The Line

by Sooks

Ch.15 - Desperation

Moon Beam reached out to touch the deck as if it were a life raft in the middle of the sea. As soon as her hoof touched the wooden planks, every muscle in her body gave out. She collapsed to the deck with all the grace of a sack of grain. Her sister was beside her immediately, but the yellow twin was nearly as shaky as she was. They leaned against each other for balance, eyes closed, trying desperately to catch their breath. The yellow twin's glaive sat broken in its harness, the other half left in a now dead dragon. The blue twin's had been abandoned, a gust of flame igniting the wooden shaft. How she had made it home unarmed, she could not fathom.

"Skyline! Skyline!?" Pinion slammed into the deck beside the two of them. "Ray, Beam, have you seen Skyline? I can't find her anywhere..." The twins shook their heads. Pinion bit his lip and turned to take off again, but his wings did not unfurl. He stood, back facing them, eyes fixed on the emptying sky, checking every pegasus left, but his wingpony was nowhere to be seen. Slowly, he sat down, head hung low and wings hanging limp at his sides. The twins glanced at each other before wrapping their wings around their squadmate.

"Medic!" Slipstream's hollering broke them from their moment of solemnity. He and Clear Morning were carrying an unconscious Pastelight between them. Blood dribbled down her side from a deep gash under her ear and across her neck. A unicorn was waiting for them to land, medical kit floating beside her, and she set to work as soon as the pegasus was on the deck. The others huddled in as close as they dared.

"What happened?" Moon Beam asked.

"Scaley bucker came out of nowhere," Clear Morning panted, "nearly took her head off with a swipe of its claw. She reared back just in time, so it just did... this." They watched as the unicorn took to each gash.

"She'll live," the medic said, "the bleeding is controllable. I can't say the same about the ear, though. It's a miracle it didn't fall off already." Sun Ray bit her tongue.

"There's nothing you can do?" Slipstream asked. If there was any more pleading in his voice, he would be on his knees before the unicorn.

The medic sighed. "I can try, but I won't promise anything. Hold her down." Each of Pastelight's squadmates took a leg while Slipstream stroked her mane. The medic set to work with her needle, carefully suturing the ear back in place and disinfecting along the way. Pastelight groaned in pain, but her struggles were too sluggish and weak to be considered a proper fight.

Before too long, the unicorn leaned back and examined her work. She wiped her brow and frowned. "We'll keep an eye on it. Celestia's grace, it won't fall off or get infected, but she'll never get any real control of it back." She gingerly wrapped the wounded ear in gauze.

"Thank you," Slipstream said.

"Just my job-" A crash behind them demanded the medic's attention. Silver Raindrops was carrying a barely conscious Willow Wisp across her back. Most alarming was the half of his helmet that was entirely gone. Blood matted the fur on half of his face as it oozed from a cut along his brow. "How many more of you are there?"

"Too many." Rain's tone made it clear she had no patience for humor. The medic nodded and inspected his wound. "He's going to be alright, right Doctor?"

"It didn't hit his eye. Couple stitches, nothing bad. It looks like the helmet took most of the blow."

"Mmnn, Silver?" Wisp looked around, his head lilting as he did. His eyes couldn't seem to focus.

"I'm here, sweetie. Hey, right here." The brick red filly gently cradled her boyfriend's face, pointing him at her. "Hey, you're ok. We made it back. Willow?"

"And you're OK?" She nodded. "I'm glad..." He was definitely focused on her, but his speech was still slow and uncertain.

"Looks like a concussion. We can deal with that. Hold him still, that cut comes first." The medic cleaned her needle and thread for a second round.

"Willow, sweetie, this is going to hurt. Just focus on me, ok?" She smiled for him, and he smiled back sleepily. The smile turned to a grimace as the needle began its work. Keeping out of the medic's way, Rain held his head steady and planted kisses along the other side of his face. "It's ok, it'll be over soon. You're doing wonderfully."

Firefly watched her company reassemble itself as she lay on her side. The fuschia mare let out a loud, cursing grunt as her leg was set back in its socket. She lay still, panting against the pain until it started to even out.

"Thanks, Doc," she panted. "leave a wrap, I can handle the sling myself. There are others who need you, go." The earth pony nodded and galloped off to the next crisis. Firefly took a moment, lying on her side, to survey the deck. Wren Song and her squad were huddled around a body. Slipstream was comforting a filly who'd nearly lost her ear. Tall Storm, a stallion from Dawn Platoon, had not been so lucky about his hind hoof. Evening Star and Snow Veil clung to each other while Thunder Clap and Surf Crest searched in vain for their missing squaddie. And the mare knew, without even counting, how many were not there at all.

~*~

The Captain of Cyclone Company never allowed herself a moment of weakness in front of her ponies. She was a fixed point for them, always calm and collected, always ready for whatever came their way. She always had something for them, orders or advice or just a warm cup of wine. She was their banner, and everypony in Cyclone Company could follow her without hesitation.

So when the five senior officers gathered together in the captain’s quarters half the night later, for the fuschia mare to seem so completely defeated was entirely alien to the four waiting on her word. Taro Blush, a freckled mare with a distinctive jawline, stood in Duster’s place since a dragon had seen fit to remove his lower half from his upper half. They stood in a row, waiting for their captain to tell them what to do, but she had nothing to give them.

What were they supposed to do? By a rough estimate, more than a third of Cyclone Company was either dead or out of action. Moonlight and Downpour Companies were just as battered, if not worse. The newbie platoon, pitifully inexperienced compared to the others, had stalled into a defensive line before the airships and had been torn to shreds.

Their abduction and expulsion by the storm had blown them miles in some direction, far from Colonel Redwood’s ground forces. The Dauntless and the Ranger had been lost, their remains and their crews swallowed by the maelstrom; the only possessions the mare had left were those she had taken into battle. All told, they were probably down to less than half strength, miles from their intended path, and too beaten to hope to mount anything, be it rescue, offensive, or safe retreat.

“Get a proper report of our standings,” Firefly finally told her senior staff. “Numbers, names, damage reports. And see to your platoons.” She did not watch them leave.

~*~

A ball of indigo fur lay curled up against the side of the Adamant. If one were to look closely, they could make out the slight rise and fall of her back with each breath, but beyond that, she was completely motionless. Comet had not slept, eaten, or drank anything in the past twelve hours. Lily had brought her a meager meal around dawn, but it lay untouched behind the filly.

Three times, somepony had come by to check on her, to try and ease her back out into the world. All of them had given up. She wanted to talk, part of her did at least, but her throat had sealed off, trapping everything inside her. She wanted to cry, but she had done that already. She wanted to eat, but she wasn’t hungry. She wanted to fly home, but she didn’t know the way.

She wanted it to end, but something in her kept pulling her back to life.

So she lay still, and tried to put her world back together, but it was like trying to build a castle from dry sand. The more she tried to make sense of the chaos in her head, the more jumbled it became, banging inside her skull like drums until she couldn’t even focus enough to know how confused she was. She curled tighter against herself, and the tears started again. But her body had so little water left, it wasn’t about to devote any to crying, so she was left with dry, painful sobs that wracked her entire form.

A hoof stroked through her disheveled mane. She jumped at the contact, but did not turn to see who it was. When the offending hoof did not go away, Comet tried to growl, but it came out as a cracked, miserable mewl.

“Shh,” Rain whispered. She continued to stroke her mane, completely silent save to calm Comet whenever she tried to rebuke the brick red filly. Once her mane had achieved some level of straightness, she started in on the tail, gently working through the hairs. After a half hour of slow, careful grooming, when Comet had finally given up any form of protest, the taller pony began humming a soft tune.

Comet wanted to scream at her. Why wouldn’t she leave her alone? Why was she still here? She didn’t want a grooming, she didn’t want a friend, she wanted to close her eyes, let go, and never have to feel anything again. And she wanted to do it alone.

Except she didn’t.

Against the protests of her stiff joints, Comet slowly uncurled, turning to look at Rain. Her eyes were red and puffy, her coat was matted and dirty, still weathered by last night’s storm -- she was, through and through, a mess. Slowly, she leaned against Rain, wrapping her forelegs around her, and held on with all the desperation of a foal clutching its mother. The wracking sobs returned anew, muffled against Rain’s coat, and the brick red filly caressed her back and continued to hum her gentle tune.

Rain was on the verge of tears herself. She was trying so hard to be strong for Comet, but how was she supposed to be when so much had happened? Willow's concussion had been minor, nothing a little magic and a night's rest had not been able to fix, but it had scared her half to death that he had nearly been decapitated, and then could barely see straight afterwards. It was only by Faust’s grace that both she and Willow had ultimately made it home, but so many had not. She had only come to get a sense of their loss once she had awoken some time after dawn. Their platoon had lost four ponies alone, five were severely injured, and every other platoon was as bad or worse.

Down to three ships, unsupported, lost, and battered beyond any chance of repair, how were they supposed to survive? Silver Raindrops clutched Comet, holding her close and burying her muzzle in Comet’s mane. They clung to each other, desperate for anything to hold on to even though neither really had anything for the other. After a few minutes, the red filly was bold enough to whisper, “You have to eat something.”

Comet did not say anything, but Rain felt her nod against her chest. She smiled a weak, honest smile.

The task proved harder than expected. Dehydrated and disheveled as she was, Comet had to take her water slowly, and anything richer than a few nibbles of bread threatened to evacuate her stomach faster than she could ingest it. Still, it was something, something Rain and Lily were both happy to see. Energy seemed to return to the filly bit by bit, though it did not show on her face in the slightest. Across the table, Lily and Rain risked a whispered conversation.

"Were the two of them... you know-" Rain whispered.

"Not that I ever saw. They talked a lot, sure, but nothing more serious." Lily smirked. "Nothing like you and Wisp, anyway."

"I will ignore that, this time," Rain deadpanned. "This is bad, Lily Nimbus."

"Duh. Have you looked around, filly? We're past the ass end of nowhere." Lily sighed.

"I know, I know, just... one thing at a time. Comet, I have a chance to help. I'm not a navigator." Rain nibbled at her own roll and looked around. So deep in the belly of the Adamant, the galley had been virtually untouched. A few tables had been knocked over, pots and pans in the kitchen thrown about, but nothing serious. And from what she had heard, the armored hull protecting the majority of the cargo holds had held up. Some supplies had been lost, but the remaining would hold through, she hoped.

"Speaking of, how's Wisp?" Lily offered.

"Better after some rest. He is still a little out of sorts, but... He's better." She closed her eyes. Panic lurked just behind her placid composure.

"Mmm, well, you two should try to take it easy then." Lily took a big bite out of her roll. "How's your squad doing?"

Rain looked to Comet to see if the filly was really listening to them. She was not. "We lost Vertigo. Billow Blast took a few drops of acid to one wing, but he'll be recover. 'Just a few feathers to grow back,' he says."

"And is he full of shit?"

Rain frowned. "You never change, do you?" Lily snickered. "Unfortunately, yes. The acid burned down to his muscle in a few places. It will be longer than growing a few feathers." The brick red filly laid down against the table. "On top of that, Stratus barely got back to the ship before he collapsed. Apparently, he strained something trying to evade one attack or another. It's a miracle he made it back at all."

"But he's ok?" Lily asked. The two of them glanced at Comet. She had stopped chewing.

"Yes, with some rest." Her chewing resumed.

"Speak of Discord, and he shall appear." Stratus sat down beside the three fillies. He quickly hid the grimace his twinging muscles caused. "Ladies." All of them met his smile save Comet. "Hell of a night, huh."

"That's a polite way to describe it," Rain sighed. "We got lucky. Speaking of which, Nimbus, you were the closest to that monster, yes? What exactly happened?"

"... When we got there, it seemed hypnotized." Lily fidgeted with her roll. "Even after most of the broadwings had gone down, it kept flying. So Comet, here, had the bright idea to wake it up." She nudged the indigo filly's hoof playfully. “She used a glaive as a lightning rod and shocked it awake. After that, it dispelled the barrier holding the storm back, I guess, and you know the rest."

"And were those shields around us its work, too?"

"I don't know who else it could have been." Lily shrugged. "You saw our unicorns. They're all spent. Even together, they couldn't have protected all of us."

"But one dragon could." Stratus snorted. "Glad it had a change of heart, then."

“Agreed,” Silver sighed. “How are you feeling, Stratus?”

“Better, kind of. Small tear along my back, nothing too serious…”

“You can’t jump with a muscle tear,” the brick red filly retorted.

“Shouldn’t, but emergencies take priority. I’m not going down without a fight.” The charcoal colt grinned as well as he could, and the two fillies returned the gesture uncertainly. Comet continued to absently nibble on her roll.

~*~

Wren Song, Slipstream, Surf Crest, and Billow Blast sat in front of their platoon leader, forlornly observing the wood grain of the deck. The way in which the cobalt stallion paced told them he was not mad, not even disappointed, just defeated. They all were. They had done every menial task Firefly had thought to give them, and it was clear that neither she nor the captains of the three remaining airships had any notion of what to do.

“Sir?” Slipstream locked eyes with her C.O. “If I may speak candidly…” He nodded. “This is over, sir. It's bucking beyond over. We need to bear north and keep going until we find a friendly settlement.”

“I’m inclined to agree,” Wren Song said. “We’re beaten, we have wounded, we’re down half our combat strength, more if you count the loss of our ground forces. Enough of our supplies made it through, but they won’t last forever -- we can’t sustain another fight, especially one like that.”

“I know, I know -- look.” Rainbow ceased pacing. “We’re getting out of here. Captain’s already decided on that, but we need to figure out how. We can stay low and wait for cover of dark, or we can book it now and risk getting spotted. Either way, we're bucked if we run into another large group. Buck the reports, I want your opinions.” He already had a sense for their answers, but he wanted to hear them. “Can your squads fly?”

“Barely.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

Rainbow sighed. “Sir,” Wren said, “I’m down three ponies, four if I can allow time to let Nimbus’ leg heal, and one more is in no condition to fly. Unless Shimmer makes a miraculous recovery, I'm down to less than half a squad.”

“Same here, Boss,” Billow Blast said. “I can’t have Drifter jump with his bad back unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

“And Two and Three each have five, right?” The other two squad leaders nodded. “Buck… Alright, in the event of a sortie, I want One and Three, Two and Four to pair up. Don’t give me that look; I know it doesn’t help the numbers, but at least you’ll have somepony watching your back. So Drifter and Nimbus are injured, and Shimmer’s catatonic. Anypony else?”

Slipstream snorted. “Anypony, sir? Try everypony. Wisp is still loopy, Pastelight’s ear is a bucking decoration, so she’s out, and the rest of them? My ponies are on the edge, and I don’t have anything to give them to help.” The other leaders nodded.

“Preaching to the choir, Slip. Everypony here is worn to the bone, but I’m looking for who’s in the process of breaking down, not who’s threatening to. I couldn’t throw a rock without hitting somepony ready to crack!” The lieutenant stamped the floor with his hoof. His officers tried very hard not to flinch, and almost succeeded. Rainbow steadied himself. “Nevermind. Do whatever you can, just… keep them together, whatever it takes. We’re heading home as fast as we can. It's almost over.”

~*~

“How’re you holdin’ up, Bolts?” Dewbead sat on the railing, wings spread to keep her balance, and kicked her hindlegs absently. Sparky Bolts sat on the deck beside her, eyes fixed on the horizon, an empty mug of cider in his hoof.

“...I think back on it, on how fast everything happened, and I can’t think of anything I could have done that would have saved him. I couldn’t have stopped that dragon, I couldn’t have gotten him back to the ship, I didn’t have anything to patch his wounds or even stop the bleeding.” Sparky Bolts swallowed his next words and tried some others. “I know that… So why does it feel like I did something wrong?”

“Because you don’t like it. I was the same with Summer Seas. It just... happened, not a chance in Tartarus that I could have stopped it. But I wish I could have. I obsessed over it. I still think about it sometimes. You can’t beat it with logic, Bolts.” She gave him an apologetic smile. “Just gotta live with it.”

“No logic, huh? Well I'm screwed, then.” Sparky Bolts swallowed hard. “I’m quite sure Shimmer will kill me if she sees me. I heard she’s up and about the ship, now, so my days are numbered.”

“She may be a wreck, but she’s not stupid. She’s not gonna blame you for him, anymore than we can blame anypony for anypony else. This is part of the job.”

“I hope you’re right…” Sparky Bolts stood and stretched. “I’m going to get a little sleep in before something else happens. I’ll be ready if the horn blows.” Dewbead watched him leave before turning to the scenery herself. The sky blue mare hardly believed any of the shit she'd told him, but he didn't need to know that. The truth wasn't about to help any of them out in this province of Tartaric.

She could not have dozed off, but the blue pegasus was back by her side in no time at all.

“Trouble sleeping?”

“You know how the twins have been trying to win Clear Morning over for the past month or more?”

“Yeah?”

“They won.”

~*~

With the sun high and behind them, the ramshackle fleet barreled north at their best speed. With the Starfall down half it sails, that was not saying much. Night Light sat on deck, warming his coat in the last rays of Autumn. Winter would be upon them soon, if they made it that far, but he prayed that they would spend most of the cold season resting at some base very, very far north.

What a stupid, stupid oaf he’d been. If he hadn’t jumped on a notion of adventure and signed up for the Corps, he would still be in Canterlot. He’d still be with Velvet. He wouldn’t be aching in every joint, nursing a migraine the size of the Smokey Mountain, and he wouldn’t have to resign himself to the awareness that all the adventures he might have experienced later in life were probably never going to happen now.

The navy blue unicorn wasn’t sure why he expected the rough and tumble pegasi to be faring any better, but he was surprised when Rainbow Blaze sat down beside him and looked as haggard as he did.

“Morning, Magister? How’s the head?”

“About ready to split in two. How’s yours?”

“Full of shit.” The pegasus eased onto his belly and rested his head on his hooves. “I’ve got nothing to do, nothing to say, just sit and hope we get home without any more trouble.”

“And you think we’ll manage that?” Night Light asked. Rainbow smirked, but there was no mirth in it. “Yeah… Do you regret it, Blaze?”

“I do.” The pegasus sighed. “I wouldn’t take back doing my duty, but it's just been so... worthless in the end.” The two stallions sat in silence for a while, mulling over their sorry state. “You know, I never really trusted unicorns in a fight for a long time.” Night Light’s incredulous stare earned a chuckle from the pegasus. “You guys are so… frilly, with how a lot of you talk, how you do a lot of things with your magic. I just figured you’d all run and hide at the first sign of trouble. I’m glad I was wrong.”

“Well, while we’re being honest, I never really expected pegasi to be… approachable.” Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Canterlot’s mostly unicorns, old blood and whatever else. The few pegasi I ever worked with were with the Castle Guard, and they were all a bunch of blockheads with more interest in who could do the most pushups, or which mare had the nicest flank. I guess I just started assuming all of you were like that.”

“Well, I like to think that Cyclone Company is at least kind of special that way,” Rainbow chuckled. “Firefly hates robots. Dunno what exactly it is, but when she took over, she wanted thinking, feeling ponies who’d look out for each other. She wanted us to get creative, to respect each other for us rather than our badge… And I know for a fact, that’s the only reason we’re still alive.”

“You trust her?”

“I’d follow her through the gates of Tartarus.”

“I'm pretty sure you did, after last night," Night Light said. The pegasus gave a wry chuckle. "...You like her, don’t you?” Rainbow remained stoically silent. “Ohohoho, Big Boss Rainbow Blaze likes somepony. What will the other officers think?”

“If they don’t have some notion by now, they’re dumber than I thought.” Rainbow rolled his eyes. “We keep things professional, 99% of the time. This war has been stressful, though, you know?”

“I do…”

“Whatever she needs me to be, I’ll be. Commander, confidante, I’ll do it.” He smiled to himself. “I’ll do anything.”

The two sat in silence for a while before Night Light finally said, “I just hope I’ll get the chance to do that for Velvet. I was so stupid coming out here. I should have stayed in Canterlot, with her.”

“We’ll try, Night Light,” Rainbow said. “Faust willing, we’ll make it home. And when we do, what will you do?”

“Heh, if -- when I get back, I’m gonna take Velvet out to dinner. Half a month’s pay, burned in a night. And after that?” The unicorn watched the clouds float by. “I’ll make sure, every day for the rest of my days, she knows how much I love her.”

~*~

Willow Wisp woke from his nap and rubbed his eyes. The room spun for a moment, but righted itself faster than the last time he’d awoken. The sunlight peeking through the holes in the wall was growing dim, which meant the lemon yellow colt had been out for longer than he’d meant to be. Nopony had bothered to wake him, however, so at least there wasn’t any trouble. From the deck below him, the steady beat of a hammer nailing boards reverberated up to his ears. It made sense -- all of the ships had taken a beating, and it was smart to fortify the hull. But where had they gotten the lumber for it?

He wasn’t sure what shocked him more: the missing bunks when he went to look for Rain in the crew quarters, or the missing benches when he found her still in the galley. “So they’re cannibalizing the ship now, huh?”

“Only what we don’t need,” Stratus replied. His meal was less than appealing: a roll, and some porridge consisting of rice and something to give it a semblance of flavor. It didn’t stop Willow from getting a bowl for himself. “Fewer mouths, fewer butts, and more holes in the ship. Might as well put it to use, right?”

“If it keeps us flying, I won’t complain.” Willow took his seat beside Rain and gave her a quick nuzzle. “How’re you?”

“I should be asking you that,” Rain smiled. Faust, that smile…

“I’m ok. Hi Comet.” He smiled at the morose filly. Her eyes flitted at him, then returned to her food. He frowned, but Rain’s expression warned him off. Baby steps, her eyes said, so he let it go. "I see we're heading north. Smartest thing we've done since we enlisted."

"No kidding. The sooner we leave this plain of Tartarus behind, the better," Lily spat. "You haven't heard anything else, have you?"

"Just got up, myself, so no." The yellow colt stretched in place. "I wanted to see how everypony was doing since...well-"

"Since we went through hell in a rotting hoofbasket?" Stratus deadpanned. The others shot him a surprised glare. "What, we did. There was nothing good about what happened out there, and the best we can say is that we're alive-"

"Drifter!" Rain hissed. A thump from the end of the table caused them to freeze. Comet was slumped against the table, her face buried in her hooves. Lily bit her lip and got up. She gently put her forelegs around Comet and held her, but there really wasn't anything else to do.

"Shimmer, sorry, I- He was a good pony-"

"Drifter," Willow spat, "shut the buck up." His head throbbed, but he clenched his jaw and ignored it. He watched them quietly, Lily comforting her wingpony, before he noticed the indigo hooves begin to curl. Her lip slowly twisted, baring her fangs. The lemon colt bolted up and yanked Lily off the chiroptequus.

"Wisp, what-" The force of Comet hitting the table cracked it. The indigo filly bolted up, knocking everything near her over. The others started towards her, but she jumped back, wings splayed open and fangs bared in a snarl.

"Why!?" Comet barked. They were frozen in her gaze. "Why is he gone? Why him and not somepony who deserved it? Why was he smiling? Why did he-" Her fury faltered, and she slowly brought a hoof to her muzzle. "Why did he... He didn't... We didn't..."

"Comet?" Lily eased closer to the filly. The chiroptequus retreated at her approach. "Hit me if you want, but I'm not going anywhere." Comet hit her. The blow was so weak, so lacking, it barely registered as a touch. The pink filly took the hoof in hers, then Comet's whole self. The sobbing returned again, but at least there was somepony there. Comet clutched her like she was going to drown.

"How could he go, and leave me feeling like this?" Comet cried into Lily's shoulder.

"I'm sure he would have stayed," the pink filly whispered, "maybe even forever."

"We weren't like that... I didn't think." She squeezed tighter. "That stupid, wonderful jerk." Willow Wisp reflexively put his wing out and wrapped it around Silver Raindrops. She leaned in and pressed herself against him as they watched for any sign that they were needed. "Lily, I can't-"

"I know, Comet. We're going home. The ships are heading north, and when we get back, we're done." The air was heavy with the implications of that. They had all seen, first hoof, what the dragons were truly capable of. If there were multiple groups that large, anywhere smaller than Dodge Junction or Fort Solaris would fall to pieces against it. Air fleets meant nothing against a storm front. The dragons had the strength, possibly even the numbers, and now they were putting both to use.

If there was a way to win, none of them could see it.

~*~

A third or so of Crescent Platoon all sat between their bunks, doing what they could to clean their gear and themselves. Water was being heavily conserved to make sure they would make it home, so none of them could look forward to a shower anytime soon. There wasn't even a cloud to jump through for miles. A good rinse was desperately needed amongst the gathered ponies, but it was far from the forefront of their wants.

In the past couple hours, the twins had done something to mess themselves up more than anypony else, yet they seemed completely pleased with whatever they had done. Lily had asked them, likely because she already knew and wanted to hear the details, but they just smiled a pair of big, warm, content smiles. It may have been the first genuine sign of happiness any of them had seen all day.

Willow Wisp frowned as he looked over his helmet. It was a miracle he was alive to inspect it -- half of the thing had been torn away, metal ripped like cloth, leaving him with a macabre cutaway of his headgear. Completely beyond salvage, he set it aside and looked at the rest of his equipment.

Lily and Comet were taking their time going over their sabres. The long blades had long ago lost their polish, having gone through however many dozens of dragon scales, bone, and all manner of bodily fluids, but they needed to check for cracks or gashes that could cause the blades to break in the middle of a fight. It gave the indigo filly something to focus on, something clear and tangible, and it gave her pink wingpony a chance to chat with her and slowly bring her back out of her cage. Occasionally, Comet would stop to give her contraption a twist; if it still bothered Lily Nimbus, she was good at hiding it.

"You gave us a hell of a scare, Pastel," Sun Ray said. She paused to breath on a section of her backplate. "How're you feeling?"

"Pretty awful," Pastelight said. She was laying on her bed, instructions to take it easy keeping her from joining the others. "I can't feel my ear, and it feels like half my face has turned to pudge..." Her words slurred a touch, the ends slipping off her tongue like molasses.

"That's probably the numbing stuff they gave you," Moon Beam replied. "Don't want you flexing anything and ripping the stitches." Pinion shuddered at the thought. "Really? After everything we've flown through, ripped stitches bother you?"

"Yes," Pinion said flatly, "and needles, and-"

"Syringes?"

"Celestia's horn, yes, just-" he shuddered again, "yes." Lily and the twins snickered and continued their cleaning. Slipstream rolled his eyes but said nothing.

"Sometimes, I swear I'm flying with a bunch of foals," Wren Song whispered to the other squad leader. She pointed her nose at her squadmate. "Nimbus, how old are you?"

"Nineteen, ma'am. Why?"

"See, foals." She returned to her work. True to her nickname, she showed no response to Lily's confused gape, but a hint of a smile graced her lips when Willow and the twins picked up on a new way to tease her.

"Cute, Song, very cute," Slipstream laughed. "Aren't you only twenty seven?"

"A gentlecolt never asks, and a lady never tells."

"Ladies and gentlecolts don't exist out here, Statue." She huffed playfully. Slipstream weighed his odds. "How are you doing?"

Song glanced at him. "Since I know what you're trying to ask, no, I don't blame myself. There was no reason to think a glimmerback would lag behind, we had our orders and we executed them... It all happened so fast, and now I have the rest of my squad to look after." She let out a wry chuckle. "It's odd. I was so concerned about letting my squad down, but now that I have, all I can think about is the rest of them."

"Maybe," The stallion whispered, "but see if you feel the same when you don't have so much else to deal with." She shot him a vicious glance. "I'm not saying you should feel guilty, but everything's flipped on its head right now. Just keep an eye on yourself too, alright?"

"As you say, Sergeant." Silence rode across the group like a wave. Wren Song looked up to find Sparky Bolts had entered on their little group session. Half the eyes in the room were on him, while the other half were on Comet Shimmer. The two ponies were staring at each other, some muddled combination of fear, disbelief, and anger tugging their faces into unpleasant grimaces.

The chiroptequus, the only one left in the platoon, rose on shaky legs and turned to face the blue pegasus. He gulped and took a single step forward. "Shimmer," he stammered, "I..."

Comet put a hoof on his shoulder. "...You were a good wingpony for him, Bolts. I know how much he respected you." She bit her lip, like she wanted to say more, but returned to her seat and buried herself in a spot on her armor. Everypony sat in silence, waiting for the violence that apparently was not to come. Shoulders slumped, Sparky Bolts sat on his bunk and watched them clean. Every so often, Comet would steal a glance at the blue pegasus. Their eyes would meet, and some unheard discussion would fly back and forth between them before their gaze broke.

Wren, painfully aware of the whole thing, never took her attention far from the pair, and when it was clear that things were hardly as fine as they were pretending, she set her armor aside and stood. "You two, topside." Comet and Sparky stood. Lily got up as well, but Wren raised a hoof. "You stay." The pink filly glanced worriedly at Comet, but obeyed. The three ponies made their way up the stairwell to the top deck and found a decent spot for them to converse. Despite the damage to ship and crew, the Adamant was still buzzing with activity.

"Alright," the Squad Four captain said as she turned to face them, "the two of you are going to get this out in the open. I don't care if you fight, cry, buck, or whatever else, but you are not leaving until this tension is aired out and done with."

The two ponies under her command stared sheepishly at each other. One would open their mouth to speak, only to shut it again, then the other would do the same, until finally Sparky Bolts muttered, "I'm sorry, Shimmer. I'd trade myself for him, if I could."

"...If I kill you, will I get Moon Fang back?" Comet's voice was raspy and full of ice.

"I don't think that's how it works, no." She didn't wait on his answer. She started toward him, anger speeding every step.

"When you, and Willow, and Lily, and even Rain thought nothing of me, Fang was a friend. He always tried to help, always smiled, always gave me a chance. I didn't need to prove myself to him." Comet pushed him back a step. "And it wasn't because we were both 'bats.' He was nice to anypony who wasn't mean to others. I trusted him. I liked him. Maybe I loved him, I don't know. He certainly deserved whatever I could give him. But now he's gone, and whatever he might have been is gone too.

"I know it wasn't your fault, Bolts. Things happen out there." Flame and bile rose on her voice. "But if you keep giving me the chance, I might start blaming you." Her pupils narrowed to slits. "And you don't want that."

"Will you just hit me so we can get that part done with?" So Comet struck Bolts across the face. The force sent him sprawling against the deck. Wren sucked in a breath, but did not intervene. Sparky Bolts got to his feet, spat a little blood over the side of the ship, and wiped his mouth. "Shimmer, I can't just pretend it doesn't hurt. I'm not that heartless, despite what you may think. Blame aside, I wish he was here. If there were a way to bring him back, I'd do it." He paused as a shiver wracked his body. "Because you're right. He was one of the best ponies I've ever known." His face scrunched up, but he couldn't pretend he wasn't crying. "If you hate me, I don't blame you. Just don't think you're the only one."

Comet Shimmer had known Sparky Bolts for almost a year. She had known him to smile often enough, laugh rarely, and he seemed to respond to anger with practiced indifference. But she had never seen him cry. She attempted to steady her quivering jaw, failed, and wrapped her wings around him. The both slumped to the deck, Comet being the more composed pony for the first time in ages, before Wren Song came over and comforted them both.

No more, the cream colored mare promised herself. No more fear, no more regret, no more loss. She had four ponies left to her, and she was going to see all of them home or die trying.

~*~

There was no way to tell how far south they had made it before things had gone to Tartarus, which meant there was no way to tell how far north they had to go to make it home. Sleep came uneasy to everypony in the fleet -- fear of attack, or just fear of part of their ship falling away, crept into their minds in the dark hours. Often, the CAG found themselves with company as pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies alike wandered on deck and watched the miles tick by. Once more on the move day or night, the wind chill bit at exposed fur. Blankets were dragged from beds, and warm coffee was a must.

"We're gonna run out of sludge before we get home," Lily grumbled from inside the wool shell she'd wrapped around herself.

"We'll manage," Wren Song replied. While their supplies had not been wiped out, they were starting to show signs of depletion. Rationing was going into effect, and while it was likely no more than two more weeks lay between them and The Line, there was no way to know what awaited them there. For all they knew, The Line was already gone, and it would be weeks more before they made it to a town. "Nimbus, how's your leg doing?"

"Don't need legs to fly, ma'am. Don't worry about me."

"Good. Bolts will be joining you and Shimmer." Dewbead coughed rudely, but the squad lead paid it no mind. "We need every able pair of wings if we run into another fight, and I'm not sending anypony up alone. Any complaints?"

"No ma'am. We'll make it work." Lily wrapped the blanket tighter around herself. Comet was still not back from her walk, and the pink filly was not sure how she would take the news. It had been six days, and they had not killed each other, so hopefully it would be fine.

Hopefully.

"Song?"

"Yes, Nimbus?"

"Do you ever miss your harp?" Wren gazed at the filly across the pool of amber light. The dancing shadows seemed to cast all manner of emotion across her face, so much that Lily could not be sure which were real and which were not.

"Every day, Nimbus." The cream colored mare sighed and sipped her coffee.

Lily nodded in silence. "I'd like to hear you play sometime. I'm not one for classical music, but-"

"When we get back, maybe I will." Wren Song smiled. Lily flashed her cocky smile, and her ears perked up when she heard Comet returning.

"Hey, there's my patchwork wingpony. How's the night treating you?"

"It's freezing my tail off." Comet tugged the blanket closer, so much so that the tips of her wings jutted out against the fabric. "Winter is hitting us hard, isn't it?"

"Not one for the cold?"

"Not when I have to sit out in it, no." The indigo filly huddled in with her gathered squad. With only five of them left, the circle was much smaller than any of them cared for. So it was a welcome change when Squad Two trotted over and added their heat to Squad Four's. With a congregation started, more wandering ponies gravitated towards their warmth and merriment until their ranks numbered nearly twenty.

It was the kind of gathering that warranted mugs of good cider or ale, but there wasn't enough left on the ship. That hardly stopped them from telling stories and jokes, singing songs, and knocking each other around. For the first time in ages, Comet found she was laughing. When had laughter become so foreign for the filly? After so long, it almost hurt her lungs, but she could not, did not want to stop. For as long as she could, she wanted to hold on to everything she had.

~*~

Supposedly, there was a regulation about bunks being for one pony and one pony only. If it actually existed, nopony cared enough to remind Willow and Silver. Once or twice a night, one of them would start awake. Truth be told, some of the others envied the ease with which they could find comfort.

Captain Candescence was hardly becoming lax in her command, if her unchanged stride and the respect she garnered from her crew were any indication. Hell, if anything, her unwavering attitude was half the reason the Adamant was still airborne. But codes of conduct were being forgotten or deliberately ignored, and ponies were, in their free time at least, doing whatever damn well pleased them.

This resulted in the yellow colt and the red filly sharing a bed. Truth be told, out of exhaustion and respect to their crewmates, sharing was all it ever amounted to. The yellow colt snuggled against the red filly, reveling in the warmth of her fur and the sound of her even breathing. He wanted to tell her everything, in case there wasn't another chance, but he could not bring himself to disturb her. So instead, he closed his eyes and waited for sleep to come. It kept him waiting for a long time.

There was once a sorbet colt that had, on occasion, been such a comfort to Comet. His absence was like a void when she woke from her third nightmare in as many nights. She would wake and lie in the darkness, too drained to seek out anypony, and eventually drift into uneasy rest for another hour or two before waking for the day. It was draining her energy, and she was sure, looking around, that she was hardly the only one. The worst was one night, when she awoke to the realization she had nodded off during her CAG round. But the rest of her squad was right there with her, and they hardly seemed to care. Maybe they were just too cold to do anything.

After yet another sleepless night, Comet crept out of bed and hovered out of the room. She was glad she had absentmindedly taken her blanket along; though the first rays of Celestia's sun were painting the horizon a myriad of pastel hues, the air had yet to warm with the sky. On deck, she found a few others of her company mingling with the squads from Dawn Platoon on duty. She wasn't sure about Slipstream or Evening Star, but she knew for a fact that Thunder Clap was not a morning pony.

When they heard her approach, the pegasi made a spot for her. She sat down with a muttered thanks as they resumed their conversation. Apparently, the talk of the evening was where everypony was heading once they made it back.

"Personally," Evening Star said, "I'm heading north, north of Vanhoover. Maybe I'll build a cabin or something, up where there's snow."

"That does sound like something you'd do, Star," Thunder Clap said with a smirk. "As I understand, you're quite fond of 'thick veils of snow.'" Slipstream tried to contain his snicker and failed miserably.

The shade of crimson Evening Star turned could have been spotted a mile away. "I- we- that's not- she isn't, Slipstream why are you laughing too!?" The filly hid behind her wings and whimpered.

"Nopony's judging you, Star," Slipstream said warmly, "right Clap?"

"Nothin' to judge, sir."

"Exactly." He patted on her shoulder. "We don't choose who we love. If you found somepony that makes you happy, then more power to you." Evening Star smiled. "Of course, it might help if you tell her."

"I'm... working on that," Evening Star muttered.

"Well, better sooner than later, Airpony." The stallion returned to his seat. "As for me, I'm thinking somewhere with a beach, maybe west of Applewood. Lots of warm sand out there."

"I'd think you'd have gotten enough sand to last a lifetime out here, sir," Junebug laughed.

"It helps to have an ocean to go with it." Slipstream sipped his weak coffee. They had started cutting down on the grounds per brew. "And you, Clap?"

"Manehatten. It's my city, simple as that." He smiled dreamily, and anypony could see the reflection of tall buildings and bustling crowds in his eyes. Every detail was perfectly etched into his memory. "What about you, Egghead? Where you headed after all this is over?"

The filly sat in silence, blanket wrapped tightly around her, staring bewilderedly at the question in front of her. "I... don't know. I haven't much thought about it." She rolled her lip under her fang. "Home, I guess, back to Canterlot."

"Nowhere you'd like to go?" Fox Whisker, one of Junebug's squadmates, offered.

The filly smiled wryly. "I think I've had enough travel for a while, thank you." She smiled at their chuckles. "No, right now I just want to go home." Morning light the color of poppies rose across the sky, turning the stone and sand below a soft but brilliant red. Far to the south, tall stacks of storm clouds appeared on the horizon.

~*~

Firefly glanced up at the midmorning sun, then back to the south. The clouds were bigger than the dawn CAG had reported, no surprise there, but they were thankfully headed in an entirely different direction from the trio of ships. But the mare remembered all too well the last time they had thought nothing of a storm. Judging by the tense silence with which the deck crew worked, so did everypony else.

The fuschia mare had an energy in her stride again, a return to form that did not escape her senior staff. Panic threatened to topple the crews before anything even happened, and that was something she had the power to prevent. Whenever she was on deck, her eyes were half on what she was doing, and half on those clouds, but her posture was flawless, and her feathers immaculately preened. Sure enough, her presence alone helped keep her ponies calm and collected.

Inspiring C.O.s aside, there was only so much anypony could do against the threatening storm. Out of nothing less than fear, the three ships were drawing as much speed out of their battered vessels as they could manage. Everything that they could do to prepare, they had done. All that was left was to watch and pray.

Firefly gave her wings a good stretch by hopping over to the Equinox, their third remaining ship, to see how things were faring. “Drifter,” she said as she touched down, “didn’t expect to see you here. How’s the back?”

“Ma’am,” Stratus saluted, “just running a message for Lt. Blaze. And it’s getting there, thanks. Anything I can do for you?”

“You’re doing plenty, Drifter.” The mare eyed him curiously. If she had come into Cyclone Company a week ago, she wouldn’t be able to tell their replacements from their original members. Wounds aside, all of them had pushed themselves to the breaking point. Rainbow Blaze had said he’d landed a deal with his Hurricane Dozen. Maybe he was right for once. She certainly could not have asked for better.

“...Something wrong, Ma’am?”

“Not wrong, no.” She smirked. “Blaze puts a lot of faith in you foals. I can see why. You’re looking after each other?”

“Yeah, Ma’am.” Stratus shifted nervously. “We’re… we’re still flying, Ma’am. I do what I can, but I’m not sure it’s enough.”

“I know, Drifter.” Faust, she really did. “I’ve found, though, a good leader will be doing more to help than they think.”

“A leader, Ma’am? I-I don’t-”

“Best not keep that message waiting, Drifter.” Firefly nodded and headed below deck. It was a small seed, she knew, but small seeds make giant trees. Maybe something would come of it if they could make it home. But she was their leader right now, and she’d be damned if she didn’t do everything in her power to make that future a possibility. She had allowed herself a moment of weakness to rebound with, and now it was time to take charge.