Innocent

by Puzzle Piece

Act II: Chapter Sixteen: Between the Flash and the Boom, Part 1

It was high noon when Rainbow Dash and her flight touched down in the barracks grounds in Canterlot. At once, castle servants rushed to them, calling for medical aid and trying to lead them inside like elderponies. They ignored repeated insistence that none of them were hurt until Cosmic spoke up that it wasn't their blood.

The servants backed off hastily with that. That was when Rainbow actually noticed the state her companions were in. They were covered from muzzle to hoof in Troll blood. It looked like they’d bathed in it. It was no mystery why the servants had thought they were injured. Rainbow looked herself over and suddenly wished she could crawl out of her skin.

They stood looking at each other for a long moment, just letting shock numb their minds. The sounds of screaming ponies and shouting Trolls hadn’t stopped ringing in their ears yet. The slowly dripping blood falling from their manes onto the grass was hypnotic. Try as she might, Rainbow couldn’t bring herself to speak. They needed to get back to the rest of the Air Corps. They needed to assist the rest of the Army. They needed to take a bath.

But she couldn’t say it. She didn’t want to speak again. To do so would be to acknowledge that what had happened was real and that she was still in the middle of it. She didn’t want it to be real. She felt a rivulet of blood run down the back of her neck. She didn’t even want herself to be real if it would get her out of this. Her legs trembled beneath her. As her mind slowed down, her body was catching up. She was exhausted and aching and on the verge of collapse.

Even as she realized this, Cerulean toppled over and lay comatose in the grass. As if that was some sort of signal, the rest of them allowed themselves to relax enough to sit down. The long silence continued its reign during which they all tried not to look at each other or themselves. Some of the servants still hovered nearby, waiting for what they thought was an inevitable call of their assistance. When the silence became unbearable, Star Hunter spoke up.

“We lost?” His tone gave the question little room for doubt.

Cosmic considered him solemnly. “This battle? Yeah. Badly. And that might as well have been the entire war.”

Rainbow’s stupor shattered with those words. “Don’t talk about it like that,” she said commandingly. “We’re still here and that means we can still fight.”

“Still fight?” Cosmic repeated. “You can’t be serious. You saw what those things did to us out there. You want to go back and do it again?”

“It’s better than standing aside and letting them get to our families at home without doing something,” Rainbow shot back. “Listen, we need to get back to the others so that we can help out when the time comes. It’s not like we’re just going to lie down and give up, right?”

She looked them hard in the eye. Star Hunter nodded his concession to her. After a grudging and somewhat guilty pause, Cosmic nodded as well.

“Oy,” Rainbow shouted to the servants, who scurried forth to heed her. “Help Cerulean get cleaned up and find him a place to rest.”

As the servants lifted the downed Pegasus back to his hooves and escorted him into the nearest barracks, Rainbow, Star and Cosmic lifted off stiffly. They drifted out to the front gate of the city and found the Army shuffling in. The Air Corps fliers, who were by far in the best condition, were hauling supplies and helping the wounded walk. Spitfire stood with Captain Gallant Lance beside the gate, coordinating the operation.

Rainbow landed near them and approached when Spitfire motioned her over.

“I take it that you’re not as hurt as you look since you flew in under your own power,” the Wonderbolt said as she eyed all of the blood. She was in a similar state of uncleanness herself. “It’s good to see you made it. Some of us didn’t.” She looked back at a list the Captain was holding. Her ears dropped. “A lot of us didn’t.”

Before Rainbow could say anything, Fire Streak landed next to them. He gave Rainbow Dash a venomous glare before clearing his throat for Spitfire’s attention.

“Yes Sergeant? What do you need?” she asked.

“Ma’am,” he began crisply, pointing at Rainbow. “You should be aware that this flier not only questioned my orders in the field but also disobeyed the call to defend the Princess during the retreat. I request that she be ejected from the Air Corps for endangering her flight and destabilizing the command structure in a critical combat situation.”

Spitfire blinked at him and then at Rainbow and then back to Streak. “That’s quite the accusation. Do you really think it’s that serious?”

“I do, ma’am,” he said without hesitation.

“Hold on a minute,” Rainbow interrupted. “You want to kick me out of the Air Corps? For what?”

“For holding us up while we were trying to protect the Princess, that’s what!” Streak said, gritting his teeth.

Spitfire stepped between them. “Both of you cool it. I’m not making a decision about this until I’ve heard it from somepony else.” She turned to Cosmic and Star Hunter and pointed at them. “You two. Did you see what happened?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Star Hunter said, snapping to attention. “Rainbow Dash approached Sergeant Fire Streak on multiple occasions to clarify our squadron’s next move and delayed the squadron’s flight to the Princess to suggest a different course of action.”

“Which was?” Spitfire raised an eyebrow.

“To warn another element of the Army that a retreat had been sounded,” Comsic reported. “They hadn’t been able to disengage with the rest and were being left behind. No other squadrons were in position to assist them, so we did.”

“Wait, we?” Spitfire asked.

“Yes, ma’am. Star Hunter, Cerulean Skies and I followed her in the assistance of their retreat.”

Spitfire looked around. “Cerulean? He didn’t make it?”

“He did, ma’am,” Star Hunter said. “He’s been taken to the barracks to rest. He collapsed shortly after we returned.”

Spitfire paused to consider what she had heard. She glanced between Rainbow Dash and Fire Streak multiple times and paced a short distance away. They waited for her in tense silence. Even Captain Gallant Lance was watching cautiously. When she came back, she was frowning deeply.

“Why didn’t you follow your orders, Rainbow Dash? Especially when you were ordered to protect the Princess?”

“The Princess had the Royal Guard all around her,” Rainbow said. “And all the other squadrons in the air were headed for her. She didn’t need us as much as that other group did. If we hadn’t told them about the retreat, they might not have made it out.”

Spitfire turned to the other two. “And why did you two follow her?”

“We figured she was right. Besides, she’s our flight leader. We couldn’t just fly off without her.”

“Hmm,” Spitfire said, rubbing her chin and eyeing them appraisingly. “The last thing I want cleared up here is what you thought was so important that you needed to add extra pressure to your commanding officer while he was making field decisions,” she said, back on Rainbow Dash.

“Maybe I was pressuring him, but he didn’t seem to be making up his mind very fast. We spent half the time hovering, waiting on him.”

Spitfire rounded on Cosmic and Star again. “Would you agree with that assessment?”

They both looked at each other and then at Fire Streak. The anger in his face caused them both to hesitate.

“Answer me,” Spitfire pressed.

“We would, ma’am,” they said just out of synchronization.

Fire Streak was about to shout something when Spitfire glared him down.

“Sergeant, you are relieved of your command of the 7th Squadron and are hereby reassigned to third flight’s second wing under my command in 1st Squadron, effective immediately.”

He balked for a second before responding indignantly. “But I can’t be assigned that position. I’m a Sergeant. That’s flight leader at the least!”

“You’re right.” Spitfire’s tone was icy. “We can’t have that. So you’re also demoted to Corporal. Dismissed.”

He sputtered on the edge of arguing but Spitfire’s growl made it clear that she was done with him. He retreated bitterly. Rainbow waited until Spitfire had cooled off before speaking again.

“Ma’am? I’m not quite sure what just happened.”

“It’s simple,” she replied. “I’ve just promoted you to Sergeant and put you at the head of 7th Squadron.”

Rainbow’s eyes shot open. “How is that simple? I thought I just barely avoided being kicked from the Corps.”

“Rainbow, I’ve seen enough of you to doubt any accusation of disloyalty in the field. If you disobey an order, there’s likely a damn good reason. And there was, the way I see it.”

She pointed out at the Army’s ragged columns as they passed through the gates into Canterlot.

“We only just made it out of there with our feathers attached. And the ponies on the ground had it worse. Your actions saved lives, and that’s not a small thing.”

“I know that it worked out in the end,” Rainbow said with a frown. “But the way Serg…er, Corporal Streak put it, I messed up by questioning him like that."

“What you did was take one look at the situation and make a solid judgment: A platoon was in trouble and no one else could do the job. Fire Streak missed that. He only saw that the Princess was retreating under fire and he didn’t consider other options. Don’t get me wrong,” she continued quickly when Rainbow opened her mouth to object. “Moving to protect the Princess is a good decision. But he neglected to notice a more pressing detail. And that’s not all. All three of you agreed that he wasn’t keeping your squadron engaged. There’s a time to be cautious and a time to be decisive.”

Spitfire waved the other two in closer and lowered her voice.

“I looked up once or twice to see how everypony else was doing and of all of the things I saw out there, your flight was the one that drew my attention. You were pulling out of a dive that had come in too far behind the others. You might not have noticed, but if you hadn’t pulled out, you’d have been ripped to ribbons. They were watching for you after the others came through. Rainbow, you spotted that danger didn’t you?”

“Um, yes ma’am.”

“That’s what I thought,” Spitfire nodded. “And that’s why you’re being given this job. You could feel that Streak was holding back too long in his attacks, and yet you were able to see when it was wise to wait for a better time. That’s a good instinct to have in a leader. You three should get some rest. I want my best fliers to be ready for anything when the time comes.” She winked at them as they turned away.

“Oh! And Sergeant Dash? One more thing.”

Rainbow hung back and waited. Spitfire glanced around to make sure nopony was in earshot.

“I want it understood that this would have been a whole lot different if you’d gotten anypony in your flight killed pulling that stunt. They all made it and a whole platoon owes you their flanks. You did a good thing but I don’t want you relying on luck like that. Keep your eyes on the goal and your fliers in mind when you’re up there. They’ll be counting on you. Dismissed.”

Rainbow saluted and walked down to the gate with the others, feeling one part giddy at her promotion and two parts nauseous with how close she’d come to messing up royally.

~*~*~

Ponies moved past them without a second glance. None of them had the heart to do more than walk through the city’s gates on leaden hooves. An army that had once been one and a half thousand ponies was now reduced to little more than seven hundred. Still bloodied from the battle and many limping from wounds, their heads were hung in defeat.

Lyra sat just inside the gates and off the road a few paces, barely paying attention to them. She was changing the bandage on one of her forelegs. It was the worst of her injuries. The bruises that had resulted from her armor blocking blows throbbed whenever she moved but were otherwise manageable. Big Mac, whose only visible damage was a series of deep dents in his armor, stood beside her and just watched faces as they passed. She preferred to ignore them. It helped her to deal with her own dark thoughts.

They’d all been so full of confidence just a hoofful of hours ago. It was hard to believe that they could be brought so far down so fast. Where had their spirit gone? Where was their determination to stop this invasion and protect their homes? Hers was tattered and torn. It was stained with the blood of the ponies she’d watched die beside her. She still wasn’t sure how many from her platoon were still with them but she couldn’t believe it could be more than fifty.

A harsh voice broke through her thoughts and drew her eyes.

“I don’t care if she’s having a seizure from this. I’m going to see her now!”

A powerfully built grey stallion in grand gold and silver armor marched past her but was stopped when a more slightly built tan-coated Unicorn in what looked like black leather grabbed his shoulder and forced him to turn around.

“The Princess needs some time to herself, Zacon. She’s still coming to terms with this right now. We’ll be able to speak with her when she’s ready.”

“Ready?” Zacon scoffed. “By the time any of these pathetic creatures are ready, I’ll have been able to walk home. I’ll tell her what she needs to hear and she’ll deal with it. I didn’t say I cared if she could handle it.”

“You can’t just kick the door in and demand that she listen to you,” the Unicorn said in exasperation, looking to a deep green Unicorn in a tan leather vest for backup as he joined them. “And this is the worst time for you to do something like that. She’s distraught. Half her army just followed her into battle and died. How would you feel if your people suffered such a loss?”

The Earth Pony’s eyes narrow suspiciously. “Are you suggesting that there’s an enemy that could face my people in open war and inflict comparable casualties?”

The tan Unicorn lost his composure for a brief moment. “Don’t even start, Zacon! Even you aren’t stupid enough to think that you’re invincible!”

Zacon looked like he would hit the other but the green Unicorn beat him to it. The punch landed solidly and the tan Unicorn reeled. Zacon’s grin vanished behind a second hoof as soon as it appeared. While both of them were rubbing their chins, their assailant adjusted the bow slung at his side and addressed them both icily.

“I am not dealing with you two right now.” He jabbed Zacon. “You’re an asshole and you need to shut up about this place and all of the shortcomings you insist it has.” He rounded on the other. “And you need to realize that this can’t be done gently. They’re tougher than either of you have been treating them.”

He gestured at the nearest ponies, who happened to be Lyra and Big Mac. Lyra blinked back at them while Big Mac considered them impassively.

“They’ve just proven that much a dozen times over. They were the ones holding the ground on either side of us, for the Light’s sake!”

The first Unicorn was guiltily silent and Zacon returned Big Mac’s gaze before nodding in concession.

“So it’s agreed. Their leadership is the reason they are failing to defend themselves.”

Zacon acted as if he couldn’t see the two of them seething. The green Unicorn made an effort to not start hitting him again while the other just walked away in disgust.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” the archer said, his eyes closed and his teeth set. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to find a place to lie down. I used a lot of mana out there, so don’t bother me for a while. You’re going to find a way to make yourself useful in the meantime.”

He walked off a bit unsteadily. Zacon watched him go half interestedly. The big warrior then cast about momentarily before picking a direction and leaving.

Lyra had been holding her breath since they’d looked at her. She let it out once all three of them were out of sight. It had been unnerving to hear them talk the way they did. She’d recognized them as the three ponies who followed them to the training camp and remembered them fighting near her in the battle. It had been obvious then that they were outsiders, tagging along with them but not really being part of their group. What she’d just heard sounded like they weren’t even Equestrian at all.

She puzzled over what that could mean for long minutes. Time Turner came over to them, though she was only vaguely aware of him.

“Mac,” he said hoarsely with a nod.

“Doctor,” Big Mac returned.

Turner was bandaged around the throat where an axe had collapsed his armor, nearly choking him. They discussed the movement of supplies and eventually left together to rest. Lyra only looked after them when the sound of their voices was completely lost in the clamor. The two of them were the only ones here that she felt she could be open around. She was glad they made it. She was suddenly thankful she hadn’t learned many names yet. She would only have been forced to dwell on them.

Possessed by a sudden impulse, she got up and made her way toward the medical tents. There was one other pony that she was comfortable around. And besides, she knew Goldengrape would be happy for the company.

~*~*~

Jason fumed for nearly an hour, wandering the streets without seeing or hearing where he was going. Zacon’s attitude got under his skin in the best of circumstances and these were anything but. He didn’t seem to be capable of appreciating anything that couldn’t rip a creature’s arm off. Didn’t he know that was the opposite of the way Jason felt?

He stopped suddenly, overcome with grief.

For just a moment, he lamented in his mind. Not even a whole week, I thought I had found someplace free of violence. I’ve seen so much of it; done so much of it. Can’t some place be left untouched by bloodshed?

He clenched his eyes shut and gritted his teeth to prevent a sound from escaping him. Ponies passed by him, oblivious to his pain, only sparing an odd glance at his stricken expression but too caught up in their own worries to stop. As minutes crawled by, he regained a measure of control again. He opened his eyes and realized he was standing beside the wall of the palace. Twilight was coming up the street, still dressed in her mage’s uniform. She entered the palace as if worried she was being watched. If she hadn’t been acting so unusually, he might not have looked close enough to see the books held protectively behind her.

He debated briefly if he even wanted to get involved in anything right now. In the end, he figured it would be better than stewing in his thoughts. He followed at a quick trot so as not to lose her. On his way, he also noticed that the halls were completely empty of guards and servants. Twilight was making good time and Jason could hardly muster the vigor to keep up. Each time he rounded a corner after her, she was a bit farther ahead. He was about to give up when she turned into a room and closed the door with a snap.

He stopped, wondering if it was wise to listen first or to just knock. He approached the door cautiously, still trying to decide. He never made up his mind because Twilight opened the door again suddenly.

“Jason! I…well, I was just, um.” She glanced inside the room uncomfortably. “What did you need?”

Jason mulled the question over while she fidgeted. “I may have followed you because of the secretive manner in which you brought those books up here.”

“Oh. Right.” She rubbed her shoulder guiltily, not meeting his eyes. “I just didn’t want to have to try to explain what I was doing.” She managed to glance at him. “Least of all to you.”

“Why me?” he asked.

“The things you said to Rainbow Dash made it clear how you’d feel,” she said.

“You’re making preparations for battle?” he asked wearily.

She hesitated a long time before replying. “Yes.”

“Why would that be a problem now?”

“Well, you said that you didn’t want Rainbow to put herself in danger or to fight and kill and all that. I just figured you’d feel the same way about me doing it.” She raised an eyebrow at him.

“But you’re already fighting,” he said with a nod. By saying those words out loud, he had just admitted it to himself. And with that, he made a decision that he’d been trying to deny since the fighting had begun. “And I’m convinced that we are going to need every advantage we can get. Is there any way I can help you?”

“I suppose. I mean, yes. Yes, please. Come in.” She held the door open to let him though. “I was just looking through some spell tomes that I thought would be useful. Admittedly, we don’t have many offensive spells but I figured it was still a good idea to look.”

Jason took in the room with a glance. It was halfway between bedroom and study; the bed and dresser on one side and a desk with adjacent bookshelves on the other. Implements of science stood sentinel at every turn. Jason walked over to the tomes, which had been set down hastily on the desk. He scanned the covers and nodded again.

“You’re right. These aren’t likely to be very useful in combat.”

She waited for him to continue. He took that as permission to forge ahead.

“If you’d like, I can teach you magic that can be used exclusively for fighting. It will require you to be comfortable with dealing damage to an opponent in excess of killing them. Our enemies don’t often give us the time to make clean kills after all.”

Twilight nodded, though Jason noticed hesitation and apprehension.

“Very well. My people’s spells concentrate on the raw elements of Nature; earth, water, air and fire. Or, as some interpretation of physics would insist, they are solids, liquids, gases and energy. We bend the world around us to create and manipulate these elements for our use. Most times, we use a gesture to direct our control. Since a pony’s form is inconvenient to that standard, I won’t be teaching you those specific techniques. We’ll have to rely on your natural skill in visualization utilized by telekinesis, which you’ve already mastered. Though, I’ll still use simple gestures. Old habits, you know?”

Jason was more than slightly amused when Twilight nodded her acceptance of his explanation without hesitation. To be honest, he was racing to put together a lesson plan. After all, it wasn’t every day that one had to explain the inner workings of a force basic to one’s race.

“We’ll need some elements to work with. A glass of water or two, to be specific.”

He hadn’t finished speaking when a popping sound announced the arrival of a dozen glasses filled with clear water on the table beside them. Twilight smiled at him benignly as her horn’s glow faded.

“Alright then! We’ll start with a simple, yet potent technique: Frost.”

Jason raised one hoof and pointed it at one of the glasses. As he lifted his hoof higher, the water in the glass rose with it, leaving the glass itself behind. He then pulled his hoof to his chest sharply. The water pulsated in response and froze solid. Twilight looked between him and the globe of ice several times before gasping.

“Your horn! It wasn’t glowing!”

“No,” he smiled. “It wasn’t. Our magic flows through every part of us. It does not need to be focused specifically through any part of our body, though we tend to use our, erm…forelimbs.”

He pointed at the ice again and a wave passed through it like a slow ripple on the surface. It changed back to water and followed his direction back into the glass.

“I might normally show off a few tricks to give you an idea of what is possible, but I think it wise to conserve mana in case I need to exert myself extensively in the next few days.”

“Mana?” Twilight inclined her head curiously.

“I can’t believe I didn’t even mention that.” Jason put his hoof to his forehead with a dull thunk. “I guess we’ll have to start a little more basic. Mana is what we call the energy of our magic.” He held up a hoof and after a moment of concentration, a small, bright ball of bluish white light appeared. “This is pure mana energy. We either use it to direct our control over objects and elements or to create elements or specific effects.”

The ball flashed and became a flame.

“Creating something out of pure mana is usually more potent than just manipulating the elements around us but at the cost of using more of it,” Jason said, letting the flames roll over his hoof as he rotated it.

Twilight regarded it critically. “If you use this energy without a horn, will I be able to use it at all?”

The flame vanished.

“Some races in our world are unable to use any form of magic,” Jason frowned. “But those who can are able to learn all of its aspects with enough time and study. You already have control of a form of magic so I believe you will have no trouble using it.”

“But your magic comes from another world,” she reminded him. “What if I don’t have mana?”

“We took on the forms of your world when we came here. Elves and Dragonites are not of this world so we could not remain in those forms. But we retained our magic, so that form of energy must not be foreign. Perhaps it is just undiscovered.”

Twilight mulled it over. “I suppose you could be right. Now how do I use it? It seems to require a very different kind of control than Unicorn magic.”

“Ah, but it doesn’t,” he said with a faint grin. “I have had the opportunity to experiment with both and I can confidently say that the only real difference is that ours has a definable limit on how much we can use it. The concentration takes the same kind of effort. The feeling of connection to the objects interacted with is nearly identical. All you have to do is find the mana within yourself and tap into it. I may be able to help with that.”

“How?” she asked. “It’s energy. It’s not like you can just point to where it is and have me grab hold of it.”

“Actually, it will be something like that. If you will allow me, I can send a current of mana through you that should be able to help you feel your own flowing.”

Twilight made a face. “That sounds a bit, um, weird.”

“It’ll also be much faster than having you try to find it on your own,” Jason said with a shrug. “Standing here and talking about it isn’t going to help you feel something you’ve never felt before.”

“Alright,” she conceded. “Just to be clear though, I’ll feel your magic flow through me and that will help me connect to my mana?”

They stared at each other, blinking occasionally.

“You know, when you say it like that, this does seem odd.” Jason laughed a bit. “But then, we’re dealing with magic from two separate worlds so everything is odd, isn’t it?”

“I guess you’re right,” she said.

Jason stepped in front of her and placed a hoof on her shoulder. She nodded her readiness. He leaned his horn close to hers and closed his eyes. A spark jumped between them and he felt Twilight flinch. A tendril of mana passed down the length of her horn, over the crown of her head and down her spine. When it reached her heart, it turned and completed the circuit with Jason’s hoof. They both took a deep breath simultaneously.

The cord of mana reached out with a feather’s touch as it searched for a pathway to follow. It fanned out until it felt the tug of another magic. All at once, the cord was carried outward into the rest of Twilight’s body, dragged along by a current of magic so swift that Jason almost lost his hold of it. They both gasped. Jason was amazed to find that more of his mana was being drawn out of him as the cord’s limits were reached. As he let it go, his mana began spreading outside her body, molding to the contours of the magic that was emanating off of her. He stopped it there, feeling his mana being drained to maintain the link.

After carefully withdrawing his mana back to the original cord, he let the energy flow through and severed the link. When Jason opened his eyes again, he noticed a faint coloring in Twilight’s cheeks. It was gone almost immediately.

Perhaps that was a bit more intimate than I had intended, Jason thought with chagrin he hoped was well concealed. He cleared his throat self-consciously.

Twilight was staring fixedly at a point in space, her eyes wide. Jason waited for her and she eventually came back to reality.

“That was…I don’t even know how to describe it!” She looked around herself as if the right words were hiding somewhere nearby. “I feel it! I can’t believe I never noticed it before.”

“I was surprised too,” Jason said, stepping away to sit down.

“Surprised by what?”

“Your mana reserves are highly concentrated. So much so that I had difficulty staying connected to the current.” Jason inclined his head curiously. “You’re even giving off a faint aura of magic, as if you cannot contain it all within you.”

“That’s a good thing, right?” Twilight asked apprehensively.

Jason chuckled. “Yes. It is a good thing. Most mages among my people would envy you that trait.”

“So now that I can feel my mana,” Twilight said, eager now to push ahead. “What do I do with it?”

“You need to be able to direct it,” Jason instructed. “And you should be able to do it as easily as with your Unicorn magic. Visualize the effect and will it to happen, but be sure to specifically focus on your mana alone.”

He pointed at the glasses of water.

“Try to levitate one of them without your horn.”

Twilight screwed up her face in concentration. A spark flew out of her horn, caused perhaps by her Unicorn magic trying to rise to meet her demands.

“Feel the energy and will it to reach toward the glass,” Jason urged, sensing the balance of the air shifting. “Surround the glass and feel the connection.”

Twilight closed one eye and puffed out her cheeks. The glass quivered.

“Your magic is an extension of your mind. What you think is made real through your mana. It is in your grip now as much as when you use telekinesis. You only need to give it a push.”

All at once, the glass shot upward. It shattered against the ceiling and would have rained shards of glass down on them if Twilight hadn’t also reflexively put up a purple barrier. Jason watched bits of glass and droplets of water glance off of the shield and drop to the floor. Twilight looked at him apologetically.

“Maybe a bit too much push?”

“A bit,” Jason agreed with a smile. “Once you made the connection, all of that effort went into the force on the glass. Making the connection next time should be easier, allowing you to control the force better. Of course, as with anything, practice is key.”

Twilight nodded and cleared the floor with a sweep of telekinesis. Then she took a stance and locked another glass with a steely gaze.

~*~*~

Zacon spent an hour hauling supplies, carrying messages and just generally doing what he thought would satisfy Cor’s instructions. He’d even taken time to clean the blood from his armor. But after that hour, he’d exhausted his patience for such things. His only reason for persisting so long was the dull ache in his jaw. As that faded, so too did his wariness of aggravating a repeat encounter. Still, the time he’d spent around the Army’s camp had given him a chance to ponder the merits of both Cor’s and Jason’s words.

These ponies had, for the most part, made a show of force worthy of his respect. They’d put themselves in danger willingly and some had survived, even stood their ground long enough to hold the enemy at bay. Despite his first impressions still mostly holding, he would need to adjust his view of them in this new light.

He decided he’d find a place to sit and mull it all over. The battle to come would find him wherever he chose to wait for it. The medical tent seemed like the most interesting choice, if for no other reason than because he would be able to further gauge the ponies’ resilience. Closing his eyes, the voices and movement of the ponies around him blurred until it could have been the sound of any camp preparing for war. It was just an illusion, but to him, it was a welcome one. The military language, the striking of metal on metal, the general commotion, it all stirred comfortable memories of his earlier campaigns.

One pair of voices was close enough that he could hear them distinctly. He listened absently until the details started to interest him. If he was not mistaken, they were referring to the part of the battle he himself had been in. If these ponies had been among those to stand their ground, then he was very much interested in what they had to say about it. Leaning around the corner of the tent, he perked his ears forward.

~*~*~

“You’re not in need of one of these beds yourself,” the stallion pointed out, gesturing to the bandaged foreleg of his companion.

Lyra covered the injured limb self-consciously. “I didn’t think it was a big enough deal to worry somepony else over. I’ve been in enough scraps of my own to know how to take care of myself.”

“Then I suppose you’re the one I should be least worried about.” Goldengrape was smiling despite the large swaths of bandages covering his body.

“Those of us that made it aren’t the ones I’ve been worried about.”

“Lyra,” he said, cutting her off before she could say any more. His smile remained but it was more solemn now. “We can’t change what’s happened. All we can do is make the best of what is to come. Don’t dwell on it. It will only put you in a foul mood. Our troubles will need to be faced regardless of how we feel. Best we feel up to it when the time comes, don’t you think?”

She nodded reluctantly. Goldengrape shifted in the bed with a grimace. Lyra knew how badly he’d been injured. It astounded her that he could be talking about good moods when he escaped death so narrowly. True, she didn’t want to think about everypony that had died. But it was still nagging her and it wouldn’t let go. So many leaving their homes and so many never to return: Her mind shied away from it.

“At least it wasn’t for nothing,” Goldengrape said suddenly. “We certainly made ‘em pay for getting across that river, didn’t we?”

“Actually, from what I’ve heard, we didn’t do so well at all.”

“But we must have done something,” he argued. “For how long we held that spot, it can’t have been that bad.”

“We did well. But that was just our platoon. Most of the Army ran away.”

Goldengrape’s smile slipped for a moment.

“And as much as I hate to say it,” Lyra went on. “I don’t think it was really us who did the holding.”

“How do you mean?”

“When we were out there, I saw some ponies that I recognized. They’d come to the camp with us from Ponyville though they had just been visitors in town. They had their own weapons and everything.”

“I think I know the ponies you’re talking about. Three of them right?”

“Yes. I’ve been hearing things about them and now that I’ve seen them in battle, I think those rumors might be true. They’re not from Equestria.”

Goldengrape thought it over.

“They do seem a tad unusual don’t they? But is that really a basis for such an assumption?”

“It’s not just the rumors. I overheard them just inside the gates not long ago. They talk like they’re not even ponies.”

Goldengrape laughed briefly before wincing in pain.

“Now Lyra,” he admonished after he’d recovered. “That’s just absurd. I’ve seen them myself, too. They are most definitely ponies.”

“But they don’t act like it!” she insisted. “That one called Zacon was screaming at the Trolls and standing out by himself like he didn’t even care. He said just a bit ago that he wanted to go yell at the Princess for being a pathetic creature or something like that.”

“Well, I don’t know anything about that,” he said, waving a dismissive hoof. “What I do know is that they did more than their share of the fighting. And if ponies like those are going to stand with us, I have no doubt we’ll get through this.”

“How can you be so confident?” Lyra asked the floor. “We barely make it out with our manes attached and you don’t have any doubt?”

“It’s not about what happened. It’s about what I know will be. Equestria will be made safe again and we won’t give up until that is so.”

“Sounds like blind optimism to me,” Lyra mumbled.

Goldengrape lightly rapped her on the hoof in reproval.

“Not remotely. Having a clear goal in mind is one of the most important steps in making it a reality.”

He turned her chin up so that she was looking him in the eye.

“Don’t you know what you want? Where you want to be when this is over?”

Her eyes softened with memories that were all too far away and dreams that never seemed to be in sight.

“Yes. I know where I want to be,” she said in a whisper.

“Then you know that’s where you will be. You just have to get there is all.” He leaned back into his pillows with a sigh. “It’ll be hard, sure. It might not get better for a while. But rest assured we will get there.”

She was silent. If he thought that wishful thinking was going to cure their ills, he was crazy. But the lure of hope was strong and she didn’t have the heart to fight it.

“You’re right. We will get through this. And with the Princesses’ help, one day, these Trolls will give up and we’ll be able to go home.” She smiled as brightly as she could manage, proud of her decision to reject despair and thankful that Goldengrape had helped her to do so.

~*~*~

Outside the tent, Zacon had reached a decision of his own.

Any creature can fight to save its own skin, he thought. They may have risen to the occasion at our sides this one time, but that means very little if they do not have the will to seek total victory.

He continued to brood as he walked away.

Not only do they not have the stomach for fighting. They don’t even understand what it will take to win! ‘One day, these Trolls will give up’? What nonsense. And with the help of the Princesses no less!

He made his way farther into the city. His frown deepened to a scowl. Anypony that saw him coming moved quickly to avoid him.

This war won’t end itself. Not with an enemy such as this. If they expect to trudge through it until it’s over, they will never make it to the end.

He could tell by the way those two had given themselves over to the fantasy of a coming peace that they had no idea what it was really going to take to end this. Jason was right, in a way. They weren’t prepared. They weren’t equipped to handle it. The problem wasn’t physical weakness. He’d seen enough to know that. It was their entire outlook on the fighting itself.

He knew that Cor would disagree, but he also knew that if this nation was going to see next spring, they would have to fix how they were approaching this fight. And since they weren’t about to do it on their own, he’d have to whip them with their mistakes until they did. With the determination of a freight train, he set his sights on the palace and marched.