35. Breaking through
Wings of Tomorrow
Lament of the World
35. Breaking through
The Siege of Stalliongrad – Part 4
The hospital of Stalliongrad was a hive of activity. From the moment the battle had begun, the injured had begun to come in, the rate of their arrival only increasing the further the battle raged on. By now there was a real flood of wounded coming in, and the medical staff and their civilian volunteers had their hooves full trying to tend to every soldier that came in.
Fluttershy had been doing her part from the very beginning, no matter how hard it had been. And it certainly had been difficult at times. Some of the injuries she’d been faced with had been decidedly upsetting to her stomach, and more than once her body had tried to bring up the meagre breakfast she’d eaten that morning. There had been soldiers who were missing one or more limbs, pegasi with all of their bones pulverised as they’d fallen from the sky, ponies that had been perforated by shrapnel, and many more. Some were brought in only for the healers to know upon first glance that there was no hope for them.
Just now, a batch of soldiers had been brought in that were the worst cases seen yet. Their bodies were mutilated or horribly disfigured; skin, flesh and even bone having seemingly been eaten away at places. Fluttershy had overheard one of the doctors say that it was as if they had been doused with dangerous, toxic chemicals. It made her wonder what exactly was going on outside, and if Rainbow Dash was alright, but she was too scared to go and take a look. She had too much to do, anyway.
Fluttershy wasn’t a doctor or a nurse, but she didn’t have to be in order to make herself useful. She understood enough of basic first aid to tend to those who only had superficial wounds. She cleaned wounds and applied soothing balms to burns, applying bandages where necessary. Many of her patients in fact didn’t stay, but returned to the battlefield. Most of the time, however, the injuries just went beyond her skill, in which case she merely helped to carry the wounded soldier to the medical bay where he could be properly treated. She also tended to those who had been treated already, bringing them whatever they asked for, which in most cases was simply some water to drink.
Her friends had been doing the same as her, helping in whatever way they could. She saw Applejack and Pinkie Pie often, for they were stationed in the same area of the hospital as her. Of Twilight and Rarity, however, she only caught the occasional glimpse. Being unicorns, the two mares had been taken aside by the hospital staff the day before and had been given a special task.
One of the greatest problems the hospital staff faced was that many of the soldiers who were brought in died before a doctor could come to treat them. The biggest cause of this was the loss of blood. The injured were either missing a limb, or had been cut open by either shrapnel or a blade, creating wounds that bled profusely. This, coupled with the fact that the number of doctors in the hospital was severely limited compared to the number of wounded, meant that a lot of the injured simply bled dry before a doctor could get to them to give them medical treatment. If the bleeding could be stopped, however, the pony’s survival chances were decidedly higher.
There were many ways to prevent the loss of blood from a torn off limb, like tying the stump off, or to put a clamp on the open arteries and veins. The most effective way, however, the one that gave the highest chances of survival, was magic, and this is where Twilight and Rarity came in. They had been taught how to apply the proper spells to a wound and how to sustain them, and from the start of the battle they had been putting what they had learned into practice.
It certainly worked; Twilight’s natural talent for magic had allowed her to pick up the spell with ease, to the point where she could tend to numerous patients at once, and even Rarity, with her more limited magical capabilities, could more than do her fair share of the work. Together, the two had managed to save the lives of numerous soldiers already, simply by preventing them from bleeding dry until proper help could arrive. However, it also meant that they were faced with the most grievous of injuries.
Fluttershy had seen Rarity’s face only two or three times ever since the battle had begun, but there had been no mistaking the look on her friend’s face. It was definitely unsettling to see that a pony who was naturally coloured white could still get such an unhealthily pale. Rarity’s face had been ashen, and the sights she was confronted whit while doing her duty clearly left a deep impression upon her, one that would last a lifetime.
She was hardly unique in that aspect. The sights in the hospital were taxing and hard to bear for all of them. They didn’t complain, they didn’t even speak of it, but it was clear that all of them were having a hard time. For now, they could mostly ignore those feelings, put them away in favour of focussing on there here and now. There were lives at stake, lives that they could save, there was no time to be sick or shocked. That could wait until after the battle. Only when everything was over would they be able get some time to themselves.
Time that they were going to need, that much was clear. Fluttershy already knew that she would never be able to get the sight of blood and injuries, the cries of pain and the wails of the dying out of her head. Ever. Looking at her friends, she knew they felt the same way. Applejack tried to put up a brave façade, but even she was looking pretty green from all that she’d seen. They were going to need each other badly once everything was over…
Something that had surprised her, however, was how well Pinkie Pie was holding up. Given the state of mind her friend had been in when she’d arrived in this time all those weeks ago, Fluttershy had half expected all these terrible sights, scents and sounds to have a negative impact on Pinkie. As it turned out, her fears had been unfounded, for even though Pinkie’s face was an interesting mix of green and pale, her mane hadn’t gone limp. She was still bravely soldiering on, doing her part and helping wherever she could. It was almost as if she was determined to not let this get her down.
Fluttershy admired her courage and determination, but had to admit she had surprised herself as well. Normally, in a situation like this, she’d be terrified and too scared to move. Yet here she was, facing all these horrors of war without flinching – well, mostly at least – and without even thinking of running away. She hadn’t thought she could be this brave. Or maybe her brain was simply too shocked by all she was witnessing for it to form a proper response to it, that was also a distinct possibility.
She shook her head and sternly scolded herself for even thinking about running away. All of her friends were here trying to help, even if they were scared, and one of them was even out there, fighting. They were all counting on her and she couldn’t let them down. So she put all thoughts about being scared and panicking away and focussed instead on the patient she was currently treating.
It was an earth pony mare who had suffered a blow to the head that had knocked her out cold for a while. Her helm had taken the brunt of the attack, though, leaving only a big bruise and a minor, superficial cut that had bled a bit. Fluttershy took a cotton swab drenched in disinfectant and carefully cleaned out the wound with it. The mare didn’t so much as flinch as Fluttershy applied the medicine, and once the pegasus had securely bandaged the injury, she was ready to return to the fight.
As her patient left, Fluttershy took a brief glance outside through the window and frowned in confusion. Where there had still been blue skies the last time she had looked outside, there now was a great, purple dome of magic, one that appeared eerily familiar. It reminded her of the dome that had surrounded Canterlot when she’d been there for the wedding of Twilight’s brother. She didn’t know if it was the same, but the sight made her uneasy nonetheless.
Once again, she was worried for all ponies who were outside right now, especially Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy and the others didn’t know much about how the battle was proceeding outside. The hospital staff had no way of knowing, and most soldiers who came in were in no condition to answer their questions. Even those who could speak were often reluctant to do so, keeping their answers short and vague. It was frustrating, and more than a little worrisome as well.
Fluttershy took one last glance at the magical dome. “Oh, I hope you’re okay, Rainbow Dash…” she muttered quietly to herself, before going back to work.
---
As Rainbow Dash zipped through the air like a living lightning bolt, cutting down cannonballs and intercepting spells and arrows left and right, she decided that, no, she was decidedly not okay at the moment. In fact, saying that she was not okay was an understatement of grotesque proportion. She was angry, royally pissed off, to be exact, and not exactly without good reason. Having her entire fleet under heavy, relentless bombardment of the enemy while being unable to retaliate due to said enemy being protected by a shield conjured by arguably the strongest unicorn in all of Equestria tended to have that effect on her.
It was startling how quickly the tables could turn in battle. They had been actively driving the enemy back while suffering only minimal losses. It had all gone a bit too smoothly to Rainbow Dash’s liking, but she knew she had to press the advantage when she had it. So they had continued the attack, until their advance had suddenly been halted by the sudden reappearance of Spitfire.
The commander had made herself scarce after her little scuffle with Rainbow Dash, only to appear again out of nowhere, flames trailing behind her. With swift and precise streams of fire, she’d cut off the royalists’ way of going directly after her troops. The royal ships would have had to approach from above or below to get to their targets, manoeuvres that were rather tricky to execute with heavily armoured warships.
Rainbow Dash, recognising the danger, had of course moved right away to intercept Spitfire, but just as she had come within range to use her magicite, a wall of purple magic had shot up before her, blocking her path. The magical blockade had expanded, forming a protective and impenetrable dome over the Republican fleet.
The appearance of the shield had taken Rainbow Dash and her troops completely by surprise, something the Republic had gladly taken advantage of. The Republican ships, which had been a moment before retreating, had surprisingly swiftly turned around and unleashed the full might of their weaponry. The shield prevented anything from coming in, but not from going out, and the cannonballs, spells and arrows passed through with no problem.
Caught off guard by the barrier’s appearance, the royal ships had practically been sitting ducks and suffered the full brunt of the first attack as a result, leading to Rainbow Dash’s current foul mood.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it all!!!” she swore loudly, as she intercepted another cannonball and swatted it away. It hit the barrier and exploded without doing any harm. A glance to her left revealed another group of cannonballs flying towards one of her ships. With a swift thrust of her hoof, she sent forth a burst of lightning at the projectiles, causing them to explode.
Some distance to her right, just out of her immediate reach, she saw a jet of searing hot flames flying from the shield towards another one of her ships. A magic bubble formed around the ship and shielded it from Spitfire’s attack, but the heat radiating from the flames still managed to melt the ship’s steel prow enough to bend it out of shape.
Rainbow Dash cursed again. For now, the vice-admirals aboard each ship were managing to protect their vessels with their magic, amplified through their magicite shard. However, she knew perfectly well that this couldn’t protect them for long. Even with magicite powering them, the shields were nothing compared to Shining Armour’s in terms of strength. Eventually they’d break under the relentless assault, and with a pony the likes of Spitfire lending her aid to the attack, that would happen sooner rather than later.
Though she absolutely loathed it, Rainbow Dash knew what she had to do. Gritting her teeth and fuming all the while, she pulled out her communication stone again. “Rose Thorn, come in,” she commanded. “How are you holding up?”
“I can protect the Wonderbolt for a while, even against Spitfire, so for the moment we’re still safe,” Rose Thorn replied through the stone. “What are your orders, admiral, ma’am?”
“You have to ask?” Rainbow Dash snapped back impatiently. “Retreat! Until we find a way to take down their shield, we’re nothing but target practice to them here. So get yourself and the rest of the fleet out of there immediately! I want every available pony focussing on defending the ships at all costs!”
“Roger that,” Rose Thorn replied. “What will you do, ma’am?”
“I’ll be covering your retreat,” she answered simply, a fierce and defiant scowl appearing on her face. “Over and out.” With that said, she put her communication stone away again, followed by her slinging her lance across her back so she had both of her front hooves free. A quick call upon her magicite set said hooves alight with lightning, and thusly armed, she boldly faced Shining Armour’s shield and the entirety of the Republican fleet that it protected.
One thing Rainbow Dash had always thought was that magicite was a peculiar thing, mostly because nopony really ever used it in the same way as somepony else. Of course, this was largely dependent on the power that was placed inside the shard. A unicorn would never use magicite in the same way a pegasus would. The former used it to enhance their magic exponentially, as well as their bodies to the point where they could withstand that power. Because of this, the incredible feats unicorns the likes of Amethyst Star performed were in all actuality more displays of magic than they were of magicite. Hence, since her powers were still essentially magical spells, they required proper time and casting in order to pull off correctly.
Rainbow Dash’s magicite was entirely different. True, she did possess a shard that, like with Amethyst Star or any other magicite user, enhanced her physical capabilities so her body was capable of withstanding the power bestowed upon her by her core shard. But her core shard had been filled with a spark of pure, raw lightning, putting the destructive force of electricity at the tips of her hooves. Whenever she called upon it, the greatest challenge was actually keeping that wild, immense force stable and under control. With enough focus, she could adjust the voltage and power of the lightning to whatever level she desired.
So when it came to unleashing the full power of their magicite, there was one major difference between Amethyst Star and Rainbow Dash. The former had to go through a timely and careful process of properly casting the spell that would release the magic in the form she wanted. Amethyst Star still had to do all the work herself, her magicite merely enhanced her magic. In Rainbow Dash’s case, however, things actually became easier the more power she wanted to use. To call upon her full might, all she had to do was let go.
Which was exactly what she did.
Rainbow Dash thrust her hooves forward, a gigantic blast of lightning bursting from them and flying forth. One billion volts of pure power shot through the skies and plowed straight into the Republic’s barrier. Sparks of energy were emanating from the point of impact, where lightning and magic fought for supremacy. Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth, feeling the resistance she met, but she pushed on, unwilling to admit defeat until she had given it her all.
So fierce was her attack, that it actually managed to put a dent in the shield, and for a moment it looked as if she might actually succeed. But then a magical pulse ran through the barrier, and the shield snapped back into its proper shape. Rainbow Dash’s attack was repelled and dispersed in various, random directions, and the admiral was forced to stall her efforts to break up, lest she wanted to get hurt.
Giving an angry huff, Rainbow Dash dismissed her lightning and glared at the shield that was still in place and entirely intact. It almost felt as if it was taunting her to try again, to tire herself out in futile attempts to shatter it. But she knew better than to give in to such impulses. If one billion volts of lightning wielded by a royal admiral hadn’t been able to break through on the first try, they wouldn’t succeed on the second or third try either. She was simply not powerful enough to pull it off.
“Alright then,” Rainbow Dash muttered quietly. “Time for plan B…” She reached under her cape and fished for her communication stone. There were some fellow admirals she needed to contact.
---
Down below on the ground, Amethyst Star was fighting a losing battle to protect her fellow soldiers from the unstoppable and relentless onslaught of the enemy. Ever since the shield had been raised, the Republican soldiers of the front lines, mostly unicorns, had been firing one attack after another at their opponents. Spells and arrows emerged from behind the barrier and struck down royalists wherever they fell. With their enemy hidden safely under their shield, the defenders stood helpless and could do little more than retreat.
Only Amethyst Star stood between her troops and total annihilation, but even she was limited in what she could do on by herself. She’d raised up a magical shield of her own, but she knew it paled in comparison to the impressive, protective dome of Shining Armour. That was hardly surprising, shielding spells were simply not her forte, something not even magicite could change. Her field of expertise lay in offensive spell casting, in which she was second to none.
She gritted her teeth and felt her hooves slipping as the continuous barrage of aerial attacks against her shield pushed her back. The spells the enemy employed would, in normal circumstances, be woefully insufficient to cause her even the slightest bit of discomfort. But when they came as they did now, in an endless barrage, hundreds or more hitting her shield at the same time, again and again, that was a different story altogether. Her head was pounding, the strain she was putting on her mind giving her a splitting headache, but nevertheless she kept herself going. There was no alternative to what she was doing.
The next moment, she staggered as if she had been struck a physical blow, when her shield shattered and the backlash of her failed spell hit her mind like a battering ram. The Republic’s assault, now unhindered, flew past her and rained down death and destruction amidst her troops. Groaning, she pushed herself back to her feet, ready to renew her shield again. Before she could even charge up her horn, however, she had to quickly jump to the side in order to dodge the gaping maw of an acid hydra.
Furious, Amethyst Star turned her head to glare at her attacker. Smaragd Haze had joined the attack of his fellow soldiers ever since the shield had come up, attacking relentlessly with his monstrous acid hydras. He would have wrought destruction and death amongst the royalists’ ranks if Amethyst Star hadn’t been there, her magic shield having managed to keep the deadly hydras at bay until now.
“It must sting, Amethyst Star,” Smaragd Haze said cruelly, a deadly grin on his face, as the admiral dodged another lunge from one of his hydras. “For you to possess all that power, and still be so helpless now that you cannot even harm as much as a hair on my head.”
Amethyst Star felt a flare of anger spike up inside her, but she suppressed it and forced herself to remain calm. As much as she longed to wipe that sneer off his face, she knew that a direct attack would be useless. She was powerful, yes, but if her previous attack on the shield had failed to shatter it, then no spell in her arsenal would. She’d have to approach the situation from a different angle, and fast. Her eyes glanced at the sky, giving her an idea.
“Helpless, huh…” she growled, giving Smaragd Haze a cold glare. With a flash, Amethyst Star disappeared and reappeared a good distance above the ground, her magic keeping her aloft. She formed a magic shield around herself to serve as protection, its small size making it much stronger and more durable than her large one. She looked down at the Republican troops below, and at their commander in particular. “I’ll show you helpless.”
Gritting her teeth, the admiral called upon her magic, letting it flow through her. With it, she reached out to something behind the barrier and took it in her grasp. Shining Armour’s shield protected his troops against any attack or spell she launched at them from the outside. The same, however, was not true for things already inside the protective dome.
With this in mind, Amethyst Star looked up at the skies, to the Republican airships that were bombarding the royal air fleet, hidden safely behind their barrier. Gritting her teeth, she picked one and concentrated, throwing the full might of her powerful mind and magic against it. Her horn flared up brightly at the same time the ship became surrounded by the signature pink glow of her magic. She could feel how the unicorns aboard the ship were trying to repel her efforts, but their efforts were in vain. With a fierce cry, Amethyst Star consolidated her telekinetic grip on the ship and pulled it from the sky.
Fear gripped the hearts of the Republican soldiers as they watched a single unicorn fling an armoured warship hundred times her size around as if it was nothing but a toy. To her satisfaction, Amethyst Star noticed that even Smaragd Haze’s eyes had grown wide, and he was no longer grinning. The crew of the ship in her grasp scrambled to abandon their lost vessel, but she paid them no heed, focussing instead on the commander below her.
“Pardon me,” she began coolly, as she lowered the airship in her grasp so it cast a huge shadow of doom over Smaragd Haze and the troops that surrounded him. “But I do believe that this is yours.” Then, without mercy or hesitation and with all the force her magic could muster, she let out a chilling war cry and threw the ship down at her foes at alarming speed.
The Republican formation by this point had dissolved as its soldiers broke into panic, the fearful crowd running and tripping over each other in their haste to get away from the approaching doom. They reminded Amethyst Star of a swarm of ants scurrying about, trying to evade the boot that was about to crush them. The only one who didn’t move was the target of her attack.
---
Smaragd Haze stood his ground as the thrown airship approached him at breakneck speed, a small bead of sweat that ran down the side of his head the only sign that he was feeling somewhat nervous. He was an earth pony, true, a particularly sturdy and muscular one at that, with his physique even further enhanced by his magicite. He could take quite a beating, but even he didn’t relish the thought of getting an airship thrown on top of him.
He knew that he could change its trajectory easily enough, but that would end up costing them a couple of hundreds, if not thousands, of soldiers. Certainly, he didn’t mind sacrificing as many as was needed in order to achieve something, but letting them get squashed by an airship wouldn’t achieve much aside from making a mess, and that was hardly a valid reason for sacrificing a couple of hundred lives. With a sigh, he realised that there was no getting around it; he’d have to stop it.
With a growl, Smaragd Haze’s acid hydras lunged at the falling behemoth, trying to catch it on their heads in order to slow its descend enough so it could be gently lowered to the ground. It was a wasted effort, as the heads of the hydras were splattered and send all over the place as the falling ship crushed them. Nevertheless, the highly toxic acid of which they were made started to eat away at the vessel, with even its thick steel plating incapable of withstanding its corrosive bite.
If he had more time, perhaps this approach would have worked to devour the ship before it could hit the ground, but as it was, Smaragd Haze had barely five seconds left before the impact. Stopping it and gently lowering it was out of the question, too; Amethyst Star had put too much force behind her throw for that to happen. Thinking quickly, he instead opted to blow up the engines and set off the explosives still aboard, blowing the ship to pieces before it could hit the ground. No doubt that would end up costing quite a bit of lives, too, but less so than if he allowed the ship to hit the ground and explode there.
He quickly summoned another hydra and had it go straight for the back end of the ship’s hull, where the engines were. The foul monstrosity had already opened its jaws, ready to tear into the airship, when it suddenly collided against a magical barrier that blocked its path. Shocked, Smaragd Haze tried to find the one responsible for the interruption, and his eyes caught sight of Amethyst Star who was giving him a triumphant smirk.
“Clever girl…” he cursed quietly, before looking up just in time to see a ton of wood, steel and explosives crashing down on top of him.
---
Amethyst Star watched as the airship she had thrown fell down on top of Smaragd Haze, together with many other Republican soldiers who hadn’t been able to get out of the way in time. The ship slid along the ground, tearing a wide gap in the Republican’s formation and taking down many more soldiers as they were crushed underneath it, until it finally came to a halt deep within the enemy’s ranks. There it lay still and quiet for a moment, until its beaten engines finally gave out and exploded.
The explosion set the part of the hull that hadn’t been destroyed by it on fire, flames spreading out through the ship rapidly. Within the blink of an eye, they reached the ammunition still left aboard, resulting in a second, much more devastating explosion that utterly destroyed the ship and its immediate surroundings. Hundreds of soldiers within the vicinity of the crashed vessel were wiped cleanly out of existence by the giant blast of heat and fire, with the shockwave of the explosion injuring many more still.
The result exceeded Amethyst Star’s expectations, but she wasn’t about to complain. The Republic’s army had been thrown into disarray and their frontline formation had fallen apart, buying the defenders some much needed time. The Republic’s fierce assault had cost them a lot of lives, as well as ground, and things would have been even worse if it hadn’t been for Amethyst’s distraction.
The admiral pulled out her communication crystal and activated it. “Desert, this is Amethyst,” she began, while her eyes focussed on the Republican army to look out for any sign of a new attack. “Can you hear me?”
“I hear you, Sparkler,” Desert Heat replied, his voice sounding grave and tired. “How’s the situation over there?”
“As you probably noticed, I managed to stop their attack for the moment, but it’s merely a matter of time before they recover, and there are only so many airships I can throw,” she answered, a rare hint of a smile tugging at her lips when she said those last few words. The expression disappeared as quickly as it had come, however, and her face turned serious once more. “That shield needs to go down and fast, Desert, or else we’re history.”
“I’m aware of that,” Desert Heat said. “Can you dispel it?”
“Negative,” Amethyst Star replied almost instantly. “It’s too powerful for even somepony of my level of skill and power. I think mom is the only pony around who would have a chance of taking it down by herself, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it could withstand even a full blow of her. They don’t call Shining Armour the strongest unicorn around for nothing, after all.”
“I was afraid of that…” the other admiral said, and he sighed. “Rainbow Dash, what about you? How are we holding up in the air?”
“Barely, if you want me to be brutally honest,” Rainbow Dash answered. “Sparkler’s little stunt didn’t affect them here as much as it did on the ground, though they’ve slowed down a bit in order to strengthen their magical defences, in case Sparkler wants another airship to juggle with.” There was a pause, during which the other admirals could hear Rainbow Dash give a grunt, followed by an explosion. “We’ve retreated almost out of their range now, but as soon as they start approaching with their shield again, we’ll be pushed back even more.”
Desert Heat let out a deep, troubled sigh. “We have to get past that shield, somehow,” he muttered quietly. “If only I knew how to accomplish that…”
“Well, you’re in luck, Desert,” Rainbow Dash said, sounding surprisingly pleased with herself for some reason. “Because I’ve got a plan that might just be the solution to our little barrier problem.” The other two admirals could feel, rather than see her grin. “I was about to contact you to tell you about it, but you beat me to it. So now, we just have to carry it out.”
“You sound pretty sure of yourself,” Desert Heat noted, an eyebrow raised. “Let’s hear it.”
---
Shining Armour rubbed the side of his head, as if doing so would ward of the headache he felt incoming. Thanks to Amethyst Star, his frontline was in disarray, and the commander he had assigned to that position had gotten an airship dropped on top of him and hadn’t been seen since. The lower ranking officers did their best to follow his orders and get everypony back in line, but they lacked the firm presence of Smaragd Haze or either of his two colleagues.
Aside from saddling him with a firm delay, Amethyst Star’s attack had also done a fair bit of damage to both the numbers and morale of his army. They had all thought themselves safe behind his shield, but the unicorn admiral had thoroughly shattered that illusion. What safety could a shield offer, when the enemy simply used it as an opportunity to use their own weapons against them? The barrier, which had a moment ago represented safety to them, now seemed more like a prison, its purple walls making them feel claustrophobic.
With a sigh, Shining Armour turned to the lieutenant-commander that approached him, no doubt to give a damage report. “How many did we lose in that crash?” he asked, his voice filled with mournful resignation.
“Six hundred and counting, marshal, sir,” the younger officer replied, looking decidedly uneasy as he delivered the news.
Shining Armour felt as if someone had squeezed his heart, but he didn’t let it show on his face. He merely gave a curt nod, followed by another sad sigh. “I see,” he said. “Has Smaragd Haze been found yet?”
The lieutenant-commander shook his head. “No sir, they’re still looking,” he answered. A look of hesitation appeared on the stallion’s face, and he bit his lower lip as he inwardly debated something. “Sir, with all due respect, wouldn’t it be wiser to have the medics search for survivors, and wait with the recovering of the fallen until after the battle?” The officer immediately bowed his head and averted his eyes after speaking, as if fearing he’d be struck for questioning his superior’s orders.
Shining Armour, however, did no such thing. The marshal merely let out a humourless chuckle. “If there’s anything I know, lieutenant, it’s that it’ll take more than an airship getting smashed on top of him to bring down Smaragd Haze for good,” he said, while looking in the direction of the wreckage. “No, that stallion is still very much alive, and I want him found and tended to if he’s hurt. We can’t afford to lose one of our commanders, not at this early stage of the battle at least.”
The other stallion opened his mouth to say something in reply, but was interrupted by the arrival of another lower ranking officer. “Marshal, sir, one of the royal admirals is on the move at the front as we speak,” he reported, after giving Shining Armour a hasty salute.
The marshal’s eyes widened slightly and he barely could suppress a groan. “Which one?” he demanded quickly, already turning in the direction of Stalliongrad to take a look himself. “Please tell me it isn’t Amethyst Star again.”
“It isn’t, sir,” the officer replied. “She was last seen bringing her colleague to the front, then appears to have retreated to the city walls.” Shining Armour listened attentively, while magically enhancing his eyesight to zoom in on the admiral that now stood near of the defenders’ abandoned trenches. He recognised the pony in question at the same time the officer spoke said pony’s name. “It appears to be Desert Heat, sir.”
Shining Armour cursed quietly as he watched the approaching admiral. “If they moved their leader into the game, they have to be up to something,” he muttered quietly to himself. After the blow Amethyst Star had dealt them just now, his troops could go without another admiral having a go at them. He studied his frontline and frowned in distaste. The recovery was taking too long. He turned his attention to the officer that had delivered the news of Desert Heat’s approach.
“Send word to the frontline immediately. Have lieutenant-commander Summer Breeze take over command in Smaragd Haze’s absence,” he commanded. “He and all other lieutenant-commanders in the vicinity of the front are to resume and lead the attack at once. If Smaragd Haze resurfaces, command is to be given back to him right away.”
The officer gave a quick salute. “Sir, yes sir,” he replied hastily, before scurrying off to carry out his orders. Shining Armour didn’t even wait until he was gone before turning to the other officer still standing at his side.
“Where is Trixie? What in the name of Equestria is taking that damn mare so long?!” he demanded angrily. “She should have already arrived by this time! We can’t delay the next phase for much longer!”
“Apologies, marshal, sir,” the other stallion replied, looking rather nervous. “It would seem commander Lulamoon has opted to take a longer detour for her approach, in order to ensure that it remains unknown to the enemy until it is too late.”
Shining Armour gritted his teeth, part of him wanting to curse the mare’s name, while another part instead approved of her decision. “Tell her to hurry,” he finally said with a huff. The other stallion nodded, gave a very short salute and then quickly made himself scarce. Shining Armour barely even noticed it, his attention having already shifted back towards the front.
He was pleased and relieved to see that the disarray and confusion there was being taken care of, the attack already having been resumed in some places. He was less happy to notice that Desert Heat was still approaching, and in fact seemed to move in a hurry now that they had started attacking again. Shining Armour tapped his hoof impatiently.
“It’s high time you showed up, Trixie,” he muttered nervously to himself. His eyes glanced upwards, to the magical dome that he had erected. Shining Armour narrowed his eyes in concentration, then shot a beam of magic from his horn to his shield in order to ensure it remained stable and strong. With another royal admiral on the way, it never hurt to play safe.
---
Desert Heat pulled in his head just in time to let a magic spell sail right over him, grazing a few hairs of his scalp as it did so. Regardless, he carried on as if nothing had happened, his gaze still focussed on his goal. More magic attacks came towards him, but he swatted them aside with one of his mechanical wings, silently thanking the creator of the spell that allowed non-unicorns to physically manipulate magic as he did so.
He had taken over command in the valley from Amethyst Star a minute ago, since the unicorn admiral was needed elsewhere at the moment, when the Republic had opened fire again. Desert Heat knew that it had only been a matter of time until they did, but nevertheless he wished they could have waited two more minutes or so, it would have made his task a lot easier. His fellow admirals were about to take down the shield, and he needed to make sure the troops were ready to attack the Republic when they did.
Getting into position and trying to repair or fortify fences and trenches while the enemy is shooting at you is quite a challenge, which was why Desert Heat found himself in his current position. In order to buy his soldiers time, he’d made himself a target for the Republic to shoot at, which they were gladly doing, much to his chagrin. While it was nice to know that he had successfully diverted their attention, that didn’t mean it was very fun.
“I know Rainbow Dash asked for me to distract them,” he thought to himself as he deflected another volley of spells. “but I don’t think this is what she had in mind. I feel like a bullseye on a fairground.”
Still, even though he wasn’t about to admit it out loud, Desert Heat felt kind of glad to be here now. True, being the target of a grand scale attack wasn’t exactly his idea of jolly good fun, but it felt better to be out on the field and actively participate in the battle, than to waste away atop the wall, watching his soldiers die while being unable to help them. This was where he truly belonged: between the enemy and his troops.
Diving in between an endless sea of magic and arrows, Desert Heat managed to get as close to the barrier as he dared. As he shielded himself with one of his mechanical wings, he took another glance behind him to measure the distance he had crossed. “This should be far enough to prevent them from getting caught up in my act,” he muttered to himself. Still keeping his metallic wing protectively before him, Desert Heat turned to face the shield again.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself, then proceeded to reach out to his core magicite shard and the power locked within. The crystal, set in the circlet atop his head, began to give off a soft golden light as it responded to his call. Almost at the same time, streams of sand, coloured a soft shade of yellow, began to trickle down his body, pooling in heaps at his hooves.
The admiral opened his eyes again, briefly enjoying the feeling of his power coursing through his body, then slowly lifted his right front hoof, the underside facing the sky. Tapping deeper into his power, Desert Heat’s eyes narrowed slightly in concentration, until what looked like a miniature whirlwind, swirling with sand, danced happily in the palm of the hoof he held up. Smiling, he lowered the wing that was shielding him, completely ignoring the attacks of the Republic. Some of the enemy soldiers even stopped firing in order to see what he was doing.
“Gentlecolts, I do hope you are all carrying proper desert attire somewhere under all that armour,” Desert Heat began, his voice ringing loud and clear across the valley. “For today’s weather is set to be sunny with a chance of very local sandstorms, which have the peculiar tendency to target any and all Republican soldier they happen to come across.”
With those words, Desert Heat gently held the miniature whirlwind, which was still dancing merrily on his hoof, in front of his face and blew lightly on it. The whirlwind began to weaken and fade, dispersing into the air, until it was gone completely and there was nothing left in his hoof but sand. The Republic soldiers glanced at each other in confusion, unsure what to make of this bizarre display. Desert Heat, on his part, simply remained where he was, unmoving, his face bearing a small, expectant smile.
The waving of his mane was the first sign something was off. It waved as if a strong breeze was blowing through it, but a moment ago the air in the valley had been almost completely calm. Desert Heat’s cape began to billow as well, clouds of dust and sand rose up all around him, growing larger and larger as the wind picked up. It began to blow harder and faster, while coming from seemingly every direction at once. The Republicans finally realised what was happening, but by now it was already too late.
In less than a minute, what had begun as a light breeze had evolved into a genuine, fierce sandstorm that ravaged from one side of the valley to the next. Desert Heat had fed his storm winds with generous amounts of sand, which the storm had greedily sucked into the air. Now all that sand was traversing the skies in the form of a gigantic dust cloud, which rose up so high that it nearly reached the airships above. The storm howled and the sand it carried within its embrace pounded against the glimmering wall of the magical shield that enveloped nearly half of the valley.
The barrier shielded the Republicans from the storm’s wrath, but the sight of it nevertheless managed to dishearten and frighten many of them. The swirling cloud of dust and sand disoriented them and left them blinded, making it impossible to determine where the enemy was or where to aim. Any arrow or spell that was still fired simply got swept up by the storm and were blown astray the moment they left the safety of the barrier.
On the other side of the shield, Desert Heat came calmly walking out of the heart of the storm, completely unaffected by the dust and sand that swept over him at dangerous speeds. His small, expectant smile from before had turned into a satisfied grin. Once more he had proven that one did not need to wield lightning, fire or magic in order to make some jaws drop; sometimes, a bit of sand was all it took.
Once he had put enough distance between himself and the storm, he turned around again in order to watch, still appearing to be quite pleased with himself. “Well then, Rainbow Dash,” he thought, amused. “How is this for a distraction?”
---
High above the battlefield, aboard the Wonderbolt, Rainbow Dash and Amethyst Star were standing together and looking down at the sandstorm that raged below. The sight caused the former to lift herself up with her wings so she could cross her forelegs, and she cast a sideways glance at her companion.
“And you accuse me of being a show off,” Rainbow Dash said dryly, rolling her eyes. When Amethyst Star merely gave her a flat stare in reply, she let out an exasperated groan and made a ‘forget it’ gesture with her hoof. “One of these days, we’re getting you a sense of humour, Sparkler,” she grumbled.
“Save that kind of foolery until after the war, we have a job to do,” Amethyst Star replied, in her usual no-nonsense voice. “You remember what you have to do?”
Now it was Rainbow Dash’s turn to give her fellow admiral a decidedly unimpressed, even stare. “Sparkler, I came up with this plan,” she reminded her, raising one eyebrow. “I’m not as dumb as to forget my own ideas.”
“I meant no offence, Rainbow,” Amethyst Star replied with an innocent smile that couldn’t even fool the blind. “Just making sure, that’s all.” She paused for a brief moment to take another glance at Shining Armour’s shield and the sandstorm that ravaged it. Her smile faded and was replaced by her usual icy impassiveness. “Time to go,” she declared, glancing sideways at her colleague.
Rainbow Dash nodded, her face becoming set with a serious expression as well. She knew that there was a lot depending on what she and Sparkler were about to do. If they failed, things would look quite bleak for the royalists indeed. Her eyes narrowed and her magicite shards flared up with determination, lightning crackling around her hooves. She wasn’t going to let Desert Heat and her fellow royal guards down. She flat out refused to.
“Yeah, let’s do this,” she agreed, giving another nod towards Amethyst Star. “After you, Sparkler.”
Amethyst Star sniffed, then all of the sudden she was gone. The admiral reappeared in the middle of the air, somewhere between the battlefield in the air and the one on the ground. She used her magic to levitate herself and keep her from falling to her death, then took a few deep breaths to steady and focus herself. Closing her eyes, she reached out and summoned her Sephira blades to herself.
With her swords drifting in a lazy circle around her, Amethyst Star proceeded to the next phase of the spell she had to cast. The frown on her brow deepened as she called upon more of her magic, which required more concentration. As her horn started to glow brighter, so did her five swords, her magic infusing every single particle they were made of. As she pumped more and more magic into them, the Sephiras grew in size, until they were twice as tall as even an exceptionally big pony was long.
Her swords thus empowered, Amethyst Star opened her eyes again, which were now glowing white with power. Her blades spun around her faster and faster, and as they danced, she slowly moved one of her arms until she held it horizontal from her body. The Sephiras followed the movement, going from a vertical position to a horizontal one, their tips pointing away from their master. By now they were spinning so fast that their movements were a blur, but Amethyst Star was still not done.
With a grunt, she pushed one of her hooves into the air, and the deadly ring of swords rose with it, until it was spinning high above her like a crown of blades. Amethyst Star felt a small bead of sweat trickle down the side of her head, the complexity and delicate nature of the spell taxing even for a unicorn of her calibre, but she ignored it and pressed on. With another burst of magic, she went on to the final stage of the spell. She held out her arms to her sides, then carefully brought them together until her hooves touched with a gentle clop.
As before, her magical construct followed her movements, and the rings of blades changed form once more, folding up like a beautiful flower that closed itself for the night. Pleased, Amethyst Star watched as her swords came together, one by one, overlapping each other until at last, they merged into one. The final result of the spell was a single, unified blade made of pure magic, its length nearly that of a warship, and the sheer power it was made from causing it to glow brighter than a thousand suns.
While shielding her eyes from the bright light of her new weapon, Amethyst Star praised herself from having the common sense for surrounding herself and her magic with an invisibility spell. If she hadn’t, there was little doubt the Republic would have tried to interfere, which would have made performing the spell much more difficult than it already was. Of course, even invisible, its power could still be detected by skilled enough unicorns, but that was where Desert Heat came in. His sandstorm served as a perfect distraction, while she got everything ready.
Calling upon her magic again, she took the giant blade in her telekinetic grasp and lowered it until she could touch its glowing handle with her hoof. As soon as contact was made, she could feel its power, and how it struggled against the form she had put it in. The sword was in truth made of nothing but an incredible amount of magic, compressed to the extreme in the shape of a blade. The sheer willpower it took her to keep it locked in that form was staggering, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep it up for very long. She would have to be fast, but luckily for her, she only had to get in one hit.
Gritting her teeth, Amethyst Star launched herself higher into the air, holding her sword out in front of her. She was forced to let go of her invisibility spell, unable to keep it up along together with her combined Sephiras. Shock and awe rippled through the battlefield as the latest plan of the royal admirals was unveiled, but Amethyst Star ignored it. Through narrowed eyes she focussed entirely on a spot ahead of her in the skies.
“Rainbow Dash,” she called out to her fellow admiral. “Do your thing!” And with those words, she threw her magical weapon with all her might towards the other mare, who was waiting higher in the air.
Rainbow Dash watched for a second as the magical sword cleaved through the air, relieved to see that so far, everything was going according to plan. Now it was her turn. She reached out with her mind to her magicite, calling out its power as she had done so many times before. It responded eagerly, and she directed it towards her right hoof. She reared it back, lightning crackling around it, then thrust it forward in a swift punch at the air.
A torrent of lightning, equally as powerful as the one she had used to try and break through Shining Armour’s shield a moment ago, burst from her hoof and shot straight towards Amethyst Star’s sword. The two attacks collided, but did not seem to try and overpower one another. Instead, they seemed to merge, and the already incredibly powerful magic of Amethyst Star suddenly found itself empowered by the raw energy from one billion voltage of pure lightning. The sword now glowed blindingly white, with streaks of blue at the edges, and constantly emanated sparks of white-hot lightning.
Rainbow Dash inwardly cheered as she saw the result of her idea. The power of two admirals had successfully been combined, but she knew they weren’t out of the woods yet. There was no telling how long this magic construct would hold, and then there was the fact that the Republic by now had probably caught on to their little scheme and would do everything in its power it could to stop it.
“Sparkler!” she shouted atop of her lungs to her comrade. “Your turn again!”
The blade, now made of lightning and magic, which had still been flying towards her, suddenly came to a complete halt. In the blink of an eye, Amethyst Star appeared underneath it, and she grasped the hilt firmly with both hooves. Power and lightning flew from the blade into her the moment she touched it. She could feel her mind and body screaming as they became loaded with more power than they could cope with, but Amethyst Star didn’t let go. She merely gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on the blade.
With a bloodcurdling roar, she hefted the blade over her shoulder, then launched herself towards Shining Armour’s barrier with everything she had left. She soared through the air, dragging her weapon along with her, her body crying out in torment. She coldly ignored the protest of her flesh and pushed on, watching as the barrier rapidly came closer.
From the corner of her eyes, she noticed the desperate last attempts of the Republic to stop her, but she ignored them entirely. She saw Spitfire dive down from her flagship, firing a stream of searing flames towards her, but Rainbow Dash swept in and intercepted the attack when it left the barrier. Soldiers from above and below fired spells and arrows at her, but they came too late. Nothing could stop her now, and all her enemies could do was brace themselves.
At last she came upon the barrier. With a burst of magic she brought herself to a halt, in order to prevent herself from crashing into it. Amethyst Star didn’t waste a single moment. She hefted the magical blade above her head, let out a strained cry, then swung it with everything she had left in her body.
What followed was a clash of powers the likes of which had not been seen since the battle between the Republican commanders and Nightmare Moon, as Shining Armour and Amethyst Star fought each other with everything they had. The admiral pushed herself to the limit, using every bit of magic within her to have her gigantic, supercharged blade pierce the strongest magical shield in the whole wide world.
Shining Armour, on the other hoof, struggled to prevent exactly that from happening. The marshal called upon every drop of magic in his body as he struggled to have his shield repel the incoming attack. His horn glowed like a star, his eyes were clenched shut in concentration and his body shook due to the strain his muscles were put under, sweat running down his neck and flanks. Yet despite not having encountered this much resistance since facing Nightmare Moon, and even with his body and mind screamed at him to give up, he pressed on. If he managed to resist this attack, it would deal a considerable blow to the royalists’ morale.
However, determination and conviction alone were not enough to win a fight, one needed power and skill as well. Shining Armour’s power and skills were renowned throughout the entire known world, and believed by many to be the strongest unicorn alive. Whether that was true or not was debatable, but he certainly possessed the power to be able to face even a royal admiral and win, as evidenced by the fact that Rainbow Dash nor Amethyst Star had been able to break through his shield with their own power.
But now he faced the full might of two royal admirals combined, and in the face of such power, even he could not remain standing. Despite doing everything within his power to resist, Amethyst Star’s blade sank deeper and deeper into his shield, until it started to crack. With a final, mighty push, Amethyst Star completely cut through the barrier, causing it to at long last shatter like glass.
Shining Armour was knocked to the ground by the backlash of his failed spell, his head feeling like it was splitting open and a jolt of white-hot pain running down from his horn to every one of his nerve endings. The marshal collapsed, momentarily overcome by the pain, while his shield crumbled around him.
End of chapter 35.
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When the battle began, I promised you all that I'd be showing you some crowning moments of awesome. I think, with this chapter, I've delivered upon that promise. If Amethyst Star dropping a friggin' airship on top of Smaragd Haze doesn't count as one, then I'm out of ideas.
That aside, I hope the continued action this chapter managed to make up for the slightl delay. Next chapter, the war will be moving into the next phase!
Got a problem? Solve it by using superior firepower!
Smash it. Still up ? Smash it harder. Still up ? Smash it fuckin' harder. Repeat until taken down.
2694948
Wow, you really delivered with this chapter!
Amethyst Star is proof just how broken a telekinesis user can be.
And man, that giant sword. Dat giant sword.
I think anytime a vehicle is dropped onto a opponent is a pretty awesome moment.
Best chapter yet.
The only thing I am curious about, something I should have picked up on earlier, is the presence of trenches.
Trenches came about with the innovation of the machine gun. Since soldiers would be killed in droves by machine gun fire, trenches were dug, and their heads kept low. Trench warfare was often miserable. More people died by infections and illnesses from being holed up for long periods of time in the dirty, muddy trenches than were killed by direct combat. Since ponies still use cannon balls, bows and arrows, and swords, trenches seem out of place. But, that's pretty small and mostly irrelevant, ultimately.
They don't seem to play a very big roll in pony warfare.
Actually, I have another thought provoking question. If the ponies have airships and steam engines and what not, how come they haven't developed rifle technology, or moved passed cannon ball artillery? For some reason, I'm only just now noticing this.
If the shield was impermeable enough to not allow the air currents necessary for the sandstorms in, they could also just have waited until the ponies inside the shield ran out of air. I imagine airship engines burn up a lot of oxygen, even if they are magic-enhanced.
But then we wouldn't have gotten to see them smash through it with that light sword, which is just too awesome, so I'm glad you did it this way.
So, now not only is Shining's shield down but the Republic no longer even has his leadership since he's unconscious. Could the tide of battle finally be turning in the Royalists' favor?
Great chapter, though I want this battle over with so I can breathe a sigh of relief, or fall into despair, depending on who wins. Go Royalists!
Oh, another thing I just realized! Haze is a bigger bastard than I thought. While this chapter only confirmed his We Have Reserves mentality, and probably a Million is a Statistic philosiphy, I think him going to blow up the ship before it landed could have actually caused more damage. Consider, he blows up the engines... and therefor all of the aummunition and gun powder and whatnot on the ship! The amount of debris and shrapnel that would spread out rain down on his own troops... hell, it might have caused more damage than the ship simply crashing into the ground.
I think this might be the last beacon of hope before everything comes crashing down.
The good news: For all of Shining Armor's skill, he just got his flank handed to him.
The bad news: Trixie is still in play. No idea what she's up to.
2695193
And when all else fails, use fire!
2695283
A tried and true strategy, that.
2695310
I'm glad you liked it! Truth to be told, I was kind of worried that the giant sword would be a bit too much, but I'm happy to see it so well received.
2695329
Heh, that was actually a scene I had planned since I started writing the battle three chapters ago.
2696349
Well, one of the reasons they're used here is to make the terain more difficult for the approaching enemy to traverse, which'll help in slowing down the Republic's approach. It may not slow them down much, but any micro-second is valuable. Also, while it's true that ponies have no machineguns, they do have something else that can be just as deadly: magic. Remember magic-machinegun-Twilight in "A Canterlot Wedding"? And she's a mare untrained for combat. Combat mages as used by the Republic (and the Royalists, too), can fire a lot of spells in a little amount of time, so it helps to be able to keep your head low until it's safe (well, as safe as you can be while charging at the enemy) to attack.
Well, one reason is that I don't really like guns.
In-universe, however, I think it's because they have magic instead. True, not all ponies can use magic, but magic is more versatile than guns, so a battalion of combat mages would be more effective than a battalion of gun-users. Guns also require recources and supplies (bullets, gunpowder, spare arms), which would mean extra material that has to be hauled to the battlefield. Why bother with all that when you can have a well-trained unit of unicorns instead? And it seems a waste to turn earth-ponies into long-ranged fighters, while they are naturally better equiped for physical, close-combat. Pegasi could be good at it, but reloading a gun in midair tends to be more difficult than a crossbow.
Of course, mind you, until you asked, I hadn't really thought about an in-universe reason for it. The main reason for the lack of guns is purely because I don't really like them. Sorry if that disappoints.
As unbelievable as it might seem, he was actually trying to make sure the number of casualties remained as low as possible. The ship was going to explode no matter what. In the air, there would have been a rain of shrapnel and debris causing deaths, of course, but less so than if it exploded on the ground, in the middle of the army. If the ship crashed, a lot of soldiers would die by winding up underneath it or getting crushed as it slided along the ground, on top of all the casualties the explosion would cause. Fact is, ponies were gonna die no matter what, but less so if the ship exploded in the air. Smaragd Haze was actually trying to protect his troops (he doesn't mind sacrificing them, but he doesn't sacrifice them for nothing).
2696774
The airship engines actually run on steam, so there's little air involved. I also imagine that the Republican army would have wiped out the royalists long before their air supply runs out. But in truth, that wouldn't happen anyway. The shield prevents anything from coming in, but the CO2 they breathed out would still get out, and I'm sure Shining Armour has a way to let fresh air come in. Maybe via the back of the shield, since there are no attacks coming from that direction.
I'm glad you enjoyed the giant-sword-sequence, though, I was actually kind of worried about how that was going to be received. I'm very relieved the reaction to it so far is very positive. I wouldn't write Shining Armour off just yet, though. He's momentarily crippled by the pain, but not out for the count!
2697588
I'm afraid I'll have to keep you biting your nails for a little bit longer still, since my current estimation is that the Siege of Stalliongrad will count eight or nine parts in total. However, you did make me curious about something. I wonder who my readers expect to win this battle: the Republic or the Kingdom?
2698585
Well, Shining Armour suffered a defeat, true, but he's not out of the game just yet, only momentarily stunned. As for Trixie, originally she was scheduled to appear in this chapter, but as I wrote this chapter, it just got longer and longer the further I went on, so her appearance was delayed to a future chapter instead.
Thanks for all the comments!
2699301
Hmm, a hard question. I think it would be the Kingdom, but it'll be a hard fight since we still have Trixie with her surprise attack.
2699301 Mmmm, alright, fair enough, mostly.
Though, the trenches wouldn't really slow them down. Back in WWI, you could easily jump over trenches. Unless these trenches are reeeeaaally wide, and would force enemies to choke through narrower paths to get around them.
Though, after conversing with some friends of mine, we're pretty sure that regardless, the trenches don't actually serve as an obstacle. They could easily be bypassed. Unicorns could probably easily manifest makeshift magic bridges in that case.
Anywho, machine gun unicorns haven't been used, I think.
They could probably lay down some sweet suppression fire, unless unicorn mages on the opposing side could make strong enough shields to render them useless.
I should probably also mention that cannon balls don't explode. They're solid pieces of metal (or stone for earlier cannons).
2699301
Given that you've said the end of the civil war will only mark the halfway point of the story, something tells me the Republicans are going to win... nice to dream, though.
First off...HA, TAKE THAT, SHINING!!! You just got owned! And, the same goes for Smaragd as well!
Now, we'll find out what Trixie is up to... Something telling me that it isn't going to be good.
C&C:
Rarity’s face had been ashen, and the sights she was confronted whit while doing her duty clearly left a deep impression upon her, one that would last a lifetime.
> Correction: ‘with’.
I can already picture Rainbow Dash saying,"GG BITCHES!!!"
Whoa.
Now THAT is a cominbation attack!