Mortal Coil

by Reeve

LXXVIII - The Body Of Resolve

While I would never say it was a pleasant way to go, certainly one that I would never have wished for her, if it was going to be one of us, I was glad it was Fleetfoot who was situated closest to the window when Spoon Bender came smashing in. I chose not to dwell on how drawn out it might have been, getting caught up in his jaws and chewed up, although I could tell Spitfire was having a hard time dwelling on anything else. Whatever she was feeling, and I was really having a hard time telling, she seemed eager to suppress it and not let it get in the way of what was to come.

“You’re still injured,” I reminded her calmly.

“You said it yourself,” Spitfire argued. “You have sisters making their way there to help tend to the wounded, a few minutes with one of them and I’ll be at the peak of my game.”

“I… suppose so,” I admitted before giving a little shrug. “Well, if you insist, then I’m hardly going to say no to the extra help.”

“Well don’t forget, I’m still a Wonderbolt,” she pointed out, although I chose to keep silent about how debatable that was. “If Twilight Sparkle is involved in this, then it’s my duty to assist her, and by extension… you.”

“And you’re sure it’s not because you like us?” I questioned in a teasing voice. “Just a little bit, come on, you can admit it.”

Spitfire just rolled her eyes and turned to walk away; although I was sure I saw the barest hint of a smile as she did. Rainbow Dash had provided her with a tactical flight suit which she now wore, her goggles raised up to her forehead while her weapon hung from her utility belt. I frowned when I saw it, but I didn’t comment on it as she walked away, if she wanted to use Fleetfoot’s double ended sword then I wasn’t about to pass judgement. I returned to the arena of the Coliseum where the war council was meeting, it seemed like the best place since the Pantheon had been destroyed.

The council was made up of Rainbow Dash and all the Dragoon officers, although continuing to call them that at this point felt like I was behind the times. There were also a number of regular soldiers present, scattered around the rim of the arena so as not to get in the way of the meeting. Among their numbers I could see Cirrus and his friends, all wearing their shiny new armour and nodding politely at me. Returning the gesture, I made my way up to the centre of the arena where Rainbow Dash waited for me, for whatever annoying reason, she insisted that I be the one to relay our plans to the officers and take charge. I figured she was sick to death of it and wanted me to take over for a bit, so I obliged.

I wondered if Fluttershy had felt the same way when she had a position of authority thrust upon her without warning by Rainbow Dash. Only in that case, the reason for choosing her was obvious as only she could kill the walkers, why Rainbow Dash insisted on it being me and not one of her actual officers was a mystery. It had taken hours to remove Spoon Bender’s body from the Coliseum and the city at large; he was far too massive to be carried out, even by every single pegasi in Olympus. In the end they were forced to… cut him up into more manageable chunks. Naturally I chose not to stay and watch that, but it meant that we weren’t able to focus on the mission until the following morning… that and I didn’t know where Spoon Bender’s remains ended up, and had no real desire to find out.

We weren’t expecting things to be difficult, as always, some soldiers would remain behind to watch over the city in our absence, while the rest shifted out in their hundreds towards Cragsburg. Rainbow Dash and I would be escorting the first lot, with the rest coming in behind us at regular intervals. Rainbow wasn’t wrong when she told Blueblood that moving an army took a lot of time and coordination. Our hope was to reach the bridge between Brine and Cragsburg just after nightfall, although that might be pushing it, and reach Cragsburg by the next evening.

I had no doubt by that point the forces we’d already gathered, would both be there waiting for us, and might even have made a start in taking back the city. I was eager to get moving, and I could tell I wasn’t the only one with how readily the officers accepted my instructions and plans before setting out to get everypony rallied and ready to move out. Naturally Spitfire and Cirrus’ crew wanted to travel with us, and I was happy to oblige, neither were part of any particularly unit having only just volunteered, so it wasn’t as if they answered to anypony but Rainbow and I.

We did eventually get set off; it was quite an exciting moment, as Rainbow Dash and I stood together on the wall directly over the gate, looking out across the plaza at the sea of silver, ponies standing patiently in formation before marching off. One unit at a time exited through the gate and down the mountain trail, until the sea became a river, soldiers pulling carts of tents, equipment and food taking up the rear. Once we had overseen all the units leaving, Rainbow picked me up, and together we flew to the head of the winding snake that was only the beginning of Olympus’ contribution to the army. She set me down before landing at my side, and together we led the force down the Wyvern Heights and through the Lesser Pastures.

As we travelled, I looked off to the south, just about making out Brine in the distance, wondering if Holly had succeeded in exterminating the last of the walkers and made it out with her team. I was confident they would have made quick work of the monsters and might already be nearing Cragsburg on their chariots, if they were not already there lending their aid. As we walked, I asked Rainbow Dash if she could ‘feel’ the others. She seemed taken aback by the question, and for a moment regarded me as if I was probing into some rather intimate aspect of her life, before she seemed to tweak on to what I meant.

“Oh, yeah,” she confirmed in an odd tone, her armoured wings tinkling as she fluttered them. “It’s… weird, like I can sense them… like they’re right next to me. Only Twilight, Pinkie and Flutters though, not AJ… and not you for that matter.”

“I guess we still need our Elements,” I proposed, feeling a tiny bit envious, like I was somehow being excluded, despite how silly that notion was. “We still have time to figure out how we’re supposed to get them before Blueblood makes his move.”

“You think they’re going to help against him?” Rainbow asked, before pondering her own question. “Although… considering what mine was able to do to that S… Spoon Bender…”

Rainbow cut off a moment to laugh some more at his name before she was able to continue.

“Imagine the punch we could pack with all six,” she finished.

“Precisely,” I agreed. “It might just be the edge we need to turn this battle in our favour.”

“We both have armies now,” Rainbow pointed out.

“And Cogs is working on something to counter the Dreadnaught,” I picked up.

“And that just leaves Blueblood,” Rainbow muttered. “The Dick of Canterlot.”

“He was a Duke,” I reminded her.

“I know what I said.”

We didn’t make it as far as the bridge, which I was disappointed about, but Rainbow assured me we would still make it to Cragsburg by tomorrow if we really pushed ourselves. While we stopped at our very temporary camp, Rainbow Dash was finally able to have her moment of properly interacting with Spitfire. I imagine she wanted to appear cool and aloof to her, needless to say… she failed miserably. After very little time had passed, Spitfire was desperately looking for a swift exit from their conversation, which consisted mainly of Rainbow Dash drooling over her.

I felt a little bad for Rainbow Dash; she was having the time of her life, without even realising that her over eagerness to impress Spitfire was the very thing that was putting her off. I looked over to where Cirrus and his friends sat, all cringing in embarrassment; clearly they too were aware of how badly she was presenting herself. Luckily Rainbow was able to salvage things at the last moment, just as Spitfire insisted that she was tired and wanted to go sleep, when she brought up the fateful meeting with Firefly that led to getting her cutie mark.

This certainly got Spitfire’s interest, considering that Firefly had been her predecessor, but as Rainbow retold the story of how she got her cutie mark, I saw something dawning on Spitfire, as if the more Rainbow Dash spoke, the more she realised something life changing. After the story was finished, Rainbow was called away to help manage some of the troops, that left me with the stunned Spitfire.

“I… don’t… believe it,” she uttered, staring at the retreating form of Rainbow Dash. “All these years… it was her.”

“I don’t understand,” I jumped in, completely bewildered. “What was her?”

“Firefly… she always used to talk to me about this one filly,” Spitfire went on, still not tearing her eyes away. “Throughout all our training, she would say stuff like ‘keep that up and you might be as good as her one day’. We never knew who she was referring to, only that they once pulled off a sonic rainboom. I just… can’t believe it; a part of me always believed she was just made up, to be this impossible ideal for us to strive for.”

“It was Rainbow Dash,” I breathed in amazement, following Spitfire’s gaze, even though Rainbow was no longer in sight. “And Firefly never told you the truth?”

“I asked her about it a few times…” Spitfire replied. “Okay, a lot of times, but she never said anything… not until the last time I ever spoke to her. She was telling me what a good captain I had become, how I had become better than she ever was. I don’t know why I asked, maybe I just wanted to feel validated, but I asked if I was better than 'her'. She said she didn’t know, and... she sounded so sad when she did. I never got to see her again before she passed away, but something about it always ate at me, that my mentor… my idol had seen so much in this one pony, and I would never know if I had surpassed her or not.”

“Is that really so important?” I asked in a low voice.

“I don’t know,” Spitfire muttered back. “What I do know is it doesn’t matter now, we’re going into battle, and when you start to doubt yourself in battle, then you get yourself and others hurt. I became captain of the Wonderbolts, of all the cadets to rise up and take Firefly’s place, I was the one… and that’s enough for me.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear it,” I replied, giving a stretch as I realised just how tired I was. “Now is certainly not the time for personal drama.”

I split off from the group and went to find a quiet area to lie myself down, finding myself really wishing I had the same magical capabilities as Twilight, that grass bed spell would have come in handy. When morning came around, I found myself being kicked awake by Rainbow Dash, who was loudly saying something about being unable to find a bowl of warm water, so this was the best she could come up with on the spot. Then after magically planting her face into the dirt by grabbing hold of her helmet, before being found by a group of bewildered soldiers, we were ready to grow up again and carry on.

Things became a little grim as we moved onwards, and I knew exactly why as we crossed over the bridge that was completely deserted of Children of the Earth guards. I was replaying my last journey this way, over and over in my mind, how I had rushed through the country side to rescue Fluttershy. Ignoring the pain in my limbs or how cold my drenched clothes made me feel, even ignoring the fact that I was charging head first into one of the most dangerous places in Panchea, without a single friend to help me.

Well this time I marched with confidence as I stared ahead with a steely gaze, hearing the satisfying sound of soldiers following close behind me. As the grass began to thin and ash started to swirl up around us in the moderate breeze, I felt my heart racing at what lay ahead of us, and as we ascended the crest of the last hill… it all came perfectly into view. The city of Cragsburg spread out before us, surrounded by its great stone walls, illuminated by the fire pits that lined it… although the orange glow coming from within was a bit too bright to be down purely to those. I saw plumes of smoke rising from all around the city, heard the sounds of shouting and explosions and the clashing of metal, but what I saw outside the city was what filled me with elation.

The mighty wall had been completely breached; the gates were quite simply gone, as a large section had been torn down to allow a massive army to pour in from the great camp that dominated the wasteland directly outside… our army. I quickly pulled out my spyglass and scanned around the camp, the ponies down there looked so… happy, like they were celebrating something. Turning my attention to the breach in the wall, I saw there were more soldiers of various factions coming out than going in, they appeared so casual as if… as if the battle was already won.

I turned, beaming at Rainbow Dash, only to see her with a sour look on her face.

“They finished it without us?!” she exclaimed in a disappointed voice. “I’m gonna kill AJ!”

“Come on, let’s go down,” I told her before raising my voice to address the soldiers behind us. “Forward everypony, let’s wrap this up!”

There was a cheer from the ones closes to the front, which slowly rippled all the way down the snaking convoy. Turning back towards the city I started walking forward once more, my pace considerably faster as I became more and more eager to get down there and confirm that we really had taken the city and the Children of the Earth were no more. I won’t lie that a small part of me was annoyed in the same way Rainbow had been, I had been quite looking forward to the idea of making them pay for all they had done, and while I knew I had played quite an important part in gathering the army, not being directly involved in the fight itself felt a bit anticlimactic.

As we crossed the plains to the sprawling camp of our allies, I could see ponies stopping to look and point at us. They didn’t immediately rejoice, perhaps unsure whether we were indeed there to aid them and not their enemies, but once word spread that we were there as friends, we found ourselves entering the camp to cheers. The soldiers themselves split off into their separate units and stood in formation just outside the camp, while Rainbow and I entered to get an assessment of what was going on, so we would know if they were needed immediately for something, or if they could start expanding the base to accommodate the increase in numbers.

As we walked through, we were greeted and cheered on by dozens of ponies. There were soldiers from every group in the camp, Liberators, Arcane Order, the Rebellion and the Celestial Sisterhood, all mingling with one another, with only their armour to differentiate them. I even saw quite a few faces I recognised, some ponies even greeting me by name, one particularly good point was when a pegasus mare ran up to us, not to see me, but to see Rainbow Dash.

“Marshal!” Squadron Leader Gale greeted in a relieved tone, giving a firm salute. “My deepest apologies for my failure at Brine.”

“I don’t care about that!” Rainbow exclaimed, looking equally relieved at the sight of her. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“I’m afraid I was the only one,” she said rather miserably. “Those blasted Children of the Earth drove us into the town, and we were ganged up on by them and the walkers… I injured my wing and had to barricade myself inside the church.”

I saw one of her wings was indeed bandaged up, just as I did, she turned to me.

“Thank you for sending those crusaders in,” she told me gratefully. “They were able to clear out the town, and I doubt I would be alive, let alone here now, if it wasn’t for them.”

“You’re welcome, I’m glad we were able to help somepony,” I replied. “Where are all the leaders? And what’s the status on the city?”

“They’re all gathered in the assembly area,” she informed us. “In the centre of the camp, I hear the assault went spectacularly well.”

We requested that she return to the solders and give them the green light to start pitching the tents, before we bid her farewell. Making our way through the rest of the camp, we arrived at the assembly area. It was a wide open space, directly facing the place where the city gates once were, in the middle was a large fire, while around it was gathered a number of ponies. All our friends were there, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Applejack, there was also Sufferthorn, Hex, Typhoon, and Holly, as well as a number of other officers who I wasn’t overly familiar with.

“Rarity! Rainbow!” our friends exclaimed upon seeing us.

There was a moment of hugging and greeting and asking how everypony was, before we got back into a professional mind-set and took our places around the fire.

“Well I think it’s safe to say that our plan was an overwhelming success,” I began, as I looked around at the different faces. “I really can’t begin to say just how happy I am that everypony came together like this.”

“It really is… impressive,” Typhoon admitted, I wondered if he was trying to resist smiling. “With the addition of the Dragoons, our numbers will be phenomenal.”

“Actually, we don’t call ourselves Dragoons anymore,” Rainbow informed him. “We’re done with that crap.”

“On that note, I would like to add, off record of course,” Hex began. “That the Arcane Order won’t be a thing much longer either.”

“What about you Typhoon?” Holly asked casually, he seemed to ponder it for a moment.

“It… is clear to me that we split with the Rebellion for… baseless reasons,” he said at last, giving a curt nod towards Twilight. “I am satisfied that the Liberators are no longer a necessity, that we can re-join with our forebears.”

“So that’s it then?” Pinkie questioned, smiling around at everypony. “We’re all one big happy Rebellion?”

“Well…” Sufferthorn stepped in, sounding unsure. “While I’m happy that all our forces be brought under one banner; I don’t feel we should be the Rebellion anymore. After all, we have our independence; we’re not rebelling for anything anymore.”

“So… a new name,” Applejack concluded thoughtfully, before her tone turned odd and forced. “Ah wonder who could pick a new name…”

“Yeah…” Rainbow uttered, dragging out the single word, while I noticed her winking at AJ from the corner of my eye. “Who could pick a new name for us?”

“Well it would have to be somepony who’s had ties to all the groups,” Sufferthorn pointed out, her tone giving away that she was in on whatever was going on.

“And by ties, you mean someone who had involvement with each group?” Hex questioned. “Somepony who interacted with them on a deep level.”

Sufferthorn nodded, while all the ponies who had spoken began humming thoughtfully to themselves… in a very in synch, rehearsed way.

“What is going on he…” I began, feeling really uncomfortably, only to be cut off by Typhoon’s frustrated sigh.

“They want you to pick the name,” he said flatly, rolling his eyes when they started telling him off for giving the game away.

“Okay, seriously,” I cut in, feeling a bit out of the loop. “Why do you want me to pick the name? What are you all playing at here?”

“Well obviously we need a new leader,” Rainbow Dash pointed out.

“We have Sufferthorn,” I argued.

“I’m a marshal,” she responded. “Not a politician.”

“Well we have Typhoon,” I went on. “We have Hex, Holly, even you Rainbow Dash.”

“I told you I am not a leader,” Rainbow insisted.

"I'm... really not qualified for that sort of job," Hex replied uncomfortably.

“The Celestial Sisterhood will remain as its own independent group,” Holly stated flatly. “We will lend our numbers for this battle, but when it is over, we will return to where we belong.”

I noticed Fluttershy looking a tiny bit disappointed by that, but she didn’t argue.

“And I…” Typhoon began in a disgruntled. “Well… it was you after all who showed me what an incompetent leader I made.”

I wondered just how much he believed that himself, and how much he had to be convinced prior to this meeting to step down from his position.

“Well what about Twilight,” I countered, satisfied that I had won. “She has more experience in politics than any of us.”

“True, but I’m also from Equestria,” Twilight reminded me, making me feel slightly stupid at having missed such an obvious pitfall. “If I took your place, then that would pretty much defile everything the Rebellion worked for.”

“It’s not my place!” I insisted, starting to get angry now. “What makes you all think I can be a leader?!”

“You mean besides the fact that you came up with the plan to bring us all together?” Rainbow answered.

“Coming up with a plan is nothing if there aren’t ponies who can carry…” I tried to say.

“You also travelled around all of Panchea yourself, just so you could make sure the plan went off without a hitch,” Pinkie cut in.

“Well I was hardly going to sit on my a…”

“I know in my case, I never would have convinced Typhoon to join without your help,” Fluttershy added. “I doubt I would even have saved my sisters from Hi… from Starlight Glimmer if you weren’t there to help. I’m sure the other girls would say your help was invaluable to fulfilling the plan as well.”

“But I…”

“Now Sugarcube, don’t argue,” Applejack interrupted, walking over and placing a hoof on my shoulder. “Ah know you, everything you’ve done since you came back, you’ve done out of the goodness of your heart, because you always believed it was the right thing to do, that it was the best thing for everypony. Believe me when ah say that nopony here would make a better leader than you, because that is the honest truth.”

I didn’t reply to that, partly because I was sure if I did, I would just get cut off again, but also because there was nothing I could say.

“I know it can seem daunting Rarity,” Twilights said sympathetically. “But you’re not being asked to sit on a throne and rule over every little thing until the end of your days, we just need you to take up this mantle until Blueblood is beaten. Because when he comes, all these soldiers are going to look to somepony… somepony who can inspire them the same way you always inspired us.”

“So what do you say Rarity?” Sufferthorn asked calmly, no doubt confident that I wouldn’t refuse them after that. “Will you do the honours of naming Panchea’s new army?”

I didn’t have to think about it for too long, the name was obvious; after all, we had all been united together as one.

“The Union,” I replied simply. “Where once we were all separated, now we’ve been brought together as one, we are the Union.”

The others nodded approvingly, and once I was satisfied they weren’t going to be springing any more unwelcome surprises on me, I got to the main issue at hand.

“So, Cragsburg,” I said at last. “Things are looking quite positive.”

“You can thank your friend for that,” Typhoon told me, tilting his head towards Applejack.

“You should have seen it Rarity!” Pinkie jumped in… literally, pulling me close as she waved her hoof through the air, like she was pointing out stars in the sky. “It was just after Hexy and I arrived with the ponies from Arclight, Twilight had just received the signal and our forces were standing by. Then, out of nowhere… boom!”

Pinkie started into a very theatrical representation of how the entire event went down.

“The wall was blown to smithereens!” she declared. “Applejack had rallied all the common ponies to rise up against their insane overlords, and together they opened a path for our forces, while also striking strategically at key locations all across the city! The Children of the Earth were thrown into disarray; they didn’t know what to do! They tried to mount a defence and keep us out, but then who should come marching over the hills…”

Pinkie produced a horn from nowhere and gave it a victorious trumpet.

“Typhoon and his Liberators!” Pinkie continued. “The Children of the Earth didn’t stand a chance, they were creamed! And I don’t use that metaphor lightly, because the icing on that delicious cream cake was none other than our own Fluttershy, in all her adorable glory!”

“In short,” Twilight jumped in, smirking at Pinkie’s recollection. “We won.”

“Well, not entirely,” Applejack argued. “But we will pretty soon, really it’s all down to the ponies livin’ here. You asked me to sniff out discontent, well let me tell you, the city was rife with it. Those poor ponies were just waitin’ for a chance to fight back, and when ah told them that we were expectin’ so many to come and help… well ah was strugglin’ to stop them from startin’ the revolution then and there.”

“So what’s left to be done?” I asked, although I had a faint idea since she hadn’t been mentioned yet.

A slightly grim silence descended around the circle, confirming my beliefs.

“The city is pretty much ours,” Applejack went on. “But there’re still plenty of Children left, and they’re all held up inside the keep. They’re desperate now, usin’ everything they’ve got to stop us from gettin’ in and finding that witch Gaia.”

“We’ve pulled back a little,” Typhoon went on. “They aren’t going anywhere, so we thought it best to take a breather and come up with the best strategy that won’t involve dozens of soldiers needlessly dying.”

“Well we should move up to the front lines,” Rainbow suggested. “I want to see all this for myself… also I am not letting any more fighting happen unless I’m there.”

“Seriously Sugarcube?” Applejack asked in a dull voice as she started after Rainbow.

“You promised me AJ!” Rainbow cried back in a mock tone of betrayal. “How can I trust you won’t launch another attack behind my back?”

Typhoon just rolled his eyes before following after them, with Hex not far behind, their bickering continuing. Holly turned to Fluttershy and said that she was going to check over the sisters who were already hard at work tending to the injured, that included soldiers, civilians and even castrated slaves who had been recovered, and were in the worst condition of all. It was harrowing for anypony to see what had become of them, each one of them having gone through experiences similar to my own, only theirs didn’t end after a few days, but dragged on for weeks, or months in some cases. As soul crushing as it was for anypony to come across one, or see them escorted from the city to the medical tents, it did spur the soldiers on to bring down the monsters responsible.

The crusaders themselves had not intended to fight in the Cragsburg invasion, we had already accepted that, but when they saw the true nature of our opponents for themselves, they took it upon themselves to fight as they would fight any monster. Fluttershy turned to me, but I told her to go on after Rainbow and Applejack, I saw the look Sufferthorn was giving me and knew I had other business to attend to. Once she was gone, Sufferthorn, Twilight and Pinkie all came in close, the latter two glancing nervously at the former who looked deeply troubled.

“Twilight told me what happened,” she muttered after a long, tense silence. “She also told me that you advised leaving him there until all the forces were gathered.”

I quickly glanced between Pinkie and Twilight; clearly she had taken my advice on informing Twilight first. I was glad for that, as I had no doubt Twilight handled it with considerably more tact than Pinkie would have.

“I’m sorry Sufferthorn,” I told her sincerely. “But you know as well as I do that he would want us to put the mission first.”

“I do,” she replied, surprisingly not as angry as I had imagined she would be. “But now everypony’s here, you can focus on finishing this fight, so let me go after my brother.”

I felt torn, I wanted to go with them and help get Stranglethorn, but by the same token, I wanted to be there when we put an end to Gaia and the Children of the Earth. In the end, I knew there would be no talking Sufferthorn out of it, it had most certainly taken a huge amount of self-control to hold off for this long, so I would just have to hope they could manage without me.

“Alright,” I told her calmly. “I’ll stay and help sweep things up here, Pinkie can open the portal as soon as she’s ready. Twilight, you’ll go with her, won’t you?”

“Of course,” she assured me, before turning to Sufferthorn, her voice suddenly stern. “Once we get inside there, you need to stick beside me and do as I say no matter what, understand? I’ll do everything I can to protect you, but chaos magic is dangerous stuff for ordinary ponies, and we’re going to be completely surrounded by it.”

“I understand,” Sufferthorn replied, clearly impatient to get moving. “Really, can we please just go get my brother out of there?”

Twilight opened her mouth, but thought better of it, just sighing as she gave a nod to Pinkie Pie.

“Good luck,” I told them all, before I turned and started walking in the direction of the others.

I thought it best not to stick around, if I waited until Pinkie had the portal open, I might find it much harder to not simply join them… but I’d made my decision. Twilight had to go, as she had the best resistance to chaos besides Pinkie Pie, and her magic would help her even further, Sufferthorn would never allow herself to be left behind, anymore might put too much pressure on Twilight and that wasn’t fair. Stranglethorn might have been my friend, but Sufferthorn was his sister, if anypony should go after him, it should be her.

Besides, I would be helping with something just as important, if not more so. Now that my mind was made up, I found myself looking forward to defeating Gaia much more, somepony might have called the thoughts I was having sadistic, but I thought it was only fitting after what she put me and so many others through. As I made my way up to the wall, staring up in awe at just how unassailable it was, it made it all the more incredible that Applejack and her gang of freedom fighters had managed to blow such a large gap in it.

The gulf in the wall was almost V shaped, and it created such a wide space for our own army to enter through into the city, that I was thankful it was on the south side of the wall. Hopefully it wouldn’t end up coming back to bite up us in the flanks when Blueblood’s army came from the north. I was so distracted by idea of the breach being the downfall in our defence, as well as the large number of ponies still filtering in and out of the city, that I almost missed it entirely. Almost, but it would have taken a considerable amount for me to miss those emerald eyes, peering at me from behind a great chunk of stone that had been blown out of the wall.

“Spike?!” I uttered, both amazed and bewildered to see the baby dragon there of all places.

He quickly shushed me, reminding me that he was most likely hiding from all the soldiers… or more accurately, from all the ponies. I looked about to make sure nopony had noticed my outburst, before trotting over to the boulder, slipping around to where Spike was standing, the both of us now hidden from sight.

“Spike, what ever are you doing here?” I asked, before quickly catching myself on. “Not that I’m not happy to see you. Really, I’m delighted, just surprised.”

“I’m happy to see you too,” he replied. “I… really didn’t think I would. As for why I’m here… I had nowhere else to go.”

“Nowhere else?” I repeated, frowning. “But Spike, what about your clan? Didn’t you go to see them?”

Spike didn’t reply, just stared down at his feet with a look of deep sadness. I very quickly realised what must have happened, and clapped my hooves to my mouth in shock.

“Oh, Spike…” I breathed. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he tried to say, although he didn’t put much heart into it. “I just went back there and… and they were gone. No trace of what happened or where they went, maybe they just moved on to build a new nest or… or something.”

“And… you can’t find out where they might have gone?” I pressed in a hopeful tone.

“I tried,” he told me. “I’ve been searching for a while… I came by here a couple times, but I must say, this is all new. What’s going on exactly?”

“War my dear,” I told him with a sigh, sitting down and pulling him into an embrace. “I’m sorry about your clan, what will you do if…”

I didn’t finish that sentence, but he knew exactly what I was going to say anyway.

“I could always head further north,” he proposed. “See if I can’t find a new clan to join… that won’t be fun.”

“Well I wouldn’t advise that,” I warned him, to which he gave a curious look. “There is an army waiting up north, they’re coming here soon, which is why all these ponies have come to stop it. It’s an army made up of… abominations; intent on wiping us all out if we don’t submit ourselves to the rule of the mad pony behind it.”

“That sounds awful!” Spike exclaimed, before brightening up considerably as a thought occurred to him. “Wait, maybe I can help you.”

“Help?” I repeated, unsure how he meant.

“Yeah!” he said excitedly. “I’m not sure how, but if I do something to help you guys win, maybe ponies won’t hate me for being a dragon, and I can live among them.”

“Well…” I began hesitantly, I liked the sound of it but I was worried it wouldn’t work out quite like Spike was envisioning. “I suppose it’s worth a shot, why don’t you come with me? I’m going to go see my friends now about our next move, and don’t worry; you’ll be safe with me.”

Spike looked reluctant, but eager at the same time, clearly excited at the prospect of living out his fantasies of being accepted among ponies, but still remembering what happened at Timber. After a little more convincing, I got him to hop up onto my back, as I stepped out from behind our hiding place and started into the city. We got quite a few odd looks as we traversed through the centre of Cragsburg, but looks were all we got, as the soldiers and citizens were too busy or preoccupied to give much thought to a baby dragon being accompanied by a pony.

Spike had been very tense when we first revealed ourselves, more so when we started drawing some gazes, but when nopony tried to have him lynched or chased away, he started to calm down. Perhaps the best moment for him was when I ran into Hammerhead and his friends. As I turned down a side street, I saw him taking a seat with his back against the wall of a ruined building, he looked exhausted. As I approached, I saw that they were trying to clear access to the interior of the house, where a family were trapped during the fighting.

When I got close enough to deduce this from their pleas for help and the stallions' reassurances, I trotted the last few metres and started helping to shift rubble with my magic. Hammerhead and the others didn’t stop what they were doing to say hi or question my presence; we just got on with the job at hand. As we worked, Spike jumped off my back and started lending some assistance, being surprisingly strong for his size, and his claws making excellent digging implements. Once the task was complete and we were able to safely pull the ponies out, two of Hammerhead’s friends escorted them away to take them for medical attention.

“Hey again Rarity,” Hammerhead greeted casually, as he and his remaining friends all sat down again, wiping his own brow of sweat. “Glad to see you made it, so is that everypony we’re expecting?”

“There will be some more Dra…. er, ex-Dragoon units arriving throughout tomorrow,” I informed him.

“Sounds like a lot,” he commented. “You did really good, and thanks for the hoof… or magic, you too little guy.”

Spike jumped slightly at being addressed, he glanced at Hammerhead nervously, as if he was expecting him to add ‘now get lost before I take your hide’, but Hammerhead was acting like the sight of a dragon was nothing new.

“Spike has offered us help in the upcoming battle,” I informed Hammerhead, deciding to test the waters. “We haven’t decided what he can do yet.”

“Well he’s pretty tough,” Hammerhead said thoughtfully, before taking his maul and passing it across to Spike. “Here, give that a few swings.”

Spike looked warily at the weapon for a moment before accepting; when he did, he just sort of stood there, unsure what to do. He gave it a few test swings, usually putting so much force behind it, that the weapon ended up carrying him along with it. Hammerhead chuckled a bit before suggesting that he stuck to fire, and taking his maul back when Spike offered it to him. After that, they were just about ready to head on until Spike, in a moment of bravery, called after him.

“Uh, you don’t care that I’m, you know, a dragon?” he asked, fretting as he rung his claws together.

“Kid, I grew up in Cragsburg,” Hammerhead replied patiently. “I learnt that dragons won’t give you any trouble, and in return, you don’t give them trouble. Are you here to give us trouble?”

“Of course not!” Spike answered quickly, sounding aghast at the idea.

“Well then,” Hammerhead said simply. “Welcome to Cragsburg, hope you like it. Anyone gives you trouble, you come find us and we’ll sort them out.”

With that, they turned and continued on their way, looking for things they needed to help with, leaving Spike staring after them slightly slack jawed.

“He… he was so nice!” Spike said in an amazed voice.

“Most ponies are Spike,” I replied, smiling at his reaction. “When you finally get to see them.”

We quickly continued on, making our way through the final streets until we saw a blockade of soldiers set up directly ahead of us, our friends waiting just behind it, talking animatedly. When they saw us approaching, Rainbow Dash waved me over, so I levitated Spike onto my back and trotted over to them.

“Where’re the others?” Rainbow asked, before raising an eyebrow when she saw who sat on my back. “Is that…”

“A baby dragon!” Fluttershy exclaimed, barrelling through Rainbow and Applejack so she could run up beside me and lean right up into Spike’s face. “He’s so cute.”

“Oh, uh, thanks… I think,” Spike replied, pulling back from Fluttershy intense stare.

“Oh, I didn’t know dragons could talk,” Fluttershy voiced aloud.

“Ladies, can we stay focused?” Typhoon asked a little irritably. “Rarity, we have an idea, your friends think you’ll be quite supportive of it.”

“Basically us six fly behind the enemy lines with a squadron of pegasi,” Rainbow began, indicating herself, Applejack, Fluttershy and I, presumably including Pinkie and Twilight. “Typhoon keeps their attention focused forward by pressing the front, and once they're distracted, we launch a surprise attack from the rear. We’ll eliminate the defenders and ride the momentum, storm the keep while the enemy’s at their weakest, and finish Gaia off once and for all.”

“I love it,” I replied, returning her devious smirk. “When can we begin?”

“Pretty soon Sugarcube,” Applejack replied. “We just sent an envoy off to round up the pegasi, and we’re still waitin’ on Twi and Pinkie, figured they’d be with you.”

“They can’t make this one,” I informed them. “They had… another matter to attend to, Sufferthorn as well.”

“Oh, uh, well that’s fine,” Rainbow replied quickly. “The four of us will still be enough; six would have just been overkill.”

We didn’t have to wait long before the pegasi flew in, most wearing Dragoon armour, while a few wore the slightly heavier Rebel variant. With the final details of the plan clarified, Rainbow Dash scooped Applejack up and flew her away to the vantage point, while Fluttershy carried Spike, after he insisted on being allowed to help and I couldn’t talk him out of it. I waited about with Typhoon for a moment while I counted the seconds for Rainbow to return for me. Hex had returned to the camp, so we were left alone, which turned out to be quite awkward.

“Thank you,” I said after an agonisingly long and painful silence. “For not making things more difficult than they had to be.”

Typhoon just grunted in a neutral response, not looking my way.

“Seriously,” I insisted, sure I shouldn’t be pushing it. “We really needed your help here, and… I’m glad we don’t have to be enemies anymore.”

He didn’t respond at all to that, but I did notice him tense up, clearly put off by my attempt at being friendly. Luckily I was spared any more awkwardness when Rainbow returned and picked me up, flying me away from Typhoon towards the high roof of what appeared to be some kind of factory, where the others were lying flat, waiting for the moment to move out. The building was tall, and close enough to the elite sector that we had a clear view of the bulky keep and the spacious areas surrounding it, and all the soldiers packed into the area. They were all equipped for battle and looked ready for anything… well, we were about to put that to the test.

“I love missions like this,” Rainbow murmured in a cheery tone, looking towards Applejack. “Hey AJ, do you remember Major Stripes, at the battle of Olympus?”

“Do ah?” Applejack replied with a snort of laughter. “Guy had a stick so far up his butt... it would explain the way he walked around.”

Rainbow joined in the quiet laughter, while Fluttershy and I just glanced at each other in confusion.

“Oh, uh, Stripes was an Equestrian officer in the war,” Applejack explained. “Had all these stuck up views that unicorns were mightier than everypony else.”

“So another Arcana,” I muttered with a roll of my eyes.

“Pretty much,” Applejack confirmed. “But the thing is, when you lead a unit made up entirely of unicorns who don’t have any respect for the abilities of their enemies, you become pretty open to certain kinds of attack…”

“Like air assaults…” Rainbow elaborated.

“At night…” Applejack added.

“When you’re under heavy assault from earth ponies, who can shrug off anything you throw at them,” Rainbow finished.

“Needless to say, if Major Stripes had been typical of Equestrian officers,” Applejack went on. “The war would have been a much shorter affair.”

Suddenly there was a lot of noise drifting up from the division between the territory still held by the Children of the Earth, and the territory we had taken. Looking down, we saw the enemy soldiers moving into position, focusing all their attention on the front where Typhoon was engaging them at.

“And now history repeats itself,” Rainbow declared with a smirk, before standing up and turning to address the unit. “Alright everypony, move out. Stay high until we get all the way around behind, then… basically just follow my lead and you won’t go wrong.”

With that, she took a running start off the roof of the factory and flew into the night sky. The rest of the pegasi started following suit, Fluttershy waiting until the end, with Spike still mounted on her back. Applejack and I were approached by the two burliest pegasi, who were assigned to airlift us into the fray. We quickly climbed aboard their backs and both pegasi took off, Fluttershy close behind, taking up the rear of the party. We flew swiftly and silently through the air, all the way around the keep before turning and dipping down low.

The pegasi all darted in, dispatching the lookouts prowling the rear end of the city wall and the roof of the keep one at a time, taking things slowly and stealthily. My own ride swooped down and landed behind a tower on the main body of the keep roof, I poked my head around and saw two guards standing about a dozen metres away. They were positioned next to the merlons, looking out over the edge and off into the distance where they could no doubt see the assault occurring, their crossbows were at the ready if the invaders pushed too far.

As soon as I saw that the other lookouts on the towers were taken out, I scurried out of my hiding place and started towards the pair. I pulled two of my knives out and threw one by hoof, while holding onto the other. It struck the closest guard right in the back of the head, and as he dropped and the other began turning around, I picked up the pace, leaping at the last moment so I fell down hard upon the guard, bringing my second dagger down into his neck. Looking around, I saw that any remaining lookouts had been dealt with, and the pegasi were already moving to the edges of the roof, getting into position for dropping down behind the enemy lines.

I trotted over beside Applejack, who had a pair of ropes which she was in the process of securing, as well as two familiar looking metal gadgets.

“Alright Sugarcube,” she began, holding one out for me. “You ever used one of these before?”

“I have,” I assured her, taking it and attaching it to prove my claim.

We looked over at Rainbow Dash who had one of her wings raised up, temporarily free of her element, so she could spread the feathers out like digits. She began folding them down while mouthing numbers, to indicate she was counting down the seconds until we should all descend. When she reached two, Applejack and I pulled ourselves up over the edge of the wall, lowering ourselves slightly. When the countdown was finished, we allowed ourselves to start sliding, while the pegasi simply fluttered down. We still moved slowly and quietly in order to get the most effect when the enemy inevitably realised we were there.

I slid down quite quickly, feeling a little flutter of anxiety in my chest, but generally feeling much more comfortable doing it the second time round. I did notice as we got lower, I was passing quite close to the very same window I had entered when I came here to rescue Fluttershy. Applejack and I reached the bottom, more or less at the same time as one another, although the pegasi were already waiting there for us. Once we were on steady ground again, Applejack drew her claymore, and I followed suit with my own sword. Rainbow Dash nodded as all the soldiers drew their weapons, before leading the way around the side of the keep into the main courtyard, where the enemy was fighting hard to keep Typhoon’s forces at bay.

Rainbow Dash gave a short, sharp whistle as a signal to charge, before swooping into the fray. All the pegasi followed suit, while Applejack charged in as well, managing to keep up, while even beating a few of them to the punch. The surprise attack had gone perfectly, the Children of the Earth turned, only to receive swift death. They started trying to fight back, but the pegasi moved too fast for them, and always flew just out of reach unless they were moving in with an attack of their own. Neither did they stand a chance against Applejack, who ploughed through their ranks, taking on three at a time just on her own, and not even struggling.

Of course once their attention was directed at us, that was when Typhoon really started his assault. I didn’t have to do an awful lo,t as the keep's last line of defence was crushed between the two overpowering forces. A couple of enemies broke off from the rest, trying to get back to the keep so they wouldn’t be fighting two fronts, but that was when I moved in and began duelling. The startled ponies made for easy opponents to outmanoeuvre, and any that were too far away, I disabled from range with my knives.

I had clearly become overconfident in myself and our strategy, I wasn’t paying enough attention when a furious looking stallion came rushing up to me, screaming bloody murder while spittle flew from his mouth. He carried a flail, funny enough, only this time he was able to get one lucky hit in, and that was all he needed. As he charged me, he was swinging the chain in a wide arc, so that when I turned to face him, he was already swinging it at me. The spikey, metal head struck me in the shoulder, causing me to drop my blade as I stumbled back, hissing in pain.

He swung again and again, I managed to keep stepping back out of range, but then I ended up tripping on a particularly uneven section of cobblestone, resulting in me falling down and sprawling into a perfect bludgeoning position. He raised the flail high once more, ready to bring it down on me, but then I was saved, not by Applejack, Rainbow Dash or one of the other soldiers… but by Spike, who sprinted up and came to a skidding stop beside me. He took a deep breath in before the stallion could react, and ejected a gout of acid green fire.

The plume of fire hit the pony directly in the chest, I half expected his armour to protect him for the most part, maybe his robes would singe or even catch alight. What I did not expect, was that the stallion would drop his flail in an instant and start backing up, screaming in terror as the unknown armour that I had likened to granite, that we had never been able to dent or scratch, began to shine bright orange as it started warping out of shape. The stallion began writhing about, trying to wrench the breast plate from his body, but as his gauntlets made contact with it, the heat or the dragon fire just spread to them.

Really, the armour just appeared to be slowly turning molten and dripping off him, but the amount of heat it was conducting must have been burning right through the pony’s flesh, which would explain his horribly drawn out screams. I couldn’t help but feel pity for him, just because it was such an awful way to go, so I decided to show him mercy and put him out of his misery, by levitating one of my knives and launching it through his head. After that, I quickly shuffled back from the collapsing body and retrieved all my weapons, so that neither them nor I got touched by the molten metal.

“I just killed a pony!” Spike uttered in absolute horror, staring with wide terrified eyes at the now still and silent body.

“No,” I began, sitting up and pulling him into a one legged embrace. “You saved a pony… me. I killed him, so don’t blame yourself.”

Fluttershy hurried over to us, they had really only come as back up, not to get involved in the brutal and bloody business. There wasn’t much left for us to do though, the fight was pretty much over, the last stragglers either fighting to the last desperate breath, or surrendering and begging for mercy. While Typhoon was most certainly not eager to show them any, I felt a bit more lenient, although I emphasised that they were to be put in chains and would be punished appropriately when this was all over.

Spike’s moment of heroics certainly got the interest of everypony, if only because up to that point, nothing had been able to get through that strange armour. We couldn’t dwell on it long however, we needed to keep moving and storm the keep before the remaining Children of the Earth could mount any sort of defensive, although at this point I was convinced that they were wasting their own time as well as ours. The Children of the Earth were finished, they had lost the ponies under their rule and the only location they held any power, there just weren’t enough of them left to fight back, and even if those numbers were threatening in any way, we had the luxury of just leaving them to starve in their keep.

Of course that was never an option I would accept, for the same reason I had put that stallion down. If we had to kill, we would do it quickly and as painlessly as we could… Gaia might be an exception, but we would cross that bridge when we came to it. There was also the problem that there might be more civilians in the keep being kept against their will, or more likely, slaves who needed to be liberated. The initial idea was to use a battering ram to break through the doors, but then Applejack came up with a much simpler idea…

“Can ah try somethin’?” she asked Typhoon, walking right past him towards the doors before he answered.

She looked them up and down for a moment, humming to herself as she contemplated whatever it was she was planning on doing. Then out of nowhere, she spun around and bucked them as hard as she could, the wood smashing where she struck, while the doors themselves were flung open, sending several ponies flying, who had presumably been pressed up against it to help reinforce. Without giving them a second to recover, Applejack turned towards the keep once more and stormed right in, not even bothering to draw her claymore this time, as she lay into the fallen ponies with her bare hooves.

Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Spike and I followed after her; we didn’t even have to stop to help her as she had everything pretty much under control. Typhoon stopped briefly to split up the soldiers, ordering most to stay posted outside, while hand picking some to follow him in behind us. Once through the entrance hall, we started filing into the audience chamber where I had first seen Gaia, when she was tormenting Fluttershy. The throne was now empty however, and as we started making our way up, I noticed Fluttershy staring around us with wide, fearful eyes. I opened my mouth to try and say something comforting, but I was distracted by the sounds of clopping hooves, signalling the approach of more enemies.

They emerged from the doors behind the big ugly throne, and started hurrying towards us with no real strategy in mind. Almost barbaric in the way they uttered their war cries, and swung their weapons with all brawn and no finesse or technique. We had them vastly outclassed; I doubt any of the ponies on our side were even injured in the short confrontation. One came at me with a Warhammer, swinging it down over his head; I easily twisted around him, piercing into his side with my rapier through one of the weak points in his armour.

I looked around in time to see Fluttershy knock one in the side of the head with her mace. He didn’t burst into holy fire, so it looked like the weapon didn’t classify them as real monsters… the weapon must have been malfunctioning. It was the one Fluttershy hit that we picked on; being the most aware after the fight was finished. Applejack knelt down beside him, grabbed one of his forelegs and twisted around his back until he was crying out in pain.

“Where’s Gaia?” she asked in a growl of a voice.

“I… I’ll never say… traitor!” the pony shouted back in a strained voice, trying not to show how much pain they were in.

Applejack upped her pressure, and there was a loud snap from the pony’s leg, she wasn’t able to resist the urge to scream after that.

“Gaia!” Applejack shouted, grabbing her other foreleg and twisting it into position. “Where is she? Now!”

“Dungeons!” the pony shouted, her voice now high pitched and trembling.

Applejack released her instantly, deciding not to harm her any further, she was fair like that. She wouldn’t continue to torture if the pony agreed to answer the question, not like they had done even after I had told them every little thing.

“Alright,” Typhoon began, looking briefly at the mare without much care. “If you want to go after the leader, we’ll search the rest of the keep.”

“Sure thing,” Applejack agreed, turning to look at me and the others. “Come on girls… uh, and Spike, if you want. Ah still remember the way to the dungeons from here.”

It made sense that Applejack should lead, it was her and Pinkie Pie who had come to the dungeons themselves to rescue me, Rainbow Dash had been too busy holding off the guards to keep our escape open. So with Pinkie not present, we all fell into line behind Applejack, as she led us up onto the dais and behind the throne to one of the doors leading off to a side corridor. I stopped only briefly to stare at the spot where I had been dragged to, and Terra castrated me while Gaia watched on with her malicious grin. Fluttershy noticed the distant look on my face and placed a hoof on my shoulder, in the same way I often did to her when I tried to be comforting. I met her gaze and saw her staring back at me with big, apologetic eyes brimming with sadness and regret; I reached up and rubbed her hoof gratefully, before forcing myself onwards after the others.

We didn’t have far to travel until we reached the room where Applejack had been waiting with my recovered possessions following Pinkie’s rescue, it was only there that we encountered another pair of guards. They were flanking the staircase that led down into the cell block where I had been held, and they were shaking profusely as we appeared in view. Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked at each other briefly, before giving a little nod to one another and starting to walk calmly up to the guards. They were frozen in terror as my friends drew near, they couldn’t even bring themselves to use the pikes in their hooves, even though Applejack and Rainbow were expressing no hostility in the way they moved and appeared to be defenceless.

Once the pair of them got close enough, they reached out, each of them grabbing one of the guards’ weapons and pulling them right out of their trembling hooves, before tossing them to the floor. They suddenly leapt forward, each grabbing the head of the guard they had disarmed, before bringing them crashing into one another. With both guards incapacitated, we all marched in single file, stepping right over their bodies as we passed through the threshold and started making our way down the staircase. I tried very hard to keep my breathing under control as we made our way down the stairs and started walking down the hallway. I tried not to count the individual cells as we passed by, because I knew very well if I did I would end up recognising my own even without looking, and that might end poorly…

“Rarity,” Fluttershy began suddenly, grabbing my attention. “When this is all over, will you reopen your dress shop?”

“My boutique?” I uttered, slightly surprised at the odd question, and the even odder timing of it. “I’m not sure, that had always been the intention when I returned to Panchea, but what with everything that’s happened, I sort of lost track of it.”

“Well ah think it would be good for you,” Applejack suggested. “Everypony ought to be able to do somethin’ that makes them happy, ah can help you get set up if you like.”

“That’s… very thoughtful Applejack,” I told her, feeling unsure now that it was being sprung on me all of a sudden. “But I’ll need time to think about it; really, I’d just like some time to rest after all this first and foremost.”

“I hear you!” Rainbow agreed. “We all need some R and R after all we’ve done, we could go to the beach.”

“I would like that,” Fluttershy said. “And I’m sure Pinkie would too, she could organise it as a beach party, I’m sure that would make her especially happy.”

“Which way now?” Spike asked, bringing the conversation to a stop.

We looked around, we were at the end of the dungeon area, but there had been no signs of Gaia anywhere. I glanced back over my shoulder at the area we had passed through, what with our little chat, I had completely lost count of the cells… completely forgotten I was even thinking about it. I smiled; somehow I just knew that had been Fluttershy’s intention from the beginning.

“Do you think that pony lied?” Spike asked in a worried tone.

“Maybe…” I replied, bringing out my lantern. “Or maybe we just haven’t explored the whole dungeon.”

I lit the lantern, and almost immediately the light illuminated a rectangle in the wall to our right. Stepping up to it, Rainbow placed her hooves against it and started to apply some pressure. There was a grinding noise as the secret door pushed in and began sliding to the side, dust sprinkling down from the frame as it did as it did. The passage revealed, turned out to be a wide spiral staircase, descending gradually further into the earth, Applejack only needed a single nod from all of us before starting down, slowly and carefully, with her weapon drawn.

I kept my lantern out, holding it high so the light shone over Applejack and lit up her field of view. However, as we got further down, I found we didn’t need it at all. The more we travelled down, the more we began to notice an orange glow emanating from wherever the staircase would spit us out at the end. As well as this, we could hear a collection of odd noises, a deep rumbling, the occasional hiss of steam, and on one occasion as we neared the end… a mighty roar that shook the very walls around us and the steps we walked on, carved right out of the earth we delved into.

We froze when that happened; glancing at each other nervously, suddenly worried that there might be more than met the eye with the Children of the Earth. Spike especially looked disturbed by the roar, but he shook his head, muttering something about ‘must have been my imagination’. Gulping a little, Applejack pressed onwards and we all followed after her, although I could hear Fluttershy’s teeth chattering despite the immense heat that had been building up as we descended lower. At the bottom of the spiral staircase, there was a large archway that led into the next room where the source of the orange light appeared to be. I say archway, it really was more like a cave mouth, just an hole carved out of the rock.

What we stepped out into was not a room, but a cavern, like a stone version of the factory beneath Fort Mule. The heat was overpowering here, a thick haze hanging in the room, and the source of both it and the orange glow was obvious. We walked through the cave mouth onto a metal walkway that stretched right across the cavern, side paths diverging at regular intervals, in the spaces between these walkways, were large stone vats, filled with smoking, bubbling lava, bright gold and blinding. Hanging over these vats were great cages, suspended by chains, some already lowered, that the metal prisons disappeared beneath the molten surface.

Those that were winched up and emerged, in some cases the metal still shining hot from only recently being pulled up, contained some very surprising captives… dragons. I could see dozens of them, ranging in size from not much larger than Spike, to almost as big as he had been when he attacked Timber, and displaying a wide variety of colours in scales. There were enough there to level cities, and that wasn’t even including the ones that were still submerged in the burning liquid, that would have no harmful effects on them. As we stared in disbelief at the scene around us, I saw one of the cages containing a particularly large red dragon, moving sideways across to the end of the cavern, opposite from where we entered from.

I could see more metal walkways higher up, closer to the ceiling where the chains were attached to. Slouching about on them were more castrated slaves, ambling about like walkers, only with less life in them, which was a terrible thought. They were operating the winches and levers that moved the cages, including the one that was now making its way up to the far end of the room. I looked down at Spike, his reaction to all this was just as bad as I feared it would be. He stared up at the other dragons who looked back at him with dull eyes, a pained look etched into his face.

“This is… my clan!” he exclaimed in a troubled voice. “What… what are they doing to them?!”

I didn’t know what to say that could possibly make things alright for him, so I turned my gaze forward, trying to look through the haze at the great structure that sat at the end of the walkway we currently stood on.

“Let’s find out,” I declared, moving forward with determined strides.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash followed close behind, but Fluttershy did not. I slowed down, glancing back to see her frozen in terror, staring all around her at the imprisoned dragons. It was only then I remembered her fear of dragons, fears that could only have spawned from reading about them in books, but only seemed to be reinforced by what she saw now, rather than diminished by how they were being in no way threatening.

“Fluttershy!” I called back, tearing her attention away from the source of her fear. “Take Spike and see to those ponies above us, we’ll take care of Gaia!”

Fluttershy hesitated, before taking a deep breath and nodding. Spike gazed after me, giving me a pleading look, I gave him a look of my own, one I hoped he would interpret as meaning I would do my best to set things right. Whether he got that or not, I didn’t wait to find out, quickly turning and starting down the metal path once more, with my friends at either side. As we approached the end, now thoroughly drenched in sweat due to how much the cavern was like a sauna, we began to make out the structure as some giant furnace.

The red dragon that had been carried over there, was just being raised up over it, the entire cage descending inside so the dragon disappeared from view. While we couldn’t see what was going on within, we could see the flume running down from the great burning hole in the face of the furnace, a steady stream of molten metal trickling down into the work area laid out before it. There we saw more slaves, some busy forging ingots from the metal, others taking the finished metal block over to other areas, where they bathed it in jets of fire spewing from the furnace and hammering them out into pieces of armour.

And there, walking up and down the lines of ponies who stared out empty eyes, was Gaia, still wearing her forest green robes, but her mane was dishevelled with strands sticking out at random. She ground her teeth and narrowed her eyes furiously at the ponies under her command, whipping them mercilessly as she screeched at them to work harder.

“Gaia!” I yelled out, causing her to freeze just as she raised her whip to strike again. “It’s over! Stand down!”

She turned slowly to face us, one of her eyes twitching as she surveyed us.

“You…” she breathed in a raspy voice. “You’re dead… you can’t be here… you’re dead!”

“Stand down,” I repeated as all three of us pointed our weapons in her direction. “There’s no pony left to do your bidding, you’ve lost.”

“Lost…” she repeated in a slightly hysterical tone, tossing the whip down as she started moving closer.

The slaves kept working, they acted as if nothing was going on around them, but Gaia kept getting closer, regarding us with furious, bloodshot eyes.

“You… took… everything from me,” she continued in an ominous tone. “You killed Terra… you destroyed my beautiful world with your foul existence!”

“Shut up and get on your knees!” Rainbow snapped.

“You do not tell me what to do abomination!” Gaia screamed back, reaching into her robes. “I will never lose to the likes of you!”

Before any of us could move to stop her, she pulled her foreleg back out, clutched in it was a blistering bright fire rube, cut into the shape of a heart. As soon as the gem was exposed, it sent out waves of force and heat fiercer than what we had endured in the cavern before, Gaia’s sleeve sliding down to show her bare leg cracking and splintering, as fiery orange lines began splitting down it, her eyes turning a true shade of red. As the wave hit me, I felt myself wobble on my own legs, almost toppling over, even Rainbow Dash and Applejack shook as it struck them.

“I hold in my hooves the Heart of the Earth!” she bellowed at us, her voice suddenly dropping several octaves. “So long as its power is mine, I will never be stopped!”

She then thrust out the hoof holding the Heart, sending out a massive shockwave, that hit me in the chest like a punch from a great stone golem. I was tossed right back a few metres, smacking into the ground while my rapier clattered further behind me. It felt like all my bones were vibrating from the force of the attack, no amount of effort I applied could make my limbs respond. Even Rainbow Dash and Applejack dropped next to me, the former wheezing in shock, while the latter just grunted like a huge weight had just dropped on her.

“Can you feel it?!” she demanded, still holding the Heart out in a threatening manner. “The unstoppable power of the earth itself, look around you if you can, even dragons quell beneath it.”

I was only just able to turn my head, and indeed, at the mere sight of the Heart, the dragons began trying to shift further back in their confined cages, their eyes alive with fear.

“You may have lay siege to my city and massacred my flock,” she went on, the Heart slowly building up with light again as she prepared to strike out a second time. “But I will rebuild… I will find more who will be open to the truth… I will continue to use these lizards to create my indestructible dragon armour. Your little victory here today will be meaningless, especially once you’re all dead!”

The Heart sent out another pulse, and I was sure if this one hit us, it would shatter out bones into dust… only it never made it as far as Rainbow Dash and I, because Applejack had managed to drag herself to her hooves and hurl her body in the way of the blast, stretching herself out so she shielded us with her whole frame.

“Applejack!” I screamed, despite the huge pressure that remained on my chest.

But Applejack did not fall, she continued to stand, even thought I could see her trebling like a leaf in autumn, ready to break off and fall as soon as the wind hits it. Her breathing was heavy and strained, her shoulders hulked as the power of the Heart tried to force her down, but she refused to budge out of the way.

“Impossible!” Gaia shrieked. “How can you still be standing?! Nopony can withstand the unfathomable power of the earth.”

“Ah… don’t… care,” Applejack uttered, I was immediately reminded of how she threw herself under the fists of the golem to protect Rainbow Dash. “Ah’ll never… move… no matter what… you throw.”

Gaia decided to put that to the test by launching another wave, Applejack was deeply shaken, and I was sure she was going to crumble, but she remained standing against all impossibilities.

“If standing… here…” Applejack carried on with great difficulty. “Will protect… mah friends… from you… then ah’ll keep doing it.”

“You absolute fool!” Gaia shouted back at her. “You are pure, and yet you willingly taint yourself by choosing to associate with these vermin. You could have been part of my perfect world, but you chose the wrong side!”

She launched another shockwave, followed by another and another, each time I was sure that would be the one that finally broke Applejack, but it never did.

“Why isn’t this working?!” Gaia screeched, her voice alone causing the entire cavern to shake so long as it was imbued with the power of the Heart.

“Ah told you…” Applejack growled back. “You’ll… never… make… me… move!”

And before Gaia could retaliate with another attack, Applejack body erupted with light, drowning out the orange for white as Gaia was the one to be knocked off her hooves, while Applejack started to rise into the air. From where I lay, still paralysed on the ground, I had the perfect view of Applejack as she raised up and the divine light swept out from her. As it washed over me, I felt that awful weight lift, felt as if my body had been renewed with strength and vigour, so that I was able to sit up and even levitate my sword back to me.

As Applejack started to drop back down, the light hovering around her in a brilliant white cloud, I saw that her leather body armour and pauldrons now had new company. Similar to Pinkie’s own gauntlets, Applejack’s hind legs were now encased in silver armour sabatons, with two orange gemstones in the shapes of apples, set into the front of her hooves, corresponding with the locations of Pinkie’s own gems. However unlike Pinkie’s, Applejack’s Element did not come with pauldrons, but rather, armour that covered her flanks, back and undercarriage. While the new armour didn’t physically conflict with her old stuff, the leather and silver clashed horribly, but I was too enchanted by the gleaming addition that I didn’t worry about it.

Applejack reached up and tilted her helmet’s visor up slightly, as she surveyed the sabatons, giving them a little trot on the spot before grinning and turning her gaze at Gaia, who was fearfully backing up. Applejack started forward, slow at first, but picking up speed as she went, Gaia scrambled back to her hooves and tried to blast her with the Heart but its effect never made it past Applejack’s aura. Before she could come up with a new strategy, Applejack had galloped right up in front of her, and exactly as she had done with the front doors of the keep, she pivoted around on her forelegs before bucking out hard with her hind legs.

Now however, they packed even more of a punch, and Gaia was catapulted through the air. Applejack’s aim had been perfect, and she was kicked squarely through the burning hole in the face of the furnace, the Heart of the Earth had dropped from her grip when she was kicked, so she had no protection for what waited her on the other side. Gaia’s screams sounded so far off as they emanated from within the furnace, but they were cut off by the cavern shaking sound of a dragon roaring. We would later be confirmed of what exactly became of her inside the furnace, but there and then we had a pretty good idea.

As the pair of us walked over to Applejack, our bodies feeling better than ever, we saw Applejack looking down at the fallen Heart. I was instantly reminded of when Rainbow Dash removed the Terrorstone from Iron Sights’ chest, and just like then, Applejack raised her hind leg and brought it smashing down on the Heart, shattering it beneath the power of her Element. I grinned at Applejack, while Rainbow swooped in for a hoof bump. She retuned both, and we thoroughly congratulated and thanked her for what she had done. Fluttershy and Spike chose that moment to appear, running down the walkway to meet us.

Apparently the effects of the Heart had travelled further down the cavern, making it impossible for them to even put one foot in front of the other and come assist us. As Rainbow began recounting the story of Applejack’s heroics to them, the mare in question being too modest to give herself the praise she deserved, my eyes were drawn to Applejack’s new armour once more. We now had five of the Elements of Unity among the six of us, Twilight Sparkle’s Crown of Knowledge, Pinkie Pie’s Gauntlets of Conviction, Fluttershy’s Breastplate of Compassion, Rainbow Dash’s Wings of Valour, and now Applejack’s Sabatons of Resolve. I felt my heart rate increase as the obvious dawned on me, that left only one Element to get before Blueblood arrived… my Element.

Comments

[RoboRed]

“I asked her about it a few times…” Spitfire replied. “Okay, a lot of times, but she never said anything… not until the last time I ever spoke to her. She was telling me what a good captain I had become, how I had become better than she ever was. I don’t know why I asked, maybe I just wanted to feel validated, but I asked if I was better than 'her'. She said she didn’t know, and... she sounded so sad when she did. I never got to see her again before she passed away, but something about it always ate at me, that my mentor… my idol had seen so much in this one pony, and I would never know if I had surpassed her or not.”

Well, shoot. Too bad whatever that link heads to is locked away probably forever.(EDIT: Ignore me I spoke too soon.)

Really have been enjoying this story, btw.