Closer to Heaven

by Dconstructed Reconstruct

Closer to Heaven—Original 2012 draft

Author's Note:

Howdy Folks! If you are reading this message, it means you've made it through the redux of "Closer to Heaven." I can't tell you how happy that makes me, as reworking the story for its second (and last) chance was quite the trip down memory lane for me.

It also made me punch myself several times for ever thinking this story was good enough to publish five and a half years ago. For those wondering, yes, I did take the story down. Both because of its lack of polish, as well as the fact that it was no longer capable of standing on its own.

You see, this story originally wasn't quite so stand-alone. It and the original draft of "Salty Shores" (another story I must give proper justice to in the near future) were part of the "Pony Noir" universe. When that particular canon died—the reasons being many, but the chief contributor being my inexperience at the time—it took with it all future and present stories with it. "Closer to Heaven" was the first victim of that purge, as the story more or less served as a direct prologue to Dash's character in the Noir universe. Sad to say, but I didn't have plans for Gilda to make it in this original draft, so her fate on this story was a very important part.

So, if you have the stomach for it, I invite you to look over at Closer to Heaven as it was once. Hope you enjoy it, if nothing else because you can't stop laughing at how much of an idiot I once was. This story has not been given any alterations to its original content. What you see here really is what once was.

Unknown Location - Unknown Time

"Dash, how long do you think we've been flying?"

“It’s only been three days since we left Cloudsdale, Gilda - it feels like weeks at this point, though.”

“How’ve you been keeping track? I can’t even see the sun through all the smoke.”

“It’s a pegasus thing G.; griffins just don’t have our talent for weather.”

“Right, I completely forgot about that...So what’s your special weather talent telling you about those clouds up ahead? They’re blacker than normal...do you think Civil Protection torched another town?”

"...I don't want to think about that Gilda… It was bad enough when they came to Cloudsdale looking for Rebels, but then they started butchering civilians... They took pleasure in the deaths of all those innocent pegasi..."

"...How long till we get to Ponyville, Dash?"

"If we keep flying like this, we might make it by nightfall. If we aren’t shot out of the sky on the way there that is."

"...Maybe we should fly a bit higher, you know, so we won’t get spotted...”

"I can’t fly any higher Gilda - I don’t have the energy to climb. It’d be a lot harder to breathe in the thinner air too. It’s not worth the risk of tiring ourselves out even more.”

"…but Dash..."

"Gilda, are you- you aren’t afraid are you?"

"There’s a war going on Dash! You’d have to be insane to not be at least a little afr-”

"Gilda - please…"

"...Yes Dash, I’m scared - more scared than I’ve ever been in my entire life... “

“G.... do you think we'll survive?"

"I know we will. I’ll make sure we do, one way or another...”

Closer to Heaven

War came with little warning, bathing the once peaceful Equestria in fire and blood.

My home was lost, friends and family long since passed; almost everything I once held dear was gone... except Rainbow Dash, though even she could be lost in the blink of an eye.

She flew just a few feet ahead of me - tired, sweaty, hungry, battered, and bruised. I wasn’t in any better shape. No matter how much my wings begged for respite, I knew stopping wasn’t an option. There weren’t any decent clouds around and there was nothing below us but burned fields and leveled forest.

The area had been hit hard by Civil Protection - The ‘Demons in Red’, according to the nickname that the Rebels had given them. I was still wearing their same armor, but more out of necessity than choice.

Getting a better look at the ground, I could make out the charred remains of the rebel forces that had tried to fight them. The firebombs had done their job; there was nothing left but ash. The smell of burnt flesh was alluring to my animal instincts, but it shook my core; it sickened me more than anything. I tried to take my mind off of the devastation below. It wasn’t an easy task.

None of that mattered now though. Dash and I would be in Ponyville soon; we’d be safe there at last.

Looking at Dash, I could see she was starting to lose the luster in the sky blue coat of hers: a clear sign of fatigue.

Just hang in there Dash, you'll be safe soon - I promise…

"Gilda," she suddenly called out to me. Her voice was weak and strained. “I can’t go on any longer...I have to stop...and...rest...” She had stopped flying and started falling.

“Hang on!” I shouted, diving quickly and grabbing Dash as gently as I could with my talons.

Her breathing was irregular and strained. Another second or two and she would have really started dropping like a rock. She looked too tired to even manage gliding properly.

It was a struggle to maintain a proper trajectory - Dash wasn’t heavy but the added weight, coupled with the fatigue that was setting in, made it hard to maintain altitude. If I’d had one of those fancy new jet-assisted personal flight packs - J.A.P.F.P’s for short - to help keep me airborne, things might have turned out differently. At the moment, my own wings were starting to give out and I began to panic. Dash looked pale and thin hanging underneath me.

“Stay with me!” I shouted at her, trying to rouse her by giving her a gentle shake. She was wheezing and looked at me with what seemed like regret. She’d only had a few pieces of bread and some rain-water since we’d escaped from Cloudsdale three days ago, so it was no wonder she was in such bad shape. As a soldier as well as a griffin, I was much more accustomed to going days and even weeks on nothing but water. It also helped that I wasn’t as lean as Dash - a little extra fat helped out on long flights. She was a civilian pegasus though, plucked from the streets with little in the way of training. She was unlikely to survive under such harsh conditions; she hadn’t gone through what I had, or done the things I’d done...

I had to act fast. I looked around desperately for some place to land and rest, even if it was for just one night. There was nothing but devastation as far as the eye could see. The landscape was like a scene straight out of hell. What few clouds were nearby didn’t look like they could take our weight either...

When Cloudsdale was occupied by the Regime, the weather factory was shut down immediately. It wreaked havoc on the surrounding agriculture, but the worst part was that no new clouds were being made. The few “natural” clouds that now littered the skies weren’t dense enough to support even the lightest Pegasus, let alone a fully grown griffin in battle-armor - Dash and I had learned that the hard way.

I continued to scan the horizon and then I saw it; a small town - or what was left of it. It had been burned to the ground and most of the buildings were in ruins, but it was intact enough to serve as shelter for the night.

"Dash, I think I found us a place to rest!" I said, almost tearing up from the excitement and relief.

"Gilda…" was all Dash could utter as she held tightly onto my neck.

I began our descent as slowly as I could, gliding all the way instead of diving like I’d wanted to. Flying straight wasn’t easy considering how tired I was, and touching down wouldn’t be easy either, especially since I was still holding Dash. Nonetheless, we made it down in one piece, but I had to hover for a few seconds more; I had to put Dash on the ground before landing properly. Once that was done, I picked her back up again, cradling her in my arms like a child.

I let my wings down and a sharp pain shot up my back; I knew I wouldn’t be flying again anytime soon. It felt like the worst cramp possible - most likely a result of sheer muscle fatigue. Flying for three days straight would do that to one's wings. It took all the restraint I had not to scream out some curse; I didn't know who could be listening.

The small town was nothing more than a burnt out husk. The houses were total write-offs for the most part. There had clearly been a fight here; there were empty bullet casings, dud shells that had buried themselves in the ground, broken armor, and a wrecked tank. The weirdest bit was that there weren’t many corpses.

Whoever brought the fight must have cleaned up their mess before leaving.

There was a large overturned supply truck not too far away. It had taken quite the beating, as told by all the bullet holes and gashes in its side, but it was mostly intact. Carefully walking towards it, I kicked the rear panel doors open and behold, two crates of brand-spanking-new canned rations rested among the other dozen or so broken boxes. At least we’d have something to eat that night.

I carefully set Dash down and she opted to sit on her haunches, her breathing no worse than before. She saw the rations and smiled. She looked about ready to pass out. The crates were easy enough to tear or smash open; the problem would be the cans themselves. Damn things, those cans. Luckily I always carried a dagger in my breastplate for deadlier emergencies. It’d work just fine now though. I grabbed an armful of the rations and headed back over to Dash, who was smiling as much as I was. We had some food and the truck would make a decent enough shelter - neither of us would be dying that night.

I hoped.

The sun finally set not long after we found the food. I managed to make a little makeshift campfire from several small twigs, and the remains of a couple of the crates from the truck. I emptied a couple large caliber bullets of their gunpowder which helped speed the lighting process along. Once that was set up properly, I rummaged through the bags we were carrying when we left Cloudsdale. Luckily, I had thought ahead to bring a small folding pot with us. Once the cans were opened, I had to try and ‘cook’ the stuff, though it really just meant heating it up with a bit of water to soften it a bit.

One of the first things I learned in basic training was just how Celestia-awful the rations really were. They were dry, hard as a rock, and tasted more like gunpowder than actual food. Learning to ‘cook’ the damn things was the only way to eat them, and even then you couldn’t avoid the terrible taste without an entire pantry’s worth of spices. If there was one good thing you could say about the rations, it was that they were sustenance. They were edible and would keep you alive long enough to get a decent meal in your stomach. Too bad the ‘decent meal’ part was at least a day away.

There was plenty to go around but Dash ate her share slowly. As she ate, the color started returning to her face. I choked down some of the awful stuff, if only to make sure I didn’t starve. The years of eating the concrete hadn’t made it any easier to swallow though. Dash did her best, making a face every time she took a bite, but she never once complained. She was either too hungry or didn’t want to say anything about my ‘cooking’.

I’d like to see the best chef in Equestria try and do any better with that stuff.

After about an hour, Dash and I had eaten our fill. With plenty left over, I threw whatever was in the pot away. I took the last ten cans and divided them between my haversack and Dash’s saddlebags. There was plenty of room after we used the first-aid kits to treat our minor wounds.

We sat next to the small fire - the cold air blowing in from the wastelands making its warmth that more inviting. There wasn’t much to say so we kept quiet at first, looking instead at the oddly mesmerizing flames as they danced in the breeze.

Dash broke the silence and I was glad she did. I never did appreciate stillness.

"Hey G," she suddenly called out, "do you remember our first day at Junior Flight School?"

"Of course!" I said with a smile, "How could I forget? We crashed into each other face-first. If it wasn’t so funny I’d have said it was totally lame."

"Yeah," Dash replied, with a broad smile, "Your beak did a number on my teeth. I needed a lot of work done after that. How long did I end up needing braces for?"

"About a year and a half? But who was counting?" I laughed softly, rubbing my beak as the memory of the event flooded my mind. "Still though, one hell of a first kiss if you ask me." I said with a slight blush.

"Yeah…" Dash said, "you should have seen your face!"

"Oh yeah?" I said with a coy smile, "You should have seen your face you little dweeb!"

I laughed heartily, and Dash joined in shortly.

Junior Flight School had been where Dash and I had met for the first time. Thinking about those days made me feel all warm and fuzzy. Those were the days when we both did what came naturally: fly. The memories always made me smile; they were among the happiest that I could recall.

I sighed, looking at the fire. "Dash," I said in a soft tone, "What happened? Where did things go so wrong?"

Dash stood up and sat next to me, tightly wrapping her hoof around my neck, smiling as she did. "The past is the past Gilda; what matters now is that it's just you and me." She smiled determinedly. "Once we reach Ponyville, it's nothing but clear skies! Just think about it! No more war, no more pain! We can start that flight team you and I always dreamed of!" She smiled with excitement, "We'll call it the Rainbolts!"

"Still fixated on that flight team huh Dashie?" I asked, looking at her with the same smile as before. "Wonderbolts not good enough for you?"

"Not anymore," Dash said, "at least not since they joined Civil Protection."

"Right." I replied solemnly. The Wonderbolts, once the best team of fliers in Equestria, had been pushed into military duty by the Regime. Now they flew recon missions and engaged in aerial combat every once in a while. It kept them from being tossed onto the front lines which often meant certain death.

"Gilda." Dash said, her eyes suddenly filled with sorrow and her voice much more serious. "Why’d you leave? Why’d you join Civil Protection?" She asked.

I started to stammer. I was shaking and my chest felt heavy. "I-I-I... I don't really know…" I lied, looking down at the ground to avoid looking at her. I was ashamed; I knew damn well why I had joined Civil Protection, but I still tried to explain it away as nothing more than an error in judgment.

In my youth, I had to live with the knowledge that both my parents were top fliers as well as the embodiment of what a warrior griffin should be. Their reputations had forged their identities long before their wedding, which took place on a battlefield.

They both expected great things of me and I tried to live up, as best I could, to their aspirations for me.

Fate’s a bitch that way.

Both of my parents died in an air raid shortly before my 12th birthday, leaving me to fend for myself.

I was alone and lost from then on.

My Aunt and Uncle raised me, but they didn’t seem to care that much about me. They shipped me off to Junior Flight School in Equestria the first chance they got. I’d get the training I needed and be out of their feathers at the same time.

Thankfully, Flight School turned out alright. I managed to prove what a great flier I was and I got to meet Dash. The better I got at flying however, the more I felt the need to live up to my parents’ other reputation: I needed to become a warrior. I joined Equestria’s Civil Protection force once I graduated from Flight School since the Royal Guards wouldn’t take me - something about ‘keeping tradition’ and some other nonsense. Joining Civil Protection was the chance I needed to move up in the world and start my military career. I wanted to do my parents proud more than anything else - I dedicated myself to a life in the Civ. Pro.

I couldn’t have known what would happen when war broke out in Equestria.

When the Regime took control of the nation, they changed the very foundation of Civil Protection, turning the once cherished force into their own personal death squadron.

As ashamed as I’m now, I need to be honest: I became an assassin - a killer without remorse. I murdered innocent equines because I held onto the delusional beliefs the Regime force-fed me: we were supposed to bring order back to Equestria by any means necessary. I didn’t see at the time that my parents wouldn’t have wanted that life for me. I had power I craved and I had gone drunk on it.

Everything was going according to plan for The Regime, at least until the Rebels appeared. They grew in numbers with each new day and soon the Civ. Pro. launched an all-out war against them.

I killed all that stood against the Regime; there was no need for remorse when you were just following orders.

Things changed the day I was ordered to kill Dash. She was the fastest courier the Rebel forces had at their disposal, making her a prime target. When I found her on that cold winter evening in Cloudsdale, I was wearing my helmet - it was my mask, something to hide behind. I had been dispatched with three other griffins, all of us lusting for her blood. Rainbow Dash was an enemy of the Regime, which meant she was nothing more to me than a target to be eliminated.

She tried to fight back, but I didn’t care. I slapped her across the face, knocking her to the ground. I was blinded by sheer fanaticism - cold, calculating, ruthless, and deadly.

She cried and begged for me to let her live as she struggled to get up. I didn’t listen. My talons were ready to dig into her flesh, to tear her limb from limb. She whimpered and cowered on the ground, completely helpless - waiting for death.

I was so close to slashing at her that I could practically feel her warm blood on my face, even though I was wearing my helmet.

I smiled...and then it happened.

Dash looked up at me, her eyes wide with fear...and I saw myself in them. I saw what I had become. I was a faceless killing machine. My helmet and visor had turned me into another pawn in the Regime’s army.

In that moment I saw in her eyes what she must have been seeing - a monster.

I froze, claws at the ready. I turned to look at my comrades - they all looked the same - they all looked just like me. I wasn’t a warrior and I certainly wasn’t helping myself or anyone else. My parents would have been ashamed of me - they would have screamed at me, begged me to stop the madness and take a good look at where I had ended up.

I knew in that instant that I had allowed my thirst for power to consume me. I was about to kill the only friend I had - the only person that still cared about me; I would have done it too. I had killed hundreds of Dashes. Every pony I’d ever killed had loved and felt loved by someone.

This time was different.

In that moment that I looked at Dash, I opened my eyes and saw the world with clarity for the first time in a long time. She was there, breathing shallowly and haphazardly, expecting me to kill her and she didn’t even know that it was me.

I remembered the promise I had made to her, the oath I had sworn to protect her until the moment I died. No one could have forced me to break that oath then, and yet here I was about to do it myself. No one was above the oath - neither servant nor master nor slave nor emperor; not even Celestia herself.

It had been a cold, starry night when I had sung the song; a song as old as my kind, filled with a deeper meaning than most could understand. It was an oath; a vow reserved only for those whose commitment can never falter. On that starry night, I had made a promise to Dash in the form of the song, sung in the tongue of the ancients, representing an unbreakable pledge to protect those you loved more than anything else against all odds, until your dying breath...

My comrades - three bloodthirsty and equally amoral griffins - approached and demanded to know ‘what the hold up was’. I didn’t say a damned thing. They tried shoving me out of the way to get to Dash, to ‘neutralize their target’. I stood in front of them, arms stretched and talons at the ready. I wouldn’t let them lay a single talon on Dash while I was still breathing. My hate for Civil Protection, for the Regime, and for myself boiled over - I couldn’t control myself as it overloaded my senses and filled me with an uncontrollable, primal rage.

I killed them on the spot like the scum they really were. Their dying screams echoed through Cloudsdale and were lost amongst the countless others.

When I finally removed my bloodied helmet and revealed myself to Dash, the look she gave me was worse than any of the horrific punishments I deserved. She was crying again, tears streaming down her face, but it was different this time. She wasn’t crying out of fear or even pain - she was crying because I had betrayed her.

I fell on my knees and begged, groveling before her, for her forgiveness. She didn’t say anything, just looking at me, as if to say that I had hurt her worse than any blow could’ve.

I couldn’t bear the guilt of everything I had done. In a moment of weakness, I reached for a service revolver that one of my former ‘comrades’ had been carrying. I whispered my last apologies and put the gun to my head, ready to pull the trigger and stop the madness.

I closed my eyes and prepared myself for the hell that surely awaited me.

That’s when I felt her hugging me. Opening my eyes I saw that Dash had tossed herself on me, weeping sorrowfully. She shouted at me, her voice hoarse from crying. “Gilda! Please, don’t do it! I--I--I...”

I dropped the gun and hugged her back, as tightly as I could. It only lasted a few seconds but it felt like an eternity. It was all the time I needed to realize who my real enemy was.

That day, I became a fugitive in the eyes of Civil Protection.

I looked up at Dash, the memories still fresh in my mind, and sighed. It was time to come clean.

“Dash, there are some things that you need to know about me...” I started off, scared of what would come.

***

By the time I had finished telling her everything, I was ready to start crying. I wanted nothing but to crawl into a hole and die of shame.

Dash looked at me with a deep sadness in her eyes. She could understand the suffering, she had always been able to, but she still looked disappointed. I held my head in my talons as I broke down and really did start crying.

"I'm a monster…" I muttered to myself, "I’ve killed so many…"

"Gilda…" Dash said soothingly as she looked me in the eyes: "You did what you had to do to stay alive...you killed because you had no choice. You wouldn’t have done it for the pleasure; you were manipulated into killing for the Regime, just like everyone else was and still is." She bit her lip, "I’m not exactly innocent either G." She looked into the fire while she continued: "You aren't the only killer here...I’ve caused some deaths too you know." She looked at me, crying again. "I was a courier remember? I was delivering bombs to locations, and when they went off...” She was choking on her words. She took a deep breath before continuing. “I knew all along, but I didn’t say anything..." She turned to hug me suddenly as the tears started streaming down her face. "This war’s done nothing but destroy lives, one way or another... Everyone has some different ideal that’s supposed to solve everyone’s problems, but they’re all wrong! More and more ponies are dying every day! If only Celestia were here, she could put an end to the hate..."

“I want this war to be over just as much as you Dash. I can’t wait for the day it’s over.” I held onto her as tightly as I could. “All we can do is stay alive and pray that the Old Gods are listening...”

"But what if no one is listening? What if Celestia never comes back? What if the war never ends?"

"It will Dash; I can promise you that... The war will end, one way or another..." I closed my eyes and prayed.

Don't worry Dash; a promise is a promise. I'll never let anyone harm you...

Unknown Location - 6:15 AM

Dawn came quickly, and the sun’s rays made their way into the transport Dash and I had used for shelter the previous night. As I opened my eyes and stretched out my wings, I noticed two very important things: first, the pain in my back was gone which meant I’d be able to fly again. Second, the rays shining in were golden and bright which meant the sky was clear. I finished getting up, stretched the rest of my body, and slowly walked over to the truck’s doors. Opening them and looking up at the sky, I saw that it was the clearest and bluest it had been in a while.

I couldn’t help but smile to myself. The clear blue skies meant there weren’t any fires raging on the horizon, which in turn meant no large Civil Protection squads were within range of us.

I raced back inside towards Dash, trying to be gentle as I nudged her awake. She yawned, swatting my hand away and asking for five more minutes of sleep. She looked so peaceful. I sighed, rolling my eyes - it couldn’t hurt to give her five more minutes. She’d almost died on me yesterday, so she deserved it, and I didn’t want to take any chances with her.

I decided to step outside and let her sleep while I planned our flight path. If the winds were favorable we could reach Ponyville by day’s end, if not sooner. If we were flying in a headwind instead, the trip could take longer and possibly require another camp-out. Flight time was the least of my concern now though, I had to make sure the skies were actually safe.

I took a look at my surroundings, just as basic training had taught me. Even if a location seemed quiet or safe, there could be enemies hiding and waiting for you to make even the smallest wrong move. If there were any hidden snipers or soldiers around, I had one major thing going for me: my armor. From a distance, and maybe even up close, it’d help me blend in, since it still had all the markings of my dead unit. If that didn’t work and someone decided to try and take a potshot, it was still fully functional combat armor, so it’d offer some protection against most attacks.

Dash on the other hand, was unprotected. I had tried to give her something to wear when we left Cloudsdale but she refused, saying it’d only slow her down. She was certainly fast, but she wouldn’t make it far without anything to protect her. Even the fastest pegasus (and Dash was quite possibly the fastest) couldn’t outfly a .50 Caliber round unless they knew it was coming - and you’d never know it was coming until it was too late.

Thankfully, things were pretty quiet this morning. There was a gentle breeze blowing and nothing much to speak of other than the now fully visible bodies that littered the ground, burned to cinders by what I could guess had been firebombs and flamethrowers.

There was a sudden shift in wind direction when I heard it; the unmistakable sound of ponies talking.

I pressed myself against a nearby stone wall, using every ounce of restraint to stay calm. I pulled out the small pair of binoculars I’d put in my haversack and quickly spotted the sound’s source. There was a squad of Civil Protection troopers not too far away. Five pegasi, two unicorns, and three griffins were marching and flying towards the town. The equines had assault rifles slung around their backs and the griffins walked on their hind legs, carrying good-old-fashioned melee weapons - those three were the ones to watch out for.

I studied the squad as best as I could, trying to take stock, when I found myself staring at the griffin that was leading the group. His heavy armor - heavier than everyone else’s - told me he was in charge. An exoskeleton complete with heavy plating wasn’t something they just handed out to a rookie.

I gulped when I saw his insignia - a griffins’ open hand on crossed feathers.

Only one griffin had earned to right to bear that insignia: Captain Thanatos, or ‘Red Death’ as they called him.

During my time as a trainee, I’d heard stories about Thanatos’s many endeavors, most of which included destruction of epic proportions. You almost couldn’t separate rumor from fact when he was called ‘unstoppable’ and ‘untouchable.’ There’s always a grain of truth to a rumor though. Thanatos had earned his reputation for one simple reason: If you were fighting him, you were already dead.

My heart beat through my chest. I looked back at the transport truck - I needed to get Dash out of here. There was no telling what kind of torture Thanatos would put her through if he got his talons on her.

It wasn’t far, but I made every effort to be as quick and quiet as possible. Griffins aren’t very light on their feet. Keeping quiet took more focus than it should have.

Dash had just finished waking up on her own when I walked through the doors. She smiled and was going to say something when I quickly clasped her mouth shut. The words had formed on her lips already.

I gave her a serious look and whispered at her to, “Be quiet! We’re not alone.” The paranoia must have been visible in my eyes because she froze up.

“There’s a Civil Protection squad outside. They’re trying to find something and I don’t want it to be us. I shouldn’t have to tell you what’ll happen if they catch us” I finished.

Her eyes widened as she tried to process it. I let her go of her mouth and backed towards the doors of the truck.

“I thought this town had been burned and left to rot” she whispered, edging closer to me.

“I thought so too, but Civ. Pro. obviously isn’t done.” I replied.

“Can we fly away?” Dash asked.

“No, they’ll notice us.” I replied. I peeked through a gash in the cargo hold; sure enough, the troopers were poking around, turning over corpses - the Equines giving them a good stab with their bayonets and the griffins giving them a jab with whatever weapon they were holding.

"We need to sneak out." I said, turning to face Dash. "Once we have enough distance, we’ll fly away as fast as we can."

Dash was clearly concerned. "Sounds risky…" she said. "How many soldiers are we dealing with?"

"Ten." I replied without looking back at her.

"Ten?" Dash asked with bravado. "We can take them."

I wanted to shout at her. “No!” I whispered through a clenched beak. “They’re heavily armed, we’ll be slaughtered.”

I backed away from the doors and grabbed Dash by the shoulders. "We have to sneak past them" I said, trying to keep as much worry out of my voice as I could. “Stay low and keep quiet. If things go bad, you need to fly away as fast as your wings will carry you. Don’t look back.”

Dash actually took a step back; she was scared now. "What about you?" she asked, "We’re flying together right?"

"No." I brooded. "I'll keep them busy long enough for you to get far enough away."

She crept up to my side and placed a hoof on my shoulder. “Don’t worry G, everything’s gonna be fine. We’re getting out of here together, I promise.”

I smiled, nodding at her. I didn’t think it was possible, but it was reassuring.

I hopped out of the truck first, looking around for the soldiers. It didn’t look like they were nearby so I waved Dash out too. She jumped out and pressed herself against the nearby wall; I followed suit, ducking behind a mound of dirt and rubble beside her. I could hear the soldiers talking, but I didn’t pay attention to what they were saying. All that mattered was getting out alive. Moving from cover to cover would be difficult with the soldiers closing in. I tried to think of something and decided to try and distract them - to shift their focus somewhere else.

I picked up a small piece of the rubble and chucked it as far as I could, to the north of our position. It struck the burnt out tank I had seen earlier with a loud clank that apparently caught their attention. I could hear the crunch of gravel under their feet. I leaned around the corner, sticking my head out just enough to catch a glimpse of them. Sure enough, the troops - a couple of griffins - were heading over to check out the sound.

I waved at Dash again, motioning for her to move up to a larger wall a few feet away from our own. She nodded and raced towards the wall in a blur of color. The night’s rest had done her good; she was back to her old self.

I took one last look around and raced towards the wall as well, pressing myself against its edge so I could lean over and look around it.

I started to sweat under my feathers when I heard the soldier’s chatter getting louder and louder. I panicked; they didn’t see anything of interest, so they were heading towards us again.

I looked at the ground frantically, trying to find something else to throw when I found what took me a few seconds to recognize as a grenade. It was dull, metallic and buried in the dirt, but still intact. I wanted to pull the pin right there in order to cover our escape, but I realized we wouldn’t be able to get out of range of the nearby equines’ rifles fast enough. I had to clench my beak and wait.

Taking out the griffins would be the easy bit. Griffins don’t even like guns let alone use them. Give us an axe, sword, lance, or even a dagger and we’re happy. Better yet, let us fight it out with someone using our bare claws, and let the poor sap stitch their face back together. In hell. The centuries of griffin warfare made almost any weapon just as deadly, if not more so, than any gun. Within range, a melee weapon never runs out of ammo, never jams, never misfires and rarely misses - never misses if you’ve had any kind of training. It’ll cut through whatever you swing it at and kill it just as fast as a gun, but much more quietly.

They also look cooler too.

Lances provide plenty of range, axes the raw cleaving power, and swords the surgical precision when in the hands of a trained griffin warrior.

I put the grenade away before I did something stupid with it. If I used it now, I’d only attract more unwanted attention. I needed to come up with something else, and fast.

The griffins were practically on top of us - I could hear their heavy breathing. There was nothing else I could do. I took off a chest plate and pulled out my faithful dagger. I’d be opening more than cans with it this time. It was like a butter-knife compared to the swords the two griffins were carrying, but it’d be just as deadly in my talons. Their footsteps were getting louder and louder, which meant they were getting closer and closer...

I tightened my grip on the knife, ready to drive it into the first one I saw. I gave Dash one last glance, motioning for her to run as soon as the troopers rounded the corner. She took a few extra steps back, the fear written all over her face.

The soldiers turned the corner. I leapt into action, jumping the pair. They didn’t have time to react as I drove my knife into the first griffin. I managed to slide it straight through a seam in his armor and hit either his lung or his heart.

He wouldn’t be getting back up.

I left the knife in him as I hurried to deal with his comrade. She managed to draw her sword, but she never got to swing it; I ripped her throat out with my talons and she gargled, falling to the ground in a pool of her own blood.

I pulled the dagger out of the first one and wiped the blood off on his feathers.

Dash was standing in the exact same place as before, a look of shock and horror plastered on her face.

I would have been furious if a couple ponies hadn’t sauntered over and opened fire on the wall we were hiding behind after seeing the two bodies on the ground. I should’ve tried to grab those swords sooner.

I tackled Dash without a second thought, hitting the ground just as the hailstorm of projectiles pierced the wall right where she was standing.

"Dammit Dash!" I yelled at her in both rage and fear, "Why didn't you run away?!"

"I…I…" She just stammered as she looked at me.

She was scared. Scared of the soldiers, scared of dying...and scared of me.

I couldn’t do anything but scowl as I scooped Dash up and ran from the wall to a collapsed building nearby.

"Dash!" I said in my most commanding voice, "For Celestia's sake! You've got to fly away! I'll hold them off for as long as I can."

"NO!" she shouted between sobs, tightly grabbing onto my chest. "YOU'LL BE KILLED!"

"If you don't get the hell out of here, we both will!" I had to force her off of me. "Don't be such a foal! Fly already!"

I put her on the ground and stood in front of her, claws raised to attack the ponies that were chasing us when there was a sudden explosion and a loud yell directly behind us. My eyes widened; I knew what was coming. What was left of the building collapsed and there was a single griffin left standing behind us, axe in hand. It was Thanatos.

We were already dead, it was just a matter of when.

He screeched again, charging at us with bloodlust in his eyes. At least, there would be bloodlust in his eyes if I could see them; he was wearing a fully enclosed helmet to match his heavy armor. He swung the axe with power and speed that could only come from decades of real combat experience.

I pushed Dash again and jumped out of his way as fast as I could. The blade whipped up a dust storm as it hit the ground, leaving a terrible fissure behind. I covered my face as the cloud engulfed the area and I could hear Dash coughing as she tried to breathe through it. It was hard enough to focus before I had to worry about being able to breathe too. Thanatos didn’t have that problem though, his helmet probably had its own filtration system.

I coughed, swatting at the air as I stumbled towards where I heard Dash coughing. When I found her, I grabbed her by the hoof and led her away from the dilapidated building. We needed some fresh air.

As I opened my eyes, my heart skipped its umpteenth beat that day. The equine soldiers were waiting for us, guns aimed and ready to open fire.

There was no escape now; they opened fire.

Everything slowed to a crawl in that moment. I could see Dash’s face contorted in terror as she looked back at me. She had teared up, probably realizing that this town would be our grave. I looked into her rosy eyes and saw myself - I was terrified too.

The bullets were closing in and I knew they wouldn’t miss. I only had one choice.

I dove in front of Dash, knocking her to the ground below me. I stretched out my arms and wings to protect her with my head held low, looking right at her. She was crying harder than ever before, the slow splashes of her tears on the ground, like falling bombs, the only thing I could hear. She knew full well what I was doing and what was about to happen.

In those last instants, I smiled softly at her, unable to say a single word.

The bullets caught up with me and pierced my wings first before hitting my armor. I clenched my beak to the breaking point as I swallowed the agony. They ripped through my wings first, before slamming into my back.

I fell on one knee, seeing bits of my wings fly past me onto the ground and my blood flow down my back. I could only cry as I wished things wouldn’t end this way. I couldn’t let things end this way.

The assault didn’t let up and I heard my armor start cracking. It had spared me from the brunt of the hailstorm until its plates started breaking, falling to the ground in chunks just like my wings had. I did the only thing I could and closed my eyes, thinking of happier times - simpler times - when Dash and I did what we did best: fly.

I couldn’t keep my mind off of the horrible reality for long though - it was hitting me as hard and fast as the bullets being fired at us. The tears rolled off my beak as the last shot found its way through a broken plate and pierced my chest from behind.

The equines stopped firing long enough to survey the scene, reload their rifles and murmur among themselves.

The last thing I heard as I fell to the ground, blood pooling around me, was Rainbow Dash’s scream. My vision was blurry, but I could see her face was close to mine, her teary eyes showing an unfathomable sadness. She screamed to me, screamed my name, but it sounded so distant - like an echo.

I wanted to reach for her, to hold her once last time. I wouldn’t be that lucky. I couldn’t even speak, let alone move.

I wanted to let her know how I felt - I didn’t want to let go until I could tell her the truth.

I had made a promise - I swore an oath to protect her...and here I was dying...

I wanted to live... I wanted to save her...

Comments

[Gale Maze]

orig10.deviantart.net/81d8/f/2012/216/f/6/a_bit_closer_to_heaven_by_ilikecoolstuffz-d59thgc.jpg

[Dconstructed Reconstruct]

7921392
Not going to deny nor confirm this for the orginal draft. I Will go down on record saying I love Max Payne though

[Dconstructed Reconstruct]

8014725
8014760
8015564
First of all, thank you so much for reading. Always brings a smile to my face when I realize someone out there enjoyed my work. Small victory in an otherwise victory-less world.

t's pretty interesting that you write this story with Gilda in it. I don't think I recall seeing a single other Crystal War-timeline story that actually makes use of the non-equine races

Exactly why I wanted to write a story set in this universe from the viewpoint of someone other than the Mane six. While their views would certainly be interesting, it'd be threading on what is already worn ground.

The narrative is a little bit disjointed here. Given Dash's recollection at the end of the chapter, it sounds like this whole chapter is taking place right after she freed Gilda from her mind control, and the cuts and wounds on Rainbow Dash that Gilda has been stitching up lines up with the fight, but the early part of the chapter feels more like that they've been together for a while, fighting side by side. To find out that they've just reunited after two years of war-is-hell feels out-of-place.

This was, for the most part, intentional. The two are fleeing, tired, and in the case of Dash, barely hanging on after a nasty fight that could have easily seen her die if she wasn't as tough as she is. Perhaps I overplayed it a bit, so maybe tell me the exact places you feel this is unclear?

I'm not quite keen on how you forced some events to stay the same, such as Gilda traveling to Ponyville to meet Rainbow Dash, becoming jealous of Pinkie Pie, and getting into a giant spat that ends up with her losing her friendship with Rainbow. That's a set of circumstances that should have never come to pass in the alt-timeline (Pinkie should never have come to Ponyville, Rainbow Dash seems unlikely to visit unless Fluttershy was living there, and of course Gilda coming along to visit even more unlikely).

For a while, I too debated about having these events play out different. But in the end, I felt that despite all the differences, things would still more or less play the same if Dash already knew who Pinkie was. The timeline only split AFTER Sombra returned, which itself took place in Season two of the show. That means that all the mane six were living in Ponyville prior to the war breaking out. In the episode, when Twilight asks about the others, she says that Rarity and Fluttershy moved away to Manehattan to better help in the war effort, meaning that Dash, being Fluttershy's childhood friend, would also be present too. From there, we can assume that Dash and Gilda met, and that the events of "Griffon the brush off" also took place, albeit with differences.

Iron Will's appearance makes the inner fanboy in me happy, even if it is as a bandit (well, I suppose he did call his subordinates his friends, so there's some of canon Iron Will's personality still there, buried under the horrors of war).

I am very happy I nailed this character well. It was the one that I worried the most about.

I see you've been referring to the official Equestrian map, but I see one big issue with it: you're putting the geography of all this aciton in the south part of Equestria, with reference to the Macintosh Hills and Los Pegasus. However, the Crystal Empire is to the north of Equestria, so why would there be fights on the south end of Equestria between them and the Empire?

It was difficult at first, but I found a war map that fit my needs the most. This is that map:

k60.kn3.net/4/2/B/D/9/3/000.png

It feels a little bit of an about-turn for Pinkie and Maud to show up and save the day, though. For the tone that this story strikes in the first few chapters, having those two save the day and all the bandits be alive if injured seems to lack sufficient grimness to the story, regardless of it taking place in the War timeline.

This was perhaps the most difficult choice I had to make in regards to this story. If you got and give the original draft a look over, you'll realize that the plan originally was to have Gilda die, and Dash running away, only to later swear that she wouldn't run from a fight ever again. But as the story took shape, I realized that it was a conclusion that was far too expected.

"Oh, it's a war story. Of course one of the friends is going to wind up dead. How expected."

I did a bit of searching, and realized that I wanted the story to be different in that ending. Then I watched a few old war movies from the 40's and 50's, and noticed that that in those movies, there was this sense of underlying hope. It's a bit hard to explain without going into a big paragraph about it. You just knew that despite all the trouble the characters would go through, everything would be alright in the end, even there were sacrifices along the way. I wanted to end on that note. Despite everything that had happened to the two, there was a happy (if bittersweet) ending, and that they hadn't completely lost themselves to the war just yet.