• Published 31st Mar 2020
  • 1,155 Views, 32 Comments

Through Thick and Thin - White Comet



The fifth Equestro-Griffon war is on the horizon, and Rainbow Dash, along with the rest of the Wonderbolts, looks like she's about to get involved. It will be tough. Will she survive? Or perhaps more importantly, will her relationship with Soarin?

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Chapter 4: At What Cost?

Dash flew low across Horseshoe towards the harbour, having to weave through the many pegasi that had taken to the skies to get a better view of what was going on. Flying higher would mean having to fly through the smoke, which she was trying to avoid.

When she got to the harbour, she couldn’t believe her eyes. Flames were erupting from the ships like a dragon breathing fire. A few small explosions from various components being detonated by the heat came from all around her. The cries of ponies screaming for help or trying to help almost drowned out the burning wrecks that were slowly submerging in the harbour. She saw unicorns attempt to perform teleportation spells to save themselves, only to end up in the water or end up in the air, thus falling into the water. Dash was no unicorn, but she knew from Twilight that teleportation magic was very advanced magic that took a lot of practice to get right.

She immediately got to work, flying down towards the closest burning ship and lifting off the earth ponies and unicorns trapped on board. She pulled her goggles up from around her neck onto her eyes as the smoke was making her eyes water. She didn’t bother trying to say anything as she pretty much had to shout at the top of her lungs just to be heard through all the commotion. Despite the smoke making her cough, she kept flying back and forth to the best of her ability.

Just as she dropped another pony off on the dockside, an explosion from the ship she was rescuing ponies from drew her attention. The boat split in half from the blast, the force causing the forward section to drift towards the port, ramming the support beams of the dock. The sound of metal groaning under the weight filled the air and seconds later, the pier collapsed under the weight of the section of the boat pressing against it, causing several ponies to fall in...under the sinking debris…

Dash rushed towards the water, preparing to enter. She heard several ponies yelling at her, maybe trying to tell her something, but she wasn’t concentrating on that right now. She held her breath and drew her wings in at the last second to make her body as streamlined as possible as she dived into the water. The cold water was a wake-up call to her body, giving her a tingling sensation all over. She was pleased to learn that the flight goggles worked perfectly well underwater as well. The sound of metal groaning and banging against the seabed was all she could hear, so she would have to rely on her eyes.

She quickly identified the few ponies that fell in. Most of them seemed to be making their own way to the top, apart from one that was trapped underneath a long hunk of metal. Her legs were wiggling frantically as she tried to pull herself free, and the water around her had a slightly red hue to it...blood. She was injured.

Dash kicked with her hooves and raced towards the mare as fast as she could. The mare saw her coming and started making gestures to Dash, shaking her head and waving her hooves at something.

Dash quickly closed the difference then took a pause to try and understand the gestures through the water...pointing at the far end...was she trying to tell Dash to lift it from there?

Dash simply nodded, then swam towards the end of the metal hunk. She didn’t have much breath left to waste time trying to figure out exactly what she was trying to say. She wiggled her hooves underneath one chunk of the debris and surprisingly enough, it was quite easy to lift once she got her hind hooves on the seabed. The water obviously made things easier to move. She lifted it up just enough for the mare to free herself, then let it drop back down again. She swam over to the mare to help her get back to the surface, holding onto her with her wing as they swam upwards.

Breaching the surface, Dash gasped as she inhaled what she hoped would be fresh air, but she coughed a few times as she inhaled a bit of smoke along with it. She soldiered through it and got herself above the water enough for her to use her wings and lift the mare to safety.

Dash tried her best not to drop the mare as she flew her over the pier, but that little stunt had given her an intense workout, so as soon as she placed the mare down, she let her wings fail and simply dropped next to her herself, remaining still as she concentrated on nothing but breathing.

After a few breaths, she sat up to look at the white pegasus she recovered, “Are...you...alright?” She heaved through deep breaths, pulling her goggles back onto her forehead.

“I’ll live…” the mare gasped back, looking at the cuts on her leg, “But don’t...do that again…”

“What…” Dash raised an eyebrow, “I saved your life...right?”

“You did...and I’m forever grateful...but you didn’t see...all the unexploded warheads…”

Dash’s eyes widened at the revelation…

“If they went off while you were rescuing me...we’d both be dead,” the mare stated.

“...noted…” Dash gulped while standing up, even though she was still catching her breath. She hadn’t even considered the other risks, all she cared about was saving another ponies life. She got lucky this time, but next time she may not be so fortunate… “How’s your leg?” Dash asked, holding her wing out to help the mare up. At this point, several ponies were gathering around.

The mare took Dash’s assistance and pulled herself up, keeping an eye on the deep gashes on her right hind leg. “It hurts to hell...but I can walk,” she advised, tentatively putting weight on it. But some medical staff quickly arrived to help her. “Thanks, Rainbow Dash. I owe ya one,”

Dash smirked, “I’ll hold you to it,” she joked, performing a quick salute with her wing before taking off. She flew over the harbour, keeping an eye out for anypony else that might need help. But it looks like it was all mostly under control now. Everypony was out of immediate danger, and it was just a matter of firefighting and damage control now.

Now that she had a minute to survey the scene...there were no signs of any Griffons. A proper sneak attack. They hit then ran. And whatever they hit with hit hard, leaving no trace of their presence. If all of their encounters were going to be like this, Dash would be in for one hell of a challenge...

She landed at the back of the harbour for a minute to take a breather…but what caught her eyes didn’t give her much time to think. She sat a few meters away from the building with all the medical equipment in it. The building was so overwhelmed that the medics were treating ponies on the concrete outside. Feeling how cold it was under her own hooves only made Dash cringed as she imagined what it must be like to be lying down in pain on this surface. Some of the ponies were moving...some were crying and writhing in pain...others laid still...and some had blankets draped over their entire body...motionless…

Dash gritted her teeth at the sight. She felt her forehooves tremble at the shocking sight. That or the fact that she was drenched was starting to make her feel cold. She gulped and tried to remain strong as she continued to catch her breath. There was no beating around the bush; this was war. Ponies were going to die. And as much as it wanted to, she couldn’t let it affect her. She needed to remain strong to stop this. Equestria needed her.

“LIEUTENANT DASH!”

Dash cringed slightly as the voice echoed in her ear. She quickly turned to see a stallion standing next to her in the uniform carrying medical equipment.

“Are you hurt!? Do you need treatment?” He sputtered, placing a stethoscope on her chest.

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” Dash protested, brushing the tool away with her hoof. “Go help them!” She instructed, pointing her hoof towards the building.

“Then get out the way,” the stallion replied angrily, turning towards the building. “We’ve got wounded coming through!” He yelled while he walked back to the group of injured ponies.

Dash quickly glanced over her shoulders to see ponies being carried on stretchers towards her, some screaming in pain, some deathly quiet... realising that she was in the way, she quickly retook flight to remove herself as an obstacle.

“Have a nice swim?”

Dash turned in the direction of Blaze’s voice to see her hovering beside her. “I’m okay,” she replied, “How about you?” She asked, noticing the burn marks on Blaze’s flight suit.

“I was on the deck of the RES Laker when the torpedoes hit,” Blaze answered, glancing down at herself. “I’m a little singed, but I’m alright.”

“Torpedoes?” Dash raised an eyebrow and focused on the harbour.

Blaze nodded, “Spitfire said that other naval bases all over Equestria are reporting the same thing. It was some kind of coordinated submarine attack that caught us napping.”

“Dammit,” Dash groaned, rubbing her forehead with her hoof. The Griffons already sounded like they were a step ahead…

“Spitfire’s ordered us to whip up some heavy rain to suppress the fires. C’mon, I’ll need your help,” Blaze explained briefly before flying back towards the land.

“Right behind you,” Dash acknowledged, looking forward and following her. She never imagined that her first day of war would involve...doing her old Ponyville job…


Spitfire sighed as she walked through the door of the main building. Compared to the harbour front, it was nice to have a bit of peace and quiet. Although all the ponies running around inside it performing various tasks while all trying to talk over the top of one another seemed to say otherwise.

Spitfire began the task of trying to find Commodore Sea Salt. As she waded through the ponies, most of them recognised who she was and gave way to her, which she was extremely grateful for. After some brief directions, she finally found Sea Salt in an office, overlooking a big map on a large table by himself. “Sir!” Spitfire announced her presence.

Sea Salt cleared his throat, “Glad you’re still with us, Captain. Are you alright?” He motioned with his hoof for her to come closer but didn’t look back.

“I’m fine, Commodore. And so are my team,” Spitfire replied, taking a few steps to stand next to him, feeling the floorboards creak under her hooves. “What’s going on?”

“It seems this surprise attack by the Griffs has targeted our smaller screening ships and transport ships. I’ve just been on the radio and had reports of every single harbour along Equestria’s east coast being attacked,” he explained, tapping his hoof on every harbour with a red X over it on the map. To the side of the X, a brief description written on a separate piece of paper detailing the damage to ships.

“This attack caught us all by surprise…” Spitfire carried on but raised an eyebrow as she picked out some details on the map. “All these ships...they’re not very significant. Why didn’t they target the ones that would really do some damage, like the battleships?”

Sea Salt smiled as if he anticipated her question. “I thought of that too,” he replied, “But what they’ve effectively done is taken out our only means of transporting an army over the Luna Ocean. They’ve also taken out the only ships we have that are capable of attacking submerged submarines. They’ve effectively blockaded the entire Navy to Equestria’s coastline!” He slammed his hoof on the table in frustration.

“Now that’s gonna cause a problem for our current plan…” Spitfire replied calmly, seemingly unphased by his outburst. “I take it we have a new plan?”

“Not much as of yet,” Sea Salt shook his head, “But I’ve just been speaking to Ace on the radio. We now need to heavily utilise the airship force to compensate." He turned his head to look at Spitfire, "You and your team are being redeployed to the Airship Force. You can't do much good on a fleet that can't leave port. Admiral Swift Sprint is sending an airship to come and collect you to the Crystal Empire."

"Understood," Spitfire nodded, "I'll make sure my team is ready."

Sea Salt nodded at her acknowledgement and then breathed a sigh of relief, taking a seat in his chair and dropping his officers' cap onto the table with one hoof while brushing his blue mane back with the other. "How is your team? Any injuries?"

"Nothing worse than scratches," Spitfire replied, turning to look out the window. "I think we've done alright considering how much this caught us off guard." She took a few steps forward to put her face right up against the window. She saw the rain hammer down on the ground. The fires were all out now, but some smoke was still rising from the wreckages in the harbour. The only activity was repair crews moving around the dock as well as medics treating injuries in whatever space they could find.

Thankfully none of her own team was severely injured during the attack, but she couldn’t say the same for everypony. This attack only reinforced the substantial weight of responsibility she had of the lives under her command. It would not be easy, and they would all be looking to her for guidance. She quietly sighed, her breath condensing on the glass. She only hoped that when the time came to make a tough decision, she would make the right one.


The rain still pounded down heavily. Dash held her waterproof bag above her head with her wings to keep herself mostly dry. Not that it really mattered, as she was still damp from her little swim earlier. She tried to dry her equipment as much as she could, but it was still pretty wet when she stuffed it in her bag. Hopefully, she would get a chance to dry it properly when they got to the Crystal Empire.

But what really had Dash in deep thought was where she was sitting. A few feet in front of her were...stretchers...with bodies covered over by a blanket.

As much as she wanted to, Dash couldn’t stop thinking about it. Without even a fight, these mares and stallions were already lost. Gone. In the blink of an eye...and there was nothing she could do about it.

“Everything okay?”

Dash glanced to her right in the direction of Soarin’s voice to see him descending down to her, landing just next to her and taking a seat. He dropped his bag off to his side, not bothered about the rain.

“I’m fine,” Dash responded before glancing back at the stretchers, releasing a sigh. “I just feel so...powerless…”

“I know,” Soarin spoke softly, “These ponies didn’t even have a chance to fight back before…” he shuddered a tiny bit, “Chilling isn’t it?”

Dash nodded slowly. “I’ve never felt this way before. I feel like I...we should have done something sooner.” She turned to Soarin, “Because it took us a few minutes to arrive because we went on a mini-date...I feel partly responsible...I feel like we should have been here. Then maybe they still would have been,” she explained, motioning with her hoof towards the bodies. “Do you think…” Dash looked back over at Soarin, “Do you think we could have done better?”

“...That’s…” Soarin glanced away from Dash with a short sigh, “That’s a difficult question…” He looked back up at her. “It’s always gonna be tough, but we can’t dwell on what if’s. We have to keep looking forward if we want to stay ahead.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Dash responded with a more serious tone.

Soarin furrowed his brow as he saw where this conversation was going. “Well, to be blunt, yes. Yes, we could have done things differently. But everypony’s going to be telling themselves the same thing, you don’t think you’re the only one do you?”

Dash’s eyes glanced away as she thought for a moment. She hadn’t thought about it like that…

“Everypony’s gonna have stuff running through their heads like; oh, what if I didn’t go to file that paperwork? What if I wasn’t in the bathroom? What if I was on the deck instead of inside the ship? What if I was on the dock instead?” He made elaborate gestures with his hooves to emphasise his point. “No matter how big or small, we all could have done something better today. And that will always be the case. Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.”

Dash smiled a little, “I guess…” but the smile quickly faded back into a frown. “I just...I dunno...when it was me and my friends battling magical forces, things just seemed to work out in the end. But I’m not getting any of those vibes here…”

“I know,” Soarin replied, draping his wing over, “Neither am I. But tomorrow is another day. Whaddya say we hit the Grifs back twice as hard?” He said enthusiastically with a smile.

Dash could only smirk in response, “You sure do know how to make me tick,” she chimed, lowering her bag to her side and resting her head on his shoulder.

Soarin chuckled, “I know how to make you do a lot more than that,” he joked back, resting his head gently on the top of hers.

They held each other close for several moments, simply enjoying the comfort. Dash was considerably more wet than Soarin, so she didn’t mind somepony to dry herself off against. Not that it really mattered in this heavy rain. She had done an excellent job whipping that up.

Soarin once again thought about it...it was in his bag ready to pounce. The words were on the tip of his tongue, ready to leap out of his mouth...but now just wasn’t perfect. The Griffon attack really had killed the mood. As frustrating as it was, he subtly gritted his teeth as he had no choice but to withhold his proposal until the timing was better.

Dash’s ears twisted as she heard what sounded like an airship approaching, which she followed up by raising her head. Soarin also looked in the direction of the noise. The dark clouds meant they could hear it but not see it. Several moments later, it descended through the clouds and into sight. A small vessel, but it didn’t need to be anything special. It was only providing them with a taxi service to the Crystal Empire.

“Looks like our rides here,” Soarin broke the cuddle, “You ready?” He asked, picking up his bag.

“Yeah,” Dash nodded, bringing herself to her hooves and picking up her bag. She spread her wings and took flight, her eyes squinting as the rain battered them due to flying through it. Soarin flew alongside her as they headed towards the landing ship. She still felt like she hadn’t done enough to prevent the tragedies today, but Soarin was right; she just needed to punch back twice as hard. And she planned to do just that...

Author's Note:

Well, things sure are heating up in here..sounds like the 'Bolts are about to be thrown into the thick of it. I wonder how things will play out...

Reality is hitting Dash hard. But hopefully she can punch back twice as hard. And in an awesome way too! :rainbowdetermined2:

This chapter came up a little shorter than anticipated, but I'm trying to keep the pacing consistent whilst still moving the plot along. I feel like getting bogged down in the details will just start getting repetitive, but obviously there's a time and place for everything. I'm just trying to keep it balanced and not fall into the same trap I did with Wonderbolts Trials and Tribulations.

Thanks for reading! :twilightsmile:

Comments ( 14 )

I haven't read Chapter 4 yet, but before I do, I wanted to ask your opinion about this Rd x Soarin fanfic: https: //www.fimfiction.net/story/194448/piercing-the-heavens

DASHIEEEEEEE:fluttershysad: Great Chapter as always:pinkiehappy:

10280181
I'm a few chapters behind, but I've been enjoying it.

Comment posted by V-H-SClop deleted Oct 30th, 2020

Ooo This is amazing!! I’m already looking forward to the next chapter!! :twilightsmile:

Comment posted by V-H-SClop deleted Sep 13th, 2021

Почему я никогда не смотрю на статус работы? Это играет со мной плохую шутку.
Мне очень понравилось как вы создаёте атмосферу.
В любом случае теперь я агрессивно жду продолжения

Why do I never look at my job status? This is playing a bad joke on me.
I really liked the way you create the atmosphere.
In any case I am now aggressively waiting for the sequel

Comment posted by V-H-SClop deleted Sep 13th, 2021

Its cancelled?

ARRRGHH NOOOO SOARIIIIIIN There will never BE a PERFECT TIME!!! At least not anymore!!!! YOU HAVE TO TAKE YOUR CHANCE!!!!!

That was incredibly short but totally satisfying. I know it's been a while since you've updated, but I can't wait to read more XD

Strange that I'm reading this on December 7th...or well now 8th.(Pearl Harbor)

Hopefully "hiatus" doesn't last too much longer. Falling into the WTAT style wouldn't be that bad, it wasn't that bad of a story, but then again I am a fast reader.

Well thear be more some day????

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