38. Perdition of morality
Wings of Tomorrow
Lament of the World
38. Perdition of morality
The Siege of Stalliongrad – Part 7
Over the course of the past few hours, Shining Armour had, through the strategy he had spent months preparing and planning, given his adversaries more than one nasty surprise. The one that currently held the Royalists forces in its thrall, shocking them to the very core of their being, however, had not been part of the plan. When one of the ships under his command had, against all orders, opened fire on a neutral zone, the marshal had been as stunned as everyone else.
That had only lasted for a few moments, however, the stunned horror quickly making room for cold fury. In the blink of an eye, Shining Armour tore his communication crystal out of his pocket. “Trixie,” he growled through gritting teeth. “Three seconds. Three seconds to explain yourself, before I come up there and personally rip your rank insignia and your horn off!”
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that if he gritted his teeth together any harder they’d shatter, but Shining Armour bluntly ignored said voice, needing a way to release his fury in a manner that was safe for his surroundings. He blessed himself for having a naturally white coat, or else he was sure he’d be looking an unhealthy shade of pale at this very moment.
There was indignant gasp on the other side of the line.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie did in no way authorise this appalling display of barbarism!” Trixie replied, sounding shocked by the accusation. “She is quite offended that one would even suspect her of such a thing!”
“Only your fleet is close enough to the city to be within firing range, so it had to be one of your ships!” Shining Armour snarled back. “I gave explicit orders not to target any neutral territory. If you did not put up one of your crews to insubordination, then who did?!”
“I did.”
Shining Armour’s eyes widened in surprise, before quickly narrowing to slits again as his fury reached its boiling point. He was grabbing his communication crystal so tightly it was a miracle it didn’t shatter. “Smaragd Haze,” he said, his voice trembling with anger. “You… You dare…?” Shining Armour almost lost it for a moment. “Do you realise what you have done?!”
“I did what needed to be done,” Smaragd Haze replied coolly, seemingly not at all bothered by his actions nor the reaction of his superior to it.
“You disobeyed a direct order from your superior and committed a crime so heinous there are no words to describe it!” Shining Armour shouted, the vein at his temple throbbing. “You’ve brought shame to us all and stained any victory we might get with the blood of innocents! I’ll have you court martialled for this act of treason, Smaragd!”
“We have passed the point where we can allow our actions to be guided by such trifling matters as your morality, Marshal!” Smaragd Haze said sharply, speaking as if he was reprimanding a disobedient recruit. “Now that our invasion at New Saddle has failed, we must emerge triumphant on this battlefield, or else all sacrifices of today will have been a complete waste!”
“We have less than an hour before Derpy Hooves arrives on this battlefield,” the commander continued. “Every enemy that we allowed to be taken to that hospital was one more who could return to the battlefield, stall our advance and delay our victory until it is too late! We have to be thorough and strike swiftly and without mercy, while we still have the opportunity!”
Shining Armour opened his mouth to say something, but the words died on his lips and he clenched his teeth together again in frustration. As much as he absolutely loathed to admit it, he couldn’t deny that there was some truth to the words of the commander. If they lost the battle here as well, everything would indeed have been for naught, all the dead would have died for nothing.
In that light, Smaragd Haze’s actions fit in with the thought that victory had to be achieved at all cost now. He refused to admit that, however, for he did not want the commander to think even for a moment that he approved of his actions in even the smallest amount. It did leave him momentarily at loss of what to say to him, however, so he instead diverted his attention to another matter that was bothering him.
“Trixie, even if he had the idea, he still needed a ship to carry it out,” he said. “Can you tell me what happened?”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie apologises,” the commander replied. “It would seem he had one of the unicorns of his division take him aboard one of Trixie’s ships, where he threatened the crew into obedience.”
“That explains that,” Shining Armour muttered, sighing deeply.
For perhaps the first time today, he was at loss of what to do. He could not let his treacherous commander get away with this, yet at the same time, Smaragd Haze was, for all his numerous flaws, too invaluable a force to be withdrawn from the battle, especially at this stage. With Derpy Hooves on her way, the clock for a swift end to the war was ticking; he’d need every force under his command available if he wanted to make it in time.
“So either I lose my face and my honour, or I lose the battle,” Shining Armour thought, mentally cursing Smaragd Haze for the dilemma he now faced. He realised that he had to make a decision; the clock was ticking and every second he wasted now being indecisive brought them all closer to a bloodbath. The image of a burning Equestria flashed briefly through his mind and helped him reach a decision.
“Smaragd Haze, return to your post and see to it that you stay there,” he growled. “I mean it, commander. If you step even a single hoof out of line from this moment on ‘till the end of the battle, then so Harmony help me, you will not be leaving this battlefield alive, understood?!”
“Perfectly, marshal,” Smaragd Haze replied smoothly, sounding not in the least bit worried.
“I certainly hope so, for my sake if not yours,” Shining Armour finished coldly, after which he promptly closed the connection with Smaragd Haze’s communication crystal, his face black as thunder. “Trixie, listen, we need to-” The Marshal suddenly sprang aside, narrowly dodging a blade of sand that would have cleaved him in two. As his hooves made contact with the sand again, he turned to face his attacker.
“It seems I’ve misjudged you, Marshal,” Desert Heat snarled, his face a mask of unbridled fury and utter disgust, as he unleashed a flurry of crescent-shaped sand blades at his opponent. “I thought we could at least expect the common rules of decency to be obeyed, even during wartime, but clearly the depravity of the Republic knows no bounds!”
“I did not authorise this attack!” Shining Armour shouted back, as the sand blades crashed against the shield he had raised to protect himself. With a burst of magic, he disappeared and reappeared to the side of the admiral, but did not attack. “Smaragd Haze acted on his own! His actions shame me as much as they shock you!”
“Don’t speak of shame, you insolent cur!” Desert Heat snapped. With a roar, he turned and threw himself at his adversary. Shining Armour, who had reacted just a split second too late, was tackled to the ground, all air being forced out of his lungs as the heavy bulk of the sturdier earth pony landed on top of him. Desert Heat raised his hoof, ready to bring it down upon the marshal’s head, but this time Shining Armour was quick enough and caught the admiral’s hoof with his own.
As Desert Heat tried to pull his hoof out of the marshal’s grip, Shining Armour locked his free arm around Desert Heat’s neck. Thusly locked together, the two stallions rolled over the ground as they grappled and wrestled with each other, throwing up clouds of dust and sand in the wake of their fight. Eventually they came to a halt, with Desert Heat pinning Shining Armour to the ground again, despite the latter’s valiant struggles to achieve the opposite.
“Don’t you dare deny your part in this!” Desert Heat all but shouted into Shining Armour’s face. “You say you did not authorise this attack, that you shared no hoof in this, but who let that monster become one of his commanders?! Who promoted him to a position where he had the power and the freedom to do these things?! Who?!”
Shining Armour remained silent and turned his head away, unable to look Desert Heat in the eye. The accusation stung, all the more because he couldn’t entirely deny it. “The choice of the commanders doesn’t just fall to me,” he finally said, though he knew it was a poor defence. “My opinion carries weight, but in the end, the decision falls to the Court Nobles.”
“And that, marshal,” Desert Heat said coolly. “Is exactly the reason why we’re at war.”
The two stallions gazed defiantly at each other for a moment, until Desert Heat raised his hoof, ready to smash Shining Armour’s skull in, while the marshal charged up his magic. Before any blow could be struck, however, Desert Heat’s communication crystal lit up, a clear sign somepony wanted to speak to him urgently. The admiral clenched his jaw, his raised hoof trembling, seemingly unable to decide if he should answer the call or beat the stallion pinned beneath him to death.
The decision was made for him, however, when Shining Armour levitated his communication crystal out of the admiral’s pocket and held it out for him. “I believe it’s for you,” the marshal said, giving a weak, awkward grin.
Desert Heat looked very much like he wanted to remake Shining Armour’s face there and then, but finally he relented, blowing harshly through his nose before snatching his crystal out of the marshal’s magical grasp. With a worried heart he answered the call, all the while keeping a close eye on the stallion pinned beneath him.
“Go ahead, Willow Bark,” he said, having learned by the colour his crystal had lit up with who was trying to contact him. He felt Shining Armour shift slightly underneath him and he sent the marshal a warning glare, coupled with pressing his hoof down harder on the other stallion’s chest. “What’s the situation over there?”
“The hospital took a direct hit from the bombardment. There’s fire coming out of nearly every window and the east side was nearly entirely blown away by the attack,” the panicky voice of Willow Bark replied. “Pegasi and unicorns are trying to get the fire under control, but because the whole building can collapse at any moment now, they can’t get near enough to work efficiently!”
“What about the personnel and the wounded?” Desert Heat demanded, his face having turned very grim upon learning the news. “Has there been any contact with the ponies inside? Are there any survivors?!”
“We don’t know, admiral, sir! The entrance has been blocked by debris, preventing us from getting inside,” Willow Bark replied. “Even if we could, the heat and smoke make it impossible for anypony but a unicorn to go inside, but many of them were wounded or killed during the enemy’s last attack!”
The news only served to deepen Desert Heat’s frown. “Is there anything being done in order to come to the aid of those trapped inside?” he asked. “Has anypony taken command of the situation?!”
“Negative, sir,” came the answer. “The situation has descended into total chaos. The soldiers are confused and demoralized, not knowing who to obey or where to go first, with their officers often not knowing either. Attempts are being made to coordinate all responses, but without approval of an admiral it often just escalates into more confusion! Please sir, we need help!”
Desert Heat felt conflicted, something that was clearly visible upon his face. He knew he could not decide what had to be done until he had seen and assessed the situation with his own eyes. In order to do that, he would have to abandon the battlefield, leaving nopony to stand between the enemy and the city. But if he did not go, the situation in the city was likely to turn into a complete disaster, and he’d abandon countless innocents to die a slow and painful death.
Shining Armour, seeing the dilemma his enemy was facing, decided to speak up. “Go,” he said, much to Desert Heat’s surprise. “You may think me an immoral monster, but that doesn’t mean I am. I didn’t approve of this attack and I don’t want the deaths of the ponies inside that hospital on my conscience. I won’t attack you in a situation like this, I swear, so go and help them!”
Desert Heat slowly removed himself from atop his enemy, but did not move any further. He cast a sharp but hesitant glare at Shining Armour, still uncertain of the marshal’s motives or if he could trust his word. That Shining Armour would let him leave unhindered to go and help his troops seemed honourable enough, but on the other hoof, it also meant that he could march up to their gates unopposed.
Shining Armour, who had climbed back to his hooves by now, seemed to guess what the admiral was thinking. He let out a groan and clutched the side of his head, as if doing so would alleviate the stress a little and make it easier to make a decision. “Five minutes,” he said, putting his hoof back down. “That’s as long as I can delay our attack without getting a mutiny on my hooves, so make good use of it and get going!”
Though it wasn’t clear if he believed him or not, Desert Heat finally relented, knowing that going to the aid of his troops was more important than figuring out the marshal’s true motivation. Before he left, he cast one last hard look at Shining Armour. “This doesn’t change my opinion of you,” he warned.
“It doesn’t have to,” Shining Armour replied curtly. “Now hurry and go save your allies.”
Desert Heat averted his eyes and said nothing. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and, feeling he had recovered enough of his strength, reached out to his magicite. The shard responded, lighting up with a gentle glow, and the next moment Desert Heat was speeding towards the city, riding atop waves of sand.
---
The news of Derpy’s victory in New Saddle had reached both Rainbow Dash and Spitfire in the middle of their fight, and had served as a perfect excuse for the both of them to take a short break from trying to kill each other. After hearing it, Rainbow Dash had re-engaged her opponent with renewed vigour, bolstered by the knowledge that the Grand Admiral was on her way and that her arrival would mean a turning point in the battle.
At the moment, however, Rainbow Dash was merely hovering in the air, all the determination that had fuelled her every blow but a moment ago having vanished without a trace. Quietly, with open jaw and wide eyes, she stared at the plume of black smoke that was coming up from the city.
Dimly, somewhere in the back of her mind, she was aware that Rose Thorn was calling her on her crystal, but it didn’t really sink in. Nothing did. The war, the battle, the screams of the dying, none of it got through to her. She just hovered there, beating her wings to remain airborne on autopilot, watching the burning wreckage of the hospital.
“No… There’s no way… Not them...” she muttered, her sight blurring as tears welled up in her eyes. “This can’t be happening…” It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It was supposed to have been safe, the neutrality of that place was supposed to have kept them safe, to keep them out of harm’s way! It wasn’t supposed to be attacked! It just… wasn’t supposed to be like this.
Hovering nearby, Spitfire was looking from the burning hospital to the still form of her opponent, worry etched on her face. When she had spotted the result of the attack, she’d been too shocked at first to really comprehend what she was seeing. Now that it had had time to sink in, the idea that somepony had desecrated and attacked neutral ground filled her with fury, but her anger had quickly been replaced by worry upon taking a glance at Rainbow Dash, whose back was completely turned.
She had expected her opponent to be shocked and outraged, as any pony with a shred of morality would be upon witnessing this scandalous attack. That the admiral was instead staying very quiet and merely gazing at the blazing ruins worried Spitfire. A pony only reacted to destruction like this in this way, if it had taken something personal from them. Judging from the way Rainbow Dash was behaving, that definitely seemed to be the case, which meant both sides were probably about to get a problem on their hooves very soon.
Spitfire was no stranger to grief, she knew quite well what normally followed after the state of ‘shock,’ just as she knew that a grief-stricken admiral filled with rage and armed with magicite was very bad news. She hesitatingly moved a bit closer, her glaive held low to show she had no intention to fight now.
“Rainbow Dash…”
A single strand of lightning arched its way across Rainbow Dash’s body. A very sudden, violent explosion of electricity erupted from her motionless form. The blinding brightness and force of the eruption sent Spitfire stumbling back, forcing her block her eyes with a hoof.
Once it calmed, Spitfire caught herself in mid-air, lowering her hoof. She shot a surprised glance at Rainbow Dash, who was shrouded with perhaps the most powerful and seemingly unstable aura of lightning she had ever seen. The crackling of electricity drowned out most other sounds from the surrounding skies.
Finally, Spitfire watched in anticipation as Rainbow Dash slowly turned her head. Upon the admiral’s face was a hideous, vengeful scowl. The sheer hate she felt from Rainbow Dash’s piercing eyes drilled deep into her soul, sending a shiver down her spine. It was only her years of hard training and her own iron will that kept her from backing away. She gritted her teeth and waited, her eyes strained on Rainbow Dash, following the admiral’s every move.
“Rainbow Dash, please, I-”
A bolt of lightning suddenly sailed passed Spitfire’s head, prompting a shocked expression on her face. Rainbow Dash didn’t say anything, she just gave Spitfire a heated glare, her hoof still outstretched from when she had launched her attack from it. The strands of her prismatic mane falling before her eyes, partly obscuring her eyes, made Rainbow Dash look somehow all the more threatening. Every single muscle in her body trembled with fury.
The emotions that coursed through her could scarcely be put to words. The knowledge that her best friends were quite possibly dead and that she, by bringing them here, had put them on the path to their demise filled her with an overwhelming sense of guilt. Countless thoughts of ifs and should haves crossed her mind and were promptly discarded, for none of them could change the fact that it was too late.
It was too late and there was nothing she could do to change that. She had brought her friends here and it had killed them. They were gone, just like all morality had now fled from this battle. There were no more thoughts of right and wrong, of noble causes or reasons to fight. They had died together with her friends, and all that was left was anger.
With a snarl, she glanced up sharply, her seething eyes scanning the skies and spotting Spitfire, her troops and the countless Republican airships. Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed. She might have brought her friends to this place, but it had not been her who had fired the cannons that had ended their lives. Other ponies had done that and, as fate would have it, she was looking right at them. They had killed her friends.
And now they would pay.
Her attack was as swift as it was merciless. With a single beat of her wings, she was on top of Spitfire, thrusting down her lance with enough force to puncture steel, in a savage attempt to have it pierce the commander’s flesh. Spitfire nimbly darted out of the way and did a fast somersault to try and bring down the hoof of her hindleg on top of Rainbow Dash’s unprotected head. She realised her mistake a split second too late.
Rainbow Dash caught Spitfire’s leg firmly in one of her front hooves, holding on tight while delivering a crippling, magicite-powered punch right between the commander’s wings. The armour that protected that particular spot where flight muscles and nerve endings came together just under the skin could only absorb so much of a lightning-powered blow, and Spitfire let out a cry of pain, feeling as if every single muscle in her wings painfully cramped up.
Fighting against the pain, she used her magicite to wreath her leg in flames, startling Rainbow Dash just enough to pull her leg free from the admiral’s grip. She twisted her body around, lashing out with her foreleg to try and sock Rainbow Dash in the face with her hoof, but ending up swatting the air when her target pulled its head in just in time.
Before Spitfire could recover from the momentum of her blow, Rainbow Dash wrapped her arms around the commander, holding her in a crushing grip against her chest. Spitfire refrained from panicking and tried to summon up flames with her magicite in order to make her opponent let go of her, but Rainbow Dash was quicker.
Snarling, her eyes wild with fury, Rainbow Dash butted her head directly into Spitfire’s face, nearly breaking the commander’s muzzle and causing it to bleed. Spitfire groaned in pain, but wasn’t out just yet. Gritting her teeth, she reached out to her magicite again and quickly used it to wreathe her body in flames. Rainbow Dash let out a startled cry, but did not let go. In fact, the pain and the searing heat from Spitfire’s flames only seemed to make her even more angry.
Ignoring the flames burning away at her body, Rainbow Dash tightened her grip on her opponent and took off, taking Spitfire with her as she sped towards the nearest Republican airship she could spot. Her wings beat swiftly as she quickly started to build up speed, her raging eyes focused only on the ship ahead of her.
As they flew, Spitfire put up a fierce struggle to break free of Rainbow Dash’s hold, knowing that whatever destination her captor had in mind wouldn’t be pleasant for her. She couldn’t use her forelegs, due to them being pinned to her sides by Rainbow Dash’s, but that didn’t make her helpless. She glanced up to Rainbow Dash’s unprotected throat, and decided that desperate times called for desperate measures.
A moment later, Rainbow Dash's eyes bugged out as she felt Spitfire chomp on her throat. She made a strangled gurgle as the other pegasus bit down harder, trying to make her let go, but Rainbow Dash only tightened her hold on the Republican commander. Just as well, Spitfire did not let go either, shaking her head to tear further at the flesh between her teeth, despite the blood spilling into her mouth making her queasy.
Rainbow Dash bit her lip to prevent herself from crying out again as Spitfire continued to gnaw away at her throat, something she did not appreciate at all. She was lucky Spitfire did not have the sharp canines the Thestrals did, or else she’d be drowning in her own blood at this very moment. That didn’t make the experience of having her gnaw at her flesh any more pleasant, though.
She let go of Spitfire’s body with one of her forelegs and started beating against the commander’s head repeatedly and none too gently, not holding back even the slightest bit. Spitfire tried to shrug off the beating as much as she could, focusing instead on trying to get out of her opponent’s grip now that she was held with only one leg. She clamped down harder with her teeth, while beating at Rainbow Dash’s back with her hooves at the same time, hoping to make the admiral just let go already.
The pain of her throat, combined with Spitfire’s refusal to let go, pushed Rainbow Dash to even greater heights of rage. With an animalistic growl, she released her grip on her enemy, but before Spitfire could even think of letting go herself and escaping, Rainbow Dash used both her hooves to crush Spitfire’s head between them, the armour-clad limbs nearly cracking the commander’s skull in the process.
Spitfire saw white before her eyes and released her hold on Rainbow Dash’s throat, her mouth opening in a silent scream as her entire body was consumed by agonising, white-hot pain. Before she could even begin the long fall to the ground below, however, her body received a second blow when Rainbow Dash kicked her in the jaw, making her spit out blood. Hellish pain assaulted her senses as she felt her jawbone crack beneath her opponent’s hoof.
For a brief second, the world went black before her eyes and Spitfire could feel her consciousness slipping. With her opponent momentarily weakened, Rainbow Dash saw her chance and threw herself with all her weight against the commander, bodily tackling her into the magical barrier surrounding a Republican ship. Spitfire had the wind knocked out of her as her back hit the shield, a spike of pain lacing through her spine at the same time, leaving no uncertainties that, hadn’t it been for her armour taking the brunt of the impact, it would have snapped.
As she struggled to regain her breath and bearings, Spitfire was crudely reminded that Rainbow Dash was still on top of her when the latter put a hoof on her throat and pinned her against the barrier. She groaned in discomfort and desperately gasped for air when Rainbow Dash pressed down on her windpipe. Spitfire, despite being slightly delirious, still managed to open her eyes and focus her clouded gaze on her enemy.
Rainbow Dash stared back, her teeth bared in a silent snarl. The murderous, animalistic look in her eyes and the blood running down her throat made the admiral a vision out of nightmares, but what frightened Spitfire the most was the look of hurt and betrayal upon the younger pegasus’ visage.
Growling, Rainbow Dash leaned in closer, until their muzzles were almost touching. “You killed them,” she hissed, her voice dangerously low and cracking slightly near the end. Still pinning Spitfire against the barrier, she reared back her free hoof, lightning crackling around it as she prepared to unleash her powers at point blank range. “You killed them!”
Spitfire, though puzzled by the admiral’s words, wasn’t about to waste her time trying to mutter a response, not when she was about to get a generous amount of lightning shoved down her throat. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed the hoof pinning her against the barrier with both her hooves and managed to push it off her throat just enough to wiggle free. The commander slid downwards just in time to avoid Rainbow Dash’s hoof as it crashed through the barrier right where her head had just been, eliciting a wail of agony from somewhere aboard the ship beneath them.
The shield surrounding the ship shattered like fragile glass in the wake of Rainbow Dash’s blow, causing cold sweat to run down Spitfire’s neck as she imagined what would have happened to her if the admiral had managed to hit her intended target. The destruction of the barrier did have a positive side to it; as there was now nothing left for Rainbow Dash to pin her against, Spitfire broke free of her enemy’s hold and, with a few swift beats of her wings, put some much needed distance between them.
The crackling sound of electricity and the smell of ozone were the only warnings she received that Rainbow Dash wasn’t about to let her get away without a fight. Spitfire swerved to the right as a whip of lightning missed her by a hair and slashed through the ship beneath her instead, setting off numerous explosions inside the hull where it had passed through.
She watched as the ship caught fire and started to fall, feeling her own anger rise at the sight of Rainbow Dash involving others in what seemed to Spitfire to be a personal matter. She turned around, ready to tell and show the admiral just what she thought of that. However, before any word could be spoken, Spitfire’s eyes shot wide open and the commander was forced to dive to the side as a blast of lighting roared past her. She frantically glanced behind her to see the torrent of lightning plow straight through the stricken airship, riddling it with more explosions as it began to rapidly lose altitude.
A blinding glow pulled her attention back to Rainbow Dash and Spitfire turned her head just in time to see the admiral fire a second torrent of lightning her way. Again she managed to move out of the way, but Rainbow Dash acted as if possessed, firing one giant torrent of lightning after another at Spitfire, forcing the commander to use all of her speed and agility in order to dart between the currents of electricity and avoid being friend to a crisp.
Despite being under constant attack, Spitfire found herself to be more concerned about the state of Rainbow Dash’s mind than the lightning she was throwing Spitfire’s way. The admiral was attacking recklessly, blinded by her rage, throwing her attacks at her opponent without caring what or who else they ended up harming. When she saw with her own eyes how one such lightning blast went astray and nearly destroyed one of Rainbow Dash’s own ships, Spitfire had had enough.
Triggering her own power, she summoned a flame in her hoof and blew on it, firing a cloud of hundreds of tiny embers at the rampaging admiral. Rainbow Dash scoffed as she effortlessly shielded herself with one of her wings and wondered what Spitfire could possibly hope to achieve with such a meagre attack. That opinion quickly changed when a few of those tiny embers got in her eyes and nose. Howling in agony, Rainbow Dash desperately pawed at her face with her hooves, trying in vain to make the pain stop.
With the admiral distracted by her watering eyes, Spitfire moved in, grabbing Rainbow Dash’s forelegs by the wrists and pushing them back, putting enough strain on the limbs to remind Rainbow Dash that if she pushed them any further, they’d snap out of their sockets. Rainbow Dash glared furiously at the commander, but Spitfire remained unperturbed and her grip firm and unyielding.
Once she was sure she had Rainbow Dash’s attention, Spitfire’s eyes narrowed and she leaned in closer until their muzzles almost touched. “Now you listen here, rookie,” she hissed, sounding every bit like an instructor disciplining a disobedient recruit. She was pleased to notice that her reference had the desired effect, if Rainbow Dash’s widened eyes were any indication.
“I know I shouldn’t care about you doing my work for me being killing your own troops, but personally I won’t stand for such reckless, low behaviour, not even from my enemies!” she continued in a low growl. “I once told you that you proved yourself to be a pony who can push her limits and push them in the right direction, but right now, I’m having second thoughts about that.”
Rainbow Dash could feel her jaw drop wide open as she stared at Spitfire with incomprehension. The raging fury, born from agonizing grief, that had been so prevalent in her eyes until but a moment ago, was now gone, having made way for confusion and disbelief.
At first, she hadn’t been certain what the commander was talking about, but a quick moment of reflection brought forth a memory; one from a time long gone, at the Wonderbolts Academy. She remembered how Lightning Dust had been expelled because of her reckless behaviour and she’d been made lead mare instead, all because Spitfire ultimately approved of her and her methods over those of Lightning Dust.
The reason she felt so confused, however, had nothing to do with the memories Spitfire had brought up, and everything with the fact that the commander had done so in the first place. Her memories of her time at the Wonderbolts Acadamy came from her previous life, because she had certainly never been to the academy in this one. The Wonderbolts did not exist in this life in the first place. So there was no way Spitfire could know this, unless…
Rainbow Dash gaped at the Republican commander is disbelief as her brain finally arrived at the only possible conclusion. “It… it can’t be,” she stammered, as she weakly shook her head. “There’s no way you could know that… Not unless… You remember?”
Seeing that the admiral was no longer a threat, Spitfire released her grip on Rainbow Dash’s arms, remaining silent all the while. She took a deep breath, briefly closed her eyes and then slowly breathed out through her nose again. After a small moment that seemed to last an eternity, Spitfire looked to the side, a regretful expression crossing her face, and nodded.
“Everything,” she admitted, her voice quiet and sad. “Since the day I was born.”
Rainbow Dash could almost feel the blood draining from her face as she became a ghastly shade of pale. Her heart skipped a beat, her body trembled and all strength seemed to have been drained from her. She went completely silent and her head slumped, obscuring her face from Spitfire’s view.
Spitfire was concerned by Rainbow Dash’s reaction, but remained where she was and kept herself alert and on guard; she did not want to be on the receiving end of another beating, her head and jaw were still aching terribly from the last one. Despite that, she could not help but feel some degree of worry for her fellow pegasus. It was as if her revelation of the truth had broken something inside of the admiral, which hadn’t exactly been her intent.
Even though they were technically enemies, Spitfire didn’t really have anything as a pony against Rainbow Dash. She respected the other mare’s skill, power and determination both in this life and her previous one. They just happened to be fighting on different sides. Before she could contemplate this any further, however, she was pulled back to the present when Rainbow Dash stirred.
If Rainbow Dash had had a hand, this would have been the moment where she’d clenched it into a fist. “You’re telling me… That all this time… all those years…” she hissed, her breathing intensifying, her entire body shaking violently. “You remembered?!” With an animalistic, vicious snarl, she looked up, her eyes ablaze with pure hatred. Lightning erupted from her body like from an unstable thundercloud.
With a scream of mindless rage, Rainbow Dash closed the distance between her and the former Wonderbolt. Spitfire gave a startled gasp and barely managed to raise her forelegs to block an electrified punch. She flew backwards several metres, her body and especially her foreleg in pain from the jolt of lightning, but she held firm and readied herself for the next attack.
She didn’t have to wait long. Rainbow Dash launched herself at the commander like a vicious manticore, looking every bit as if she wanted nothing more but to rip and tear the commander the bloody shreds. “Traitor!” she roared, while lashing out at her enemy with one of her hooves in an upward blow, lightning trailing in its wake. “You bucking traitor! Damn you! Damn you to Tartarus, Spitfire!!!”
Spitfire moved out of the way of the blow, wishing not for the first time that she still had her glaive. Sadly, she’d been holding her weapon when Rainbow Dash had first attacked and it had fallen from her hooves during the following struggle.
“You’re a Wonderbolt!” Rainbow Dash accused heatedly, not caring that her opponent was unarmed. She advanced on Spitfire while throwing one lightning-charged punch after another at her. “You’re a member of Celestia’s personal flying team! How can you side with those monsters that imprisoned the princess and plunged Equestria into chaos?!” With a growl of pure hate, she thrust her hoof forward, aiming a lightning blast straight at Spitfire’s head.
Spitfire gritted her teeth as much as she could with her injured jaw, wreathed her right hoof in flames and used it to knock the admiral’s hoof to the side, sending the lightning blast off course. “Times change, Rainbow Dash, and so do ponies,” she said, while firing a jet of flames with both hooves at the enraged pegasus to try and keep her at bay. “All I could do was try to do what’s best for everypony!”
Rainbow Dash could scarcely believe her ears. For a moment, she was too stunned to do anything but gape at Spitfire in disbelief, but those feelings were quickly converted into anger, further fuelling the inferno of her rage. Gritting her teeth so hard they nearly cracked, she launched herself at Spitfire again, plunging straight through the stream of flames, her fury making her disregard pain or injury. All that mattered was getting her hooves on her enemy as quickly as possible and throttling her.
“The best for everypony?!” Rainbow Dash screamed on top her lungs, snarling in frustration when Spitfire darted back, just outside of her reach. “Princess Celestia gave us peace and harmony! She was a better ruler than we ever deserved! How is what you’re doing to her the best for everypony?!” Using her magicite, she formed another bolt of lightning in her hoof and lashed out with it like a whip at her childhood idol.
This time, though, Spitfire was ready and a swift beat of her wings carried her higher into the air, the lightning passing harmlessly under her. “You won’t hear me saying otherwise, Rainbow Dash,” she replied, while setting her hooves on fire. “The Princess was the greatest pony I’ve ever known. But after what we did to her for nearly three centuries and a half, how much of that mare do you think there’s left?!”
“Shut. Up!!!” Rainbow Dash roared, as she furiously beat her wings and shot up towards Spitfire. She was too enraged to be able to speak or think anymore, her vision tinted red. Her eyes burned with unspeakable hatred and fury, her breathing was hard and fast as her body was filled with more rage than it knew what to do with. Her mind had gone blank with fury, focussed solely on getting to Spitfire and causing her pain.
Rainbow Dash had always been a bit reckless in nature, even after her time in the guard had tempered that aspect of hers with experience and discipline. Despite this, she had never been a pony who let her anger take control of herself. She had flown into rage or fits or fury before, but never like now, never so far that she could no longer think, never so bad that she was no longer in control of herself.
The tears that blurred her vision, however, were proof that the rage was simply a way to cope with her grief and pain. She had just lost her five best friends, burdening her heart with feelings of loss and guilt. The revelation that the pony whom she had admired since she was a filly in her previous life was consciously aiding the side that had killed her friends had only added to the aching of her heart, until it had simply become too much to bear.
Her desire to cause pain to others, to rampage and destroy, was nothing more than an attempt to escape the pain inside herself. At least when she was taking her feelings out on her surroundings, she didn’t have to think of her friends, didn’t have to think about the ache in her chest. As long as she took out her anger on Spitfire, she didn’t have the time to be angry on herself.
Up ahead of her, Spitfire was preparing to catch the oncoming admiral, her face grim and her eyes showing both confusion and worry. She had hoped that her revelation of knowing her past life would have shocked or stunned Rainbow Dash enough for her to be able to calm the young admiral down, but clearly it had only made matters worse. Rainbow Dash was beyond reason now, lost in her anger that Spitfire did not know the entire cause of.
Clearly, it went beyond feeling betrayed by her revelation, beyond mere disgust and fury at the destruction of the hospital. There was another reason, though what it was Spitfire could only guess. She rubbed her aching jaw, wincing when she accidentally brushed her hoof across the fractured bone, a painful reminder of what an enraged admiral was capable of.
In her current state, Rainbow Dash was a danger to everypony in the sky, not to mention to herself as well. Anger and the destructive power of magicite didn’t go together very well at all, something that Spitfire was all too aware of. Given that she was the only pony currently present who was able to match the Royal admiral in combat, she knew it fell to her to put an end to Rainbow Dash’s rampage.
“Easier said than done,” the commander thought, as she readied herself for the coming struggle. “I don’t want to kill her, but if things go on like this, I may not have a choice.”
As Rainbow Dash charged lightning into her hooves in preparation for another attack, Spitfire braced herself. One way or another, she was going to put an end to this madness.
She just hoped that Rainbow Dash didn’t put an end to her in the process.
---
On the other side of the city, Amethyst Star and Trixie Lulamoon found themselves in a remarkably similar situation. The two unicorns were engaged in a magic duel, the intensity of which had rarely been seen before. The staggering display of power was matched only by the combatants' viciousness, each trying to provoke the other to greater depths of hatred and anger, something in which they appeared to be as evenly matched as in their magical skill.
It was clear, however, that despite all her ferocity, Amethyst Star was being forced on the defensive. Though she managed to match and counter all of her opponent’s spells, her reaction and casting speed were notably slower than Trixie’s, which was hardly surprising. The Republican commander was still newly arrived to the battlefield, her magic reserves fresh, while Amethyst Star had already been participating in the war for hours.
The numerous battles she had fought and the injuries she had suffered during them had left her stressed and fatigued, her magical reserves reduced to only half of what they had been on the outset of the war. She was immensely grateful for the other magicite shards in her armour passively boosting her stamina and reflexes. Without them, she wouldn't even have enough energy left to run away. It wasn’t that she was no longer capable of fighting, she was just ill prepared at the moment to fight an opponent of Trixie’s calibre. It was simply a fact, one that the rational part of Amethyst Star was very aware of.
The rational part, however, was currently being ignored.
“You deny having any hoof in the commitment of this crime,” Amethyst Star spat, her voice heavy with contempt and resentment, as she send one of her Sephira blades at the commander. “Yet you still protected the monster responsible for it from my wrath. What is that if not proof that you and him are on the same page?! You speak of barbarism, but would not let the barbarian be brought to justice!”
“The likes of you has no right to speak of justice!” Trixie retorted icily, the Sephira sword ricocheting off the light blue shield she conjured. “That filthy mud pony will not go unpunished for his lowly deed, but he shall be tried only by the true justice of Equestria and not by a rabble of traitors to the superior pony race!”
Amethyst Star could barely suppress the urge to groan and plant her hoof on her face, but thought better of it, knowing that even that tiny amount of energy was best saved for something else. It was pointless to try and argue with the other unicorn, Trixie was either too deeply indoctrinated by the Republic’s propaganda of unicorn supremacy, or she actually believed in it herself. Whichever was the case, she was simply a lost cause.
“A lost cause that prevented you from skinning Smaragd Haze alive,” Amethyst Star reminded herself, still bristling at the memory.
When she had spotted what had happened to the hospital, her cold, pragmatic mind had wasted little time being shocked or stunned, instead immediately focussing on trying to find the culprit. It had taken surprisingly little effort, mostly due to the fact that Smaragd Haze had not even tried to hide. When she tried to teleport over so she could introduce him to some of the more creative uses of magic, however, Trixie had intervened and stopped her from doing so, allowing Smaragd Haze to get away.
Now the two unicorns were facing each other atop the deck of the admiral’s airship, with Trixie’s own ship still pressed alongside Amethyst’s, the two ships struggling against one another just as much as their owners were.
The two unicorns circled one another for a while, their gazes locked, until Amethyst Star moved first. With her lowered magic reserves, she knew she had to keep the initiative if she was to make it through this encounter relatively unscathed. Casting a quick spell, she vanished before Trixie’s eyes and reappeared behind the commander, a magic-made sword now held in her grasp. Even as Trixie whirled around to face her foe, Amethyst Star struck, plunging her blade straight into her opponent’s chest.
Immediately, she knew something was wrong, even though her opponent’s eyes were wide in shock, her mouth opened in a silent scream. Amethyst felt no resistance as she pushed the blade deeper into Trixie’s body, nor was there a hole in the commander’s armour where the sword had gone through or any blood flowing out of the wound. Her suspicions were confirmed when the image of Trixie became distorted for a moment and then vanished without a trace.
“An illusion,” Amethyst realised, as she scanned the now empty deck, trying to determine where her enemy was hiding and what direction the inevitable attack would come from. “I didn’t even notice when she replaced herself. Looks like she’s as good as the rumours say she is…” Her eyes glanced left and right, every muscle in her body tensed, ready to move. “Now where are you hiding…”
“Right behind you,” Trixie’s voice snickered. Amethyst immediately whirled around, her blade striking Trixie across the throat. Yet there was no wound, with the image of the commander fading like last time.
A movement to Amethyst’s left caught her attention and she turned just in time to see Trixie firing a blast of magic at her, the attack approaching at a rapid pace. Amethyst Star had just enough time to raise a shield to defend herself, only for the blast to pass right through the barrier as if it wasn’t even there. She had not even felt an impact upon her shield, due to the fact that there never had been one in the first place.
“Another illusion! ” Amethyst Star cursed, just as Trixie reappeared to her right, ready to fire another blast. As she turned to face the potential threat, another Trixie appeared behind her, followed by one in front of her, with many more appearing until she was surrounded at all sides by Trixies. Amethyst watched as the army of Trixies all gave her a haughty grin and a bead of sweat ran down the side of her face. “Any of them could be the real one, if the real one’s even among them at all. This isn’t good. Not good at all.”
All of the Trixies activated their horns, each one charging a spell. Simultaneously, they fired a kinetic bolt of magic at Amethyst. The admiral braced herself, her eyes narrowed, and quickly raised a barrier, only for each shot to pass through harmlessly. The collective group of Trixies all let out a mocking, playful chuckle.
“She’s just toying with me…” Amethyst concluded, snorting irritably. “But maybe I could use that to my advantage.” She lowered her barrier and relaxed her posture, her lips forming a small grin. “Very amusing, Trixie,” she said, with mockery in her voice. “I admit you fooled me for a minute there. Your parlour tricks are very convincing.”
The circle of Trixies collectively blinked. “Parlour tricks?” they repeated, as if they weren’t sure they had heard Amethyst Star correctly. “Hmph! You want parlour tricks? Fine!” One of the Trixies stepped forth, seemingly charging a basic magic bolt. The illusion fired the magenta coloured bolt at Amethyst.
“What? That old trick ag-” The bolt struck Amythest square in the chest, sending her tumbling backwards and hitting the deck. Her eyes wide open, Amethyst climbed back to her hooves, and looked down to see her fur singed where she was struck. She looked back up, glaring at Trixie, who was looking decidedly smug.
“How was that for a parlour trick?” asked the Trixie that had fired the attack, casually brushing a hoof through her mane. To her surprise, Amethyst’s glare turned into a wide smirk and she suddenly found herself swept of her hooves and pulled towards the admiral, courtesy of the latter’s magic.
“Thank you for showing me the real one, Trixie,” Amethyst Star said, creating a sword with her magic and levelling the tip at the oncoming commander. “You saved me the trouble of finding it out myself!” The commander’s eyes widened in panic and she struggled to break Amethyst’s hold, but the admiral held firm. With a final tug of her magic, she pulled Trixie across the remaining distance between them, straight onto her waiting sword, which was buried up to the hilt in the commander’s body.
Trixie’s mouth opened, but no sound left her lips. Her body blurred for a moment, before promptly vanishing. “What the-?!” Amethyst thought, her eyes now growing wide in shock and disbelief. “That wasn’t the real one?!”
Before she could do anything, Amethyst Star was hit in the side by a powerful kinetic blow that knocked her out of the ring of illusions and sent her sprawling across the deck, stopping only when she hit the railing. With a groan of pain, she pushed herself up on her forelegs and turned her head to see the many illusionary Trixies had vanished. Only the presumably real one remained on the deck, looking down on the struggling admiral with contempt.
“Did you really believe that would work?” Trixie demanded. “Ha! As if the Great and Powerful Trixie would let herself be swayed by the words of a lowly traitor!” She made a dismissive and scornful gesture with her hoof. “For the ‘great’ Amethyst Star to have to resort to such petty, foalish tactics! Pathetic! The Great and Powerful Trixie is disappointed.”
“Like you’re one to talk,” Amethyst retorted, spitting out some blood. “Everypony and their mom knows that you rely on your illusions to win your battles because you can’t cast any combat spells worth a damn.”
Trixie raised an eyebrow and smirked. “The Great and Powerful Trixie knows that you are simply trying to rile her up so she would do something foolish, but she is much too great to fall into such an obvious trap!” she gloated, holding a hoof to her chest. “Pitiful is what she calls this!” Her eyes narrowed and her smirk gained a dark edge to it. “But if it is a combat spell you wish to see, the Great and Powerful Trixie shall most generously comply!”
Amethyst Star braced herself as Trixie reared up on her hind legs, her horn glowing blinding white. The glow started to move from her horn down her body to the tips of her hooves and tail, until the entirety of Trixie was shining bright. The light coming from the commander was so bright that Amethyst Star was forced raise her foreleg before her eyes in order to shield them, lest she was blinded by the intense glow. She felt a rush of air suddenly pass her by, as if something had exploded, after which the deck grew eerily quiet.
A few seconds passed during which nothing happened, then Amethyst Star deemed it safe enough to lower her arm. Slowly, she opened her eyes again, only to be both stunned and puzzled by the sight that greeted her.
Caught within an unseen breeze, spread across the deck, hundreds of light blue feathers danced playfully through the air and very slowly drifted towards the wooden floor. Amethyst warily glanced around, looking for any sign or hint of her opponent’s whereabouts, but all she saw were the feathers fluttering lazily around her. The stillness that had followed in the wake of Trixie’s disappearance had remained as well. Not even the ringing of steel, the roar of cannons and the screams of the dying as the war continued could be heard.
It was a strange but peaceful scene, one that carried with it an air of pure tranquillity that did not manage to fool Amethyst Star for even a minute. No matter how much they tried to convince her that they were real, Amethyst knew they were not. It was an illusion, all of it, that much was obvious. Less obvious was what Trixie was trying to achieve with this. The commander had to know that her opponent wouldn’t be tricked by the display, regardless of how convincing and lifelike it looked.
Amethyst didn’t trust the situation and carefully made her way between the feathers, being careful not to touch one. Using her magic, she weaved a spell that would normally allow her to detect areas with an unusually high concentration of magical energies, often used to try and find enemies or spells when one could not see them with his eyes. It had even saved her life a few times during the countless battles she had fought throughout her years of service.
That made it all the more disappointing when the usage of the spell yielded no results. In simple terms, the spell Amethyst had cast was like putting on a pair of glasses that allowed their wearer to ‘see’ the magic concentrated in living beings and spells. Now, however, her usually clear vision was clouded, like she was lost within a thick mist.
“Somehow she managed to almost perfectly distribute her magic evenly throughout the area, blocking my sight. To have this level of mana control…” Amethyst shook her head and bared her teeth angrily. She was a sitting duck and she knew it, upsetting her even more. “If only I was in a better shape right now… I’d show her a thing or two.”
A feather floated down before her face and, in a rush of annoyance, she blew at it, hoping to make it go away. To her surprise, the illusion obeyed, the image of the feather vanishing as if carried away by a strong gust of wind. In its place, right before her eyes, now hovered an orb of compressed magical energy, looking every bit ready to decompress.
Amethyst’s pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks.
In the blink of an eye, the glowing sphere unleashed its magical energies in a devastating, magenta-coloured explosion that belied its size. At the same time, the illusionary scene of tranquillity was crudely shattered as the countless other feathers around the deck revealed their true nature as well. The many spheres of magic released their power all at roughly the same time, causing numerous explosions like fireworks, which engulfed the entirety of the deck and beyond in a cloud of dazzling but destructive colours and magical energies.
When the devastation ended, an absolute silence fell over the ship, together with a thick cloud of black smoke that obscured the entire deck. The cloud was quickly dissipated by the wind, bringing to light the result of the explosions. The deck was in ruins, with fires still smouldering in numerous places in wake of the attack, spreading more of the black smoke. Much of the floor and the railing had been shredded, the wooden planks they were built of having stood no chance against the might of a magicite wielding commander.
Amidst the smoke and ruins, standing behind the cracked magical barrier that had shielded her from the explosion, was Amethyst Star. The admiral looked a bit shaking, but aside from that she was unharmed. She was glad for the endless drilling exercises from during her early days in the guard, which had had her raising magical shields until she could do it by reflex. Had it not been for that, she had no doubt she would be looking far worse at the moment.
She cast a critical look around the deck, taking in the damage. The attack had clearly done quite a number on her ship, with the deck and the hull having suffered the most. To her great relief, the engines and the propellers appeared to be intact, or at least in a good enough condition to keep them airborne, making for one less thing for her to worry about.
With that crucial question answered, the next most pressing matter was the condition of her crew. She’d like to contact them and ask for their status, but she knew she was still in the middle of a fight and couldn’t afford that luxury. She wasn’t sure if Trixie had expected to get her with that little trap, but she very much doubted the commander would leave it at that even if she had. Amethyst knew for certain that her opponent was already preparing her next move, but like before the commander proved frustratingly impossible to locate.
Gritting her teeth, Amethyst dispelled her cracked shield and braced herself. “Let’s see… A sneaky unicorn commander with far too much love for herself, who just had her flashy, big attack fail to hit her target, would probably be…” Her ears picked up the smallest of sounds and she responded immediately, lowering her head just in time for a magic blast that had come from behind her to soar over her head. “There!” Reaching out with her magic on pure feeling, she grabbed her invisible assailant and with a strong pull flipped her overhead, smashing a startled Trixie headfirst against the ruined deck.
Amethyst didn’t stop to gloat, instead she immediately lifted the temporarily stunned commander up again, smashing her down against the deck a second time. However, when her horn was only two inches away from the floor boards, Trixie broke free of Amethyst’s hold and managed to land on her four hooves. She tried to teleport, but Amethyst was quicker this time, throwing herself at the commander and knocking said pony off her hooves.
The two unicorns rolled over the ruined deck, then came to a halt with Amethyst Star on top. The admiral wasted no time in raising her hoof and punching Trixie viciously in the face with it, drawing blood. She tried to do it again, but Trixie blinded her with a flash of light and then promptly blasted her off with a blast of magic straight to the chest. Amethyst was sent flying and collided against of the wheelhouse, all the while pawing at her watering eyes. When she could finally open them again and see once more, her opponent had once again vanished.
Amethyst Star swore. “Getting really tired of that trick,” she grumbled as she climbed back to her hooves. For the umpteenth time, she scanned the deck for a glimpse on her opponent, but like before it yielded no results. “If this cat and mouse game keeps going then me and the ship won't be going for much longer,” Amethyst thought. “There's got to be a way to force her hoof… Think, Amethyst, think!”
Her eyes narrowed in thought as she looked at her damaged ship and then suddenly, it hit her. “Of course! Amethyst you thrice-damned idiot,” she berated herself. All this time she'd been playing along with Trixie's game. She'd let the commander pick the battlefield, let her set her traps and weave her illusions. “No reason to keep doing that. Take the fight away from the ship, let her search for and chase after you for a change. Her illusions won’t be half as effective in the open air.”
Wasting no time, Amethyst Star immediately used her magic to teleport, aiming for the open air a good distance away from her ship. At first everything seemed to go fine, with the admiral vanishing as usual, however, when her magic passed a certain point between the ship and her destination, it was as if she hit a wall. She felt herself being viciously repelled and ended up reappearing at her starting position, her horn feeling like it had been hit with a sledgehammer due to the violent backlash of her failed teleport. Seething, Amethyst glared at the skies, as if seeing something only she could see.
“A destabilising field?!” she growled, her lip curled up in a heated snarl, showing her clenched teeth. Despite the slowly dulling pain, she ran some magic through her horn to scan her surroundings. “Undetectable, of course, thanks to her magic hanging over this place like a cloud of toxic fumes. Very clever, Trixie.”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie thanks you,” the commander replied, as an image of her appeared standing at the prow of the ship. If it was the real one or another illusion, Amethyst could not tell. “Praise to her greatness is the only thing the Great and Powerful Trixie is willing to accept from her enemies.” The glare of icy fury Amethyst sent her way made her smile. “It would seem, however, that the Great and Powerful Trixie's cleverness upsets you. Did you honestly expect her to let you set the rules? Nay, the Great and Powerful Trixie and only her decides where and how she crushes you!”
“In that case, I think I'll cheat,” Amethyst replied, snorting. With a flash of magic from her horn, she vanished.
“Useless!” Trixie cried out, putting her nose in the air. “The Great and Powerful Trixie's destabilising field is still in effect! She will not let you teleport from this ship!”
“Who said anything about teleporting my way out of here?” came the reply, as Amethyst Star promptly reappeared on the other side of the deck, right next to the railing. “Why waste my magic with that, when I can simply do this?” she asked coolly, after which she promptly jumped over the railing and let herself fall. A destabilising field might prevent a pony from teleporting through, but unlike a barrier it could not stop a pony from simply walking, or in Amethyst's current case, falling through.
The admiral wasn’t afraid while falling, while tired her magic was still more than capable of keeping her aloft in the air. Amethyst moved her body so she was diving head-first through the air, her eyes focussed and her horn glowing as she scanned her surroundings of Trixie’s magical taint. As soon as she was no longer surrounded by it, she would be able to teleport again and set the course of the fight to her hoof.
Her fall suddenly and brusquely came to a halt, as the familiar glow of Trixie’s magic surrounded her body and began to pull her back to the ship. Snarling, Amethyst Star twisted herself around so she could look up to her damaged ship and spotted her opponent leaning partly over the railing. Trixie looked almost desperate as she tried to reel the admiral back in like a prize fish, making Amethyst all the more suspicious.
“Why is she so determined to keep me there?” Amethyst wondered, as she used her own magic to fight off Trixie’s. “Is she just that desperate to keep the fight on her terms, or is there another reason entirely?” Whatever the case, it only made Amethyst all the more determined in her efforts to break free of her opponent’s hold.
At first she tried to break the hold itself, similar to how Smargad Haze or Desert Heat were able to ‘grab’ and break the magic aura surrounding them whenever a unicorn tried to lift them. Trixie’s hold, however, was too strong, proving to Amethyst once more just how determined the commander was to not let her go. With that option spent, Amethyst instead opted to give Trixie a good slap across the face with her magic.
Her attack had the desired effect, as Trixie’s concentration was broken by the sudden pain and her hold on Amethyst Star faded. Wasting no time, the admiral immediately teleported to the very edge where she could feel Trixie’s magic and where she suspected the destabilising field to be, then let herself fall again the rest of the way. She could feel the sudden absence of magic surrounding her very clearly, which told her all she had to know. Free of Trixie’s magic, Amethyst Star made another attempt at teleporting beyond the skies surrounding her ship.
She successfully reappeared in the skies a good distance away and above from her previous location, using her own magic to keep herself floating in the air. Now that she was out in the open, she could even the playing field somewhat, despite her drained magic reserves. Since she was no longer confined to a small area, it would be much harder for Trixie to trap her with illusions, as well as much easier for her to escape in case the commander did manage to catch her within another illusion.
Thinking of the Republican commander, Amethyst Star turned to look at her ship to see if her enemy was following her out into the open skies to continue the fight. The moment her eyes fell upon her beloved ship, however, all thoughts of carrying on her battle with Trixie immediately fled from her mind.
The Ice Wraith, her beloved flagship, was not, as she had previously thought, sailing safely through the air despite the damaged it had suffered by Trixie’s attack. In reality the ship was racing rapidly towards the hard, unforgiving ground below, because it was far more damaged than she had been let to believe. Three of its propellers no longer functioned, there was a gaping hole in the hull and, judging from the thick black smoke coming from the ship’s stern, the engines were either destroyed or too damaged to function properly.
As she looked around, Amethyst Star noticed just how much altitude the ship had lost and how much closer they were to the ground compared to before Trixie’s attack. It made it brutally clear to her that they had been falling ever since the commander’s attack had struck and she hadn’t even noticed. All this time, she, her ship and its crew had been falling towards their doom and she hadn’t even been aware of it.
“An illusion,” she realised, cold sweat matting her brow. “She trapped us all in an illusion, making us believe the ship was still airborne, letting us merrily continue on as if everything’s fine while we fell to our deaths.” The realisation involuntarily sent a shiver down her spine, filling her with a fear that she could not easily shake off. “She fooled not just my eyes, but all my other senses as well. She had to, for me to not notice at all that something was off. Just how powerful are those illusions of her? It hardly seems possible…”
Shaking her head, Amethyst Star pushed those concerns to the back of her mind, realising that now was not the time to think about it. Not while her ship and its still oblivious crew were falling to their mutual demise. With a quick glance from the ship to the ground, she estimated she had barely half a minute left before the Ice Wraith crashed into the earth; she had not a second to waste.
Amethyst Star vanished in a flash of magic and reappeared right above her ship, as she could not risk a teleport directly onto the ship when she did not know if Trixie's destabilising field was still active. She let herself fall head-first through the field, then used her magic to slow her decent until she was hovering above the deck. She saw no sign of Trixie anywhere, but the commander was the least of her concerns at the moment. Looking around, she saw that the illusion was still intact, but now that she knew it was there, she could do something about it.
That would have to wait, though, as there was a more pressing matter to attend to. She rushed towards the entrance to the wheelhouse and all but ripped the door off its hinges in her haste to open it. “Everypony evacuate the ship immediately!” she shouted into the narrow hallway, amplifying her voice with her magic. “I repeat: abandon ship right NOW! Use your wings, no teleporting! The Republicans set up a destabilising field around the ship! NOW GET OUT!”
She didn't wait to see if her orders were obeyed, there was no time for that. Amethyst hurried back to a more central position of the deck and quickly conjured up a destabilising spell of her own. While lifelike illusions the likes of which Trixie had created were difficult to create and required a lot of skill and talent in order to sustain, dispelling them was a whole deal easier.
Amethyst Star knew she didn't have to unravel the entire spell. She simply needed to pluck at one thread of the spell, which would disrupt the spell and make it collapse upon itself. After all, if an illusion could no longer trick anypony into believing it was real, then nopony would still believe that it was there. It was this peculiar nature that made illusionary magic such a strange, mystifying branch of magic that even skilled unicorns found difficult to understand. As a result, only a few spell casters dedicated themselves to learning and mastering its arts.
The admiral was not one of them, but she didn't have to be for what she was attempting. Her spell was simple and effective, causing the world around her to shift, blur and melt. With her senses no longer under the illusion's thrall, she could once again see things for how they truly were, though that didn't exactly make her feel better. She was relieved to see that her order to evacuate had been followed, leaving just herself aboard the dying vessel. That left just one thing for her to do.
Calling upon every bit of magic she had left in her, Amethyst Star reached out and pulled the falling airship firmly in her telekinetic grasp. She knew that what she was doing was insane, that she should really just be abandoning the ship like the rest of its crew had and get herself to safety, but she couldn't. The Ice Wraith was not just an airship. It was her airship, her personal vessel that had carried her through countless missions and battles and had brought her home safely afterwards. She could not leave it to its doom, not while there was still even the slightest chance that she could prevent its total destruction.
Amethyst Star had lifted airships with her magic before, but never like this. Because the ship had been falling for minutes before she became aware of the situation, it had built up incredible speed and momentum on the way to its doom. Injured and exhausted as she was from her battle with Trixie, Amethyst did not have the strength required to push and pull such a massive object in the completely opposite direction its own momentum and gravity were pulling it, but she refused to give up.
With gritted teeth and eyes clenched shut in concentration, the admiral pushed herself to the very limit. Sweat matted her brow and ran down her neck as she forced every last bit of magic through her horn and into her spell. She could feel the ship slowing down ever so slightly as her magic began to overcome the pull of gravity, but it wasn't enough. Biting so hard on her teeth she thought they would shatter, Amethyst pushed herself even further. She knew it was foolish, but she did not care.
“Come on, come on! Just a little bit more,” she urged herself on, as she felt the fall of the ship slow down even further. “Got to hold on just a bit longer!!!”
Her skull felt like it was about to burst, her horn burned as if somepony had hit it with a sledgehammer, and Amethyst Star cried out in pain. She was at her limit, drawing upon magic that was no longer there, but she did not stop. Spontaneously, blood began to leak from her eyes, nose, mouth and ears, the last warning of her body that she was killing herself, yet still the admiral blatantly refused to cease her efforts. Her brain was cooking, her blood boiling, every muscle in her body screaming, but Amethyst Star forced herself further.
With a last, inhuman burst of strength, she gave another firm pull on the ship and finally the forces of nature that were pulling it down seemed to relent. The descent was quickly slowing down, if she could hold on for just a few seconds more, she'd be able to-
The Ice Wraith hit the earth with a terrible crash. Despite the speed of its fall having been slowed down by the incredible efforts of its owner, the impact was nevertheless utterly devastating. The once great flagship of the Royal Guard's Third Division slid across the ground for almost two hundred metres, before finally coming to a halt only a short distance away from the walls of the city it had fought to protect.
Only a few seconds later, the ship, tilted slightly on its left side, was ravaged by another shockwave as one of its battered engines finally succumbed to damage it had suffered and exploded. The heat and force of the blast set off the two remaining engines as well, resulting in a second, larger explosion that blew away the entirety of the ship's stern. A plume of searing hot fire coursed through the ship's damaged innards, setting off the remaining explosives inside, followed by a cloud of dust and smoke falling down and hiding the Ice Wraith's death throes away from view.
When the dust finally settled and the ground grew quiet, heedless of the war still raging in the skies above or on the other side of the city, the results of the Ice Wraith's fall at long last came to light. The hull of the ship was still on fire and damaged beyond repair, with in many places only the skeleton remaining. The stern and over half of the ship's quarters had been blown clean away when the engines exploded. Only the prow and the figurehead remained intact, the Windigo still prancing proudly, even as the fire began to eat at its base.
Nearby, half buried under wreckage and debris and bleeding from a large gash in her neck, was Amethyst Star. The immense backlash she had suffered when the collision of the ship with the earth had broken her magic hold on it, had at long last felled the young mare. The explosion of the engines had hurled her unconscious body away from her beloved ship, landing her on the ground a mere stone's throw away from the Ice Wraith's burning wreck.
There she lay amidst the burning remains of her once proud flagship: Amethyst Star, the Mageblade, Royal Admiral of the Third Division, daughter of the great Derpy Hooves. Unconscious. Unmoving. Broken. A breeze blew across the battlefield, tossing her blood-stained mane carelessly.
High above in the skies, the war raged on without her, not caring that one of its mightiest players had fallen.
End of chapter 38.
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Hey, can you please tell me how much longer it is until Celestia is freed? I literally cannot start reading this story again until that happens, because I do not want to fall into the pure rage her situation had awoken in me. You have no idea, even seeing this update brings a spike of it along with dread because I know Celestia has not been freed yet
3416305
I can't put an exact number on it, but I can make an estimation. Mind you, though, these are minor spoilers, so I'll put it in spoiler tags. There's two more chapters left for the Siege of Stalliongrad, followed by two or three chapters dealing with its aftermath, before we move on to the next "story-arc", so to speak. It is during that story-arc that Celestia will be freed. So, I'm guessing it'll be somewhere between 7 to 10 chapters or so, but no more than that.
Hmm... this story sounds interesting. I will put it on my read later list.
~ Super-Brony12
....
Fuck! Can it be over already! Jesus Christ and people complain about my story.
Damn it, we still on the same fucking battle.
I'm actually tired of the battle. Just end it already!
I see you all finished the third part. Looks good, aside from one point where me was used in place of I.
Well Derpy is gonna go fucking berserk.
3416359
You are a master at writing battle sequences filled with all the emotion and visualization of a Hollywood blockbuster.
And I'd like to say when I believe most of us are thinking:
Seriously, You're about to surpass Goku v Freeza levels of stall.
3417397
And God help us all if Shining Armor actually decides to cut loose and really showing us just WHY he's the leader of the Republican forces and Derpy's direct counterpart. He might start raining down death on levels we don't wanna think about. We've never really seen him cut loose, so while Derpy might go a bit nuts, God helps us if Shiny ever actually snaps. He'd be worse than Gaara.
For the record, I called it: Smaragd Haze was indeed behind the bombing.
I'm sad that Amethyst couldn't save her ship, but I'm not terribly surprised, after what was going on, and it's a suitably dramatic reminder that no, adrenaline and righteousness don't win wars automatically.
3416359
Wow. I felt sure you were saving that for the endgame...
3419688
Nope.
The endgame will be even more epic.
So, Twilight isn't the only one who has someone who they respected on the enemy side. If Spitfire remembers, I question if the other (former) Wonderbolts do too, or even their whereabouts. As I was reading the battle between Spitfire and Dash, the only thing I could listen to was The Battle against the four fiends from Final Fantasy IV, that song really set the mood for me. I totally understand why Dash would be so enraged, in more ways than one.
It's obvious that Twilight & co. aren't dead from the attack, so what I would really like to see is see Twilight and Shining Armour face each other on the battlefield. Time will tell if that's what'll happen. :P
Incidentally, I wonder how Shining Armor is going to react once he finds out Twilight and co. were at the hospital, and he thinks Smaragd Haze just killed his sister.
Just when I thought we couldn't hate Haze any more...
...Damn...
I was thinking we should burn Haze with fire, but nah I got a better idea. Let's make him immortal and then wrap him in chains forged in a dwarf star and dump him in an underground chamber.