My Little Pony: Northern Aggression

by A. Tuesday


2.1 Iron(clad) Will

ACT II:
SPRINGTIME IN AMERICA

“Has Rainbow Dash come back?”
“I haven’t seen our reconnaissance since she left.”
Twilight took on an expression of concern. Dash was the fastest flyer she knew, even in the air of this place called Virginia. She left a half-hour ago – there’s no way she should be taking this long.
Twilight didn’t want to ask, but she felt the need to question the officer at the entrance to the tent. “You…you don’t think…she’s been captured by the Confederacy, do you?”
Lieutenant John Worden turned back to the purple mare. “I’m trying to remain hopeful. I honestly doubt it, though. I’ve seen your friend fly – she’s too fast for those Dixies.”
The unicorn looked back to her desk. It was humid, even for March – maybe that’s because they were close to the river, but she wasn’t sure. All she knew was that is was hot in this tent.
She stared intently at the map – she’d had Norfolk mapped out, and analyzed the entirety of Hampton Roads and its tributaries. Twilight knew how this battle would play out probably better than any other of the Union officers – so, Worden’s next question was to be expected.
“Miz Sparkle, we’re going to have to depart from the banks in minutes. If your friend doesn’t return by then with the location of the Virginia, we’re going to have to go with what we know – more specifically, what you know.”
She took a deep breath. The mare had become a little more involved than she’d hoped.
In the past nine-or-so months, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash had become legendary. They were ponies – ponies – from an entire other world, and were exceptional in combat.
Rainbow Dash was the Union’s secret weapon – aerial combat. She flew faster than anything else, was basically the only thing that ever flew except for explosives and artillery, and was expert surveillance. The pegasus also knew her way around grenades, and frequented them in many battles.
Applejack was artillery, and damn good at it. Able to handle the cannon, aim it appropriately, and at the right spots; AJ was a force to be reckoned with. Even the Confederates knew this – rumor has it a nickname had actually been coined for the orange pony: though, what it was, Twilight hadn’t the faintest idea.
And of course, there was Twilight. While she never actually participated in battle, she memorized the maps and read up on war strategies of the past – she would be an excellent commander, if she ever chose to step out into battle. She only did once, way back at what the North was beginning to call “The Battle of Bull Run” – she ran into the combat zone to save her friend. An act of bravery even the president himself commended.
Today was no different. Twilight had no plans whatsoever to go into battle. But, contrary to her wishes, the Union wanted her – needed her – to board the Monitor and give the crew all her statistics on where she thought the Confederate ironclad would be, and how this battle would play out.
The mare took a deep breath. “I guess that means I’ve got to board, right?”
Worden nodded solemnly. “Let’s get a move on, we’re about to leave.”
Twilight stood up. She’d been able to avoid the majority of the war for now, by giving some plans for action and staying in her tent, practicing some magic to see if she could actually get home. No such luck so far with the latter, for the most part the exact opposite with the former. ‘Til today, of course.
It had been a strange change-up. Under the discretion of president Abraham Lincoln (whom Twilight had only met once, almost a year ago in Earth-time, and had been directed by a lot), the three mares from a world afar had been moved from the Army of the Potomac to a small regiment working with new, experimental ironclad warships. He had figured if anyone could use the power of the newly-official “1st Magical Calvary”, it was them.
Worden held open the flap for Twilight, and she slowly walked out of the officer’s tent. She would’ve been a spectacle for all her friends in Equestria – dressed in typical Union paraphernalia, complete with golden buttons on her cap. The uniform itself was adjusted to fit the needs of a pony – but only the top half of course.
The first thing the scholarly pony noticed was the warship. The USS Monitor was docked right next to a ramshackle wooden pier, and didn’t look so much like a boat, as cheese on a raft. Either half of it was underwater, or it was incredibly thin.
With butterflies in her stomach, she walked towards the ironclad, synchronized in step with Commander Worden, and stepped on the rickety dock. The creak that resulted didn’t scare her too much – it was the orange earth pony that just appeared out of the hatch.
“Hiya Twilight!” yelled Applejack.
“AH!” exclaimed Twilight, as she almost fell backwards. Regaining her composure, she noticed who it was. “Oh, hey AJ.”
“Gettin’ on board with us, are ya, then?”
Worden answered for Twilight. “Yes, she is. Our scout, unfortunately, hasn’t returned yet, and Twilight here knows the area and the war strategies the best. Is our vessel ready?”
A loud rumble was heard from beneath the boat. Applejack nodded cheerfully. “Yup. We’re a-okay over here. You two best get in the boat, or y’all are gonna miss the show!”
“You first, Miz Sparkle.” Worden gestured with his hand to the hatch.
Twilight took a deep breath. Here goes my official entry. Into a war. One that isn't even mine to fight.
She took one step aboard the Monitor, and a blinding flash of color came down from the air, and knocked Twilight flat on her stomach on the top of the ship.
“Whoops! Sorry, Twi!”
The voice of her prismatic tomboyish friend aroused her from her dizzy state. “Oh…hey,” she somehow managed, “Rainbow…”
“I got the stats,” she retorted happily, and reached a pegasus wing into her saddlebag to grab a slip of paper. She winged it off to AJ. “This should tell you all you need to know about that crazy Confederate warship,” she noted, “Did you know that it’s actually made from a Union ship’s parts?”
“Yes, we all know,” said Worden quickly, his face reddening, obviously embarrassed by this fact, “But, now, we’ve got to go if we want to protect what’s ours. Miz Sparkle, if you’re not going, now’s the time to leave.”
Twilight bolted up from her position on the metal deck of the boat, and went at almost a gallop ashore. Worden climbed into the boat, Applejack moving aside to fit him in the hatch. She waved a final time. “Wish us, luck, guys! We’re puttin’ that hunk of Dixie metal at the bottom of the ‘Roads!”
With that, she retreated into the interior of the boat, pulling the hatch shut behing her. The door clanged shut, and the rumble became muted, but louder, and the Monitor began to leave the port, onwards down the river.
Rainbow, wearing an American Flag as a bandana around her forehead, and her boots, which lately had seemed to become part of her, waved them off as Twilight walked back to the officer’s tent. Noticing this, she asked her friend, “Twi’, you alright?”
Twilight turned and nodded. “Oh, I’m fine. I just want to avoid the actual conflict of this. The less things I have to worry about, the sooner we can get home.”
Dash raised an eyebrow. “You have a plan for that? I mean, teleporting back didn’t work? Still?”
The purple mare shook her head. “Nope. I can only teleport a couple yards, if anything.” She was taken aback by her own comment – she was starting to use the American units of measure. Just how long had they been here, again?
Her sky-blue pegasus friend interrupted the unicorn’s thoughts. “Wait, so, how can you figure out how to get home, without your spell-book?”
Twilight shrugged outside the tent. “Don’t know. Practice, just outright thought maybe. It takes a while, Rainbow. We’ve been here almost a year, haven’t we? Well, an Earth year, anyway.”
Rainbow acknowledged this hastily. “Yeah, yeah. But, if you somehow can get us back, when are we leaving?”
“As soon as possible, Rainbow. I want to get out of this war-zone before one of us gets hurt.”
“But…what about the Union? We kind of owe them for their hospitality. And, we’re a bit valuable to them. Why would we want to ditch them in the midst of their war? They need us.”
Twilight pondered this idea. The Union had been exceptionally grateful and generous to them…Rainbow felt that the ponies needed to pay tribute to them. The purple mare began to think about the Union, and how and why ponies should pay tribute. She also pondered Rainbow’s sudden loyalty to the American North as of late – she was the Element of Loyalty, but even to Twilight, it was a bit weird.
Well, she knew that if this was her war, she – well, she wouldn’t have a war! She was too intelligent for that! But if she did –
Out of nowhere, her horn began to tingle, and an unearthly sneeze erupted from Twilight, dispelling her thoughts.
“’Bless you,” said Rainbow, using the humans’ customs for sneezing, “And what about the others? Face it, Twi, we know they’re here. Remember, Carolina? I do, at least. Why would we leave them here?”
Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but then her horn glowed, tingled, and out came another sneeze.
“Geez, Twi’,” commented the pegasus, “Bless you! You’ve been sneezing a whole lot more since we’ve got here.”
Twilight shook her head. “I know, I know. I think I’m getting…oh, what did Worden call it…a…a…CHOO!!” She rubbed her snout with her hoof.
“BLESS YOU.”
“Thanks, again, Dash. A cold. I think I may be getting a cold. No, that wasn’t it…it began with an ‘F’. The flu, maybe? I think that’s what it was called.”
Rainbow looked all-around, to make sure no one was around, then turned back to Twilight, wide-eyed. “Twilight, the flu? People die from that! And it contagious! You need to get help!”
The scholar dismissed the idea with a wave of her hoof. “No, I’m not getting the symptoms the humans are getting. I don’t think it’s lethal on me, but it sure is affecting my magic. Sometimes I just have weird outbursts of it, every time I sneeze.”
“Oh, okay,” replied Dash. Then she started laughing. “Oh, wow! Can you imagine? What if you sneezed, and you somehow teleported back to Equestria?” She laughed out loud again.
Twilight thought about this absurd idea for a second, and joined Rainbow in a chuckle. “That is kind of…kind of…”
She felt another sneeze coming on. A big one. A – as her friend, Pinkie Pie, whom she hadn’t seen in almost an entire year, would call it – “a doozy.”
Before she could finish her sentence, Twilight sneezed, a massive sound that could be heard by multiple tents in the compound. But, the one who caused the sneeze was nowhere to be found.
Rainbow took a step back in awe. Did she just really teleport to Equestria?
Twilight thought so, too, until she saw the metal. She couldn’t hear a single sound other than the roar of some engine, and the splash of water. She felt intense heat, wherever she was, like she was in a stove. She looked around, and ended up facing her cowboy-hat-donning earth pony friend, looking as shocked as Twilight was.
Except, Applejack’s face turned into one of delight. “Twi’! Ya changed your mind! Ah, now we’ll have them – them, uh – luhjisticks o’ yers. Aw, we’re gonna win fer sure!”
Twilight suddenly realized where she was. She was in the hull of the Monitor.
Heading down the river.
To fight another ironclad.
She was about to enter the war.
Twilight couldn’t even correct Applejack on the proper way to say “logistics” – in fact, the only word she said, an expletive common at the base she learned all too quickly, was drowned out by the drone of the warship’s engine.

The Monitor chugged on, down the Hampton Roads, towards the mouth of the body of water. Twilight began to feel sick to her stomach, and she had a feeling it wasn’t on account of the “flu” she might have.
Applejack reared up, kicking her hooves in the air. “Hoo-wee! We’re a-getting’ closer now!”
“Jack, battlestations please.” The voice was couple with the metal clanking of footsteps. Worden appeared from the bow of the ship. “We’ll be approaching the – oh, Miz Sparkle!” He was obviously not expecting Twilight to be here, in the bowels of the monitor ship.
The mare looked nervously to the ground. “Yeah, um – see, about that – “
“Well, this is splendid! You can be my second-in-command, with what you know. Come on, follow me to the pilothouse.”
The unicorn had no time to tell the commander that this was an accident – she was just thrust into the heat of battle. Some sweat began to mat her forehead as she followed Worden past the many cramped rooms within the ship. Applejack followed close behind.
When they reached the turret canopy, Applejack waved a hoof to the two of them. “This is where I leave! Don’t wanna be missing the heat o’ the moment, as they say – so I’m a-gonna take my hand at firin’ some. Wish me luck!”
“Onward, Jack,” replied the lieutenant, using the Union’s nickname for the orange farmpony. Twilight gave a nervous, small wave to her friend.
All the way down the hall to the pilothouse, she kept reassuring herself that this wasn’t going to be any trouble. The Confederates had no idea what they were doing – just because they destroyed two wooden warships yesterday, doesn’t mean they could fight an iron clad today.
It’ll be alright, we’ll get there, fire off some rounds, and that thing is sure as sunk. Doesn’t matter if it’s basically a Union warship, with some…modifications. Or, if it has already proved a threat. Or that the Confederate officers have just as much experience as Union officers…
She wasn’t doing a very good job.
But, it wasn’t any matter – the two were already at the stairs. Worden offered Twilight to go first, and she reluctantly accepted. Each step seemed heavier than the last – she was about to see and be in a war, up close and personal.
The pilothouse itself was cramped – just a small little box above the main, flat deck, with slits about the size of Twilight’s head. She leaned on a ledge to see, and found that there was actually a perfect view of the battlefield.
They were making their way, slowly but surely down the river, towards the ocean. The banks of the river seemed to get farther and farther apart with each chug of the steam engine. Twilight soon saw the reason they were here – a good-sized warship, in the middle of the river, unfortunately damaged and ran aground in shallow spot. Union soldiers were trapped there, and it was the North’s spiffy new ironclad that must protect them.
The words "USS Minnesota" could now be read on the hull of the wooden boat. Wow, are we really that close?
A large, drawn-out engine wail answered her question. With her heart sinking, Twilight realized it wasn’t from the Monitor.
“There she is,” mumbled Worden. His new second-in-command followed his glance, and went wide-eyed when she saw it.
A large, iron warship was making its way towards the Minnesota, but from the other side. It had sort of a cone/boxy shape to it, at everywhere except for its flat bow, paralleling Twilight’s own vessel. The Merrimac approached.
Or, as it was now called, the CSS Virginia.
The scholar gulped as the Monitor’s engines began to chug less loudly, approaching the Minnesota. The ironclad came to a slow drift, halting in front of the wooden ship. The Virginia refused to slow its roll.
Twilight began to feel intense fear. That thing could kill them. It probably would, too, she was sure of it. Hastily, she remarked, “It’s getting closer – why aren’t the men firing? Why haven’t the gunners on this ship started firing?”
Worden held up a hand to stop Twilight. “Easy there, Miz Sparkle. These men are experienced gunners – and I imagine the same for your country-town friend. They know what they’re doing. Clearly the Virginia isn’t in range to f – “
BOOM!
A cannonball whizzed past the pilothouse, cutting off Worden’s sentence and scaring the bejeezus out of Twilight, before landing with a mighty splash! in the Chesapeake Bay.
Worden, after scratching his chin a bit, unfazed by the blast, commented, “Huh. Maybe we are in range. Miz Sparkle?”
Worden looked down to the floor, where a cowering Twilight covered her head with her hooves, laying on the ground, shaking like a mad dog.
The Monitor returned fire almost immediately, firing its massive shells from its 360-degree-rotation canopy. They found their mark, on the hull of the Virginia – but did little to it.
Twilight, upon hearing the shots, asked Worden, “Did…did we do any damage?”
Worden squinted out of the slot in the pilothouse, trying to see the Virginia even closer as it began moving its way towards the Monitor. His only answer, upon further investigation, was, “This is going to take a while.”

Some hours later, the two ironclads stood their ground, or water – side-by-side, constantly firing at each other. Twilight remained at Worden’s side, half-cowering, half-offering advice when she wasn’t cowering.
Meanwhile, on the deck, Applejack stood with a couple other officers, shielded from the Virginia behind the canopy. The gun let off massive booms as it fired its rounds into the Virginia’s hull.
AJ thought she had gone almost deaf. She could barely hear anything besides the boom of the cannons, and the yelling of her comrades, not to mention the constant roar of the water and random creaks of the Monitor.
The gun stopped firing.
“Reload!”
“Reload the gun!”
“We’re rotating!”
At least 10 different voices began to shout the same thing, albeit with different wording; the massive, twin Dahlgren guns needed to be reloaded.
The canopy creaked, the sound paralleling that of a Sonic Rainboom, as it slowly spun around to the reloading team. The men began to pass cannonballs off to one another, until they got to two men directly behind where the gun was firing earlier.
The canopy finally reached a full-out about face, pointing the two massive barrels at the Minnesota and the Union soldiers. Quickly, and only somewhat orderly, the soldiers loaded the gun, pushing down the cannonballs ‘til they were in a readied position, at the bottom of the cannon.
The men pushed one in, but it refused to budge. It just remained there, stuck in the opening of the gun.
“Dammit, it’s stuck!”
“Well, we gotta move it!”
“Jack!”
“I’m on it!”
The last phrase coming from Applejack, she moved in front of the stuck cannonball. Thank Celestia I’m an Applebucker.
With steel-hoofed horseshoes, she reels back, and with a massive kick, slams her back hoof into the steel ball. The cannonball flies into the belly of the gun like a bullet.
“Y’all are good to go!” yells AJ.
A muffled thank you comes back, somehow over the din of the battle and creaking of the canopy rotating back to battle position.
“Good job, boys,” says one of the soldiers, “And Jack. Keep up the good work. We’ll have this battle won in no time.”
The soldiers resume their business before, readying the cannonballs for another go, loudly talking to each other over the noise of the naval battle. Applejack just stands her ground, which was what she was doing before, deep in thought.
Well, this ain’t the front lines, but it’s darn near close to it.
A massive burst of sky-blue pegasus suddenly interrupted her thoughts, landing on the Monitor with a metallic bang. AJ, who had flinched, now returned to her original position, staring at a frazzled, out-of-breath Rainbow Dash.
“Rainbow - ?” asked Applejack, “What are ya doin’ here? Helpin’ out the effort?”
“Yeah, yeah, sure, sure,” RD replied hastily, “But more importantly – Twilight teleported back!”
The farmpony cocked her head to the side, raising an eyebrow. “Back to…?”
“Back to Equestria!”
The orange earth pony became confused. “Wait, what? When?”
“Like, a couple hours ago. I wasn’t sure if she did it or not, but she hasn’t come back yet, and I’d have told you earlier, but there was a battle goin’ on, and I didn’t want to get shot, and – “
“Well, that don’t make any sense. Twi’s in the pilot house, with what’s-his-face…Worden!”
Now, the pegasus became confused. “Come again?”
“Yeah! She teleported right into this here fine vessel right before we got started!”
Rainbow looked to the ground, seeming to search for an answer. “But – but she didn’t want to be a part of this. Oh, wait, she said her magic’s off today –“
“LOOK OUT!!”
The voice was a human one, and Applejack heeded the call, going straight to the ground. Dash merely turned around to see the voice, only to have a massive ball of steel miss her snout by inches as it whizzed past her. She screamed a common expletive as she took in what just happened.
“Wow, you an’ Twilight sure like usin’ them fancy new words,” mentioned Applejack, “Don’t look like you’re goin’ anywhere anytime soon.”
Rainbow could only turn to Applejack, wide-eyed in shock, and slowly nod her head.
Just then, a large blast shook the boat, from the front end of the canopy. The sound was almost unrivaled in intensity, as well as the scream heard afterwards.
“AAAHHH! F---!”
The Union soldiers aboard the boat leaned their ear into the canopy. The yell continued. “Damn Confederates – Ah! I can’t even – ARRGGGHH SOMEBODY ELSE MAN THE GUN!! I CAN’T FEEL MY GODDAMNED FACE!!”
The crew members outside the canopy looked amongst themselves. There were very few people experienced with these types of guns – none of them were one of those people.
Neither was Applejack, but when she turned to her rainbow-colored friend, and asked, “Wanna get up close and personal?”, she didn’t care.
It was time for some real action.
Rainbow Dash simply eyed the canopy, as AJ grew a large smile on her face.

The pilothouse seemed to only grow warmer and warmer as the battle progressed, but Twilight figured it was just her, being scared out of her mind.
The cannonballs had come dangerously close to the room at least a hundred times, causing her to hit the floor as the lieutenant remained as still as a stone. She felt embarrassed, but also felt she wasn’t going to survive.
The commander saw her hitting the deck for the nth time, and, after giving directions to a canopy crew member who walked in, mentioned, “Never been in a war before, have you?”
Twilight shook her head. “We don’t even have them where we’re from.”
He seemed to be taken aback. “No war? What are you, on opium all day?”
The purple mare looked to Worden. What the hay was opium?
He shook his hand, as if to dismiss the idea. “Never mind that last comment. Listen, do me a favor, since the pilothouse seems to be a bit much for you – go check in on the canopy guys. One of them was just ruined, so they have two new replacements, and it’d help if someone who knew what they were doing was in there just to make sure things were…decent.”
The scholar nodded, and, with nervous hooves, wandered out of the pilothouse, down the stairs, and into the belly of the monitor ship. She heard the metal clanking of her steps once again, as she trod the floor she had only hours ago. It was kind of unsettling for her, but she wasn’t sure why.
When she reached the canopy stairs, the sound that greeted her, besides the obvious booming of the guns, was one she didn’t expect to hear, at all.
“Take that, ya Dixie devils!”
“Yeah, one point for the North!”
First of all, “point”? No one around here used that word in the way it was used here, ever. Twilight shook the grammatical point out of her head, and, recognizing the voices, climbed the stairs to investigate.
Sure enough, it was as she had expected – the two soldiers mainly manning – or should she say, ponying – the cannons were her two friends, AJ and Rainbow Dash. And they seemed to be doing…decent.
“Rainbow…AJ?” Twilight asked unwarily.
Rainbow looked from her job, and noticed her purple friend. She waved an excited hoof. “Twilight! You are here! Applejack, look it’s Twilight!”
“Not now,” said Applejack, opening her mouth to show gritting teeth, going white-hooved on the cannons, “I’ve gotta fire.”
She squeezed her eyes shut as the cannon lurched back in the musty room, letting out a fierce BOOM! and reeling back somewhat. AJ called out to the wall behind her “Reloading!”
Her call was answered by many different muffled voices, and she and Dash and the other 10 or so soldiers in the canopy began to turn the wall furiously, trying to get it to turn fast for reloading. Twilight watched in awe at the teamwork being used to rotate the wall, despite the constant booming of the Virginia in the background.
Rainbow Dash, after grunting for a full five minutes, rotating, pauses and stops, letting the rest of the team finish off the job. She hovers over to Twilight. “Not bad, huh?”
“Not bad?” Words couldn’t describe the precision and skill she’d just experience. It was perfect. They knew what they were doing, somehow. “It’s….amazing!”
Dash laughed. “Good to know.”
A muffled voice from beyond the canopy wall: “Done! Turning ‘round!”
Rainbow returned to the wall, helping to spin it, as another barrage of whistling sailed through the air. Twilight began to get used to it.
Suddenly, however, instead of the usual splash or thud of the cannonball, there was a massive explosion, and tearing of metal, up towards where Twilight had come from. Every soldier in the room, including the three mares, looked towards the wall, in the direction of the explosion, stopping what they were doing.
Was…was that from the pilothouse?
“ARRGGHHH!! I – I CAN’T SEE!!”
Worden’s booming voice answered. At full gallop, the scholar went down the stairs and up to the pilothouse, or what remained of it.
Where there had been a pilothouse was this massive indent of metal, jutted and frayed at various points. It looked like a bomb had gone through it. Twilight knew that unfortunately she wasn’t too far off – a cannonball had hit it instead.
And there was Worden – blinded by the explosion. He was hunched over, leaning on the wall with one hand, while holding his face with another, nicked and scratched hand. And…was that blood? Coming from his eyes?
“Hey!” yelled Twilight down the hall, “Hey! We need medical assistance!”
A Union soldier did eventually appear, jogging towards Worden and his second-in-command. After giving Worden a brief look over, the soldier said, “He should be fine.”
“Thank Celestia,” Twilight mumbled to herself.
“IT HURTS!!” yelled Worden.
“But…” continued the soldier who had come in, “We’ll need to take him back to base if we want to get rid of his pain. He’s got shrapnel in his eyes – he’s no use commanding to us now, and it’d be best if he was on the shoreline.”
“Oh…” said the scholar, “So, who’s the second-in-command?”
“You…are,” grunted out Worden through flashes of pain.
“ME?!?!?” The purple mare backed away into the wall. How could I be the commander now? Is he nuts? I’m too afraid of just this battle to even do anything!
John Worden nodded, slowly, and with a lot of effort. “Your…ARGH…your call…Commander…”
The soldier shrugged. “I can pass on whatever message you need to the rest of the crew. But we need to act, and fast.”
The unicorn bit her lip. She had studied military tactics, knew all about this battle inside and out, she was the most knowledgeable about what could happen, probably. And now…she had to put this to use.
This wasn’t just a test. It wasn’t some book for research or for fun.
Lives were at stake.
Property was at stake.
A battle was at stake.
Possibly the country was at stake, too.
She looked to Worden, and then to the damaged pilothouse. If I stay, I’m an inexperienced commander who’s afraid too afraid of the battlefield to do anything. If I don’t stay, I save Worden and the rest, but risk the Minnesota and the battle itself…Celestia, help me.
But, the Princess couldn’t hear her. She was in another world, another dimension Twilight belonged to, originally. But, for almost a year, she’d been here. On this wretched, war-torn place known as the American South.
She didn’t want to be a part of this war. She was just dragged into it. And now she was at the front lines.
All she wanted to do was get home.
And, she realized with sudden insight, she wasn’t going to be able to do it…
…not out on the Roads, at least. She knew what had to be done.
“Tell the engine crew to turn back,” began Twilight, “We’ll head back to the encampment, drop Worden and myself off for a more trained commander, then return to the battlefield. Understand?”
The soldier nodded. “Yes, Miz Sparkle.” With that, he helped a leaning and damaged Worden to a cabin, then continued down the hallway, out of Twilight’s line of sight.
The engines churned, stopped, then made a different sound. She felt the Monitor move in the other direction.
Let’s hope this works.

Twilight paced back and forth on the grass outside the encampment. Worden was doing fine, she had no worries about that. And there was a new commander aboard the Union’s monitor ship – there was no doubt about that either.
But, had she made the right decision? Did the Confederates completely obliterate the Minnesota? And the Monitor, too? They went down the river a while ago – she had heard the booming intently, but it had since stopped, and they hadn’t returned.
Of course, she had no real concept of the time – there was no clock anywhere near her. She had come outside to practice her magic, but, as she did, her cold or flu or whatever the hay it was came back to her again, and she was fearful she’d teleport somewhere less friendly than the Monitor this time around.
Not that it mattered, anyway. She didn’t care about teleporting right now- what she cared about was how the soldiers, and Rainbow Dash and Applejack were doing. They were on that boat, risking their lives, following what Twilight told them to do –
She stamped her hoof down in anger. Why wasn’t she aboard that ship? The mare felt horrible, telling them what to do and she was too afraid to see to it herself. They could be dying out there – she should be the one dying out there –
No, don’t think about that. They’re fine, right? Right.
They still didn’t come back.
Twilight grunted at nothing. They were dead out there. And she caused it! She knew it…but she didn’t want to admit it.
As she squeezed her eyes shut in sorrow, a mixture of cheering and engine-churning began. Twilight opened her eyes to see the Monitor, slowly chugging its way down the Roads, damaged and with dozens of soldiers dancing and cheering on its metal deck. They were alive. And…it looks like
“We won?” asked Twilight aloud.
“’Sure did,” came the unexpected reply from Rainbow Dash, who appeared right next to her.
The scholar looked over – Rainbow had been flying in at very random points today – and asked, “Seriously?”
The pegasus nodded. “Uh-huh. The Dixies were retreating before we even got back! We sure whooped ‘em good this time! ‘Wouldn’t be surprised if we just won the war!”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Rainbow,” Twilight said sternly, but was unable to suppress a chuckle. She looked at the happy soldiers, and among them saw Applejack, do-se-doing with another giddy soldier. She gave a wave to her lavender friend, who returned the gesture.
“I should go tell Lieutenant the good news,” Twilight commented to no one in particular, “He’ll want to hear about it.”
RD put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Relax, Twi. Let him be – isn’t he blinded or something? Tell him in a couple minutes. Just chill out for a little bit, I guess.”
Twilight was actually taken aback a bit by her friend’s words. Rainbow was the only one who still talked like that - everybody else talked with this air of regality and formalness, it seemed….kind of like Rarity…
Rarity…the others…
The thought reminded Twilight, albeit somberly, of something she meant to tell Rainbow. “Your bouncing about, coming up in random places…” she began.
“Yes?” urged Rainbow.
“Well…it’s…almost like you’re a bit of Pinkie Pie…”
“Ha,” chuckled Dash, “Me? Be like...Pinkie Pie….” Her voice trailed off.
Twilight could tell by the way her friend looked at the ground, the way her eyes sort of shimmered, as if she were about to cry, that they were thinking the same thing.
The cheering and celebrations continued on the Monitor, as Rainbow just walked away, into another part of the encampment. She heard sniffling towards her direction, and Twilight knew it was the sky-blue pegasus doing it.
The systematic part of her brain went into action – a year. It had been almost a since the three of them had seen any of Equestria, but that wasn’t the main problem.
None of them had seen Rarity, or Fluttershy, or even the flamboyant Pinkie Pie in almost a year.
Their closest friends.
Twilight looked to the sky, the soldiers’ cheering as ambience, searching the clouds for an answer to a question she knew might never be answered.
Where are they?