Mortal Coil

by Reeve

LXXVII - The Wings Of Valour

“So, um…” Fluttershy began in an awkward tone as we stood just outside the Bask, looking back in the direction of the gatehouse. “Is this what it was like for you when I was trying to leave?”

I took in her words and followed her gaze, looking to the crowds of ponies in white who stood at the opposite end of the bridge, looking like a group of frightened ducklings as they tried to muster the courage to keep walking forward.

“No,” I told her, trying very hard to suppress my grin. “This is much funnier.”

Fluttershy flashed me a quick look of annoyance, before heading back to give her fellow sisters some additional moral support. It was the morning following the events that had occurred in the Bask, while Fluttershy and I would have preferred to move out a lot sooner, we knew that the Celestial Sisterhood couldn’t be rushed out their front door. They weren’t like the other forces that could be rallied and militarised in the space of a few hours, this was all very new and daunting for them. Starlight Glimmer was placed in magical bindings and locked away in a plush bedroom that was the closest thing the Bask had to a cell, there she would remain under constant watch while still being looked after, until Princess Celestia could be alerted to her actions.

The head crusader Holly agreed to take temporary control of the Sisterhood until a new High Priestess could be anointed, and once Starlight was taken care of, she was more than willing to meet with us and hear what we had to say. Everypony gathered in the central courtyard once more so Fluttershy could address them, they were all eager to hear, both what all she had done since she left, and how much truth there was to the things Starlight had seen in her scrying pool. She left out some details, such as the specifics of what had occurred at Cragsburg, as well as the Isle of Serenity. She was clearly unsure how much she was permitted to share with them, when no other sister had been allowed to do so in the past.

In the end, she told them just enough about both events to justify why I was vulnerable to their weapons, which had certainly raised some concerns among Holly and the other crusaders, as well as give them enough context to understand the significance of the Element of Unity she now wore. When the story came to the end, and we told them all what it was we were planning and how we needed their help, there was a definite reluctance. They were all torn on what to do, on the one hand they felt bound to the Sisterhood’s traditions that it was not their place to interfere in war. On the other hand they were also encouraged by Fluttershy’s stories, by the things she had been able to do when she went out into the world, and all the things she saw that needed their help, help which they could never give if they stayed cooped up inside the Bask forever.

The crusaders seemed more amenable to the idea of lending their aid; it was after all their sworn duty to both protect the Bask and all those within it, but also to vanquish foes of this very nature. While they had not found cause to do so since before any of their times, they were still ready and willing to rise to this new threat, and put their years of training to use for the good of all. The sisters themselves took a little more persuading, but in the end it was Fluttershy’s Breastplate of Compassion that swayed them, they saw it as a sign from the Six that Fluttershy was walking a good path, and that they should do everything in their power to support their sister.

With that decided, we immediately set about making our arrangements for travel. As I said, it took considerably longer with the Sisterhood due to their inexperience and nervousness at the thought of going against all the rules laid down for them. A number of sisters, as well as a few crusaders, were left behind to watch over the Bask and tend to the needs of its patients and occupants, including Autumn and Clarity… and Starlight Glimmer. All the travelling sisters would be led by Fluttershy on the most direct route to Cragsburg, that would lead through Timber, Pivot and Anchorage; they would also travel with and be protected by the majority of the crusader force.

As for myself, I would travel towards Olympus via Glean and Breakwater, accompanied by Holly and a selection of her best crusaders, who would part ways with me at Brine. While I went to Olympus to meet Rainbow Dash, they would stay in the town and exterminate the walkers once and for all, before heading off to Cragsburg themselves. When morning came, I paid Autumn one last visit, managing to spend half an hour with her and the new foal Clarity, before Fluttershy came to tell me we were ready to set off. Then sometime later, I was standing at the other side of the river, while Fluttershy patiently encouraged the sisters to cross the bridge one step at a time.

I heard hoofsteps behind me, and glanced around to see Holly approaching, a serene look of understanding as she saw how slow things were going.

“We are ready to set off Rarity,” she told me.

“Shouldn’t we wait to see if they make it?” I asked, gesturing to the rest.

“Have faith in Sister Fluttershy,” Holly told me. “She brought them this far, she will see them all north, there we will all be reunited.”

I nodded, and made to walk after her to where her team was waiting with a pair of pearly white pegasus chariots, as I turned however, Fluttershy took notice and I heard the rapid clopping of her hooves as she rushed back to me.

“I… I’ll see you at Cragsburg,” she told me, her voice trembling slightly.

“Of course,” I replied, stopping to hug her. “Soon, we’ll all be together again.”

With that, I pulled away and continued after Holly, looking back at Fluttershy for just a moment longer before I forced myself to look forward. Once I caught up with Holly, her and the other ground bound crusaders were mounting the chariots, she reached out to help me up onto her own one, while the pegasi crusaders stood at attention, ready to take off.

“Ready when you are Holly,” one of the pegasi called back.

“Let’s fly,” Holly replied stoically, before looking to me and the other crusaders. “Hold on everypony, we’ll be going quite fast.”

I did as I was advised, and gripped onto the left edge of the chariot as the pegasi began trotting forward, steadily picking up speed while simultaneously flapping their wings. I braced myself as I felt the whole chariot tilt up off the ground, the sound of running coming to an abrupt end as the wings took over completely. As we ascended into the air, I looked back in time to see the crowd of white clad ponies moving across the bridge to meet Fluttershy on the other side. We stayed just below the lowest layer of clouds as we flew, which gave us the perfect view of the rolling landscapes beneath us.

We made steady progress, not nearly as fast as our ride on Harbinger, but it was still fairly good. We flew until we were almost at Glean, where we descended and set up camp for night. Holly and her chosen team weren’t particularly enjoyable or interesting company, I tried to make conversation, ask questions about them and what exactly their roles in the Sisterhood were, but all their answers were very concise and to the point, which didn’t stimulate any kind of discussion. For the most part, they preferred to meditate if they weren’t preparing food or sleeping, so I kept to myself while we were camped and continued to practice my fighting technique.

When the morning came and the pegasi were ready to set off again, I clambered up next to Holly on the chariot, the crusaders not saying a word to one another as the final preparations were made. Stalwart and indomitable as they were, they weren’t exactly the most engaging characters I had encountered in my travels. Once the pegasi reported they were ready to take off, Holly gave the good to go and we set off once more, I held on and glanced over as we flew over Glean, the Neptune and Breakwater. This time when it was time to land, Brine was within view, which would be where I cut ties with the Crusaders and made the rest of my journey to Olympus alone.

Upon landing and the setting up of the camp, Holly requested that I walk her to the edge of the town and show her the scorch line. I obeyed, and together we split off from the rest, making our way towards the distant town as the last lights of the day began to fade. I had initially kept my gaze lowered to the ground, as if afraid that I would accidentally miss and walk over the line, but when I spotted something in the distance, I stopped looking to the ground and focused on it instead. As we got closer and I was able to see what it was, I gasped and picked up the pace, Holly calling after me to stay next to her.

I didn’t slow down however, I rushed straight into the Dragoon camp where I had found first found Fluttershy the night she was taken. The place was wrecked, tents torn down and trampled into the dirt, a few errant bodies were scattered about, their armour told me both sides had casualties when they clashed. Holly joined me, her usually composed features cracking to show her shock for a brief moment. Together we searched through the remains of the camp and counted up the bodies, there weren’t very many at all, only a few from either side which suggested most had either escaped or fought elsewhere.

A sense of dread filled me at the idea of them fighting beyond the scorched circle, knowing that any and all fallen would just add to the number of walkers. I didn’t recognise the bodies of any of the Dragoon soldiers, but then I doubted I would have been able to recognise Gale if I had seen her, we had barely interacted after all.

“So these are the Children of the Earth,” Holly muttered, leaning down to examine one of them. “This armour is most curious, I’ve never seen anything like it… You shouldn’t worry yourself over this Rarity, we will see to it that all the dead are accounted for and treated with respect before we leave.”

“All of them?” I repeated, my voice growing noticeably colder as I looked down at the body she was examining.

“Whatever crimes these ponies committed when they were alive,” Holly began calmly. “Are no longer our concern, if there is life beyond this one, I’m sure they will be judged appropriately for their actions there.”

“Right,” I muttered, not sure I agreed, but not wishing to argue with her decision. “Well the line is just over here.”

I walked over to it and showed her, in the distance I could hear the shuffling of hooves and the soft moaning of the restless dead. We both returned to the campsite, a grim silence hanging between us as Holly sat down talk with the crusaders under her command about their plan of action, while I found a sleeping roll and lay down. When the next morning came, I found the crusaders already up, bright eyed and eager to get started with wiping out the entire undead local populace, which was pretty much my signal to say my farewells.

The Crusaders all bowed their head respectfully to me as I began my departure, Holly stopping me just long enough to force a survival kit and rations into my spare satchel, before wishing me luck and promising that I would see her again when we all reached Cragsburg. I walked around the outskirts of Brine, making sure to stay on the safe side of the scorch ring until I had put the town behind me, and I was quickly making smooth progress north to the mountain path that would lead me up the Wyvern Heights and bring me to the gates of Olympus. It was night by the time I got some way up the path, but by that point I decided just to push on and rest when I was reunited with Rainbow Dash.

So I was making my way up the moderate incline, using the glow of my lantern to light my path, as it somewhat dwarfed the light my horn could provide. I was making sterling progress, only to have it brought to a grinding halt when I heard the wheezing gasps of a pony somewhere to the left of me. Curious, I shone my lantern in that direction and saw only rocks, the noise quickly cutting out as if the one responsible had suddenly turned shy. I was about ready to ignore it and be on my way, sure that whatever it was couldn’t be more important than my current objective, when I saw my light reflect off a steady trail of still wet blood that led off the path around one of the larger boulders.

Realising that there must be an injured pony hiding just out of sight, I started edging my way forward, keeping my ears pricked for the slightest sound. There wasn’t a single noise; it was as if they were trying very hard to remain silent, perhaps even holding their breath. I reached the boulder and stepped around it, levitating my lantern ahead of me to illuminate the figure that lay there. It was pegasus mare, yellow coat, and a fiery orange mane in a swept back style that reminded me of somepony else. Her whole body seemed to be covered in sweat and she absolutely reeked, and the loose cloak she wore was tattered and stained.

She stared up at me with an exhausted look, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she stopped trying to hold her breath. Her hind legs were sprawled out in front of her, while she propped herself up on a trembling foreleg, her remaining hoof clutching her midriff. Her eyes were a strong orange, and even though she looked so tired, they burned into me. She just looked so done with things, and my presence only seemed to be the cherry on the top.

“Well…” she uttered between her heavy, laboured breaths. “This is just… fantastic.”

She slid down the boulder she was leaning against, taking the weight off her foreleg as she reached into her cloak and rummaged about. Her hoof emerged with a measly sum of two bits which she tossed to the ground at my hooves.

“Take it,” she muttered darkly. “It’s… all I’ve got.”

“W… what?” I stammered, staring between the ragged mare and the coins in bewilderment. “I don’t want your money.”

“Serious…” she began before wincing, clutching her stomach tighter as pain shot through her. “Well… you’d be the first.”

I dropped down to my knees beside her, setting my lantern down while maintaining my magical hold on it, so it would continue to shine light on the mare. Ignoring the money, I reached out and pulled her hoof and the cloak away, she tried to fight back, but wasn’t nearly strong enough to resist. When she gave in and I was able to see what was causing her so much bother, I immediately pulled back, repulsed by what was the obvious source of both her pain and the awful smell. She had a large gash running diagonally along her underside, it looked like she had tried to patch it up at the time, but done a poor job of it, so now it was opened up again and horrifically infected.

The flesh around the cut was badly swollen and had turned an angry red colour, while the wound itself was oozing copious amounts of puss; the sweating also seemed to be a result of fever. She was now looking at me with a mixture of suspicion and confusion, perhaps because I was taking an interest in her, rather than running off with her money.

“What in the name of Celestia happened to you?!” I asked, not wanting to touch the awful looking injury.

“It’s… a long story,” she replied wearily, her eyelids dipping down.

“Well try to stay awake,” I told her, pulling out my water canister to give to her. “I have some medical supplies, it’s not much, but it will hopefully keep you going until we can get you to Olympus.”

The mare suddenly choked on the water, reaching up and waving urgently with her hoof.

“No!” she exclaimed before wincing again, getting worked up causing her injury to hurt again. “I… can’t, if she knows… if she finds out I’m here…”

“If who finds out you’re here?” I asked, as I started unpacking the survival kit Holly had given me.

“Doesn’t matter,” she stated, not meeting my gaze. “Just… do what you can, then forget about me… I’ll look after myself.”

“You can forget that,” I responded firmly, as I started looking over my choices of treatment. “You clearly haven’t done a very good job of looking after yourself so far, I’m not about to let you out of my sight unless I know you’re being looked after.”

She didn’t reply to that, just sat in silence while I uncorked a bottle labelled ‘Disinfectant’ and tried to figure out how it needed applied.

“Alright, uh…” I began awkwardly, as I looked between the wound and the bottle. “I’ve never really done this before, but I have a general idea so…”

I really did make a hash of it; I could just imagine Fluttershy burying her face in her hooves at the sight of me trying to treat the mare’s injury. I was mentally kicking myself that in all the time we’d spent together, even when I was learning how to fight from the others, I never asked Fluttershy to give me a crash course in this stuff. Luckily when the mare saw I was having trouble, she started walking me through it. It was obvious she had been trained in first aid, perhaps if she had access to this stuff sooner, she wouldn’t have gotten into such a mess to begin with.

I quickly ran out of water when I was washing the wound, but the mare pointed me in the direction of a nearby stream, saying she was looking for it when I found her. I had to make a couple quick runs back and forth, I went through the water so quickly, but eventually I had done everything I could, and under the mare’s careful instructions, managed to get pressure on the wound and bandage it up.

“S… sorry about all that,” I said sheepishly, as I packed up the remaining items and stowed them back in my satchel.

“Don’t be, it’s all cool,” the mare assured me, her voice a little brighter. “You probably saved my life, way more than anypony else in this wretched country would do.”

“Oh…” I murmured, a little sourly at her sudden attitude.

“Sorry, sorry,” she tried to amend quickly, looking guilty. “That was crap of me to say.”

“No, it’s okay,” I assured her. “It doesn’t look like you’ve had the best time here, so I guess I can understand where you were coming from. I do know that Panchea has its fair share of… unsavoury sorts, same as anywhere else I’m sure.”

The mare didn’t respond, just looked at the ground, I decided to take the opportunity to find out more about her.

“So you’re not local then, I take it,” I picked up, noticing her eyes widen in alarm slightly. “So are you from Equestria?”

Her whole body seemed to tense, that intrigued me. I didn’t want to frighten her off, but by the same token I was now more eager than ever to get to the bottom of who she was… and how she came to be in such a poor state.

“I’m sorry, where are my manners today?” I started, knocking myself on the side of the head for such a careless omission. “My name is Rarity.”

The pegasus bit her lip, clearly uneager to divulge any more information about herself.

“Um, right,” I muttered, trying to figure a way past her defences. “I really hope you’ll come with me to Olympus, we can set off at morning after you’ve had time to rest. I have a friend in quite a high position of authority; she can see to it that you receive further medical attention.”

“I told you,” the mare stated coolly. “I can’t just walk into Olympus; if she finds me, then weeks of work will be for nothing.”

“There you go saying ‘she’ again,” I pressed. “Why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you, then maybe I can help.”

“Why do you want to help me?” the mare questioned, the suspicion in her voice increasing dramatically. “What are you getting out of it?”

“Why?” I repeated, bewildered. “I’m helping you because… because you need my help, it’s the right thing to do.”

“Huh, and there I thought all the saints died out in the war,” she muttered thoughtfully.

“Well I like to think Panchea is finally starting to recover from the effects of the war,” I told her, before half whispering to myself. “At least it will soon enough.”

The mare stared off into the darkness; clearly deep in thought, when she finally spoke again it was in a quiet, nostalgic tone.

“I used to have a friend like you,” she said. “He would always go out of his way to be nice to others and offer to help for nothing in return, and if he was ever asked why, he just shrugged and said it was the right thing to do… my friend was an idiot. He was naïve and thick headed, always saw the world through a coloured lens… but he was a good pony at heart, probably why I admired him so much, Celestia knows it’s hard to stay positive in our line of work.”

The mare drifted off again, looking off in the direction where Olympus was, obscured by mountain ranges and darkness.

“And that’s what got him killed in the end,” she finished in a cold voice, narrowing her eyes. “Stabbed in the back by somepony we called our friend.”

“I… I’m so sorry,” I breathed, feeling like I had been punched in the gut.

“Don’t be,” the mare muttered. “You didn’t do anything to be sorry for… but she did.”

“The pony who betrayed you?” I whispered, following her gaze. “She’s in Olympus now? Is that why you’re here… to kill her?”

“Are you going to leave me?” the mare asked in a neutral tone. “Are you going to call me a monster and regret stopping to save my life?”

“I’ve seen monsters,” I told her, almost snapping. “Real monsters, and you wanting to avenge your friend doesn’t come close to the things they did.”

The mare looked at me curiously.

“I’m sorry…” she began slowly, clearly thrown off by my sudden shift in tone. “You told me your name, but… who exactly are you?”

“I’m a mare that kills monsters,” I answered in a clear voice.

“Well then…” the mare began in slow, methodical voice. “If you really want to help me, then why don’t you use those friends in high places you mentioned to help get me inside the city?”

“Sure,” I told her. “But once we’re inside, I want you to let us get your treated before you go off looking for blood, deal?”

“That sounds fair enough,” she agreed. “Although I should warn you, this chick I’m hunting… she’s pretty important around here too, from what I’ve heard. So be very careful who you trust, that they are reporting back to your friend… and not my enemy.”

“Shouldn’t be hard,” I said with a shrug. “My friend is the Marshal; she’s the top dog, so to speak.”

“Uh, no… the mare I’m after is the Marshal,” she argued. “That’s what I learned from the ponies who did this to me.”

The mare indicated her now bandaged up torso, before we both seemed to tweak onto the same worrying idea at the same time, leaving us to sit in silence for a moment, each desperately looking for the right opportunity to strike. The mare was faster, even with her injury, she was still able to dive forward and tackle me to the ground, drawing my own sword out of its sheath and bringing the rapier blade to my throat. She didn’t get much further than that however, as she felt a blade pressed up against her own neck. I saw her eyes flicker down; trying to see the knife I was levitating against her airway.

“Let’s just take it slow,” I suggested in a low voice. “You’re going to ruin those bandages if you act up.”

“That’s what you’re worried about?” the mare questioned in a doubtful tone. “I can’t believe I was fooled by you, I should have guessed that the first nice pony I meet is one of her lackeys.”

“I’m not a lackey,” I told her, a little irritated. “She’s my friend, and there is no way Rainbow Dash would ever have killed your friend.”

“Rainbow Dash?” the mare repeated, pulling the blade back from my throat slightly as she regarded me with confusion. “Who are you talking about?”

“Who are you talking about?!” I demanded, suddenly frustrated. “Rainbow Dash is the Marshal of the Dragoons; she rose to the position after defeating Iron Sights in the Coliseum.”

“No, Fleetfoot is the Marshal,” she insisted, saying the name with such venomous hatred. “I heard she became Marshal recently, after the last one abandoned the city.”

“Wait, did you say Fleetfoot?!” I exclaimed, pulling my own knife away from her. “Time out, we’re on the same side!”

The mare got off me and hobbled back, still holding onto my sword as she stared at me with a raised eyebrow.

“Fleetfoot is the one you’re after?” I questioned, to which she nodded slowly. “Well that’s alright then, she’s my enemy too.”

“Are you serious?” the mare asked, looking like she couldn’t believe her luck.

“Yes, she tried to have me killed a couple of times,” I told her, sheathing my knife. “Although the second time I managed to knock her out cold.”

“You?” the mare uttered in a mixture of disbelief and amazement. “She was one of the best Wonderbolts we ever had, how did you manage to beat her?”

“Her eyes,” I reported. “I knocked off her glasses and blinded her with light, not exactly fighting fair, but… wait; did you say ‘Wonderbolt’?”

“Yeah, surely you knew she was once a Wonderbolt,” the mare stated.

“Yes, I did,” I confirmed, suddenly feeling slightly suspicious myself. “But you also said ‘we ever had’, so you’re a Wonderbolt too?”

“Well you did guess I was from Equestria,” the mare admitted. “I guess there’s not much point in hiding it, I was actually the captain of the Wonderbolts, my name is Spitfire.”

I stared at her in disbelief, my jaw dropping open. She opened her own mouth, looking slightly concerned, but before she knew it, she had three daggers flying up around her head, making it impossible to move without getting cut to ribbons.

“What…” she began, but I quickly cut in.

“My sword, drop it, now!” I demanded, she obeyed instantly. “I would love for nothing more than this to be another misunderstanding, but I really doubt it will.”

“I don’t understand,” Spitfire said, looking slightly panicked now.

“You are an agent of the Solar Empire,” I reminded her, my accusation immediately eliciting a groan from her. “You helped Blueblood, and you’ve been on the run for…”

“I’m gonna stop you right there,” Spitfire jumped in, holding her hooves up defensively. “I am not a Solar Empire agent; I was only ever pretending to be.”

“Pretending?” I repeated, still not lowering my knives.

“Yeah, I needed a way to come back here to find Fleetfoot,” she explained quickly. “The Princess refused to take actions against her after she defected and got Soarin, my deputy and best friend, killed. So when I found out that puffed up Duke was organising the Solar Empire, I pretended I was interested, just so I could get transport over with his other agents. Once we arrived at Panchea, I cut ties with them and went off on my own. I never supported Blueblood or his stupid schemes; I even leaked information about what he was doing to the Princess, so she could take actions to stop him after I got across the sea.”

“But…” I began, my resolve weakening as she explained herself to me. “But Blueblood arrived in Panchea like… fifty days ago, and I know you’ve been around even longer than him, why has it taken you this long to get here if you were so intent on making Fleetfoot pay for her treachery?”

“It’s a long story,” Spitfire replied with a grimace. “Let’s just say I’ve had the worst luck in the world, everywhere I went, something bad happened that set me back or pulled me off course. For example, did you know you have a serious pirate problem around your southern and eastern coasts?”

I lowered my knives, bringing them back one by one and sheathing them. As I did, Spitfire reached down for my sword and passed it back to me.

“Sorry about that,” I muttered, rather meekly.

“It’s fine,” she assured me. “I’m just glad you heard me out, I’ve been tracked by a few different groups who are still convinced I’m a Solar, but they’re of the ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ breed.”

“Yes, I believe you ran into a friend of mine at Glean some time ago,” I reminded her. “You lost your Wonderbolts pin then too, I’m pretty sure another friend still has it.”

“Oh yeah, I was really kicking myself after losing that,” Spitfire murmured before speaking up again. “But now I’m curious, you’re friends with this Rainbow Dash and all these other ponies hunting me, so I have to ask again, who exactly are you?”

“I’ll tell you on our way to Olympus,” I replied evasively, just because I was too tired to get into it. “We should try and get a few hours’ sleep before we move on.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Spitfire agreed, as she lowered herself to the ground. “And you’re absolutely sure that your friend is still the Marshal?”

“I’m positive,” I stated confidently. “The last time I was here, Fleetfoot had gone into hiding after everypony found out how she was working with the last Marshal to deceive them, there’s no way she could be Marshal now.”

Spitfire nodded, clearly reassured by my words as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. I finally released my magical hold on the lantern, snuffing out the light, rather impressed and incredibly surprised that I was able to maintain it for so long without even focusing on doing so consciously, perhaps this was evidence of my magic improving even more. Morning came and Spitfire was eager to get moving, like myself she seemed used to having short naps in place of a proper sleep.

As we made our way up the remainder of the mountain path, I briefly filled Spitfire in on my involvement with the Rebellion, as well as what we were currently doing. She was certainly outraged when she heard about Blueblood’s actions, and seemed impressed by the lengths we were going to stop him. As we approached the gate, I told her about my last trip here, and how I first met Rainbow Dash, she seemed amused by it, but our conversation swiftly died when I noticed the gate was lying slightly ajar, and the sounds of fighting could be heard within. Spitfire and I glanced at one another before quickening our pace, trotting up to the gates where we peeked around into the plaza.

The plaza was in absolute disarray when we looked in, there was a very bloody conflict taking place between dozens of silver armoured soldiers, and there was absolutely no mercy being shown to one another as they fought. Beyond the immediate conflict, I could see evidence of buildings being damaged from previous fights, the face of the Stratus Hotel for example looked like it had been blown apart from the inside, even the statue of Commander Hurricane was missing half a head. Spitfire and I exchanged worried glances before we pulled back outside the city, trying to gather our thoughts.

“I might be able to fly us up onto the wall,” Spitfire told me, giving her wings a little test flap. “We’ll get a better view from up there, and we can plan our next move.”

I reluctantly agreed, aware that anything to strenuous would only cause further damage to her stomach area. Reaching around me, Spitfire lifted slowly into the air, carrying us both up the height of the wall at a very slow and measured pace. Once at the top, she set me down before crouching next to me to catch her own breath, muttering something about once being the best flier in all of Equestria. I dropped down onto my own stomach, and pulled myself up to the edge of the wall where it overlooked the plaza and the rest of the city beyond, pulling out my spyglass I took a closer look at the fighting ponies.

They were all wearing Dragoon armour, similar to that worn by the Rebels, only tarnished silver as opposed to steel, and slightly lighter, considering most Dragoons were pegasi. They also all wore the crimson tunics beneath their armour, this made it impossible for me to differentiate them and figure out why they were attacking one another, in fact, I wondered how they even knew that the pony they were stabbing wasn’t on their own side. Turning my gaze from the plaza, I scanned around further districts and streets, as well as looking up to the cloud sector. Everywhere I looked, I saw more ponies locked in combat or evidence that fighting had taken place recently.

“I guess their Coliseum thing fell through,” I muttered, before noticing the confused look of Spitfire’s face. “Apparently there used to be fighting all the time in the city, but then they made it a rule that you could only meet another pony's challenge in the Coliseum. Everypony seemed happy enough with that the last time I was here, why would it change so… dramatically?”

“I don’t like this one bit,” Spitfire spat. “This is more than ponies simply vying to be the most dominant… we need to find your friend quickly.”

“Well she could be in the Pantheon,” I suggested, as I returned my spyglass to its pouch. “But she also has an apartment in the lower section which we could try.”

“Alright, lead on,” Spitfire responded, pulling her old cloak tight around her.

We both crept along the wall to the very end of it, where a stone staircase led down into the streets. Once at the bottom, I started heading the direction I vaguely knew Rainbow’s apartment to be in. It was tricky when I barely knew the layout of the city, and we had to keep straying from our set path whenever we ran a risk of encountering Dragoon soldiers. Until we knew who was fighting for who or what purpose, we decided just to steer clear of the whole lot of them. Unfortunately this only lasted so long, until we started down what we thought was a deserted alleyway, but turned out to be the location for a surprise attack.

They sprung down on both sides, pegasi swooping down from the rooftops, while the ground bound troops jumped out of broken windows. They all directed their weapons at us, while one of the earth ponies strode up to meet us.

“Well, well, what do we have here?” he mocked, looking us both up and down. “Did you ladies think the curfew didn’t apply to you? Although you’re a little too well armed for a mere civilian… who do you pledge your allegiance to? Answer, now!”

I quickly glanced at Spitfire who was giving me a warning look, I wanted to answer Rainbow Dash, but something made me hold my tongue at the last second.

“Uh, I’m not sure,” I ended up saying pathetically.

“What? Are you daft or something?” the pony demanded, looking fed up already. “Don’t you know that Olympus is under the command of Marshal Fleetfoot?”

I could almost feel Spitfire tense up beside me, I had to stop myself from visibly reacting.

“We’re, uh, new to town,” I replied lamely. “But if the Marshal has called a curfew, we’ll be sure to obey it right away.”

“Oh no,” the pony cut in. “It’s too late for that, you broke the rules and now you’re coming with us.”

I felt a spear poke into my back, prodding me to follow the pony as he turned around and started walking down the alleyway. I gave a look to Spitfire, hoping she would understand that it meant ‘just go with it while I think of something’. She didn’t look happy, but she started walking regardless. It turned out I didn’t have to think of anything, as before we reached the end of the alley, a cluster of small, black objects were tossed down at the ground around our hooves. As soon as they made contact with the stone, they cracked and exploded in a cloud smoke.

I had to quickly clamp my mouth and eyes shut as the alley was filled with the suffocating gas, while also trying desperately to not breathe any of it in through my nose. I could hear the sounds of the soldiers coughing and spluttering, while those that hadn’t been caught in the cloud were shouting incoherently. The next thing I heard was the sound of flapping wings, swiftly followed by somepony wrapping their hooves around me and picking me up. I felt the rush of air as they beat their wings hard and carried us both away from the alley, a pained shout to my left told me that Spitfire had also been picked up and was being carried next to me.

We didn’t fly for very long, and I only risked opening my eyes when I felt us slow down, and our hooves touch gently onto a solid surface. I was in a new street, this one completely deserted, we were facing what looked like a club, whose doors were sitting open and an unarmoured pony was hurriedly ushering us inside. Once again I felt myself prodded in the back, but this time it felt less threatening, and I obeyed before I even stopped to take in who exactly had come to our rescue. Once we were all bundled inside the darkened club, which I now recognised as the very place we had gone with Rainbow Dash following her victory at the Coliseum, I heard the doors slam shut behind us and the clicking of a lock.

Looking around, I saw one of the ponies who had helped us, now offering Spitfire assistance over to one of the seats, she was breathing heavily, no doubt the sudden rescue attempt hadn’t accounted for her injury. She glanced up between me and the other ponies, giving a nod to assure us she was okay, at which point I turned to look around the group who had taken us. One of them was a unicorn, the one who had been waiting for us with the club doors open, while the other four were pegasi. I guessed two had thrown the smoke bombs while the other two picked Spitfire and I up.

“I… I don’t believe it,” one of the pegasi was saying, staring at me like he had just seen a ghost. “Is it really you?”

“Um…” I began awkwardly, noticing three sets of eyes were on me, while the other two seemed a bit confused. “I’m sorry, have we met?”

“It… it’s Rarity, isn’t it?” the pegasus asked, sounding hopeful.

“Yes,” I admitted, now feeling thoroughly disturbed and hoping for a reasonable explanation very soon.

“Uh, don’t be freaked out,” he went on quickly, although he was beaming at me now. “You probably don’t remember us, but we met… quite some time ago. It was down in the pass between Daybreak Landing and the Grand Pastures, we… uh, tried to rob you.”

My eyes opened wide in disbelief, as my mouth dropped open.

“Wait… you?” I uttered in amazement, although I had admittedly forgotten their names.

“Yeah, what are the chances,” the stallion went on, before quickly adding. “Oh, my name’s Cirrus in case you forgot, and then there’s Cyclone, Zephyr, Eerie and Alabaster.”

He gestured to each of his friends in turn, the unicorn last. I realised now why only the three of them had remembered me, while the other two were confused, because Eerie and Alabaster were the unconscious ones I had looked after following their attempted robbery.

“Wow, I can’t believe this,” I said quite honestly. “I really never thought I’d see you again.”

“Yeah, well the chances were pretty slim,” Cyclone admitted, pouring some drinks behind the bar. “But we did say if you were ever in Olympus and needed some help, we’d be more than willing, and… well, here we are.”

“And I’m very glad,” I assured them, as Alabaster levitated the glasses around to each of us. “But how did you know we were in trouble?”

“We didn’t,” Cirrus told me. “We’ve just been taking it upon ourselves to patrol around and help any civilians who get caught up in the fighting. We didn’t know you were in trouble until we flew over the alleyway, and we certainly didn’t know it was you of all ponies.”

“And why here?” I questioned, gesturing around the club as I sipped from my glass of cider.

“We own this place,” Alabaster informed us. “After we came back, we got jobs here as cleaners and waiters, but when the place started to go under, we all pitched together to buy it off the old owners.”

“Well I’m really glad you’re doing so well for yourselves,” I told them, feeling elated at how well they had managed to turn things around. “But I need to know, what’s going on in the city? How did Fleetfoot become Marshal? Where’s Rainbow Dash?”

The guys all looked uncomfortably around one another; it was Eerie who ended up answering.

“She’s not really the Marshal,” he revealed. “She’s just telling everypony that she is, half the Dragoons support her, the other half knows she’s full of shi… uh, crap.”

“A short while back,” Cyclone went on. “Rainbow Dash left on some mission, but she never came back, well… not until recently anyway, but during that time, Fleetfoot started declaring that Rainbow had abandoned the city and therefore forfeited her position. A lot of ponies seemed to agree at the time, but recently she showed back up, and now everypony is saying that if Fleetfoot wants her position to be legitimate, she has to fight Rainbow Dash.”

“Only she refuses to do that,” Zephyr picked up. “She insists she doesn’t have to, which has naturally annoyed a lot of ponies.”

“So now the whole city is fighting among themselves,” Cirrus finished in a tired voice. “Rainbow Dash keeps calling for peace, but Fleetfoot has ordered anypony who follows her to kill anypony who refuses to.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Spitfire muttered darkly. “Where are Rainbow Dash and Fleetfoot now?”

“Fleetfoot is in the Pantheon,” Eerie answered. “She has the whole place surrounded by soldiers like some kind of paranoid nutcase, as for Rainbow…”

“She moves around a lot,” Cirrus continued. “She can’t really stay in the one place for too long, as Fleetfoot’s supporters are pretty determinedly trying to kill her, but every day she goes to the Coliseum and tries to address the public. That’s why Fleetfoot enforced this new curfew that doesn’t allow anypony outside their homes… ever.”

“What is it she talks about at the Coliseum?” I asked curiously.

“Not sure,” Cyclone replied with a shrug. “We never went, but ponies we helped out said she was trying to warn everypony about an upcoming battle, that the Dragoons needed to stop fighting each other because there was a bigger threat coming.”

“Well at least she’s still got her priorities straight,” I muttered, before noticing the curious looks on the stallions’ faces. “Oh, uh, Rainbow Dash is my friend, that’s why I’m asking.”

There was a moment's silence while the ponies digested that information, before Cirrus tentatively spoke up once more.

“So that stuff about an impending battle,” he broached. “Is that like, um, for real?”

“I’m afraid so,” I revealed. “But don’t worry; we’ve already convinced most of the country to rally behind us when it comes. Once I find Rainbow and we sort out whatever is going on here, then hopefully we should be able to count on the Dragoons helping us, then we’ll stand a pretty good chance at winning.”

“Then let’s hurry,” Spitfire said, standing up slowly from her seat. “The Coliseum seems like the best place to start.”

“Oh no,” I cut in quickly. “You’re way too badly injured for this.”

Spitfire opened her mouth to argue, but luckily Alabaster jumped in before she could.

“She can stay here,” he offered. “We can look after her until this whole thing blows over.”

“And I can get you to the Coliseum,” Cirrus added.

“Hold on a second!” Spitfire cut across, sounding annoyed. “There is no way I’m letting you take down Fleetfoot without me, she’s my responsibility, I will be the one to end her.”

“You’re staying here,” I responded firmly. “I’m just going to rendezvous with Rainbow Dash and see what the plan is, if we find an opportunity to take Fleetfoot out of the picture, we’ll take it. If we can avoid killing her, then we will, but you need to be patient and stay here, otherwise you’ll just put us all at risk.”

Spitfire dropped back in her chair, refusing to meet my gaze after that. Satisfied that she wasn’t going to do anything rash or downright stupid, I turned back to Cirrus and gave him a nod. Together we left the club through the back door, once outside, he crouched down so I could clamber onto his back. He managed to fly us up through the city via a much more peaceful route, the fighting seemed to be dying down all around anyway, and I noticed crowds of brave ponies were slowly filling into the streets, defying Fleetfoot’s curfew so they could go to the Coliseum and see Rainbow Dash, much like ourselves.

Once we arrived in the cloud district and the Coliseum came into view, I could already see a large crowd was gathering in front of it, but they weren’t going in for some reason. Curious, Cirrus flew us around and landed on the roof of a house, where I was able to safely get off and stand, from our new vantage point we could make out a line of Dragoon soldiers blocking the entrance of the Coliseum, their weapons drawn, while opposite them another group of soldiers stood at the head of the crowd, facing them with their own weapons at the ready.

The crowd was screaming and shouting to be allowed in, the soldiers blocking their path were glancing at each other nervously, clearly aware of how hopeless it would be if the crowd decided to push forward, and that wasn’t even mentioning the opposing soldiers that were standing ready to fight them. They all seemed to be waiting for something, which came when one of the ponies in the crowd pointed to the sky and started shouting excitedly. My own eyes followed those of the everypony in the crowd, including the soldiers standing in their way, and I saw a rainbow streaking through the sky towards the top of the Coliseum.

Rainbow Dash flew right over top of the arena, an escort of several soldiers flying a short distance behind her, struggling to keep up with her. Suddenly the crowd began to surge inwards, the group of soldiers on their side stepping forwards to meet their opponents head on, who now looked terrified. I felt my insides clench as I prepared for the bloodbath that could only result in Fleetfoot’s supporters getting trampled into mulch, until a flash of red quickly sped into view from around the Coliseum, skidding to a halt between the two groups.

It was another Dragoon, only this one wore a flowing crimson cape, pinning him as an officer. He stood with his body facing no particular direction, holding out his forelegs defensively, one hoof pointed at each side.

“Enough!” he called out, slightly panicked. “We won’t stand in your way; I won’t let the ponies under my command die for that maniac Fleetfoot.”

The crowd erupted into cheers as both sides gratefully put their weapons aside, the soldiers moving in to embrace each other, while clearing the space for the civilians to pass through into the stands. I looked to Cirrus, my own wide grin mirroring the one on his face, without another word, he allowed me back up onto his back and together we flew down to join the crowd. Only when we were in the boundaries of the Coliseum did I get off, satisfied that I was still able to walk around inside without the need for a cloud walking enchantment.

We followed in at the tail end of the crowd, following them up into the stands, where we managed to find a pair of empty seats in the front row. From there I could see all the soldiers who were standing outside, as well as the officer who had surrendered, walk in and make their way up to where Rainbow Dash stood in the centre with her personal guard. There was a brief exchange in which Rainbow looked pretty pumped, given away by her impromptu dancing, before she rocketed into the air amid a torrent of cheers, where she hovered to address her audience.

“Hey there everypony!” she greeted, her voice projected through an addition to her helmet that covered her muzzle. “It’s great to see so many of you turning up, really stickin’ it to Fleetfoot!”

There were more cheers and whoops from the crowd; it reminded me of being at a music festival, which was an apt comparison since Rainbow could pass for a celebrity the way she acted, and how the crowed reacted to her.

“But in all seriousness, I want to give a huge thank you to Battery and his unit,” she went on, gesturing down to the officer and eliciting more shouts of approval. “Both he and Air Commodore Kite have chosen to lower their weapons today and say ‘enough is enough’. I know today has been particularly bad, we lost quite a few good ponies during skirmishes, but we are making progress. Each day, more and more ponies are turning around and telling Fleetfoot to shove it up her ass, but if we want to keep that up, we need to get the word out.

“Fleetfoot… is… corrupt!” Rainbow continued, enunciating each word careful for maximum effect. “The Dragoons are a flawed system, created by the jack ass Iron Sights to keep each and every one of you in line, and now Fleetfoot is trying to do the same. But I say no more! No longer should we fight until the last pony standing just to make ends meet! What this city needs… what you all need is a true leader, not one who beats down their opposition, but one who rules fairly and justly. Somepony who won’t order you to turn against your friends and family, somepony who won’t steer this city into ruin or cut ties with the rest of the country.

“Because there is something coming,” Rainbow went on in an ominous tone. “I’ve seen an army that will rampage across this world and crush everything in its way, anything that survives will become slaves to a malevolent being the likes of which ponies have never seen before. And believe me when I say this threat is coming, the only way to stop it is that we all stand together, not just as a city, but as a country. We must reunite with the Rebellion, with all our brothers and sisters in arms, under a leader who puts strength of heart higher than strength of body. Not Iron Sights, not Fleetfoot, and certainly not me!”

The cheers started off slightly hesitantly at first, but soon they built up and became deafening. Glancing back, I was surprised to see that the stands had almost completely filled, ponies apparently continuing to filter in during the speech. Even looking back down to the floor of the arena, I saw more Dragoon soldiers gathered there, looking up at Rainbow Dash with the rest of us.

“If Fleetfoot wants to fight me herself,” Rainbow went on, the crowd dying down to listen. “Then I’ll meet her right here… although I’m not getting that impression from the way she barricades herself inside the Pantheon and sends goons to do her dirty work and try to have me silenced. Speaking of which…”

I looked up, along with everypony else in the crowd, to see the cloud buildings all above us shimmering as silver specks began closing in on the Coliseum. At the same time, I heard the sound of marching and looked down to see a large squad of ground bound Dragoons storm into the arena, all the soldiers who were there supporting Rainbow Dash backing up into formation while drawing their weapons. The flying Dragoons spread out over the open roof of the arena, forming a grid that would allow none of the civilians to fly out, and with the main ground exit blocked we were all pretty much trapped.

“Now come on guys!” Rainbow called out to the new faces. “This is hardly cool… not gate-crashing, that’s totally cool, but endangering all these innocent ponies who just came here to see me… and really, can you blame them?”

“They broke the laws set down by Fleetfoot!” an enemy pegasus declared, coming down from the rest until she was hovering level with Rainbow Dash, her own cape getting caught up in the flapping of her wings. “But since you’re the one who encouraged it, I guess we could forget their punishment this time and just take care of you.”

The crowd erupted into a sea of hate, shouting insults at the pegasus and her allies, some even going as far as to lob rubbish at them, whether they be on the ground level or flying in the air. The soldiers didn’t respond and tried their very best not to react to the missiles, but then they were probably too distracted by Rainbow’s supporting soldiers. They weren’t moving to fight or even behaving aggressively, they were calling out to the ‘enemies’, addressing individuals by name and beseeching them to reconsider their allegiances.

It was a strikingly brilliant tactic, to appeal to their good will and use their already established relationships to inspire camaraderie with the allies. The Fleetfoot soldiers were all looking terribly nervous, most of them clearly didn’t want to fight their own friends, but they must have been under some serious duress from their commanding officers, who were scattered around the units and refusing to budge an inch in their loyalties. Then the first pony moved, he was standing close to the edge of the unit, so he was able to edge further and further to the side without anypony taking notice, until finally he lowered his weapon and bolted to the other side, seeking shelter among their numbers.

His officer shouted after him, cursing his name and swearing that he would be made to pay for his insubordination, but his act had a knock-on effect with the other soldiers. One by one they began looking for ways out, when they saw one, they would rush to freedom, occasionally they would get caught by their officer or some of their more diehard comrades and pay the price for it, but that would only turn more of their own number against them. The pegasus who had been speaking to Rainbow Dash directly, stared aghast as the clear majority of ponies under her command defected, running or flying over to Rainbow’s side where they were welcomed with cheers and pats on the back.

She hovered there for a moment longer, grinding her teeth before she cursed Rainbow Dash and took off in a hasty retreat. The rest quickly followed, any who had not been swayed, hurrying from the scene as their force dwindled in size. A few of Rainbow’s soldiers made to go after them, but she called for them to stop. As she came to the ground, she announced that they would not kill another pony if it could be avoided, that just earned her another wave of applause from the crowds in the stands. As Rainbow Dash touched down, she scanned through the gathered ponies, her eyes quickly landing on us.

She smiled and tilted her head to the side, indicating for us to come down and speak to her. I relayed this to Cirrus and he helped me down from the stands, straight into the arena where I hopped off his back and hurried after my friend. I was quickly stopped by soldiers who were rightly suspicious by my actions, but Rainbow insisted it was okay and they allowed us both to pass. Rainbow didn’t speak until we exited the arena via one of the portcullises and entered into one of the darkened armouries, at which point she turned and gave me a huge, goofy grin.

“You made it!” she declared, leaning in close to my face. “Did you hear the speech? Wasn’t I just awesome?”

“Could you be anything less?” I asked, rolling my eyes at her overenthusiasm. “Where did you get that one? I doesn’t sound like something from Daring Do.”

“Whoa, hey now,” Rainbow said, slightly indignant at my accusation. “Not everything I say is from Daring Do… that one was actually borrowed from Harry Trotter if you must know.”

I had to laugh at that, before pulling her into a hug which she more or less returned.

“Oh, uh, hey,” she said to Cirrus, who was still standing awkwardly behind me. “So who’re you supposed to be?”

“Rainbow Dash, this is Cirrus,” I introduced. “I met him once quite some time ago, but I ran into him again today when he saved us from some of Fleetfoot’s lackeys.”

“Well in that case, he’s alright in my books,” Rainbow said before turning her attention back to me. “How did everywhere else go? Are the others alright? Did you get all the groups?”

“Yes, it’s been a rousing success,” I told her jubilantly. “It wasn’t always easy, Blueblood’s minions attacked Pivot and Arclight, and we only just managed to stop the end of the world at the Bask, but we got the Rebellion, the Arcane Order, the Liberators and even the Celestial Sisterhood to support us, even some other ponies I encountered along the way.”

“Wow, that’s amazing!” Rainbow declared. “Well the Dragoons shouldn’t be any trouble, you saw what happened out there, the only ones who still follow Fleetfoot are the few ponies who actually benefited from the old system, everypony else realises we need to change. Once Fleetfoot is out of the picture, then we can start moving towards Cragsburg. I’ve already spoken about it with the officers on my side and they seem pretty supportive of it… although a lot of ponies are sceptical that actual monsters are involved, I don’t want them walking into this if they don’t know what’s waiting for them.”

“I understand that,” I told her. “But we can cross that bridge when we come to it, right now I need to know what your plan is for Fleetfoot. I was actually travelling here with somepony who will be most annoyed if she isn’t the one to kill Fleetfoot.”

“Well she’ll have to join the cue,” Rainbow replied, laughing at her own joke heartily. “But seriously, who are you talking about?”

“She’s the Wonderbolt captain we thought was working with the Solar Empire,” I briefly explained. “Her name’s Spitfire.”

Rainbow Dash froze momentarily, her jaw hanging open, as her whole body began to vibrate with excitement in a manner I would have associated more with Pinkie Pie.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” she began repeating, the excitement in her voice building up. “Are you saying the Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts is in Olympus right now… and she wants to kill Fleetfoot?! This is the most incredible day ever!”

“She was pretty banged up when I found her,” I went on, amused by Rainbow’s fangirling. “She’s waiting back at Cirrus’s club; you know the place we went together?”

“You actually own that place?” Rainbow questioned Cirrus, sounding impressed as she nodded in confirmation. “I am liking this guy more and more. Let’s head there now; we don’t have any immediate plans, other than try not to let Fleetfoot kill us before enough of her own ponies switch sides, that we can risk attacking the Pantheon.”

We exited the Coliseum shortly after; most of the civilians had already left, while the rest were swarming around the exit, slowly filtering out. Rainbow stopped for a moment to talk to some of the officers and the new soldiers who joined after the speech, she even insisted on introducing me to them for some reason. What was even more confusing is why they all seemed to brighten up when she did, like they had been expecting me or something. I didn’t let my confusion show however, I behaved like a proper mare and I think I managed to leave them with a good first impression.

This time Rainbow Dash insisted on carrying me in her forelegs while Cirrus led the way to the club, although I had a funny feeling she could have navigated her way there from any point in Olympus. While in the air, Rainbow called down to me, telling me a bit about how things went after we parted ways. She explained that she parted ways with Applejack at Anchorage; the town never did get the reinforcements she called for, but had managed to look after itself in spite of that. When she got to Olympus, the first thing she did was look into Gale, only to find out that she never returned from Brine, she concluded that she never made it out alive, which would explain why the reinforcements never came.

She didn’t get much further when we came into view of the club, and heard Cirrus utter a short, but alarming ‘uh oh’. Looking down, I saw Eerie and Zephyr standing outside, looking all around for something before waving us down urgently. Cirrus descended first, but Rainbow still managed to land slightly before him, the pair ran up to us, looking panicked.

“She’s gone!” Zephyr told us. “We tried to stop her, but she just bolted.”

“Wait,” I cut in, tugging away from Rainbow Dash. “You mean Spitfire? Where did she go?!”

“She must have gone after Fleetfoot,” Eerie suggested. “But she’s in no fit state, she’ll get herself killed.”

I groaned in frustration, turning my gaze up to the higher levels of the city, imagining Spitfire flying up to the Pantheon right that moment, straight to her death.

“We can go after her,” Rainbow told me, taking me by surprise. “Don’t give me that look; we were going to have to move against Fleetfoot eventually, might as well be now.”

“Alright,” I replied, checking my weapons before walking over to her.

“Whoa, whoa, hang on,” Cirrus said quickly. “We should come with you.”

“No offence buddy,” Rainbow began. “But you guys don’t exactly look cut out for fighting.”

“Maybe not,” Cirrus admitted. “But we can create a distraction; draw some of Fleetfoot’s ponies away from the Pantheon to help you girls out.”

“Can you do that and stay safe?” I asked in a concerned voice.

“You saw us in action earlier,” he reminded me. “We’ve gotten pretty good at this sort of thing.”

“In that case, I’d be happy to have you guys on our side,” Rainbow responded with a salute. “But we need to move out now.”

“Sure thing,” Cirrus assured her before turning to Eerie and Zephyr. “Go get the other guys, quickly now.”

Once Cyclone and Alabaster had joined us, the latter hopping aboard the former's back, we all set off, up through the cloud sector, towards the peak of the city. It didn’t take long before we were slowing down and finding a house to perch on, just out of sight while we scoped out our target destination. They hadn’t been joking when they said it was completely surrounded, it was clear that Fleetfoot didn’t have a great deal of confidence in her own strength to defend herself against angry dissenters. If Iron Sights hadn’t already when his deceit was made clear, Fleetfoot’s actions had almost certainly signed the Dragoon’s death warrant.

Rainbow was instructing the guys in a hushed tone on what they should do, despite the fact that it had been their idea to begin with, but she did also advise them where to go if things got hairy, that her own soldiers would offer them protection. Once everything was made clear to them, they spread out into position, everything kicking off when Alabaster sprung out of his hiding place and zapped one of the officers from a distance, petrifying him in white stone instantly. Things quickly got out of hand after that, with a lot of slinging of smoke bombs and hurling of insults.

The stallions stayed true to their word, drawing a great number of the defending soldiers away from the Pantheon, right past our hiding spot, and giving us a fairly clear path to the Pantheon itself. I gave Rainbow the word that I was ready to move in and she quickly took off, scooping me up in her forelegs as she flew. The remaining soldiers saw us and started panicking, drawing on their bows or pulling back their spears to launch them at us and take us out of the air. Rainbow was much too quick however, easily dodging any projectiles that had been loosed, while reaching the courtyard of the Pantheon before any more could be.

She air dropped me as soon as we were over enchanted ground; I landed hard on one of the ponies, giving her an extra kick to make sure she stayed down, before drawing my sword to meet the oncoming soldiers. They didn’t seem too eager to engage after that first contact, even less so when Rainbow circled around and landed next to me, extending her spear. A couple tried their luck and got swiftly taken down by us, Rainbow Dash insisted beforehand that we stick to nonlethal methods, killing them would only be reducing our final numbers in the end, not to mention most of them were only following orders.

Others were smart enough to sneak away when nopony was watching them, although I noticed, and my smile only grew larger with every one of them I saw skulking away. Once the front of the Pantheon was cleared, we hurried inside before any of the others could return, it wouldn’t take them long to realise they had been tricked. Once inside, we found a group of three officers standing at the top of the stairs, completely oblivious to what was going on outside as they spoke in hushed tones with one another, and glanced warily at the door to the Marshal’s office.

“Oh great,” one of them moaned, the very pegasus who had confronted Rainbow in the Coliseum. “Did you seriously just get past all those guards?”

“Of course we did,” Rainbow replied with a cocky grin. “We’re awesome like that.”

“You’re also pretty stupid,” the mare retorted, drawing her longsword. “Because now it’s three against two, and unlike you, we don’t have wimpy ‘no killing’ rules.”

She dived down upon us, I instinctively slid to the side, but Rainbow didn’t even bother, raising her spear to block her attack before forcing her back into the secretary desk. The other two officers jumped down as well, one of the wielding a pair of tomahawks, who joined in fighting Rainbow Dash, the second going after me. He flew straight for me, swinging a spiked flail around his head which he smashed down at the spot where I was standing a moment ago, before shuffling back. Flails were such impractical weapons I found, maybe in the hooves of somepony really skilled they could be as deadly as they looked, but in this case it was easy to avoid.

The chain was too long for a start, so it took him too long to get any kind of momentum going, otherwise he could only flail it randomly at me… if you’ll pardon the pun. He seemed to realise this however, and soon he was resorting more to blows with his hooves, which proved a little more difficult to avoid, but still avoidable. In the end I beat him by drawing him close to the staircase and giving him enough time to get a good swinging arc of his flail, which naturally I dodged at the last second and allowed it to become entangled around the banister.

While he struggled with that, I sidestepped and turned half a circle, rearing up and bucking him in the side of the head. He was fine after, his helmet protected him for the most part; the same could be said for the other two officers, who Rainbow Dash was mopping the floor with when I looked around. Nodding to her, I started up the staircase towards Fleetfoot’s office while Rainbow Dash flew to meet me at the top. She forced her way through the doors with her shoulder, if they had been locked, it certainly didn’t hold, and together we stormed inside.

The office looked like a tornado had passed through; everything was thrown about and wrecked. In the centre Spitfire lay on the ground, she was still alive, but she was badly beaten up, and she was still pinned beneath Fleetfoot, who was raising her hoof to bring it down again. Without hesitating, Rainbow shot forward, smashing into Fleetfoot and knocking her clear of Spitfire, who sucked gratefully as her airways were freed. Fleetfoot let out a pained yell and I could see why, when Rainbow knocked into her and sent the pair of them tumbling across the room, her visored helmet flew off, leaving Fleetfoot’s damaged eyes open and vulnerable.

Even the little day light the came through the large window in the rear wall of the office, caused her pain, despite the sun not even shining through it and it being a particularly cloudy day. I knew exactly what to do, even as Fleetfoot pulled herself up, reaching out, both for the helmet at her side and the baton at her waist. Reaching down, I grabbed hold of my lantern with my hoof, hurling it forward like it was a bomb, and just as it spun towards Fleetfoot, I channelled my magic into it, causing it to shine like a star right in her face.

Fleetfoot’s screams were deafening, my ears automatically clamping down to protect themselves. I walked over to where Spitfire lay; groaning in pain in between laboured breaths, while Rainbow Dash picked herself up and brushed herself down. I reached down and placed my hooves on Spitfire to stop her from moving as I looked her over, it seemed Fleetfoot had only attacked her with her hooves, but since she was wearing full armour, that could have done quite a bit of damage. Her injured midriff looked especially bad, peeking under the bandages showed that the stallions must have stitched her up, but her escapades had only ruined that.

“What were you thinking?” I asked her, relieved that it really could have been so much worse. “You should have waited and we could have done this together.”

“I… couldn’t,” she uttered in a miserable voice, not looking at me. “I couldn’t let go of my hatred, I couldn’t let all my effort be for nothing, but… but in the end I couldn’t…”

“You were too badly injured,” I told her calmly. “If you had waited, let yourself heal and got your strength back, you would have…”

“You dolt!” Fleetfoot snapped in a trembling voice, ceasing her snivelling, but still pressing her hooves into her eyes as blood leaked out around them. “She could have killed me, she got the jump on me… but she lost her spine at the last moment.”

“You were my friend!” Spitfire screamed at her, angry tears spilling from her eyes as she sat bolt upright and stared spitefully at her. “You both were! H… how could you do it… to him… to me?!”

“It was war,” Fleetfoot hissed back. “There are no friends in war, just those who can help you survive… and those who’ll drag you down with them. I won’t apologise for looking out for my own best interest, everypony does it, I bet even Soarin only helped ponies because it made him feel good about himse…”

“Shut up!” Spitfire yelled, pushing my away as she stood up and stormed over to where Fleetfoot sat. “You do not get to say his name!”

“Or what?” Fleetfoot asked in a mocking tone, while she might very well have been permanently blinded from what I did, she seemed to be adjusting to the pain now. “You’ll kill me? You couldn’t kill me before, you’re too sentimental… you’re too weak!”

“Shut your mouth!” Rainbow snapped, suddenly stepping in. “She is not weak.”

“And how the heck would you know?” Fleetfoot muttered, clearly annoyed by the interruption. “Piss off Dash, you don’t know a thing about this chick, so quit trying to jump in just because you’re not the centre of attention.”

“I do know,” Rainbow argued in a surprisingly calm voice. “Because she pushed herself to come here, despite all your soldiers, despite the advantage you would have over her because of her injury… that takes bravery. And the fact that she was able to go through all she did and still show you mercy… well that takes strength, real strength that you would know nothing about.”

I smiled, thinking back to how I had chosen to spend those hours by the sides of Eerie and Alabaster, and how in the end the mercy shown to them was able to preserve the goodness inside them, all that they would one day come to my aid when I least expected it. I wished the same could have been said for Fleetfoot, but the truth is we would never know if Spitfire’s moment of clemency could have thawed her icy heart and changed her for the better, for at that moment, I saw something large and dark moving towards the window.

The first crazy thought that sprung to mind as the dark shape got closer and bigger with every second, was that it was some kind of flying whale. As it got closer however, and I was able to make out the pitch black, draconic face and the two wings pulled almost straight back… I was only able to make this out for a few seconds, before the creature blotted out the sky and came smashing through the window. Things were rather… odd for the next couple of minutes; like I had slipped into a dream, where I was only half aware of what all was happening around me.

Who even knew so much destruction could be wrought on buildings made from cloud? I certainly didn’t until I was crashing down through layer after layer and building after building, the huge monster ploughing right into the Pantheon and continuing straight downwards, taking me, and presumably my friends, down with it. I became very thankful to the unknown pony responsible for devising a building material that could be so sturdy in construction, and yet so soft for crashing through in destruction, it certainly made the fall less fatal than if I were smashing through stone or wood.

When it all finally stopped and I landed, bouncing slightly off a surface that managed to not break beneath me, my whole body felt groggy as I rolled off my side and tried to move my legs. Opening my eyes took a surprising amount of effort, and when I did, I saw phantom duplicates of everything, sliding in and out of their solid counterparts in tandem with my focus. I tried to raise my head, but found it weighed a ton, just like my hooves. I could hear the sounds of distant shouting, of terrified screams, and somepony yelling very close to my ear.

“Rarity!” Rainbow Dash shouted again, looming over me. “Rarity, speak to me!”

“Please be gentle with me…” I moaned in a dazed voice.

“Good enough,” Rainbow muttered, looking around us.

My vision focused enough that I was just able to see how much better Rainbow seemed to have handled the fall, a little battered, but her armour seemed to do its job, until my attention was diverted to the large dark shape swooping in overhead to the chorus of shrieks. The monster landed on the top of the Coliseum where we had fallen into, its hind claws crushing into the wall, while it spread its wings out around the rim, peering into the arena with its long neck. It was a wyvern, with great leathery wings like a bat, pitch black scales with a dark purple tint, and a head that was large enough for a pony to live quite comfortably in its mouth… before they were eaten.

It was a wyvern, but something seemed very unnatural about it, which gave me a creeping feeling. Despite its scally hide, the majority of its chest was comprised of an exposed ribcage, the hollow areas giving a clear view in at the pulsating, purple energy inside of it. Similarly its face, while clearly dragon like, bore some twisted features, such as the zigzag mouth that made it look like it was wearing a nightmarish grin, or the fact that its eyes radiated that same purple energy, while its mouth churned up clouds of vile gas.

The monster had smashed straight down through the city, decimating the Pantheon and several other areas before it finally came to rest on the Coliseum, easily big enough to fit inside it. Looking about, I saw that many ponies had been caught in its rampage, including the soldiers we’d knocked unconscious and whatever civilians had been going about their business in the intervening levels between the Coliseum and the Pantheon when the monster struck. Rainbow Dash had just moved to check on Spitfire who was lying a few metres away from me, when the beast landed and started looking over us as if it was a gourmet surveying its dinner plate, trying to decide what to begin with.

Finally the monsters eyes appeared to rest on me, and it might have been my imagination, but I was sure the creepy grin only became more pronounced.

“Rarity…” a deep, booming voice emanated from the monsters jaws. “Did you miss me?”

I just stared up in horror as the terrifying face leered over; sure that grin was real as my mind started screaming, trying to figure out who the heck this was supposed to be.

“Call for help,” it told me, leaning down and close. “I will be here when it comes.”

The gears in my mind started spinning as his words repeated in my head; something about them seemed so familiar.

“I guess I could just kill them too,” it went on to say. “Then not only can say I’ve killed a pony, I can say I’ve killed more like a dozen ponies.”

I continued to stare up at the horrible face; the answer was right at the edge of my mind, on the tip of my tongue.

“Really, I’m surprised you’re still awake,” the voice continued, although there was a hint of annoyance in it now. “That usually knocks ponies out. Here, let me try again.”

I just blinked when the monster made no move; it really was like it was just saying stuff for the hell of it.

“Seriously?!” the monster bellowed, frustration finally taking over. “You don’t remember me?!”

“Uh… I’m sorry,” I offered weakly, coughing out the wisps of purple smoke that had been ejected along with his shout.

“Well I remember you,” the monster growled. “I remember how you ruined my life and crushed my dreams! Well I made a new friend since then, and he’s given me the power that I can do the same thing to you.”

“Hey, manure breath!” Rainbow Dash cut in, running up and standing defensively over me. “If you even think about touching my friend, then you’ll be dead before you can even think up anymore stupid quips!”

“They’re not mine, I was reversing them on…” the monster began, its voice contorting with anger. “Oh, never mind, Blueblood might be annoyed when he learns I’ve destroyed Olympus, but I don’t care, because that is exactly what I plan to do. I will tear this city apart and devour every single pony that squats here, and I will make you watch it all and you will know it is all because of you!”

“Blueblood?!” Rainbow Dash and I exclaimed in unison.

“Whoever,” the monster responded disinterestedly. “I didn’t care who was behind what, all I cared about was getting enough power that I might get my revenge. They told me it would kill me, that nopony could survive the number of experiments I volunteered for, but I did. My hatred for you was so great that I was able to stay alive through every excruciating second of it, but now here I am! You once asked me if the Liberators were building any more weapons of mass destruction, well it turns out a different group was… they built me!”

Suddenly it hit me, like a shovel to the face for all the force it carried. All those things he had said, those were things I had said, more or less, and I had said them to…

“Spoon Bender?!” I exclaimed, remembering the devout Liberator who had attempted to capture me in Port Mule and failed miserably.

“At last you remember me,” Spoon growled, that smile returning. “And now you know why I…”

“Wait a second,” Rainbow jumped in, sounding slightly odd as if she was trying to stop herself form laughing. “Your name is… Spoon Bender?! Oh my goodness, that is the most ridiculous name I’ve ever heard!”

Rainbow Dash was now full on guffawing, and I was right to think that Spoon Bender didn’t appreciate it too much.

“Silence!” he bellowed, his voice shaking the entire Coliseum with its rage.

I had been distracted by Spoon, that I had barely noticed the hordes of Dragoon soldiers swarming into the Coliseum, some carrying the injured and unconscious ponies away to safety, while the rest had drawn their weapons. But with Spoon Bender’s shout, they now shook in their armour, unable to hold their weapons up at the horror they were faced with. Spitfire was trying to prop herself up, but even she looked anxious at the sight of the beast Spoon Bender had become.

“You will all fear me!” Spoon Bender screeched, sweeping one of his wings in and sending a number of soldiers flying into their friends. “You will all die! Your families will die! Your lives will be destroyed!”

With each declaration, he swept into the crowd, alternating between wings. By the end of his tirade, soldiers were outright fleeing from the Coliseum, dropping their weapons and running, a small part of me wanted to join them, but I was only just finding the strength to get back to my hooves, let alone run. However many did not run, most stayed rooted to the spot, but they did not stay to look at Spoon Bender throwing his temper tantrum… they stayed to look at Rainbow Dash who had not flinched throughout any of the outbursts. She remained perfectly still until he was done, at which point she flapped her own wings and started rising up off the ground, ascending higher to meet Spoon Bender head on.

“I once fought a guy in this very place,” she told him. “He also liked to make ponies fear him… and he also cheated to become as strong as he was.”

“Cheated…” Spoon Bender repeated, his voice cracking with anger.

“But I’m not afraid of you,” Rainbow went on, ignoring his interruption. “You know why?”

Before waiting for a response, Rainbow flew up even higher, Spoon Bender followed her with his gaze until she stopped some distance above him. The destruction Spoon Bender had caused to the higher buildings, meant that there was now a clear view of both Rainbow Dash and Spoon Bender for ponies in most areas of Olympus. From where I stood, I could see her reach up and slide the mouthpiece into place that allowed her to project her voice.

“Everypony listen to me!” she called out. “I told you about a threat that was coming, an army of monsters in the Ash Lands. Many of you have doubted the seriousness of this, which I totally understand, but right now there is a monster in our city. If you look to the Coliseum you will see him… although really, if you aren’t already looking at the giant nightmare wyvern that just smashed through the cloud sector, you need to sort out your priorities.”

I heard a few of the soldiers around me snigger at that; even I cracked a smile at how she could remain so brash at a time like this.

“But there is nothing to fear,” she went on. “He might look scary, but he’s just one guy… one really pathetic guy, who thinks he’s a bigger deal than he actually is. And you know what we are? We are… uh, hang on. One, two, three, fou… well we’re a lot, is what I’m getting at. One pony alone might be smaller and weaker… but we’re not alone, none of us are. As long as we keep standing beside each other, supporting one another and fighting for a common goal, then we’ll never be alone… and we will never have anything to be afraid of.”

As Rainbow Dash finished, as we all stared up at her, her entire body shone with light. Spoon Bender screeched and twisted his head away from the sight, but I was just filled with that same sense of awe as I saw Rainbow Dash enveloped in the light, before it shot out from her. As it settled around her, making her appear like a second sun hanging in the sky over us, I was able to just about make out the addition to her armour. If I thought Fluttershy’s Element complimented her outfit well, it was nothing to how Rainbow Dash’s worked out, it was as if the two were meant for one another.

She wore her usual silver armour with her trojan helmet, but her wings had always been left free… until now. Now they were encased in shimmering silver, dozens of plates combining together to allow her wings perfect flexibility, while also offering them protection and even giving them offensive capabilities with their blades feathers. The last little detail I only spotted when she manoeuvred herself in the air to look down at Spoon Bender beneath her, placed between the wings, set into the armoured spine, was a bright red lightning bolt, which matched her tunic perfectly.

I didn’t have any longer to take in the appearance of her Element of Unity, as she chose that moment to dive straight for Spoon Bender, who was still too busy averting his gaze to defend himself. As she got near, she twisted in the air in a helix shape, spreading her wings sharply before quickly folding them again to launch the light built up around her in the form of two blinding streaks. They shot out in the shape of an X, which slashed into Spoon Bender’s back, burning right through his scales and causing him to scream in agony.

Rainbow Dash didn’t hold up however, she quickly sped in, delivering blow after blow, making full use of her new toys to send out devastating waves of divine light to slice into Spoon Bender’s body. I watched in amazement, too distracted to notice when a number of Dragoon soldiers took off into the air, flying in to join Rainbow Dash in attacking the monster. Before long, every pegasus soldier was up there, flying around Spoon Bender like a swarm of flies. Rainbow Dash was still doing the most damage with her attacks, but the combined effort of all the others managed to accomplish a great deal too.

Spoon Bender fell… literally, head first into the arena. Some of the ground bound soldiers who had been there cheering on their comrades, had to run back to avoid being squashed by the great carcass, but I was the perfect distance that his head came skidding to a stop right in front of me. I imagined he wasn’t happy that I was the last thing he saw before he died, as the purple light in his eyes went out, leaving only two smoking black craters. Spitfire joined me, still looking as crap as when we found her in Fleetfoot’s office, but forcing herself on as always.

Together we looked up to where Rainbow Dash hovered, surrounded by her fellow soldiers as they stared down at the body of Spoon Bender. I smiled up at her, although I’d be surprised if she could see it, what with the light of her wings reflecting off every soldier present, but I was content that we would have plenty of opportunities to talk as we travelled from Olympus together. That suddenly made my stomach lurch, it was such an odd thought that I hadn’t dwelt on until that point, we were about to go into the final stage… our journey was reaching its end. Next stop Cragsburg, and after that…