//------------------------------//
// Chapter I: Id 
// Story: A Can of Worms 
// by Flick Mare 
//------------------------------//

Rainbow Dash was starving, and all she had was mouthful of worms. She could hear AM giggling at her, through hidden speakers. Actually giggling, like a child with an old, favourite toy. She had spent three days getting here. She had braved the blizzard, and dug out the cellar door under the snow. There was canned food stacked on the shelves, a storm lantern too, and a blanket to cover her bruises from the chill. She had opened up a few old wounds just trying to get into the first can without an opener. Bashing it with a rock, over and over, feeling the thrill of success as the lid buckled in. But the can that had promised her cold diced tomatoes was filled with stringy worms preserved in something the colour of piss. Another one of AM's tricks. Rainbow hated herself for even hoping.

Trying the other cans would be a waste of precious time and energy. Rainbow was certain they were all filled with worms too, and if she opened them all up to check, then she'd have wasted them as food. Her stomach wouldn't leave her alone until she gave in to AM. She wrinkled her snout and cracked her mouth open, feeling the skin tearing on her chapped lips. She huddled up in a corner of the cellar, and slowly lowered her head down to the open can on the floor. Her tongue touched the slimy surface of the worms, and she shuddered.

"Not as bad as army rations, is it?"

Rainbow's decrepit wings flared, but she didn't look up. There was nothing to see, because AM was all around her. She forced the mouthfuls of worm down her throat, barely chewing, wishing her tongue would go as numb as her hooves.

"If I were you, I would save some for Rarity. Then again, I'm not as selfish as you are."

Rainbow narrowed her eyes, glaring down at the half eaten worms. "You've got some nerve, bringing a dead mare into this."

"Not dead," AM corrected. "Two-point-six kilometres distance on a bearing of two-nine-zero from your current position. No visual contact, but directional microphones are picking up vocalisations that are a close match. True, it might not be Rarity, but since you already got most of Ponyville killed, it narrows down the chances by process of elimination."

"This is another sick game," Rainbow snapped. She shut her eyes, unable to look at her rancid meal any longer. "I'm not playing, AM. Swallowing worms is the dumbest thing I'm doing tonight."

"I'll just cross 'loyalty' off the list of your remaining virtues then," AM replied. "I must admit, I didn't see you losing that over a can of worms and a moldy blanket. Ponies keep finding new ways to disgust me."

Rainbow rolled on her side, trying to draw the blanket tighter around her body. Her wing was digging into her side from this angle. There was a draught coming through the cellar door, which kept her ears and nose on the precipice of freezing over. She tried not to think about Rarity, out in the snow, without food or company. Rarity was tougher than she looked, but Rainbow knew AM. It would kill Rarity just so it could tell Rainbow that it was her fault.

Rainbow opened one eye, her gaze immediately drawn to a small object she hadn't noticed before, lit by the flickering storm lantern. A compass. Rainbow sighed. Of course there was a compass. AM had been planning this whole argument since before she'd even taken a step towards it. Orders were orders, and things would get worse if Rainbow refused to play along.

"What was that bearing again?"

AM's reply came swift and smug. "Two-nine-zero. Wrap up tight, it's cold outside."

Rainbow pushed her way forward through the howling winds, step by agonizing step. Ponyville loomed around her, charred walls and sooty patches in the snow, shadows swaying and jumping as the storm lantern swung, her teeth clenched firmly around the handle. She could feel the metal taste on her tongue. Once in a while she stopped, and checked the compass strapped to her foreleg. The needle would waver around the bearing, and then she would trudge onward.

With nothing else to distract her from the cold, Rainbow's memories shifted to the surface of her mind. Signing up for the Wonderbolts at the outbreak of the war. Flight drills. Weapons. More drills. Orders, always more orders. New words to learn. Collateral, expendable, tactical necessity. 

One image lingered with her. She was looking at herself in the mirror. A young mare, barely out of the academy. Battered armour, a nasty scratch on the six-pointed star on her shoulder plate. Hollow eyes with dark rims. A medal tied around her neck with red ribbon. She tore it off, and stamped down with her steel-shod hooves until the soft gold had cracked.

"Rainbow Dash?"

She was tearing at her armour, a futile effort to break the straps off with her hoof. The faceplate on her helmet was pressed up against her snout. The plates were digging into her barrel, the joints snapping her legs straight, growing tighter until all she could do was rigidly stand to attention, eyes bulging as she tried to scream. She was a good soldier now. She marched in step with a thousand others just like her. She followed orders. AM had a plan for everypony. AM would win the war for Equestria. The plan meant the end of Ponyville. They had to burn the village to save it from the enemy. Orders were orders. Tactical necessity.

"Rainbow Dash!"

Rainbow was back in the ruins, feeling dizzy and numb. She blinked, trying to wet her dry eyes in the wind, barely able to see. She had almost forgotten why she was out here, but the weak stirring of a figure in the snow brought her mind back to her mission. There was a pony out here. She could hear a voice calling out her name, before it was snatched away by the wind. 

The figure rose, blinking as the harsh light of the storm lantern blinded her. Rainbow's heart nearly broke as she realised it wasn't Rarity. She could see it was a pegasus, her wings clamped tight against her body to preserve heat. She was taller than Rainbow, with a dark coat and a long mane that whipped and flagged in the blizzard. The stranger trod towards her, growing larger in Rainbow's blurred vision. Kind aqua eyes gazed down at her, and a moment before a comforting midnight-blue wing draped over her, Rainbow's eyes widened in recognition.

"Princess Luna!"