally. She’d completely forgotten about Raze’s punishment, no, torture, which was in store for them. She highly doubted the ruthless pegasus would let her off easily for merely having a badly cut face. “I’ll have to be.” She moaned, her head starting to throb a little at the thought.
“Lightning Dust will be joining us as well you know.” Thunderblitz pointed out slowly.
Rainbow’s “What, really?”
“Yeah, Raze was pretty ticked off. Said that Lightning Dust didn’t understand how a team worked.”
“Can’t believe I missed that.” Rainbow said, cheerily imagining how Lightning Dust would’ve reacted to ‘losing’ despite winning.
“Speaking of her…” Blitz trailed off, looking off past Rainbow Dash’s shoulder. She looked around subtly, noticing Lightning Dust drop down into a chair a few tables away. She looked wearier than usual, none of the usual spark in her stride was present. Thunderblitz’s gaze slowly tracked back to Rainbow Dash “Don’t suppose you could tell me what beef you’ve got between you?”
“You won’t tell me about Rasputin, I don’t tell you about Lightning Dust.” Rainbow said bluntly.
He looked at her, his mouth slowly chewing as he considered the proposal. “Ah can live without knowing, I’m going to just take a wild stab and say there’s some bad blood between you two.”
“Genius.” Rainbow said darkly, wondering what she’d have to do to get him to spill the beans on the Kaiju.
“Well you gotta do something about it, or you can look forward to another 19 weeks of fun.” Thunderblitz drawled, kicking his hooves up on the table and leaning back on his chair as he munched down the last bit of his dinner.
Rainbow moved her tray aside slightly, her appetite sullied slightly. “Assuming she makes it past the first cut.” She pointed out.
“Ah’m sure she will. She’s just like you. Determined, confident, a fantastic athlete, and so full of herself that she can’t see past her own nose.”
She tossed the stallion an uncertain look “Thank you?”
He flashed a toothy grin at her. “Don’t mention it.”
Rainbow Dash fell silent for a moment. “Well, assuming we get through the first cut, then what?” She asked after a few minutes.
He cracked a wry smile. “You didn’t listen to the orientation at all, did you?”
“Uh, I may’ve been busy at the time.” Rainbow admitted sheepishly. She looked up from her food, noticing that Lightning Dust had vanished. “Besides, that was ages ago and I’ve had to cram so much in my head since then I’m surprised it hasn’t started dribbling out yet.”
“Well there’s another two eight week semesters which on the first we focus on combat training and stuff. They assess our drift compatibility based on our fights and the bonds we’ve formed, somethin’ like that Ah think at least. From there, drift partners are selected and only a handful will go through to the last cut.” Thunderblitz explained. At least he’d paid attention during the lecture, Rainbow Dash had probably been napping. “After that we get to try out in a real Jaeger, provided the Mark Twos are on schedule.”
“Might.” Rainbow echoed cautiously.
“You sound mighty uncertain about that.”
Rainbow let out an exasperated huff, she didn’t want to admit the lingering doubt that had started knowing at her gut. What if she didn’t find a drift partner? What If she was good enough to make the grade but was left on the sideline, a replacement, because she just couldn’t match up with anypony? “Not important, don’t worry about.” She lied, brushing his disbelieving look off and staring at what was left of her food.
Thunderblitz shook his head slowly. “You’re a terrible bastard.”
Rainbow Dash could handle being called things, but being called a bastard, even endearingly, struck a nerve. Her chest tightened up slightly and for a moment she had to quash the instinctive urge to lash out at Thunderblitz.
“You alright?” He asked, concern growing over his features.
“Fine, I’m fine. Actually, no. Not really. I think I’m going to go back to the infirmary for a bit.” Rainbow Dash lied.
Thunderblitz didn’t seem to completely buy her story but if he made no mention of it. :”Alright, Ah’ll see you around then. Maybe we could do a little study together later on if you feel better?”
“Don’t think that’s gonna happen.” Rainbow said, not really paying attention to him anymore. She stood up and trotted off before he could work up the courage to call her back.
 

Rainbow Dash didn’t see Thunderblitz again until then next morning. She’d left the mess hall and gone straight back to her dorm, distracting herself by trying to ram some obscure maintenance protocols into her head for a few hours before forcing herself to bed, dreading whatever Raze had in store for her the next morning.
What it turned out to be was far worse than she could’ve imagined.
It didn’t seem too bad at first. She was woken at a surprisingly reasonable hour for morning calisthenics, her paranoia only really started kicking though when the usually brutal session turned out being uncharacteristically tame, by Raze’s standards at least. She avoided Thunderblitz and Lightning Dust, instead focusing on putting her all into the exercises Raze led them through. She started hoping that the old commander had finally gone senile and had forgotten their punishment when Raze made a point of telling her that she, Lightning Dust and Thunderblitz were expected after breakfast.
That put a small dampener on things.
With that message still ringing in her ears, Rainbow consigned herself to a small meal before making her way back out onto the training field where Raze was expecting her.  She had nearly made it outside when she noticed Thunderblitz trailing her slightly, following her cautiously like a hunter tracking a wild Sabrecat.
She stopped and looked at him, unsure if she should be amused or impressed. “I’m not going to rip your head off.” Rainbow said pointedly. Thunderblitz looked back cautiously, unsure if she was merely luring him closer. After a second he decided she was safe and trotted up next to her happily.
“Didn’t know if Ah was in trouble.” He quipped, flashing her a quick smile before his face fell flat again.
Rainbow Dash made a disgusted sound at the back of her throat but otherwise remained silent. She turned a corner and marched out into the blinding morning sunlight.
Thunderblitz coughed awkwardly. “Mind explaining what was with you at dinner last night? Ah didn’t mean nothing by what Ah said.” He explained apologetically.
“I know.” Rainbow said, looking forwards blankly. She waited a few moments, mulling what to say in her head. He deserved some explanation but she was unsure of how much to give him, she didn’t like exposing herself emotionally to anypony, not even her friends. “I had a lot of problems with my, uh, parents marital status, when I was young, well… ah, lack of, to be exact.” She explained quietly. “It’s a bit of a Cloudsdale thing. They’re more old-fashioned around there, to say the least.”
“Ah’m sorry.”
She snorted quietly. “Don’t be, I try to forget it but sometimes somepony says something that just slips through the cracks… It doesn’t feel great.” She admitted. She rubbed her snout idly, it was probably the closest to an emotional confession she would make.
“Alright.” Thunderblitz said levelly. He didn’t seem know how quite to respond so kept it short and simple.
“Don’t worry, we’re still cool.” Rainbow muttered awkwardly, looking out across the parade ground they were trudging across. She could see Raze waiting patiently for them a hundred metres away, her ever present scowl visible even from across the paved courtyard. She had brought company. A unicorn stood behind her silently, and something that looked like a long metal tube lay at her hooves along with a sturdy looking bag. She tossed a look back at the stallion. ”Right?”
He nodded silently.
Rainbow let out a quiet sigh of relief, she seemed to have almost grown a habit of alienating friends at academies. That feeling of relief though, was quickly sunk when they approached Raze, the old pegasus had a look about her that reminded Rainbow Dash far too much of a wolf gloating over its prey. Whatever she had planned for the three ponies, immediately seemed even less appealing.
“How’s the face, cadet?” Raze asked as they stopped in front of her, her tone lacking the usual bite it usually possessed.
“Healing well, ma’am.” Rainbow responded curtly. She could’ve sworn Raze gave a small, relieved smile but dismissed it as a trick of the light.
“Good to hear.” Raze said, her gaze flickering behind them. Rainbow resisted the urge to turn around and look, knowing that would probably just piss Raze off for some reason. She waited patiently as another set of hoofsteps came up behind her before finally stopping off to her side. She glanced sideways as Lightning Dust appeared in the edge of her vision, a frustrated look on her face.
“You’re late.” Raze growled.
“No excuse, ma’am.” Lightning Dust said, tossing a quick glare at Rainbow Dash and Thunderblitz, receiving one in kind.
Raze didn’t press the issue, instead picking up a metal tube off the ground. “Today’s exercise is all about teamwork. You will work together and succeed as a team, or you die alone. It’s as simple as that kiddos.” She lifted the tube so they could all see it clearly. “This is a Mark 17 Shoulder-fired rocket launcher, it fires an 84mm shaped charge which can defeat most armour at a range of up to 500 metres. Our big airships take these little kiddies and ramp them up to eleven. In the hands of an inexperienced operator like you, I’d expect an effective range of no more than a hundred metres at best. For ease of transport, it breaks down into two parts, both are needed to fire correctly, in addition to ammo. Generally, it’s carried and operated by a team of two. The team must be joined at the hip and trust each instinctively, the gunner can’t do shit without the loader and the loader can only glare and think angry thoughts if the gunner waltzes off.” She paused and broke the launcher down and reassembled it in a manner of seconds.
The three ponies nodded silently.
Raze took a step back and nodded to the unicorn standing just behind her. His horn glowed for a moment and the air shimmered like a mirage on a hot day. Within a second, a monstrous battle tank had appeared in front of them. It had a large, double barrelled howitzer on its dumpy looking turret and a wide set of tracks. Its low set body was a little wider than the turret and looked quite intimidating. A pony with a heavy looking helmet leaned lazily out of one of the top hatches, a jolly look on his face.
“This is an AKT-155, a brand new fighting tank the army is testing to help fight the Kaiju threat. It possess a pair of 155mm cannons capable of firing regular high explosive shells, armour piercing shells and thermite based munitions as well. I call it the ‘Grizzly’. It’s so new, in fact, that this is only the prototype model. The army was looking to do some fire and mobility tests with it and I was all too happy to help.” Raze explained cheerfully.
Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped. ‘Surely she can’t be serious.’ She thought as Raze disassembled the launcher again.
“Each of you will have one component of the launcher, you will need all three to fire the weapon correctly.” She handed Rainbow Dash the front half of the launcher, Lightning Dust the back half and Thunderblitz a bag full of warheads. “The objective of the exercise is to engage and ‘disable’ the tank. You just have to score a hit on the tank and then the exercise is over.”
“I don’t know how to fire this thing.” Rainbow pointed out.
“It’s so simple a newborn foal could do it. The rocket goes in like this, you aim using these sights and depress this button to fire.” Raze explained, jamming a rocket down the back of the pipe and locking it into position with practiced ease. She held the weapon up for them to see before unlocking the round and tossing it back into the bag with a careless motion that made Rainbow Dash’s heart skip a beat.
“Doesn’t sound too hard.” Lightning Dust said, balancing the stock of the launcher on one of her wings. “What’s the catch?”
Raze nodded to the unicorn again. “This.”
An aura of light shimmered around the three ponies for a moment before the world cut to black. Rainbow felt like she was being squeezed through a garden hose for a split second before she reappeared on a small mound of rubble with a sharp crack. She shook her head clear of the dizzying effects of the teleportation, noticing two more similar snaps in the distance. She looked around cautiously, she was in a deserted yard overgrown with plants and grass. A dilapidated warehouse sat behind her, its sheet iron roof slowly rusting away in the open air. To her front was a maze of metal frames, rubble piles and general detritus that granted a wealth of cover. She looked closer, spotting a bright flash of cyan on one of the distant piles some 500 metres away, obviously Lightning Dust.
‘Okay, now what?’ She thought, chomping down on the launcher’s strap securely. The thought had barely passed through her mind when the air split again with a low crack and the Grizzly appeared between her and Lightning Dust, its engine growling and belching fumes. Rainbow Dash watched in shocked surprise as its turret slowly tracked around until it felt like she was staring down the two long barrels.
“Oh shit!!” She screamed in realisation as a twin crack of thunder rang out around the yard and a pair of shells roared overhead, slamming into the warehouse behind her with an earth-shaking explosion. She felt a wave of heat wash over her back and saw a few pieces of splintered wood rain into the ground around her as the warehouse disintegrated under the tank’s cannons. She dived to the ground instinctively, the throaty roar of the tank’s engine almost chuckling in the distance.
“You insane son of a bitch, you didn’t say it would be shooting at us!” She roared up at the sky, worming her way further into what cover she could find. Not that it would do her much good if the tank found its mark. She heard a loud metallic thud as the spent shells were racked free from the Grizzly’s autoloader and a new pair rammed into place. Rainbow curled up in a ball tighter, this wasn’t how she imagined going, being blasted to smithereens by a tank, an Equestrian tank no less. A cool rod of metal banged her on the chin and in a moment of realisation she remembered the launcher Raze had given them. If she could find Lightning Dust and Thunderblitz maybe she had a chance. Spurred on by the thought, she made sure the launcher was grasped securely in her mouth and spread her wings, willing herself to go as fast as she could.
She wasn’t a moment too soon, another pair of discharges shook the yard and two more shells roared out from the Grizzly’s barrels and slammed into the dirt fifteen metres to her right.  She arched up high, searching frantically for a sign of either of the two ponies she was working with. It occurred to her that she could easily escape from the tank by just flying away but squelched the action, she’d be leaving Lightning Dust and Thunderblitz at the mercy of the metal monster.
‘Not that I care about Lightning dust, stupid mare can go shove her head down the tank’s gun for all I care.’ She thought bitterly. She dived sharply to shake off the ponderous tank’s aim and dipped behind a low building. Confident she had lost the vehicle she soared upwards again, her eyes prowling the ground for the two other ponies.
It didn’t take long to spot Thunderblitz, he wasn’t exactly trying to hide and his coat stood out starkly from the packed earth and detritus that packed the yard. Rainbow swept her view around, noting that the Grizzly was still prowling near where she’d taken off from. Deciding it was relatively safe, she dived sharply towards the ground, her half of the launcher banging against her chest loudly. The extra weight made her misjudged her speed slightly though and instead of landing gracefully with a small, dramatic puff of dirt, she zipped over Thunderblitz’s head and ploughed into the ground, tumbling head over hooves before coming to a sudden stop on a surprisingly soft surface. Rainbow had a moment to think about this before the object moved.
“Get, the heck, off me.” It mumbled crossly.
“Lightning Dust?” Rainbow asked cautiously.
“No, I’m Princess Celestia you moron.” Lightning Dust snapped back. “Nice landing there, by the way.”
Rainbow made an annoyed sound and jumped off the pegasus, relieved to see that she seemed to be all in one piece. Besides a bit of a stoked temper, Lightning Dust seemed to no worse for wear, a slightly tussled mane the only sign that Rainbow Dash had used her as a pillow. The irate pegasus didn’t have to time to chew Rainbow out though as Thunderblitz galloped into view, the bag with the launcher’s ammunition swinging wildly.
“The both of ya?” He asked, quite pleased with Rainbow’s serendipitous discovery.
“If she doesn’t watch where she’s flying they will be neither of us.” Lightning dust sneered, straightening her mane out.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”  Rainbow said back, trotting over to Thunderblitz and opening the thick bag he carried. Inside were about a dozen rounds, each with a prominent white cap on the end. “That’s all of them?” She asked.
“Eeyup, but they’re only dummy rounds.” Thunderblitz grunted, grabbing one of the rockets with a disgusted growl. The word ‘TEST’ was stamped in large white letters across the body of the rocket.
“Great, means we can get a shot off without worrying about hurting the crew.” Rainbow said curtly, grabbing the other half of the launcher of Lightning Dust’s back and snapping the two pieces of the launcher together like Raze had a few minutes ago. The old pegasus was right on one thing at least, the mechanism was so simple even a foal could use it.
“Have you noticed they’re shooting at us?” Lightning Dust snapped angrily, an understandable trace of panic in her voice. “With live ammunition?”
“It occurred to me, yes.” Rainbow muttered, forcing herself to stay calm despite the situation. She lifted launcher and frowned, there was no way she’d be able to load and fire efficiently, she’d need somepony else to load it at the right moment.
“Has it occurred to you they are trying to kill us?” Lightning Dust snarled.
“We’re all in one piece aren’t we?” Rainbow shot back. She looked at Thunderblitz expectantly. “Okay, any ideas?”
“No. Just, no. Screw this, I’m out of here. I did not sign up for this shit!” Lightning Dust said like the other two were completely crazy.
Rainbow Dash tackled her to the ground before she could get airborne. She smacked the pegasus across the face with her hoof, her face twisted into a snarl. “Celestia’s sweet arse you are. You got us into this whole mess, and whether you like it or not, we’re a team. We will do this together.”
“Ladies, as fun as it is to see ya’ll roll around in the dirt, Ah think we have a bigger problem to deal with.” Thunderblitz urged, peering over to top of the rubble. The Grizzly had chugged into view, its massive turret slowly tracking around for a target.  He ducked down again as the tank rolled out of sight again with a throaty roar.
Rainbow glared back at Lightning Dust, still pinned beneath her. “Are you with us?”
“You’re insane.” Lightning Dust spat.
“You leave now, Raze wins. You don’t want to give her the satisfaction now, do you? You like winning.” Rainbow said lowly, staring Lightning Dust straight in the eye.
Lightning Dust looked away ashamedly for a moment. She seemed conflicted, as if she agreed with Rainbow Dash but didn’t want to admit she was right.
“Alright, fine.” She muttered ruefully.
“You two done yet?” Thunderblitz asked impatiently.
Rainbow let Lightning Dust up cautiously, prepared to pin her to the ground again if she much as made a skyward motion. “You have an idea?” She asked, brushing a thin layer of dust of her coat.
“Yeah, I do. Okay, why don’t one of you grab the launcher, fly up and hit it from the sky. Should be pretty risk free.” He suggested.
Rainbow Dash frowned. “Good luck firing that thing in mid-air, also I don’t think I could carry that thing and fly very well at the same time.” She said. The assembled launcher was nearly as long as she was, that and there was no way she could load it while flapping around.
“Well scratch that one then.” He looked over at Lightning Dust but she didn’t look like she was about to offer a suggestion any time soon. His gaze lingered on her for a moment before shifting over to Rainbow Dash. “Any ideas, Dash?”
Rainbow scratched the side of her head thoughtfully. Now that they weren’t being shot at she was starting to think clearly. “We just have to get a hit on it, that’s all. We could set up an ambush somewhere, that’d probably work.”
Thunderblitz bit his lip. “There’s no way we would know where that thing is going, we’d need to draw it in somehow.”
“A diversion.” Rainbow agreed. She looked the launcher over again. “We’ll need two of us to fire this thing properly.”
“I can do that, I’ve shot one of these things before.” Lightning Dust piped up, her voice still bitter.
“Really? When?” Rainbow asked, a little miffed that Lightning dust hadn’t shared this information earlier.
The aqua pegasus shot her a scathing look and remained silent.
“Alright, whatever. I’m going with you though because frankly, I just don’t trust you to not run off.”
“Which leaves me as the distraction.” Thunderblitz guessed glumly. He shrugged indifferently. “Could be worse Ah guess, Ah kind of like-.” He didn’t get to finish the sentence before a throaty roar and the crash of masonry cut him off. Like a hoofball team running through a banner, the Grizzly tore through one of the building behind them, its turret slewing around slowly to point at them.
“Move, move, move!” Rainbow screamed, grabbing Thunderblitz around the waist and shooting skyward. He was heavy though and with the launcher still gripped in her mouth, she was having a hard time taking flight.
“Help me!” She cried to Lightning Dust. Already some way ahead, the pegasus looked back indecisively for a half-second, clearly torn about going back to help Rainbow Dash. She was already clear of the tank’s arc and going back would only endanger herself.
It was then, rather relieving when she quickly doubled back, zipping under Thunderblitz and giving them to necessary lift to get clear of the tank’s gun.
“Thanks.” Rainbow said breathlessly as they powered away from the growling behemoth.
Lightning Dust ignored her. “You’re heavier than you look, you know.” She growled at Thunderblitz.
Rainbow cracked a thin smile. “We can put him down there.” She said, pointing out a thin line of dirt behind some stacked shipping containers. From above she could only see a few obvious entry points for the Grizzly, all of them visible from the row of containers. With a flutter of wings and a small cloud of dust they dropped the thankful earth pony off and dumped the cumbersome launcher on the ground. They took a few moments to get their breath back, the three of them sprawled out in the dirt like sacks of potatoes.
“I’m surprised you came back.” Rainbow said, idly playing with one of the warheads. She enjoyed the look of alarm of Lightning Dust’s face before the cocky pegasus remembered they were only dummies.
“I didn’t come back for you.” Lightning Dust said quickly. “You had the launcher and I need that.” She looked away from Rainbow Dash, a badly concealed look of embarrassment on her face.
“You could’ve just grabbed the launcher and ran, no need to help fatty over here.” Rainbow prodded.
“Shut up.” Lightning Dust snapped, jumping up onto one of the rust-brown shipping containers with a flutter of her wings and scurrying out of sight.
“She’s just as bad as you are.” Thunderblitz drawled, propping himself up off the ground so he could look around the small concealed patch they had taken refuge in.
“Hardly.” Rainbow complained, kicking up a small clod of dirt.
“Well, if you’re so much the bigger mare, go try and sort whatever you two got between ya. Y'all gonna get me killed at this rate.” He grumbled.
Rainbow glared at him silently, her hooves folded across her chest stubbornly
“Jeez, you’re worse than a Boulder Knoll back at home, Ah could get one of them little blighters to move faster than you.” Thunderblitz mocked, giving her a gentle shove.
“Ohooho, you are playing dangerous game here buddy.” Rainbow jeered, picking herself up and staunchly planting her rump to the ground.
Thunderblitz gave another gentle shove, just enough to uproot her. He snickered quietly as Rainbow rose up off the ground, an outraged look on her face.
“You are so asking for it.” She snarled.
“Well why don’t you go sort out your other problem before making another one?” Thunderblitz suggested wryly. He seemed quite happy to fight Rainbow if necessary, as much as Rainbow hated to admit it, he’d probably win. In the tight space her wings and speed wouldn’t offer much advantage and he was easily stronger than she was. She could all too easily imagine him planted firmly on top of her, a victorious look plastered over his smug face. It would only get worse if Lightning Dust came to investigate the sudden disturbance. She forced down an embarrassed flush and kicked the ground again.
“Alright, fine!” she snapped grumpily.
“There we go.” Thunderblitz drawled calmly, ignoring the furious look Rainbow Dash was giving him.
Unable to stand his annoyingly triumphant look, Rainbow jumped up the container and trotted out after Lightning Dust, grumbling internally. She could figure out a way to get even later. She scooted out along a narrow passage created by the gap between two containers, ducked under a half-open door and found herself out on a thin perch overlooking the yard. The wind whistled past softly and in the distance she could hear a faint rumble and the occasional crack of concrete breaking under steel treads. Lightning Dust was seated a metre away, her yellow eyes watching the yard cautiously and her mane blowing softly in the breeze. She didn’t seem to notice the other pegasus until Rainbow Dash cleared her throat awkwardly.
“Get tired of your boyfriend?” Lightning dust sneered.
Rainbow Dash gave her a silent scornful look but didn’t rise to the challenge. She plopped herself down on the narrow ledge as far away as she could get from Lightning Dust, casting her eyes over the massive yard. She wondered what this place had been before it was abandoned, maybe it was a purpose built arena of sorts and the decrepit look was merely an illusion. She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, wondering what she could say to Lightning Dust, or if she should simply wait for the other pegasus to talk first.
“Thank you.” She finally blurted out, her voice cracking slightly  She hadn’t realised how dry her throat had become.
Lightning Dust didn’t look at her. “What do you want?” She asked quietly, her voice almost suspicious.
Rainbow looked away, slightly surprised how quickly Lightning Dust had picked up on her intent. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to figure out what to say before eventually decided it was best to just skip the crap and go straight to the point.
“We used to be friends, you know.” Rainbow said, following Lightning Dust’s gaze but not spotting anything particularly interesting. She didn’t say anything, her stare if anything, becoming more vacant. Rainbow let out a quiet sigh, running her tongue around the inside of the teeth. “I actually quite liked being friends.” She admitted.
Lightning Dust’s focus seemed to return and her eyes flicked over the Rainbow. “I know.” She answered quietly before looking away again.
Rainbow bit her lip in frustration as the silence stretched out, Lightning Dust was just as bad as opening up as she was and talking to her was like talking to a brick wall. She wanted Lightning Dust to say something but the pegasus didn’t seem to forthcoming, she never did.
“Could we try it?” Rainbow asked, unable to take the deafening silence any longer. “Being friends again, I mean.” She clarified.
Lightning Dust threw her a venomous glare.
“Or maybe at least not being enemies?” Rainbow suggested hastily. The mare’s glare softened slightly but the pegasus was still frustratingly silent.
“It’s not quite that simple.” Lightning Dust said after what seemed like an eternity.
Rainbow Dash didn’t need it explained to her; there was lingering ire between them, regardless of what she said. She didn’t trust Lightning Dust nearly as much as wanted to, and Lightning Dust had some deep-seated hatred of her based on her disgraceful removal from the Wonderbolts Academy. Whatever knock-on effects that event had caused hadn’t been explicitly mentioned by the pegasus, but whatever had happened in the intervening years Lightning Dust clearly hadn’t enjoyed it. While it didn’t seem exactly fair to Rainbow Dash, after all, it was Lightning Dust’s own actions that had caused her expulsion from the academy, she could understand why she felt the way she did, Rainbow Dash probably would’ve felt the exact same way if their roles had been reversed.
“Yeah, I get it.” Rainbow said, looking skyward.
“I know.” Lightning Dust said again, a faint smirk crossing her face as Rainbow ground her teeth together with frustration.
“You’re an arsehole.” Rainbow grumbled.
Thankfully Lightning Dust didn’t answer that one, just smiled knowingly. “Takes one to know one.” She remarked before her grin fell off her face like a stick of butter racing down a metal slippery-dip on a hot day.
“What is it?” Rainbow asked, suddenly on edge.
Lightning Dust didn’t look at her, instead her eyes scanning the yard cautiously like a hawk. Her knees bent slightly as if she was preparing to pounce. “It’s coming.” She said after a moment.
“The tank?” Rainbow asked, her throat suddenly going dry.
“Yep, definitely looks like it’s heading this way.” Lightning Dust said after a moment.
Rainbow Dash saw it a moment later, a grey block shifting in and out of view as the tank rumbled through the deserted yard in search on them. They shared a look of concern before bounding down off their exposed position and back into the hidden strip of dirt they’d found, Lightning Dust fumbling for the launcher with almost indecent haste. Thunderblitz didn’t need to be told what was going on, the two mare’s frantic motions were more than enough to give the situation away. He ducked out from behind the small strip of dirt, searching for a suitable piece of cover he could conceal himself in.
Within a minute the trap was set. Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash were perched back on top of the shipping container, lying out of sight until they were sure that Thunderblitz had grabbed the tank’s attention. The stallion was on the ground about fifty metres away, an old metal pipe he’d found held tightly in his mouth. They waited, silent and motionless as the tank slowly rumbled into view, pausing cautiously behind a low wall which obscured most of its turret. Its optics spun warily, scanning the area for the three ponies it was supposed to be hunting.
“It’s not going for it.” Lightning Dust muttered a split second before Rainbow Dash could vocalise the same thought. She waved subtly to Thunderblitz, he’d have to get its attention somehow. Even from their position, they could see the stallion was less than thrilled at the prospect.
“We are so going to owe him for this.” Rainbow muttered.
“I’m sure you could think of a way to repay him.” Lightning Dust snickered suggestively.
Rainbow flushed red. “Shut your damn mouth and just aim the launcher.” She snapped, resisting the urge to punt Lightning Dust at the tank instead of a rocket. She made a motion to Thunderblitz, they were ready.
With a cringe he rose up out of his cover and pointed his pipe at the tank. Like a bloodhound tracking a scent, the tank’s turret optics whipped round, fixing him in their glassy gaze. Thunderblitz made a deliberate fumble, dropping the pipe with a loud clatter and a curse. He adopted a fearful expression, which was probably genuine considering the level of firepower aimed in his direction, and scampered to new cover.
The tank took the bait, kicking its engine into gear and rumbling after him, oblivious to the two pegasi perched about eighty metres to its right. It had barely slipped out from behind the crumbling wall when Lightning Dust rose up from the roof of the container, took aim and depressed the firing stud.
With a roar the rocket corkscrewed towards the hulking tank only to crash into the wall between the two pegasi and the armoured behemoth with a soft crack of masonry.
“I thought you said you could shoot?!” Rainbow shouted, diving for the bag of ammunition and slamming another round home as quickly as she could. The rocket had left a tell-tale trail of smoke behind it, a sign the tank would surely pick up on at any moment.
“It was a long time ago, I’d like to see you do better.” Lightning Dust snapped back irately, lining up the growling tank carefully.
“Wait…” Rainbow urged as the tank roared out towards them. She placed a steadying hoof on Lightning Dust’s shoulder. The tank was still half-hidden behind the building and firing now would probably waste their last shot at ending the sadistic exercise. She forced down a thrill of horror as the tank started turning its turret towards them.
“You’re gonna get me killed, Dash!” Lightning Dust snapped. The Grizzly had clearly lost interest in chasing Thunderblitz.
“Just trust me.” Rainbow ordered, her voice cracking as the tank’s flank slid out from behind the wall enticingly.
“No that’s too close, that’s too fu-.” Lightning Dust warned, her curse being cut short as another boom echoed around the arena. Rainbow didn’t have time to register the flash of the shot before the shells had roared past them, detonating some twenty metres past the containers in a cloud of dirt and rock.
“Now! Shoot it, shoot it!” She screamed. The tank had now fully emerged from behind the building. Unless she was completely incompetent it would take a miracle for Lightning Dust to miss now. If she did, somehow Rainbow didn’t think they’d be around long enough to find out.
Lightning Dust didn’t need any convincing, the words had barely formed in Rainbow’s mouth when she jammed the trigger down again. The second rocket whooped way with a sharp crack, travelling the short distance between them and the tank in the blink of an eye. The warhead smacked into the side of the tank’s armoured skirt with a metallic clank before bouncing off with a feeble fizz.
“Cease fire, exercise over!” Raze barked suddenly, her voice booming around the cratered yard from some hidden sound system. The tank immediately powered down, its engine cutting off with a disappointed whine.
Rainbow Dash let out a relieved laugh and found herself patting Lightning Dust on the back.
“Yeah, good job.” Lightning Dust said cautiously, watching Rainbow’s hoof like it was holding a knife. She shook her hoof off and tossed the launcher aside. “Just wait till I show raze what I think her stupid exercise.”
Rainbow threw a look at the monstrous tank beneath them, its barrels glinting dangerously under the morning sunlight. After facing that, she couldn’t help but agree with her.
 

 
After reuniting with Thunderblitz, the trio were teleported out of the arena, being deposited gently in the same spot where they’d left. Raze and her adjutant were still there, waiting patiently as if no time had passed since their departure.
Whatever elation from the victory they felt was instantly dashed when they saw Raze. Lightning Dust didn’t waste a second charging at the Commander and swinging a blow at her face furiously.
The blow didn’t even connect, Raze quickly snapping Lightning Dust’s hoof out of the way and twisting her painfully into the ground. “If you’re going to hit an old mare, make sure you put some effort in.” She sneered condescendingly, her green eyes colder than a block of ice. She pressed Lightning Dust a little harder, eliciting a quiet whimper of pain as she threatened to dislocate her leg. She made a disgusted sound and let Lightning Dust free. “Get up.” She ordered emotionlessly.
To her credit Lightning dust recovered quickly, rising to her hooves faster than Rainbow dash would’ve thought possible. “You’re nuts!” She roared furiously at their instructor. “You tried to kill us!”
“I’ve been tested on several occasions and have always been cleared for service.” Raze snapped back. “It was a totally harmless exercise, those tankies were at more risk of hurting themselves than you.”
“I don’t know if you noticed, but they were using real ammunition on us.” Lightning Dust sneered disbelievingly. She looked back for a moment at Rainbow dash and Thunderblitz for support.
“Their gunnery was intentionally inaccurate recruit, I’d like you to find a tank crew that couldn’t place shell within a metre of a pony-sized target at a range of under two hundred metres.” Raze explained, glaring at Lightning Dust like she was a piece of chewing gum she’d found clinging to her fetlocks.
“They still could’ve hit us.” Rainbow butted in, siding with Lightning Dust on the matter. They had, after all, shot at her as well.
“Only if you were dumb enough to go jam yourself down the barrel, cadet. They were ordered not to fire unless you were well clear.” Raze pointed out scathingly.
“And you couldn’t have told us this beforehand?” Lightning Dust demanded. She didn’t seem willing to admit that Raze was, in fact, right.
“That would’ve ruined the point of the exercise. Despite what you might think, I did not just throw a tank at you for my own enjoyment, but to pull your sorry behinds together. You worked well as a team today and that’s what we’re looking for here. If it takes a tank to make you pull your head in, cadet, then I will damn well throw tanks at you until you do so; are we clear?” Raze snarled, glaring the three ponies down.
“Crystal.” Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust grumbled in unison. They were surprised by the off-handed compliment from Raze but were still furious with the test she had put them through.
“Good, now get out of my sight.” Raze said, motioning them away with a dismissive wave of her wing. She gave them another quick look before marching off, her aide in tow.
“Well that went well...” Lightning Dust grumbled, rubbing her foreleg tenderly. She glared after Raze furiously before looking at Rainbow Dash out of the corner of her eye. “Suppose when you’ve got to deal with shit like that, it can’t hurt to have somepony else around to watch your back.”
“Provided you can trust them to do it.” Rainbow muttered back.
Lightning Dust looked offended. “Hey, what happened to trying not to be enemies?” She snapped irately.
“Oh right, of course. Completely forgot about that.” Rainbow drawled back sarcastically. Apparently Lightning Dust was still receptive to jabs at her character. She gave Lightning dust a small, slightly lopsided grin to show she was joking.
“IS that how this is going to work out, eh?” Lightning Dust jeered. “Look at us, insufferable but inseparable. I can tell it’s just going to happen.” She clicked her tongue and winked at Rainbow Dash overtly. “Catch ya around, buddy.”
Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but let out an amused scoff. She was just like her, but somehow managed to be even less subtle. Still, there had been a trace of sincerity in her voice so there was a chance Lightning Dust had begun to see some actual value in working as a team instead of gnashing their teeth at each other.
Maybe, Rainbow Dash thought, just maybe that had been the point of the exercise all along.

J-Tech had never been an easy task. Even on Earth, where the technology going into Jaegers was more developed and better understood, few could handle the stresses of both keeping the machines well looked after while spearheading research into improving their efficiency against the creatures which rose from the deep. It was now, only as Twilight almost literally waded through her reports and research, realised just how enormous a task she had taken on.
It hadn’t presented itself as so much an issue before, most of the tech that had gone into the Mk Is was simple, based on already existing technologies or painstakingly reverse-engineered from Midsummer Night or the wreckage of Brawler Yukon. Now though, she was required to innovate, not simply reproduce. The Mk. I’s were already starting to show deficiencies, deficiencies they had anticipated but had simply been unable to account for. The Mk. II’s and III’s couldn’t be developed using the same process, it was technology that was already starting to show its age in the fight against the Kaiju.
She was hardly alone, the entire J-Tech department along with assistance from external institutions, was focusing its efforts on R&D. A new generation of nuclear reactors was already under construction in labs deep in the Equestrian heartland. New, more efficient gears and transmissions, circuitry designs and motors were flooding in like a veritable tidal wave and she hardly found herself with a lack of enthusiastic volunteers ready to help bring the Mk. II program to life.
Things just seemed to be moving too quickly though. While Equestrian technology and science had dramatically benefited from the arrival of Midsummer Night, it was still woefully lacking in some areas. They had to develop too much in too little time. More often than not her team’s research simply hit a dead end, their current level of technology just wasn’t up to the challenge of pushing mostly theoretical ideas into reality so quickly. Simply put, the technology was either there but nopony quite knew how to use it, or they knew how to build it but lacked the means to do so.
This seemed to hold particularly true in the field of energy weapons. The Mk. II’s were originally planned to make great use of them but the idea had been quickly scrapped when the realisation had hit that they were woefully unprepared to use such advanced weaponry. She’d had Midsummer Night dragged back into the construction bays some weeks ago so she could properly examine the machine’s energy caster. The tiring foray had left her almost more confused as when she’d started. She understood the principles behind it, but the method still eluded her. The J-Tech’s first large scale energy weapon had ended up melting a ten metre hole in the side of the shatterdome, hardly a promising start after the small scale tests had worked well enough. The device, while functioning exactly as intended, had picked up a nasty side effect. Unless quickly discharged, the energy caster would continue to build charge until the weapon either melted to molten slag, or the power source ran dry.
The failure of the test had forced work to stall on the first Mk. II hull, instead being redirected to a much simpler experimental design, Twilight’s project team had devised as an interim solution. The new hull eschewed energy weapons in exchange for a system somewhat similar to Midsummer Night’s railgun. Although they had been unable to replicate the Jaegers weapons due to material limitations, the idea of using magnetic forces to propel an object at high velocities was simple enough. While comparatively crude, mock-ups of the weapon system were looking promising, especially in the area of cracking open armour. It was though, incredibly energy intensive, and Twilight could finally understand on a practical level why similar designs hadn’t been encountered on other human Jaegers.
Twilight flipped over a page in her report tiredly, she hadn’t slept properly for over a week and she was reaching the edge of her limits. She laid her head down on her smooth desk, enjoying the cool touch of the wood against her pounding head. She resisted the urge to fall asleep, she still had far too much work to do that. Maybe another trip to the recaf machine was in order.
A paper clip strolled past her face, whistling absently.
Twilight ignored it, dismissing it as a trick of her tired brain. Her mind pondered the strange occurrence for a moment before dismissing it as preposterous, paperclips couldn’t whistle.
Another paperclip walked past cheerfully, balancing a two thousand page report on its upper edge.
“What.” Twilight said flatly, lifting her head off the desk to discover that her once tidy tray of paperclips had suddenly sprung to life. A small army of the small metal shapes marched across her desk, picking up small crumbs of food and rearranging pages of paper into odd shapes.
Twilight shook her head, wondering if the lack of sleep was the cause of the paper clip's sudden sentience. She levitated one up to eye level, alarmed to see the small strip of metal trying to squirm away like a worm.
“What the..?” She managed before an ear-splitting crack rang around her office, scattering the towering stacks of paper stacked across her desk like they were caught in a storm.
“DISCORD!” Twilight bellowed furiously as the serpentine spirit uncurled himself like a sleeping cat. He looked at her innocently and yawned widely.
“Did I do that? Sorry.” He said without a trace of sincerity. The spirit looked down at his metal army, rewarding them with a small wave.
The paperclips cheered.
“Discord. What. Are. You. Doing. Here?” Twilight fumed, her face starting to twitch as the monolithic amount of effort it would take to reorganising her office dawned on her.
“I couldn’t help but notice one of my dear friends was having trouble so I thought I should help. Isn’t that what friends do?” Discord hummed harmlessly, twirling a finger and making a score of paper sheets fold into paper planes. The constructions hovered uncertainly in place for a moment before whizzing around the room like startled pigeons.
“Discord, I have several reports to finalise, the construction of two Jaegers to supervise and now an army of paperclips ruining my office; I do not have time for you!”  Twilight smouldered, grabbing a paper plane out of the air and snapping it like a twig with a flicker of magic. The tattered remains of the craft fluttered down to the floor where they flapped feebly.
“But of course.” Discord proclaimed, vanishing and reappearing behind Twilight with another loud snap. He flicked his claw again and the paper scattered around the office flashed back into place across Twilight’s desk. He fished a few sheets out and examined them, a pair of ornate spectacles appearing across the bridge of his nose as he did so.
“I don’t see what the problem is.” He announced a few moments later.
“That’s because those don’t have any problems on them.” Twilight snapped, snatching the sheets out of Discord’s claw and placing them back on their respective piles.
“My, my… watch your temper me little princess.” Discord chided sweetly, cradling his chin between his arms.
“You are not helping!” Twilight growled dangerously, her eye twitching slightly.
“Then allow me to.” Discord offered, bowing lowly before teleporting in front of Twilight’s desk again.
Twilight glared at him suspiciously, this had to be some sort of joke. “You wouldn’t understand.” She grumbled, wondering if she could somehow turn Discord into a pot plant, petunias were particularly nice.
Discord looked offended. “Wouldn’t I? I’ll have you know I graduated top of my class.”
“Of one?” Twilight asked dryly, rubbing her forehead with a hoof slowly. She was loathe to admit that Discord’s interruption was serving a welcome distraction for her work, not to mention the first real social interaction she’d had for a few days. She turned down several meetings with Applejack recently on account of her work and she saw no end in sight, at least until the Mk. II Jaegers were running smoothly.
“As always, you seem to underestimate me, Twilight.” Discord chided, filing away at one of his claws absently.
Twilight played along and made a beckoning gesture to Discord. “As always, please educate me then.” She said, her words dropping with frustration.
“You haven’t told me what the problem is yet.” Discord pouted.
Twilight’s face adopted a look of defeated annoyance. Discord was clearly playing with her now. The alicorn took a steadying breath, holding back her temper with some difficulty.
“We are building an energy weapon, we call it a shock projector.” Twilight explained quietly. “Currently, for reasons that I cannot wrap my head around, it refuses to power down once it has started drawing a charge. While it is a problem we could probably fix with time, time is not something we have a great abundance of at the moment.”
Discord’s lips curled into a thin smile. “I’m sorry princess, time is not something I can just give out willy-nilly.”
“Please, tell me something I don’t know.” Twilight snapped crossly, zapping a paper clip that was trying to run off with her latest staff memo. The small piece of metal twitched for a moment before crawling off feebly.
“The sky is green and eating bananas make mosquitos bite you.” Discord hummed, curling his tail up around and offering Twilight a ripe yellow fruit. When she refused he peeled the skin away before chomping thoughtfully. “Maybe this isn’t as much of a problem as you think, I’m sure whichever pony you put in that metal box will be responsible enough to be careful with it.”
Twilight crossed her forehooves crossly. “Accidents happen.” She said flatly. She tossed a glance at the wall which hid Frontier Justice from view, while the machine and its pilots had long recovered from their fall, the incident was still fresh in her mind. She’d followed the incident up thoroughly and had passed along her disciplinary recommendations for the guilty parties to the marshals, measures that she personally thought were lenient considering the potential catastrophe that had narrowly been averted. She was hardly in the mood for a similar incident to occur, especially if it happened because of her own negligence.
“Everything is an accident just waiting to happen. You can only prepare yourself so much, I should know.” Discord explained. “Sometimes I think you worry too much princess, sometimes I think you just need to let it go. Quite a popular phrase I hear.”
Twilight felt like boiling over. “Let it go? Just, let it go? You think I should install something dangerous in one of the Jaegers and just let it go?” She snapped.
“It was just a suggestion, I’m sure you can think of something.” Discord purred. He vanished with a crack of light and reappeared behind Twilight again. “Or maybe not.” He ran a claw around the heavy bags under Twilight’s eyes and tutted quietly.
“Discord…” Twilight growled dangerously.
The serpentine creature ignored her, snapping his claws and making a set of blueprints appear. He unrolled them, revealing the detail for the new Jaeger hull that Twilight was fretting over.
“Where did you get that?” Twilight asked, slightly outraged that Discord had gone through her office.
“Magic.” Discord snorted quietly, running a claw gently down the large blueprint. “Very impressive Twilight, very impressive indeed. What will you call it?” He inquired.
Twilight looked at him blankly, her mouth slightly open as if between taking a mouthful of hay.
“Hmm, it’s wild and dangerous you say. Wild, like the Everfree Forest. I made a summer home there, I should know.” Discord chuckled quietly. He seemed to think for a moment before swiping his paw across the top of the blueprint. “Everfree Bandit. I think that’s a good name, has a nice ring to it”
Twilight peered at the sheet, the two words but been printed magically along the top as if they had on the original. “I could think of worse.” She said, unwilling to admit she quite liked the name Discord had suggested.
The spirit nodded. “I’m sure Pinkie will love it.”
Twilight took a moment to register what Discord had said. “Pinkie? What’s Pinkie got to do-.” She cut herself off, noticing that Discord had simply vanished as he were made of fog. She stared at the wall where he had just been in silent confusion for a few minutes before shaking her head wearily.
“Discord…” She muttered, succinctly summing up her thoughts on the chaotic spirit.