The Friendship Battalion moved forwards, covering the land like a patch of rainbow Poison Joke. On the front, Twilight walked with a number of unicorns, Equestrian standards raised over there heads. Behind them, Applejack marched with a squad of Earth ponies while Pinkie hopped alongside them with her own team, light weapons trailing behind them. Rarity took up the rear, carefully watching the surrounding areas with her own hoof-picked battle-mates. Above them, Rainbow Dash flew with the pegasi, trying to keep together while directly behind them, the airship hovered steadily along, Fluttershy with the medics, aids and supplies safely inside.
After giving a few last-minute objectives to Dynamo Shot at the border base, Twilight and her company left the edge of their homeland and made their way towards a line of cliffs ringing the battlefield, where they were to find the rest of the Equestrian military. Now, with their destination in sight, they all began to wonder exactly what awaited them on the battlefield.
"I haven't been in too many battles," admitted a unicorn guard from Canterlot. "I was in the changeling invasion, but I was taken out good and quick. You though, you and the other Bearers battered them left and right. You were amazing."
"Thank you," Twilight replied. "I'm glad you're here. You must know quite a bit about combat."
"Just enough to know how not to die," he said.
Rainbow Dash flew down from her formation. "Cliffs are right up ahead, Twi."
"Great. Let's get right on over and see who's there." She turned around to her friends and troops. "Attention, everypony! We'll be picking up the pace a bit so we can get to the base a little earlier. Let's trot!"
The ponies cheered and put on a burst of speed to comply with Twilight's wishes. Grateful for her longer legs, Twilight sped alongside her companions. One of the stallions allowed Rarity onto his back so that she could stay with them, as she had been falling behind. Applejack and Pinkie had no trouble keeping up. Rainbow Dash flew to the front of her squad and led them forward, Fluttershy and her crew aboard the airship close behind.
Within minutes, the ponies had their first glimpse of the cliff base. It was built into a huge wall of rock with small holes pockmarking it. Upon the stone face of the cliff they could see colorful specks: ponies who were on guard duty.
"All right, troops!" Twilight called. "We're almost there. Just a bit further and—"
BOOM!!!!
An earthshaking crash cut off her words. A pillar of fire exploded in front of the Friendship Battalion, spitting rocks and debris everywhere. Twilight opened her wings and flapped them in an attempt to blow the fire away from her troops. Rainbow Dash and a number of her pegasi flew in and, with a few spins, killed the fire.
But by then it was too late. From over the nearby hills, huge metal machines rolled into view, bearing long cannons on their tops. Ponies in tattered outfits mounted these machines. One pointed at the Battalion and yelled, "Let's get 'em!"
At once, there were five loud bangs and five large projectiles flew out of the cannons towards Twilight and the others. Twilight quickly lit her horn and threw up a shield, deflecting one of the projectiles. Further along, the other unicorns were doing the same, employing force-fields to protect their comrades.
More bangs issued from the vehicles and more heavy projectiles battered their shields, but the rain of metal didn't cease. From her rear position, Rarity saw wild-looking ponies clamber over the hills beside the machines, all of them waving around long poles, not at all like spears. These they stuck into the ground and aimed at the Battalion. The enemy ponies pulled on their strange weapons and small metal shells came flying at Rarity and her team.
"Out of the way!" the stallion carrying Rarity shouted, flinging her off with a jerk of his back. He quickly conjured a force-field that blocked the bullets, all except one which pierced the shield and sank into his chest. The stallion cringed but held his position.
Rarity was horrified. Seeing the soldier take the blow for her was painful to watch. Glowering, she hoisted a spear from one of Applejack's weapon carts and hurled it at the enemy. The spear hit one of the miniature hoof-held cannons, causing it to shatter in the enemy pony's face. Pulling the spear back on a magic chain, Rarity quickly called on her team to assist her. The unicorns lobbed spears with magical links so that they could reel them back, and the earth ponies threw rocks so as not to waste any weapons.
Up above, Rainbow Dash was encountering similar problems. Enemy pegasi had flown out of the clouds towards them, their backs laden with odd metal barrels full of holes. Rainbow had dismissed these barrels as a problem for her airborne team, until tiny shards of tapered steel came flying out of the barrels towards her.
"Move, Rainbow!" somepony shouted and Rainbow Dash was pushed aside. The bullets whizzed past her, instead piercing the left wing of the mare who had just pushed her out of harm's way. The wounded pegasus smiled at Dash sadly, then closed her eyes and plummeted.
"Oh, no you don't!" Rainbow muttered, zooming after the falling pony. She quickly caught up and scooped up the mare. It was then that Rainbow Dash recognized the pony: it was Abby Gale, one of her friend from the Wonderbolts Academy.
Enraged by the wounds inflicted upon her ally, Rainbow Dash smashed into the offending pony, knocking him out and out of the air, then sped off the save her companion. She took her straight to the airship so that the medics could get to work immediately. "They're shooting us down like weeds!" Rainbow yelped. "We need assistance."
"We'll get to work right away," one of the medics said. "You should get back to your team."
Nodding, Rainbow Dash turned towards the helm. "Fluttershy, we'll need your help fighting these guys. You're in control of the airship. Shoot 'em down!"
Fluttershy looked frightened. "Sh-sh-shoot them?" she stuttered. "I don't know if I could do that..."
"Listen." Rainbow Dash pointed at the injured pegasus. "Abby was just hurt by these guys. They're not your friends. They're not like Discord. They can't change. All they want is to destroy harmony and ruin peace. You've got to fight them, Fluttershy."
The yellow pegasus gulped. "I'll.... I'll try."
Rainbow nodded. "Good. now if you'll excuse me, I've got a fray to reenter. Good luck!" She leapt out of the airship opening and back into the battle. Tides were turning back and forth between the Friendship Battalion and the terrorist ponies. Twilight and the other unicorns had managed to destroy one of the enemy machines and were now pummeling another from behind their shields. As Rainbow Dash rejoined her flying squad, a loud call echoed across the plain: the undeniable roar of a dragon.
Turning her head, Rainbow bared witness to a most amazing sight. The cliff began to split open like a cracked walnut, a jagged line appearing in the solid rock. Like a sliding door, two sections of the cliff pulled apart, revealing a huge cavern inside, taken up mostly by a huge red dragon. When Dash looked at it a second time, she realized that it was the same dragon who had taken a nap on the mountain just outside of Ponyville, the one who Fluttershy had convinced to get up and sleep elsewhere.
The red dragon emerged from the cliff, running towards the battle at a frightening pace. On its back, several ponies were clinging to its scales like bronco riders trying to stay on. Rainbow Dash hurried down to Twilight. "Reinforcements are on their way!" she reported.
"Huh?" Twilight turned her head and when she saw the approaching dragon, a smile crossed her face as she became sure of their victory. No amount of firepower could stop a rampaging dragon.
The enemy had noticed the reptile too. "Incoming!" one of the terrorists yelled. He turned his cannon towards the dragon and fired, but the projectile missed by several feet, blowing a crater in the ground. The dragon, further enraged by the attempt to pacify it, leapt into the air and crashed down on top of the machine, flattening it like a metal pancake. The other enemy vehicles turned and fired as well, but the dragon wove like a shuttle on a loom, clawing and blasting fire at the invaders until there was only one remaining. The single terrorist pony was galloping as fast as he could away from the almost-ended battle, but a pegaus on the dragon's back gave the cloud she was holding a swift and well-aimed kick, causing the cloud to produce a bolt of lightning which struck the escaping pony in the back, knocking him to the ground.
Twilight and the other unicorns dismissed their shields ad cheered with everypony else. The Friendship Battalion had succeeded in their first battle, even if they had some help. One stallion jumped off the dragon's back and walked towards Twilight. "You're the reinforcements from the camp, aren't you?"
"That's us."
"Thanks for coming." The stallion looked back at the dragon. "Okay Braith, we're done here!"
The dragon grinned a fanged smile, nodded, and turned around to reenter the cliff. By the time the stone walls had closed behind him, the rest of the Friendship Battalion had gathered around Twilight and the stallion. "We've been waiting for you," the stallion went on. "The war grows more fierce with every passing day. The enemy's weaponry is like nothing I've ever seen before."
"It's beyond anything the Equestrian Technology department has ever done," a grey unicorn with a green-and-black mane added. "We've given them what little of the weapons and ammunition we could pick up from the fray to them in hopes of increasing knowledge of our foes."
"Thankfully, dragons are far better than any destructive machines they've cooked up," the stallion said gratefully. "Come, Princess. Bring your battalion inside and we'll bring you up to speed on the war."
"That's a good idea," Twilight agreed. She turned around and called to her comrades. "Friendship Battalion, forward!"
The ponies, their carts and the airship all moved towards the cliff. As they drew closer, dark spots appeared on the rock. These were the disguised entrances the Equestrian Army used to get in and out of their hidden base. The Friendship Battalion entered through a number of small tunnels while the large opening the dragon had used opened to accept the airship.
Twilight and the other Element Bearers followed the stallion along a dark tunnel lit with various types of lamps, from fireflies in jars to wooden torches to modern solar lanterns. The end of the tunnel opened up in a huge chamber dug out inside the cliff. Forges were set up and ponies were busy working at them, smithing and repairing swords, spears, shields and armor. Fletchers worked beside the forge-ponies, mending arrows and carving shafts for more. The red dragon was curled up in a corner of the chamber, being attended to by several ponies. The base was like a beehive, with ponies bustling about doing everything imaginable.
"My goodness," Rarity exclaimed. "There are so many."
"Are they all fighters?" Applejack asked the stallion.
"The Equestrian Army called in everypony available," he explained. "Even residents who aren't ponies but served in the past were brought in. The Princesses and the dragons reinstated an old alliance from a past war, eliminating any controversy concerning their inclusion."
"You must go through a lot of food," Pinkie speculated.
The stallion lowered his head. "More than we had available. We've been asking the natives for supplies, ponies who prefer a quiet life to living in a society, and they generously offer what they have, only asking us to end this war."
"There are ponies out there in the crossfire?" Fluttershy blubbered, shaking from the thought.
"Our enemy doesn't care about who or what they harm," Twilight snarled in realization, her anger causing sparks to fly from her horn. "They intend to use whatever they have to cause as much destruction as possible."
"That's awful," Rainbow Dash muttered earnestly.
"More than you know it, dweebs," a voice said from behind them.
The Bearers of Harmony all swung around to find the speaker. It was none other than Rainbow's old Junior Speedster Flight Camp friend, Gilda the griffon. She looked much more worn than the last time the ponies had seen her, even for a griffon. She wore a red bandana around her feathery head and her lion's tail tuft was partly gone.
"I gotta say, it's gratifying to see some familiar faces," Gilda announced.
"Gilda!" Pinkie and Rainbow Dash yelled together. The two mares exchanged looks, but shook off their surprise. "What are you doing here, Gilda?" Rainbow inquired.
The griffon shrugged. "Saving Equestria. What else?" Then she turned to the stallion. "General Mandate, Braith was injured in that last skirmish. He'll need a whole night's rest before he's fit to fight."
"Faust, damn it," the stallion hissed, clopping the floor violently. "We were going to attack their base tonight. Braith was an integral part of the plan. Now we need to delay it."
"Why's that so bad?" Rainbow asked, gesturing to the military ponies around them. "Putting the attack off sounds like a good idea. These ponies could use some rest."
Gilda and the general gave each other sad looks. "Come with us," the General insisted. He walked towards another tunnel with Gilda at his side.
Confused and curious, the six friends followed after them. This tunnel was shorter than the last and led to a brightly lit cavern. Scattered across the floor were pieces of furniture, and lying on each sofa, bed or mattress was a pony or a griffon. They all bore a variety of wounds and injuries, ranging from cuts to broken limbs to mental pains that left them groaning aimlessly. Several healthy ponies trotted back and forth between the patients, checking on them or tending to their wounds.
"This is why we can't delay," General Mandate informed, waving a hoof at the injured creatures. "With each passing hour, more soldiers are hurt and we lose valuable griffon-dragon-horsepower. There may not be many terrorists, but they haven't a care in the world what happens to them."
Upon seeing the underground hospital wing, the Element Bearers fell apart. The mostly-peaceful life they knew so well seemed like a fanciful dream when ponies and griffons were out here fighting for Equestria and the safety of all its citizens. Twilight stopped beside an earth pony with two broken legs. "What happened to you?" she asked the prostrate mare.
"Explosion," the pony gasped, her voice hoarse. "Was galloping with my platoon... Got over the hill, the terrorists right below us.... I charged them, up on my hind legs, waving my spear like a madpony.... Then I hit it: a detonating cap. They were planted everywhere... The enemy saw what happened. One of them jeered, called the device a 'mine'...." The mare rolled over and looked Twilight in the eye. "Be careful where you step out there, Princess Twilight. If those ponies aren't stopped soon...." Her voice drifted off.
"Hey, don't worry about it," Twilight insisted, putting a gentle hoof on the pony's chest. "I won't abandon Equestria to these monsters. I'll fight them with everything I've got. You rest up now. You've served our country well."
The earth pony nodded and closed her eyes. General Mandate stepped over. "Come, Princess. There is one more thing you must see."
Twilight took one more look at the wounded pony, then followed the general down another short tunnel. This one ended in a smaller chamber, but its contents were more horrifying than even the emergency room she'd just been in. This room was littered with crystal blocks, and lying on top of these slabs of mineral were bodies: ponies, griffons, even dragons. They lay side by side, their arms crossed over their chests and their eyes closed.
Her friends milled about cautiously, looking at the still forms with unimaginable regret. Twilight joined Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy by the body of an orange dragon. Fluttershy looked up, her eyes filled with tears.
"Dead," she whispered, sobbing into her hooves. "Every one of them...... a casualty of this war."
Gilda walked over, her claws clacking against the stone floor. "Every day, more of us succumb to the war. Some were shot down by enemy fire, others were blown out of their home territory, be it earth or sky." The griffon looked down at the ever-sleeping dragon. "Even the most rugged of us has a chance to fall in battle."
Mandate tapped the ground and the six ponies walked up to him. Nopony was smiling. No eyes were dry. Misery was all they felt. Even Pinkie Pie had deflated upon entering the room of the dead. Without a word, the general led the ponies and Gilda out of the deceased chamber, passed the emergency room and back into the main chamber. From there, he took them through another tunnel lined with doors, the sleeping quarters for whoever absolutely needed it, and all the way to a medium-sized cave with a large table dominating the center.
The war council room.