Facing Northern Lightning

by The Prancing Red Pony

Chapter 10 - Grant and Rainbow Dash (Train Rides & Dreams)

Rainbow Dash awoke. She found herself in a large luxurious room with gold tapestries of Princess Celestia, a massive bed with satin sheets, a makeup desk that looked akin to something Rarity longed for, a large window that looked out to a courtyard in Canterlot, and two massive doors carved with gold and bearing the house of Celestia in the form of ruby's, sapphires, crystals, and emeralds. Rainbow Dash could hardly believe it. Where was Grant? The Army of the Potomac? The Cannons and Gatling Guns? The bandages on her wing? HER WING.

Rainbow Dash looked at her wing very carefully to see if there were any bullet holes still left from when the Gatling Gun shot her down. The wing looked perfectly normal as it did long before the invasion of the Union. She breathed a long sigh of relief.

"It was only a dream" she said to herself, "The Union, General Grant, the Gatling Guns, her man-" Rainbow Dash ran to a nearby mirror. Her mane was still very much attached to her head and bore the colors of a rainbow after a spring rain. Her eyes welled with tears. Rainbow Dash ran her hoof through it and smelled it. The sweet scent of morning dew.

That awful nightmare was finally over and she was back home. She wiped the tears from her face and then stared out at the courtyard from the window of the room. The doors to the room started to open. Rainbow Dash turned and saw Princess Celestia. With her face refilling with tears she ran to her Princess and cried openly into her chest.

"Celestia, it was terrible! I'm so happy to be safe and home again" Rainbow Dash said. What Rainbow Dash didn't realize was the magical aura emanating around her and the complexion of Celestia. She was angry, fuming even. Rainbow Dash felt herself being lifted off the ground and then flung against the wall. She crashed with a mighty thud and looked at Celestia across from the room with bewilderment.

"How dare you?!?! You traitorous little bitch!" Celestia yelled. Rainbow Dash was still dazed from being thrown against the wall. She slowly got to her feet.

"What have I done Celestia?" she said. Celestia's mane began to take on deeper and fiery colors as she again used her magical aura. She threw Rainbow Dash repeatedly to the ground and then back up to the air and then down again like a rag doll.

"You betrayed your country and your friends! You conspired with those human savages! You are no subject of mine" Celestia said with ferocity. Rainbow Dash tried to gain her composure and fight but, she couldn't muster herself. All the energy seemed to dissipate from her.

"I don't know what you mean Princess? What Union?" Rainbow Dash asked. Celestia laughed.

"Don't play dumb. You knew full well that you gave the Union the location of Canterlot. They will be here to rip us to shreds! AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" Celestia screamed. Rainbow Dash was dumbstruck. What in the world did she mean that she gave the Union the location of Canterlot.

"My Princess, I would never betray you or my fri-" Rainbow Dash was interrupted as she was again thrown to the floor. It hurt not just physically but, emotionally. The same Princess she remembered as a very young filly being so kind and sweet was now branding her as a traitor. Her face began to well with tears. "The humans aren't bad Celestia! They don't even know why we are attacking them! They didn't even know that we existed!" Rainbow Dash yelled back. Celestia drew closer to Rainbow Dash her breath becoming hot and her mane as red as the sun.

"Don't you dare lie to me! They are going to come here and pillage this entire land for all its worth! And where will you and I end up! As trophies to some lower being! Is that what you want?!?!" Celestia yelled. She stood on top of Rainbow Dash and stared at her with a piercing glare. Rainbow Dash could only curl herself into a ball and pray that this was some dream within a dream.

"Wake up Rainbow! Wake Up! This is just a bad dream! Just a bad dream" she said to herself. Celestia aimed her horn at her.

"You don't deserve that which you prize!" she said. With a flash Rainbow Dash's mane and tail fell to the ground losing all its sheen and turning into a dull grey color. She looked at the mirror over at the makeup desk and she was completely bald. She stared at Celestia and gritted her teeth.

"Don't you dare take away from me what makes me!" Rainbow Dash screamed. She lunged at Celestia. Celestia moved slightly to the side. Rainbow Dash skirted across the floor of the room.

"You have nothing you traitor! The only thing that awaits you is a noose!" Celestia yelled with an evil grin. "Guards!" Celestia called out. Two Pegasus guards appeared and grabbed Rainbow Dash on either side of her. Celestia motioned down to the courtyard where a small crowd was gathering around some gallows. "Take her there" she said to the guards. They saluted and lead Rainbow Dash through the castle. She tried and tried to squirm out of their grip but, it was useless. When she and the guards stepped out she saw many faces staring at her. She looked around and saw Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Spike, and many other familiar faces.

"Guys help me please? Celestia has gone insane!" she called out to her friends.

"I wouldn't consider some traitor my equal" Twilight said coldly.

Rarity turned her back to Rainbow Dash.

Applejack threw a rotten apple at Rainbow Dash's head. It was sticky and smelled as it dripped down her face. "That's what you get you human loving dog" Applejack yelled out.

"You stupid big meanie how could you turn on us?" Fluttershy yelled softly.

"I never want to have a party with someone like you. Now dance from that noose!" Pinkie Pie yelled out.

"You get what you deserve!" Spike said.

Rainbow Dash could hardly believe it. Her friends turned their backs on her when she needed them most. How did they know she spent time with Grant or the Union? Didn't they realize she was their prison? Soon enough the guards and Rainbow Dash approached the steps to the gallows.

"Wake up Rainbow! WAKE UP! FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE WAKE UP!" Rainbow Dash screamed internally. As they reached the platform of the gallows, Rainbow Dash noticed that Celestia, Luna, and Cadance were all staring menacingly from a royal viewing box. As the executioner fit the noose around her neck, Celestia began a proclamation.

"Rainbow Dash you have been convicted of high treason against Equestria! You are a traitor, an enemy, and plight upon our lands! You have conspired with the Union and the humans leaving us with the only option of execution! HANG HER!" Celestia called out. Chants came out from the crowd.

"Traitor!"

"Coward!"

"Enemy!"

"Hang the bitch!"

Rainbow Dash was practically inconsolable. As the executioner reached for the lever to the trap door a voice called out different from what she heard before yet familiar.

"Rainbow Dash"

"Traitor!"

"Rainbow Dash wake up"

"Not Friend"

"Rainbow Dash!"

As the trap door opened. Rainbow Dash awoke and fell out of bed. She was delirious but, quickly looked about her and saw a pair of boots in front of her. She looked up and saw General Grant and a guard staring at her. Without hesitation and almost as an emotional response she grabbed onto Grant's boots and began to shake and cry uncontrollably. The guard drew closer.

"Keep your hands off the general!" the guard called with his rifle butt ready to smack Rainbow Dash's head. Grant raised a hand and the guard lowered his weapon. Grant lowered himself down to Rainbow Dash's view. She was practically inconsolable.

"Rainbow Dash it is nightfall and we must be off to Edgewood before sun up" Grant said. Rainbow Dash whimpered.

"I don't want to die. Please don't let me die. I never betrayed my people. I don't want to die" she repeated over and over. Grant raised an eyebrow.

"You'll only die if you escape or we meet on the field of battle again if you do escape" Grant said bluntly. Rainbow Dash looked up at Grant and realized what she had been doing. She collected herself the best she could and stood tall though her spirit was damaged.

"Sorry Grant! I had a nightmare and nothing will show from it" she said proudly but, masked. Grant nodded and stepped out with the guard. Rainbow Dash collected her mane and the handkerchief Grant gave her but, hid it in her mane.

The long lines of blue were ever present again. The barrels of the Union soldiers seemed to glint against the moonlight. Many bore an expression of determination and others simply blank. The night air had cooled the land significantly from that afternoon. Rainbow Dash found herself shivering and she walked with Grant to the coach. Grant again held the door open. Rainbow Dash looked at him.

"Thank You" she said softly and gravelly. She sat down and relaxed. Grant called out to his subordinate.

"Prepare to March!"

"Yes General!"

Grant then entered the coach and sat across from Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash was trembling from her nightmare and the cold night air. Grant waved his hat! "March" he ordered.

"March!" came the response up and down the line. The coach lurched and then began to move from the campground of the Army of the Potomac as it continued its march up Illinois to Chicago. Grant looked at Rainbow Dash and could tell she was perturbed slightly.

"Everything alright?" he asked. Rainbow Dash with her mane clenched tightly looked at Grant and gave a gentle nod. She then shut her eyes and tried to sleep. Even after sleeping for the better part of the day she was exhausted. Grant fixed his hat over his eyes and relaxed on his side of the coach.

After a short while Grant pulled out a cigar. As he was about to light it he looked at Rainbow Dash. She was shivering from the cold night air and tried to wrap herself in her mane to no avail. Grant sighed and took off his frock coat. Quietly and without looking to disturb Rainbow Dash he placed it over her and then sat back down. He lit his cigar and stared out at the night sky.

Rainbow Dash although trying to sleep only could sit with her eyes shut. It was surprisingly cold that evening even after the heat of the day. She was tired, hungry, and homesick. She thought about crying again until she felt a sudden warmth envelop her. She didn't want to open her eyes and see Grant again but, she suddenly felt comfortable although whatever it was that made her warm smelled of sweat, cigar ashes, and just the faintest smell of hickory. She didn't mind. She slowly drifted off to sleep. No hangmen, no friends calling her traitor, no Celestia throwing her around like a rag doll, it was just her flying amongst the clouds on a spring day as she did so much back home before the invasion. For once in a long time she got rest.

A few days passed. The Army stopped periodically to rest and eat. That entire time Rainbow Dash slept with Grant's frock coat draped over her only arousing herself occasionally to adjust the frock coat and where she was sitting on the coach bench. The Army passed through Effingham, Mattoon, Urbana, Kankakee, and after nearly a week of hard marching they arrived in Chicago. It was a slightly rainy day in Chicago yet the industries of the Union were hard at work ensuring that the Union could turn back this invasion from Celestia.

Rainbow Dash began to stir and looked out. What she saw awestruck her. Great billowing smoke stacks of soot filled the sky, many coaches and people ran or wandered past the coach as it went down the muddy street. There were tons of shops with a menagerie of things to sell from bread, medicine, perfumes, silks, guns, and about anything that Rainbow Dash could think of. She covered her head slightly with the frock coat so as people wouldn't recognize her as a pony. She looked over at Grant. He was completely comatose with a cigar hanging out of his mouth. He must have been hard at work to get the Army nearly 300 miles north to Chicago. Rainbow Dash sat in silence and stared out at the great bustling metropolis.

Soon enough the coach came to a stop. And a soldier opened the door to the coach. "General Grant we have arrived at train station" he said. He then jostled Grant awake.

"Hmpf! Huh! What the hell do you want?" Grant said angrily. Again Grant was not someone you would want to anger if he was asleep. Grant then realized the soldier was waking him. Grant saluted the soldier. "That will be all" he said. The soldier returned the salute and headed back to the front of the brigade directly behind the carriage. Grant turned to Rainbow Dash who faked yawn.

"How did you sleep?" he said while rubbing his eyes. Rainbow Dash tossed his frock coat back to him.

"Fine, Thank You" she said staring back out the window. Grant realized he might be back at square one with Rainbow Dash in terms of trying to build trust. He let Rainbow Dash step out of the carriage first and he subsequently followed.

Before them were several mighty trains sporting many cars of transport. Rainbow Dash looked down the long line of locomotives. It stretched for what felt like miles. She looked at Grant.

"We are a big Army and must move quickly" he said before continuing to walk. Rainbow Dash followed behind with two guards from Wisconsin following closely. She couldn't tell if Grant was angry at her or what. Especially after the nightmare she had she felt everyone was out to kill her. She had no allegiance or ground to stand on. A part of her felt like everyone was her enemy and hated her. Her ears then twitched and saw a group of civilians being held back by a company of soldiers. They were screaming.

"THOSE ARE THE BASTARDS THAT KILLED MY SON!"

"SEND EM TO THE GLUE FACTORY!"

"SHOOT EM WHERE THEY STAND!"

Rainbow Dash stopped in her tracks. Her opinion on these humans was changing more rapidly as time went on. They may not be savages but, they are passionate about their own kind. Fiercely they fight and defend their land but, they care so much because they have worked so hard to forge their own paths. Rainbow Dash began to question Celestia's mentality on humans more and more.

"Rainbow Dash?" Grant called out. Rainbow Dash snapped out of her trance and saw Grant standing on the steps of a rail car. "Well aren't you coming?" he said. As Rainbow Dash got closer a glint of gold caught her eye. It was the Wonderbolt Scouts. How selfish she was. All she thought about was herself for the past week and not once for her own troops. What she noticed shocked her. Although many of the scouts were still very wounded and needed great help to get to the train car for them many of the Union soldiers actively helped them walk or carried them to the train car. They weren't hitting, stabbing, shooting, or name calling the scouts they simply looked on with determination and care for their prisoners.

"Rainbow Dash?" Grant called. Again Rainbow Dash looked at Grant confused but, soon realized where she was. She mounted the steps to the train car. Grant entered and she followed behind.

The train car had many large tables for map viewing but, comfortable seats and plush pillows. A red carpet lined the floor and blue drapes were on each set of the windows. Each table had a Candelabra in the center of it with sticks of varying sizes. Grant took a seat at one table and Rainbow Dash sat across from him. Rainbow Dash stared outside.

The Army was busily putting soldiers and supplies on the train car for the long ride back to Washington. Rainbow Dash began to realize the sheer size and magnitude of the Union and the resources it had at its immediate disposal. Unbeknownst to her and General Grant, a courier was arriving with a message in South Bend Indiana about the movements of Rarity and her Army of the Crystal Empire. Grant smoked a cigar out of an open window while Rainbow Dash sat quietly watching the Army's hustle and bustle. After a few more hours the train suddenly jolted, and began to slowly pull its way out of Chicago. The Army of the Potomac slowly but surely was making its last leg to Washington.

*After two hours*

The train came to stop at a station out in the countryside. Grant looked out the window and saw the train station read South Bend, Indiana. It had been barely two hours and they were already stopping. A Courier came up to the door of the Corps Commanders cabin car. General Sedgwick opened the door to find an exhausted Major.

"General sir!" the Major said with a salute. He handed Sedgwick a message. The other Corps officers in the car watched as Sedgwick read the note. His eyes began to widen.

"Get General Grant here on the double!" Sedgwick ordered the Major. The Major saluted and disappeared in a flash to Grant's car.

Grant heard a panicked knocking at the door of the train car. He got up and slid it open. The Major stood before him. "General Sedgwick requests *huff* your presence *puff* at once *huff* sir" the major said gasping for air. Grant saluted the Major and slid the door behind him. Walking along the stone platform to the Corps Commanders car Grant thought to himself. "Whatever this is it better be good" he thought to himself. He arrived at the door of the train and the Corps Commanders all stood at attention. Grant saluted.

"Gentlemen please sit. Now why are we stopping here in Indiana and not already crossing into Ohio by now" Grant asked still chewing on the cigar between his teeth. Sedgwick approached him and gave him the letter.

"A message from General Howard sir" he said. Grant took the letter and began to read. His complexion grew darker and darker as he read further with the brim of his hat covering his eyes. The embers from his cigar grew wilder and hotter.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN MCCLERNAND'S DIVISION WAS MASSACRED!?!?!?!" Grant shouted.

Author's Note:

Here is a new update to Facing Northern Lightning. Rainbow Dash has a nightmare and begins to question Celestia's opinion on humans.

I can't tell you how many times I would think about writing more of these stories over the past years. I finally got up the gumption to start at it again. For any of you who have been waiting patiently thanks again.

If you find any grammar mistakes please P.M. me or comment below since it really helps with my writing. Thanks a bunch!

The Map has changed so that no southern half of the US exist's but it's just the Northern Half of the US (Civil War Era).

Comments

[JcPlaty022]

Damn that Element of Generosity!!! She killed them all in their sleep!!!!

[OP Omni God-Emperor Doom]

11502492

How!?

[Dreadnought]

Hmm... a story involving the US Civil War. I'm intrigued. Should I also mention that I love studying the Civil War? I've been to over 80 battlefields thus far.

[Fireflight startrottor]

11502511
DAMN!!! you like to travel, don't you?