Not Always Hugs

by David Silver

12 - Reinforcements Have Arrived

"We will arrive in four hours," announced a stallion, saluting at Luna crisply.

Luna nodded, glancing towards the front of the train. "Excellent. It will be good to begin our tasks properly." Soft murmurs rose up in agreement with her words. "Ready yourselves. When we arrive, I want everypony up and moving. Get our 'guest' signed up to ride the train back."

A soft knocking was her hint that someone had arrived, besides the hoofsteps. "We'll be arriving soon. Then you'll be riding back home."

Moonlight rose to her hooves, trotting to the door. "Hey, can I come out now?"

The face returned, having been about to walk away. "Hm? We're preparing to disembark."

"I should get ready too." Not that she had a lot to do, but her impassive face did not reveal her deception.

"That makes sense," muttered the guard, considering it. With a loud clank of a metal bar, the door was unlocked and swung open with a faint glow of unicorn magic. "Mind yourself."

"Woah, thanks." She stepped free of her prison with a smile. "Which way is Princess Luna totally lurking? I bet she's planning awesome things."

"Now is not the time to bo--" The guard's words were interrupted by the car under them lurching upwards, an explosion ringing in their ears as they were thrown to the ground violently. The car slammed down, throwing them up into the air for a precious moment of flight.

"Woah," was all she got out before she came down roughly on the ground. "Ow." The guard in front of her hadn't landed as well, bent at an uncomfortable angle over the equally deformed and warped back of a chair. "Oh, harsh..." There was screaming coming from ahead, from the cars that had more ponies. It was only then that she noticed she wasn't sitting on the floor. She was perched on a pulverized window, the entire car on its side. "Not cool."

Much as she fancied such terribly dark times, actually being in the middle of one was something else. "I'll find help," she promised the unconscious guard. "Luna will know what to do." She began climbing forward, pulling loosened benches aside and climbing over others to win her way forward one set of chairs at a time. The roof, or what had been the roof, was too badly warped to dare getting any closer towards, forcing her to climb along the side of the car. "Anypony hear me?"

The door between cars exploded inwards. A pony was revealed, standing the wrong way. No, they were the right way, Moonlight had to remind herself that she was the one standing on a wall. "Woah, hey, over here!" She waved before turning to point back where she had come from. "The guard's really hurt bad, help them."

"Stay still," they shouted, a mare advancing past the one in the front, wreathed in glowing magic that let them soar through the torn car.

The car screamed in metallic agony and things began to shift. "It's falling off," came the shout of the pony that had been at the door.

The flying mare was just arriving at the broken body of the fallen soldier. "Breathing, weakly," she shouted. "Should I move them?"

"Move them now or bury them later," came the call from beyond the door. "You, the other one, move. Tartarus take it all, move!"

Moonlight scrambled atop the bent bench that seemed to be melting under her, bending under the pressure of the dissolving car around them. "Woah." She threw herself forward, her body wreathed in her amber magic for just a moment, helping her make that harrowing jump to the next bench side.

It didn't appreciate her weight, crying in inorganic pain as it crashed beneath her. She kept climbing, barely making it onto its back as it hit the ground, already galloping along it towards the next. "I'm doing my best!"

"Get closer," shouted the stallion in front. "A little closer, and we'll grab you."

"Full up," grunted the flight-capable unicorn, soaring back with heavy breaths as she struggled to keep her cargo aloft.

This left Moonlight to scramble wildly up the next bench, each one seeming to rise on forever in the vanishing time she had. She could feel the ground, the benches included, shifting, the groan of bending metal. The car she was in was getting ready to cease existing. Whatever cart she had started in, likely already gone. "Woah," she breathed out, imagining how close she had been to already being a lost cause. "My soul is having second thoughts..."

It was only at that point that she fully realized how terribly things had compacted and crunched, stretching in ways train cars were not designed. A crack filled the air. She hurled herself forward, leaping into the air as the car around her fell away, leaving her pitching through the void with nothing under her but the plummeting car into the valley below. There was screaming, but not of metal. She was normally a quiet and soft spoken pony, but in that moment, she was wailing, terrified that she had met the end she had enjoyed the music of.

---

A pony rushed up next to Cadance and whispered in her twitching ear. Her eyes went wide. "No!"

"I'm afraid so." He dipped his head. "We just received word." He glanced aside at Shining Armor. Cadance nodded, and he continued. "Our reinforcements were attacked. They blew the bridge. There will be no trains coming or going until repairs can be done."

Shining's teeth set. "If Twily had been one train later..."

Cadance set a hoof on his shoulder. "I'm glad she wasn't, but Luna! Poor Lulu, tell me she is alright."

The guard shook his head. "She is alive, the report didn't extend beyond that."

Cadance let out a slow breath, extending her hoof with the exhale. "Alright... alright. She's fine, and she still has her ponies, they're just delayed... and we have to repair the bridge." She flipped an ear back. "It could be worse."

The guard put his hoof behind his head. "She's, uh, intact, Your Highness, but not all of her companions can say the same."

---

The girls gasped in union. Rainbow lifted into the air on angry wings. "Where's this at? Let's go kick them into next year!"

Twilight's magic grabbed Rainbow's closest hoof and gently tugged her back down. "Let's not be hasty. Ponies are already moving to assist, and the ones that did this have, undoubtedly, already fled. We're not dealing with open attacks... They know we're gathering power, and they've moved on."

"To guerilla tactics," concluded Fluttershy, drawing all their eyes. "Um..."

Rarity inclined her head faintly. "Surprised as I am that Fluttershy, of all ponies, would know of that concept, yes, that does sound correct. Darlings, if this is how it will be, we can't look forward to any chivalrous clash of forces on an open field. Their lesser numbers may, in fact, be to their benefit."

Twilight raised a hoof. "Only in the shifting of the battlefield." She drew as many looks as Fluttershy had. "I read, it's what I do... I didn't expect to be putting it to practical use, but I've read my share of war books." She cleared her throat as she sat on her haunches. "Once we've changed our footing to match theirs, our numbers will stop working against us."

Applejack hiked a brow. "Well, way I see it, we're already a step ahead there." She waved her hoof around at the others. "What are we, if not a small elite squad? We already are on that footin' you were talkin' 'bout."

Rainbow landed next to Applejack and offered a hoof. "Now that's what I like hearing." The two met hooves with a clop of solidarity.

Pinkie rolled a hoof in the air. "Except... everypony knows who we are, so we're not super super subtle, like they are in the middle of the snow where nopony knows who they are at all."

Rarity nodded. "Too right, dear. While we're nice and comfortable, we're not very good at being stealthy." She puffed up her mane with little presses of her right hoof. "Not that I want to hide my marvelousness, but if that's what you're trying to do, we're not off to a good start."

"Besides." Pinkie bounced in place. "We have two parties to do now."

Twilight hiked a brow. "Tonight we're greeting Arnavon, the tsuki, right?"

"There is that," sang Pinkie. "But we also get to do one for Princess Luna and her people. They've been through a lot. A good welcoming party will put smiles on their faces."

Rarity inclined her head. "Dear, you are singularly focused in your thoughts. One of your charming qualities." She smiled gently. "Oh, who am I to speak of that? We all have our fixations. Now, yes, once Luna reaches us, we should comfort her and hers as best we can."

The conversation drifted to other things, somewhat haphazardly trying to reach a consensus on their next action.

---

"Got you." Moonlight opened her crying eyes to see she was wreathed in bright magic, being brought in towards several sets of hooves. They grabbed her, pulling her into a many-pony embrace as they all fell away from the twisted metal that marked where the links of one train had come clean free, allowing the next car to tumble away.

Luna was not far away, walking meaningfully towards a triage. "How is he?"

Ahead of her, a pony was resting on a cot in the snow, their eyes closed. "Not good," reported a pony with a heart on their shirt with a cross in the middle of it. "He's already deep in shock, and we can't even keep him properly warm. The odds of him pulling through are dropping like that train just did." He sat up onto his haunches. "It's a miracle he's even breathing, and I don't expect that for long."

Luna clenched her teeth. "If he survives, how badly is he injured?"

"His spine is severed," announced the medical pony. "He has a life of... that to look forward to."

Luna took a slow shaking breath, looking away. "Then... perhaps this is a mercy, cold as it is... We lack the facilities to do more. Get a letter to Cadance, informing her we are on the way." Another pony saluted, a quill dancing as the letter was written. "We move out, now. The enemy could still be nearby. Staying and waiting is asking to be finished off." She turned and reached out a hoof, setting it on the still soldier's barrel. "I am sorry I cannot do more for you."

Others who had heard the decision whispered, scowls on their face. "We don't leave one of our own," suddenly spat out a mare, fur bristling.

Luna turned to address her, but another was already in front of her. "Belay that! Luna is the acting CO, and as much as it hurts to even consider, she isn't wrong. Risking everyone for him... He wouldn't have wanted that."

"He's still alive!" she shrieked at her commander. "You're already talking as if he's gone!"

The medic put a thin cloth over the fallen soldier's face, murmuring soft entreaties that the pony would find some measure of peace.

"He's still alive," she shouted so shrilly her voice abandoned her in the middle of the explosive cry, scrambling for the medic, but she couldn't reach, other ponies, her squad mates, tackling her and bearing her to the ground in a sobbing mess.

The commander nodded towards Luna. "I apologize and accept full responsibility for her actions... Everyone, we're moving, now!" He pointed along the tracks. "We dare not follow the tracks dead on, move to the left, barely keep it in view to avoid becoming lost, but do not walk on it."

"Luna!" Moonlight came up in a scramble, her advance petering out as she noticed the atmosphere, and the cot. "Isn't... that... Woah."

"Woah?!" The mare fought against her fellows, at least managing to face Moonlight. "If you hadn't been there! If you'd just stayed home, he'd still be alive. He'd be alive! He died for you, you stupid piece of--" She was dragged down under the mass of her fellow soldiers, screaming hoarsely and thrashing impotently.

Luna slipped around the knot of soldiers, eyes on Moonlight. "Come, walk. We have much walking to do. While we're at it, you can explain how that soldier's death may be your fault and I will judge for myself." She turned in place, gesturing with a toss of her head. "This way." She began to lead the way with her soldiers trailing behind, broken in spirit.

Moonlight was just behind her. "I didn't mean for this to happen."

"Tell me what did happen," advised Luna.

Moonlight hurried her steps a little, drawing beside Luna. "He came to tell me we were getting off soon. I asked him to let me out, and he did."

Luna rolled her eyes. "He had no authority to do that, but do continue."

"I left my room and... it all started." She shook her head. "You know the rest there. He was thrown, like, woah... way hard, with me, when the car jumped. He came down... right on the back of a bench." She took a slow breath. "I never saw a pony bend like that before."

Luna turned an ear. "Well, that will ease one mind."

"Huh?"

Luna did not turn, marching ahead. "The unicorn who retrieved him was worried her moving is what caused the injury, but odds are in favor of that damage being done before she arrived..." She glanced over her shoulder. "Sky Thought," she shouted. "It wasn't you."

The named unicorn dipped her head, another soldier, a male, thudded against her side. "You heard her, it wasn't you."

"How can she know that, for sure?" Sky pinned her ears back. "I was his only chance, and he still didn't make it."

"Hey," argued her fellow squad stallion. "We think like that, we're all guilty."

"Maybe we are," bitterly noted a mare with swollen red eyes, the one that had screamed and shouted. "Will you leave me behind in the snow when it stops being convenient?"

"It isn't like that," bemoaned the stallion caught between two emotionally distraught mares. "Look... you're family. If my going keeps you safe, you take that. You take it and gallop, alright? That's the kind of promises we made, to each other. To Equestria. Other ponies, other creatures, they're waiting on us. We gotta keep walking."

"Keep walking," sighed out Sky. "Yeah..."

Luna closed with the one non-military pony present. "They will be sore with you for some time, but know this." She leaned in. "They were not the only pony lost today, and there is no assurance your not being there would have spared him." She glanced over her shoulder. "If you hadn't been there, disturbed his sleep, he would have been napping at about that time. His schedule--"

"That was him, Woah..." She raised a hoof to her forehead beside her horn. "Totally not cool."

"It wasn't," calmly agreed Luna. "But he would have been asleep, in that car you narrowly escaped from. You changed the nature of his passing, but not the time of it..."

Moonlight became quiet, tumbling with thoughts, at least until a wing draped over her and forced her into the snow. The entire line sank, many of its members burying themselves in the snow.

In the direction they had come from, figures that could barely be seen landed where the train had come to a stop. "--ind them!" came a loud call, and the forms scattered.

Moonlight screwed her face tight, her horn glowing with dark amberish magic. A blanket of darkness fell across the line as she squirmed, concentrating on keeping it up. In the dark of the ditch they had thrown themselves, there was nothing to see, at least from the skies above that their pursuers flew, looking for them.

Luna sat up, still in the blanket of dark. "What a marvelous spell. Is everypony alright?"

Soft noises of agreement rippled from behind as others began to stand up.

Moonlight let out her breath explosively, the light returning to them. "Are they... gone?"

She turned to see the commander of the soldiers regarding her with cold eyes. "Woah, uh..."

She prodded Moonlight in the center of her chest. "You cost me a soldier, but you may have saved others. Don't think that gets you off the hook. You wanted to be here, well, you are here, so I'm conscripting you." She leaned in. "Please resist."

Moonlight's ears danced with confusion. Luna moved to get between them. "She is a civilian."

"She chose to leave that behind." The commander pointed at Moonlight. "Are you a burden or are you joining us? Pick, now."

Moonlight gently put a leg around Luna, nudging her aside. "Woah... I made this bed, so, like, I can sit on it." She inclined her head. "How can I help?"

"Good!" The commander turned to the rest of her line. "Say hello to Private Moonlight. She's the new girl, so show her how it works." Her lips curled in a faint sneer. "And she's the new girl. She acted quickly and decisively to keep our flanks intact, good on her, that won her a place. Let's see if she keeps it. She has a lot of debt to work off."

She was welcomed by the others, some in friendly tones, others a bit less sure. The red-eyed mare glared at her, forcing out her greeting with obvious enmity. "Regs say I can't throw you off a cliff, but don't think we're suddenly chums now. Watch yourself and keep your snout clean," she barked, marching past Moonlight to join the rest of the line in its movement.

The commander closed with Luna. "You made the right call."

Luna turned an ear. "There was no right call, but it was the logical one."

"Can't argue that." The commander peeked over her shoulder at where the figures had landed. "If we were still trying to triage, we would have been caught in the open, probably torn apart." She let out a slow breath. "We would have gone down fighting, but we still would have failed. The ponies counting on us deserve more than that... He would have understood..."

Luna's eyes remained straight, determined to complete the march to the Crystal Empire. "This is not the entrance I had envisioned. Perhaps we can make up for this shameful start."

"We plan to try." The commander nodded lightly. "Apologies for our failure, Your Highness. We did not escort you to the Crystal Empire as planned."

Luna threw a hoof as she walked. "Now you jest. This was not your doing. Now, let's go. We have ponies awaiting our arrival, all of our arrival. Let's not keep them waiting any longer than we have to."

---

"The explosives did their job perfectly." A griffon bowed low before his lord.

"Completely eradicated?"

"The bridge is no more." The griffon stood up. "The train attempting to cross it was also severely damaged beyond usability."

"And the ponies riding it?" The griffon lord leaned forward with a cruel smirk. "Were there survivors?"

"None we saw."

Not what he wanted to hear. He grabbed the low-ranking griffon by the scruff and dragged him in. "Were their bodies scattered to the winds?"

"One was dead, body abandoned in the snow," admitted the other, swallowing nervously. "Still cooling when we arrived."

"Cold... but practical. Still, if they left one like that, that implies there are others. Were there not tracks?" He threw the quivering griffon back. "This does not sound 'perfect' as you said. It would appear your definition of words is not mine..."

"Sorry, sir... Sorry... The snow was disturbed. If they fled, they took the time to hide their tracks before going." He swallowed heavily. "They'll die in the snow before reaching warmth. Equestrian ponies are not made to survive that sort of chill, Sir."

He made a dismissive wave of a talon. "You'd best pray that is true, or we will have further... words."

---

Moonlight trudged along with the rest. Her legs were cold and numb, but she forced herself forward, like the others. "It's cold... like my soul, dark numbness chasing away the light of day." She sighed out, tiring even herself a little. "Sorry."

"We only have so much heat," noted a unicorn apologetically, brushing himself off of some snow. "I'm trying to balance it as best I can, but we need a heat source to distribute. All of our bodies are lacking in heat. It's all I can do to stave off some amount of frostbite." He looked past Moonlight to their commander and Luna. "Permission to light a fire."

"Denied," announced both mares.

He sighed softly, teeth chattering. "I can only move what heat is here, sorry. At least our core temperatures are mostly consistent. Leeching just... a little keeps our extremities within tolerable ranges."

"Tolerable," sighed out another stallion. "Not what I'd call this... Still, uh, thanks. Better than just stopping." Soft grunts rose in agreement. However miserable they were, they were pushing ahead.

Moonlight suddenly pricked up, ears going erect, though they wilted in the cold air quickly. "I have something." Her horn glowed as she plucked out a little packet and thrust it at the unicorn that could even temperatures. "I was saving this for night watching..."

The stallion's horn glowed as he took it, bringing it up to his eyes. A heat packet! He had to laugh at the delightful serendipity of it. "Your love of Luna's sky has done us a favor. Now..." He unfurled it out of its packaging and slapped it against his own side, stretching and activating it. His ongoing magic took hold of the heat it began to spill into him, sending it flying out.

Sure, it was only enough heat to provide soothing to one pony at a time, but spread out to chilling limbs in dire need of that heat, the entire line let out a collective sigh as the worst pain began to ebb, their overall temperatures evening, just a little. It wasn't the same as being under a blanket by a fire, but they were one step away from having their legs just freeze off their bodies.

"Woah, thanks... I'm curious though, if your magic doesn't keep us warm, what is it, like, for?"

He shook his head. "It'd work fine if we were all dressed for the cold. It'd keep us from sweating and warm up the cold parts. That's what it's made for. We fled the train with what we had, and that wasn't winter gear. We were in normal--"

"--We were thrown off," cut in a mare. "We're lucky for whatever gear we were wearing. Thank goodness Luna had us preparing to disembark the moment we got there. If we hadn't... We might all already be gone."

"Thanks," noted another stallion. "I'm not afraid to admit I woulda been tempted to keep that to myself."

The mare slapped the stallion, bonking his head with a solid hoof. "Moron. Think of your fellows for a moment. Besides, we all live or die together."

"Sometimes," grunted the red-eyed mare, glaring over at them.

The first mare slid between Moonlight and the tear-stained one. "Don't think about it... Look, thanks. You're doing the right thing, now. I appreciate that. I like to think he'd appreciate you helping us get to safety. You do what the commander says and we'll get through this, alright?"

Moonlight forced a nod. "Like, yeah, I get it... I didn't think I'd ever be a guard." She raised a hoof to her chest. "I'll try to not mess it up."

"A bit late for that," grunted the red-eyed mare. She trotted past. "We all mess up, I guess... but I'm keeping an eye on you."

Author's Note:

No skipping around! Well, a minor one or two, but just one major plot thread we are following here. Poor Moonlight, poor guards. This was not a good day. Does Moonlight deserve more chastising for her part in this?

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Comments

[Booster Spice]

Luna is getting a far better idea of what they are getting into? But always trying to catch up with an enemy who has already prepared and is now just effectively pulling the trigger?

[tsaukpaetra]

War isn't always so romantic. Moonlight is discovering firsthoof how very... real things are..,
The other soldiers seem wet as well, wasting energy playing blame games. They all will have much to learn.
Keep going! ;)