//------------------------------//
// The Rising 
// Story: The Ghost Of You 
// by MadMan 
//------------------------------//

Twilight stood still as she surveyed the scene around her. The scent in the air made her stomache writhe, but she had long since vomited everything but the last vestiges of bile. Her throat still burned and eyes watered, but she couldn't move yet. 

She couldn't do anything except look. 

Look around. 

Look at the devastation wrought in just a few hours. 

Twilight had read plenty of history books. Books about wars, great wars, fought by armies that faded beyond vision across the horizon. Some had gone into great detail the gruesome aftermath, but even Twilight's vivid imagination hadn't been able to comprehend, very much predict, the ugly truth of a real battle. She had even been in Salam during the Imperial Griffon Army's occupation, but nothing there or in the attack that catalyzed her departure had been remotely this disgusting. 

The main thing that amazed her was the quantities of blood. It was everywhere. Barely a single patch of ground had been unsullied. It seeped and stank the entire field. It seemed every single blade of grass had been stained and had turned, instead of red, a nasty shade of rotten brown. The bare dirt had simply turned a darker brown, but stuck to her hooves like the thickest of mud. Twilight hoped the smell would wash away with the dirt, but she doubted it. Nothing this horrid would be easy to get rid of. 

"Chin up."

Twilight's dark ruminations were forcibly broken. Looking to her right, she noticed one of the battlefield surgeons had walked up beside her. His deep red coat was stained with streaks of a brighter red, and his short grey mane was disheveled and dirty. He spoke slowly in a thick, rolling accent. 

"I've seen a few too many souls lost after the battle was long over. Your first, I take it? Yes, no doubt. Ugly, isn't it?"

The doctor took a few steps forward to cast his view over the carnage. He sighed, and turned to look Twilight in the eyes.

"I've lived long enough and traveled far enough to see my fair share of battlefields, and I'll tell you one thing now: Don't let it consume you. It might seem cold and callous, but you have to push it down. Dwell on it later, when the bodies are out of sight. When it's fresh and in front of you, that's when you're at most risk. The best remedy for such ugliness is something beautiful. Go find Luna. She needs you, and you her."

Twilight wanted to say something, anything. She almost said nothing and walked away, to take the advise, but something stopped her. Something about the way the doctor had mentioned Luna.

"How did you know Luna and I were close?"

The doctor smiled, grim and thin.

"Do you not recognize me? I guess I have aged. I am the doctor who treated you in the hospital, after your wings had been clipped."

Twilight gasped as she remembered the enigma who called himself a doctor.

"You!"

"Indeed, me."

"You look so different. Older, much older."

"I was already old when you met me. I just didn't look it. The past caught up to me, with a vengeance, I suppose."

The doctor had turned to walk away, but Twilight stepped in front of him.

"One more thing: Last we met, you gave me advice, and possessed knowledge you could not have possibly known. How? Why? And what did you mean?"

The doctor merely smiled again and turned to the side, beginning to walk away again.

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you, for I do not remember. Memory is a fickle beast, and likes to play games. Now farewell Twilight, there are injured to attend to."

Twilight considered chasing after the stallion and demanding more answers, but she stopped that line of thought. He was right, there were more important matters. Turning to face the opposite direction, Twilight spotted the command tents in the distance. Luna was most likely there. Twilight set off at a slow walk. Several times, she stopped to provide what assistance she could. More often than not, she had to use her hooves, as her magic was egregiously tired. She had exhausted herself in the battle. That thought caught Twilight while she was holding a bandage in place so it could be secured. No one could claim she hadn't given her all, as much as it is. 

Eventually, Twilight reached the tent. Shouldering her way through the small crowd of staff surrounding the tent, Twilight entered to find of a few within. Luna stood by the table with the map, pointing and issuing orders to a few officers nearby. When she noticed Twilight entered, Luna motioned her to come by her side. Once the orders were given and the tent emptied, Luna turned to Twilight with soft eyes.

"I am so glad to see you well. I wanted to come find you, but so much is going on at the moment."

Twilight said nothing, just gingerly rested her head on Luna's shoulder. A soft wing draped across her back, and Twilight wished more than anything she could respond in kind. As it was, she could simply stand there, resisting her tears. Her emotions threatened anarchy, but she quelled them with an iron hoof. 

Twilight would have been more than content to remain like that forever, but a subtle push from Luna straightened her up. A moment after, another officer walked on and began spouting reports. Pausing him with an upraised hoof, Luna looked down at Twilight.

"Go find the Black Berets. You are still their Commander. They should still be on the northern fringes, and I haven't yet gotten a report."

Twilight wanted to argue, to oppose leaving the tent, but Luna's eyes convinced her to go. There was still much that needed to be done. Twilight had to be strong for just a bit longer. Leaving the tent, Twilight put the rising sun to her right and set off. 

Progress to the northern side of the army took longer than it had for her to reach the command tent; casualties were heavy there. Twilight helped as she could, but she wasn't practiced in medicine, and there wasn't anything more to be done for far too many than a simply numbing spell. Easing their pain was the least she could do. After a time, Twilight spotted Tank's armour, still somehow shining in the sunlight. The Berets were all gathered in a tight group, heads lowered. Twilight sped up her walk.

As soon as she stepped to within the edges of the group, Twilight noticed what they had gathered around. Her gasp alerted them to her presence, and they respectfully cleared a path. In the center of the group, a body lie on the ground. It was one of the Berets, Rain. He was clearly dead. He was so covered in blood, it was nearly impossible to discern his pale blue coat. Looking up, Twilight recognized the faces as the same ones she had seen the day that Wildfire died. Sad, but dry and resigned. They knew the occupational hazards. 

Out of the group, Nightfury stepped forward. Looking down at Rain, he spoke. His voice wasn't shaking, but his dark blue eyes were moist.

"Tonight, we will raise a toast in his honor. Rain died nobly, as nobly as we could only aspire to. He and Wildfire will wait for us on the other side. For now, disperse. Help where you can. Soothe wounds, ease pain. Twilight, may I have a word?"

Twilight stepped forward as the rest of the group scattered among the carnage. Nightfury took one last look at Rain, then his eyes hardened as he met Twilight's gaze.

"Have you reported to Luna yet?"

"She asked me to come assess the Berets."

"One casualty, a few minor wounds."

"One too many."

"In pitched battle, luck weighs as much as skill, if not more. But to the point, I made a few observations about the enemy you might want to hear, maybe Luna will make more sense of it."

"Alright. What did you notice?"

"Well, simply put, the lack of magic the enemy had. They had no more than two or three dozen spellcasters, for over a thousand soldiers. That's far too few. They should have had at least two, maybe three hundred. Something's not right. As well, the magic that they used. Did you notice?"

Twilight thought back to the chaos of the battle. She had been far too concerned with making sure her shields were as strong as possible, protecting the unicorns around her as they doled out as much damage as they could. 

"Admittedly not. I was casting shields, I wasn't particularly concerned with much beyond that."

"They were all using strictly offensive magic, but only certain kinds. We only saw direct kinetic energy spells. No fire, no lightning, no earthquakes, no zero-point, and no protection of any kind. I believe that's part of the reason we won; we were able to kill through them a lot faster than they could kill us. We had barriers of all kinds, but they were vulnerable. Why? As well, the narrow discipline of spells utilized. Most unicorns use anything they can think of in battle, to better be unpredictable and disrupt the enemy. Magnetism, heat, you name it. As it was, we figured out what they were using pretty quickly, and after a time, dispelled our extraneous shields to strengthen the ones we needed. That would have been a perfect time to change it up, while we had a weakness, but they didn't, and it scares me. They are acting as though they wanted to lose here."

"Now that you mention it, you're right. I remember blocking mostly kinetic energy. I will relay your concerns to Luna. This might be important. I see your logic, and it is worrying."

"Thank you."

Twilight turned and walked away, eyes down but not seeing the ground. Nightfury's words had stirred her mind into action, attempting to make sense of the observations, but nothing came to mind. Another slow trip back to the tent, where Twilight found Luna amidst a throng of ponies. Not all seemed to be officers, but it seemed most of the brass was present. At some unseen prompt, the officers began yelling out numbers one by one, and it was a minute before Twilight realized they were tallying survivors.

"Thirty two."

"Twenty eight."

"Fourteen."

"One."

The voice was so soft Twilight almost didn't hear it.  She stretched her neck to see who had spoken, but the group was too closely pressed. A murmur passed through the crowd, but silenced as quickly as it started. More numbers were called out, and Twilight did the math in her head. The tally was done far too soon, and Luna finished scribbling on a piece of paper on the table. She cleared her throat and addressed the group at large. 

"One hundred and sixteen survivors, out of an army of three hundred and thirty. Nearly half are still alive, after a victory against an army nearly four times as large. That is far beyond expectations. This should be considered a crushing victory. This has shown us that Axion's forces might be numerous, but they favor quantity over quality, and we have shown them the error of their ways. Now, please, go see to your wounded and dead. Dismissed."

The crowd began to ease it's way out of the tent, and Twilight was finally able to approach Luna, who barely looked up from the documents she was writing.

"I have the report from the Black Berets."

"Good. Anything important?"

"One casualty, as well as some observations on the enemy force."

Luna looked up from her papers, sadness in her eyes.

"Yes, I heard. The lieutenant of the section they were in told me. Rain. They told me he died heroically."

"Nightfury said the same, but I never found out what happened."

"Apparently, the line in front of him fell, and he charged straight in to hold the line. By himself, he prevented them from dividing the northern quarter of our army from getting separated and surrounded. His courage rallied the soldiers around him. I wish I had a thousand more like him. You mentioned some observations?"

"Yes, Nightfury noted with some concern the lack of defensive magic in the enemy's force, as well as a very narrow field of offensive attacks, pretty much limited to direct kinetic spells."

"That has been reported from others, as well. I do not understand it. The fact they ignored all magical defense is the main reason we are still alive to discuss it. I sent a few doctors to find some of the enemy spellscasters, to see of they can discern anything from the remains."

Twilight's spine shivered at Luna's lack of emotion while discussing these morbid matters. The Princess had a sad expression, but it was muted. Luna had already turned back to her papers. Twilight suppressed the urge to feel slightly ignored, telling herself that Luna had too much on her mind. 

"You should go talk to Rarity."

"Rarity? Why, is she alright?"

"Physically, yes. Did you not hear what happened?"

"No, she was in the center, and I was with some other unicorns on the southern quarter."

Luna looked up from her papers for a moment to meet Twilight's eyes again, but this time, they weren't filled with sadness. The emotion was closer to worry, but it was hard for Twilight to tell.

"The enemy focused the majority of their attack on the center of our army, seeking to divide us in half. The Archers were in a single group in the middle, several lines back. At one point, the enemy put on a strong offensive and drove deep. They got closer to their goal than I would have liked, but in the end we stopped them. It was only later that I realized precisely how. They breached the first several lines of infantry, and were going for the Archers. Obviously, at a shorter range their ability becomes limited. The unicorns guarding the Archers were overcome by a concentrated barrage of magic, allowing the enemy to attack the Archers at head on. The entire unit was lost, even the officer and sergeant, who both insisted on fighting beside their soldiers. Rarity is the only survivor of the Archers."

Twilight's eyes widened as she abruptly understood the murmur that had passed through the assembled officers earlier.

"So she... The one..."

"Yes. According to others who were close enough to see, upon her unit being slaughtered around her, Rarity went berserk. A bloodrage, to use an old term. She killed many and caused enough disruption for more infantry to reinforce the position and reform the line. She spent the rest of the battle just behind the front lines, casting anything within reach to devastating effect. She was always such a kind and ladylike sort, I am very concerned for how she fared. I want you to go see to her, and make sure she is coping. After that, you should get some sleep. You look tired, and it's going to be a long night."

Twilight numbly nodded and left without a word. She was having a very hard time imagining Rarity in such a rage. Then again, she had proven incapable of imagining many things about war, it would seem.

A few questions later, Twilight found Rarity. A large amount of her white coat was stained red, and her typically stylish purple mane was roughed. A few small cuts were evident on her face, but overall the seamstress seemed physically unharmed. The blood must have come from elsewhere.  Rarity looked up and smiled at Twilight when she approached.

"Hello, Twilight."

Twilight started at Rarity's voice. It wasn't cold, or sad, or hoarse, or anything else Twilight had expected. Her words were perfectly even. Not quite as joyous or tremulous as normal, but not sounding like she had just survived a battle, either. It concerned Twilight even more.

"How are you?"

Rarity laughed at this, a delicate, slightly sarcastic laugh.

"Honestly, not as bad as I feared. Before the battle, I had several stallions come up to me and warn me about survivor's guilt and all, and it scared me witless. But now it's over, I don't feel any of it. The guilt, remorse, anything. I just think to myself, 'It was defense. They attacked me,' and that's all. I keep waiting on a delayed reaction, to end up shivering and sobbing in a corner, but it hasn't happened yet."

While Twilight was still attempting to formulate a response, Rarity to the ground beside her reached with her magic, lifting an object of metal and cloth into view. Turning it around, she examined it, then passed it to Twilight, who held it in her hooves. Close examination revealed it to be a backpiece of armour, the cloth being pouches designed to hang to the side, quivers for the spears the Archers used. Though it was bent as if hacked at repeatedly, the armour was clean of mud and blood. Rarity noticed Twilight's inquisitive looks.

"It was part of my sergeant's armour. I just finished cleaning it. Whispering Wind was his name. A very kind and soft-spoken stallion. He seemed too gentle and quiet, but he was a veteran of many years. At first, he just gave me some simple advice and tried to help me with the big spears, but not an inordinate amount. Then, after Luna made me the smaller projectile yesterday, he began to warm up to me. He realized I wasn't useless after all. He stood there all afternoon while I practiced with my little arrows, as he called them. We were going to do some more thorough testing today, seeing exactly what I was capable of with them. Obviously, things didn't work out. But I guess I do know what I am capable of now..."

Rarity took the armour back from Twilight and trailed off, holding the battered plate in front of her and staring at it with unblinking eyes.

"I know why you're here, Twilight. Someone sent you to make sure I wasn't going crazy. Admittedly, if you told me a month ago what would happen to me today, I would have told you I would have had a complete and irreparable breakdown. But somehow, I'm still sane. Odd, how things work out sometimes."

Twilight just sat beside her friend for a time, although she couldn't sit for long. Still so much to do, and she wanted to check on her other friends. 

"I need to go, Rarity. If you need anything at all, come find me, okay?"

Rarity smiled but didn't look away from the armour she was still holding.

"Alright, I will. I think the rest of the girls are all at our tent."

"Okay. See you later."

Twilight hadn't walked very far when Hawkeye approached her.

"Hey, Commander. Have you talked to Rarity?"

"Why, yes, just a minute ago. Why?"

"I heard of what she did. Thought I would come talk to her myself."

Understanding dawned on Twilight.

"Oh, of course. She seems alright, I suppose. I guess in a way that seems like it's not alright, but whatever."

A sudden surge of lethargy overcame Twilight and she realized all that had happened since last time she slept, more than a day ago. Twilight shook her head to regain her focus and smiled at Hawkeye, who returned the smile, albeit with a hint of concern.

"Commander, you look tired. Go get some rest, if you can. Remember, you can relegate errands to us. We're your squad, after all."

"That's okay, I was just going to check on some of my friends."

"The other Elements of Harmony? I heard they were all safe when I was trying to find Rarity. Other than that, I don't know. They'll still be safe in a few hours, you look like you're about to pass out right here in the mud. You should at least think about taking a nap."

"Heard and understood. Rarity is just around the corner there, behind that blue tent."

"Thanks."

Hawkeye turned and walked in the indicated direction. Twilight turned and began to walk to her friends' tent, but took only a few steps and tripped over her own hooves. Sighing as she lifted herself out of the mud, Twilight decided that Hawkeye was right, and she needed some sleep. No matter how horrifying the battle and the aftermath was, Twilight was pretty sure she could pass into a dreamless sleep immediately. She carefully picked her way through the camp, which was filling up as more of the injured made their way to their tents, or at least into camp. After what seemed far too long, Twilight caught sight of the black with gold trim tent that was the Black Beret's. She had decided to bunk with them when the camp was being set up, as she was their Commander. Besides, there were only two places Twilight felt safe these days: Surrounded by eighteen of the biggest and most dangerous ponies in Equestria, and with Luna, and the Princess was quite busy at the moment.

Twilight smiled and nodded to Frostbite, who stood by the entrance of the tent. He had already cleaned himself, so in the morning sun his white coat and mane made him look like a marble statue when he stood still. Twilight made a mental note to take a bath or at least pour some water on herself when she woke up. She had managed to stay fairly clean, as she hadn't been close to the front lines, but she had accumulated her fair share of filth helping out afterwards. 

Crawling into the nearest empty bedroll, Twilight had only to close her eyes and allow her mind to surrender to darkness.