The Profits of War
The tap of hammer on nail, the hushed zhoozh of a saw cutting wood, and the muted slap of paint-laden bristles against a plank were like old friends to Apple Bloom. The birdhouse, just large enough for a sparrow to nest in, finally sat complete. The seams were flush; the boards perpendicular. She'd used no plans save those in her mind. At long last, something she had built with her own hooves was perfect.
Without a moment longer to consider it, she was racing out the door of the Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse to find her friends. Her flank tingled; she finally understood! All those years of searching and the answer had been right before her eyes!
In her mind, she saw both her friends, their talents each spelled out in glowing letters a mile high, flaming images shining forth from their backsides. The ponies around them had been right all along. It had been willful blindness keeping them from the goal they'd so doggedly pursued, but now... Now at long last she could lead all three together into a bright future full of cutie marks.
This thought was foremost on her mind as she ran headlong into Sweetie Belle, knocking her head over hock.
"Girls, girls! Guess what?" In her excitement, Apple Bloom failed to notice that Scootaloo was not looking at her, but craning her neck skyward. Even Sweetie Belle, heaped on the ground, maintained a rigid view of the early sunset.
"I think I just figured out what my cutie mark is gonna be! What all our... Girls?"
Scootaloo pointed a trembling hoof upward. "Look." The word fell like a hammer through a frozen lake.
Apple Bloom raised her head. The tingling on her flank stopped.
There in the sky, a sky that should not have taken on so red a hue this close to midday, were hundreds of long, low, silvery clouds, sailing quietly toward Ponyville from the north. Their smooth regularity was uncanny. Every pony in Ponyville, in all of Equestria, joined the fillies in staring, dumbfounded.
The cloudy wrappings shed like snakeskin, releasing shiny metal discs. And then the world ended in a blaze of light and fire and screaming.
Apple Bloom died that day.
No, that's kind of dramatic. What I mean to say is, I'm all that's left of her, and I ain't Apple Bloom no more.
What really died that day was hope. Without hope, there's no having a future. Whatever life -- whatever future we were meant for got messed up on that day because They came.
We still don't know what They are, or where They come from, only that it's nowhere in Equestria. Destroy one of those silver flying discs -- and we have -- and most of what you get is an explosion. Maybe there'll be some rubble to sift through for weapons -- that's where we first got them, after all -- but there's never been a survivor or any signs of remains.
They have ground forces, of course, more machines that walk on two legs and carry more weaponry. They showed up about a year after the discs, falling to the earth in swarms of ten to pick off surviving ponies one by one. But whoever or whatever is controlling them, we don't know. As far as we can tell, these are just huge death machines sent by wicked fate to end our existence for no reason whatsoever.
In response, we were all dealt another hand. We got our cutie marks, but they're all wrong. I don't remember anymore what it was that I felt on the day that everything changed, so I can't say what our special talents were supposed to be. I'm glad I don't remember, or I'd have spent too much time mourning what we could have been. We had to grow up fast. We and a lot of other blank flanks at the time were shaped by the necessity of war into elite fighters, something that hadn't been seen in Equestria for thousands of years. Right now, we're the only things keeping the pony race from being wiped out.
My unit's the Crusaders. It's funny how we kept that name but changed our own. We're mostly equipped for skirmishing, but we've got enough talent for recon and surveillance, too.
Longshot's our sniper and lookout, the pegasus with the crosshairs cutie mark. She's also the one among us who adapted to war the easiest. I worry about her sometimes. She's a crack shot, but she gets too excited, too bloodthirsty in the middle of combat. It ain't natural. She hasn't been a liability yet, but you better believe I keep my eye on her.
Our medic took the name Helter Shelter. I never thought it was a very good name, myself, but it fits her, and so does the picture on her flank of a cross and hearts topped with a helmet. She's great at finding cover, plus she's got a spooky talent for avoiding incoming fire. Really, I worry about her the most; her heart's too soft for war. She deserves to be living a life of luxury somewhere, an easy life, maybe with servants at her beck and call, not like those things exist anymore. This doesn't mean she goes unarmed, of course. She keeps a brace of small mouth-held light weapons, "In case one of them breaks." She's anxious like that. When it comes down to it, though, she's just not cut out for fighting.
As for me, I'm called Hollow Point these days. I get to lead this little outfit. I don't have any fancy specialties or nothing; I just shoot things until they don't move no more. I picked up a little bit of tactics from my brother, so I'm at least a capable field commander. I'm the only one of us I don't worry about.
Right now, Crusader Squad is encamped on a short bluff in heavy cover fifteen klicks southeast of Base Aleph, scouting an enemy detachment at the perimeter. There's something about this forest that keeps Them at bay. That's why we made our base here, despite all the dangers that are still within the Everfree. But things like this contingent we're keeping an eye on have gotten worrisome. These walker mechs, the two-leggers with spindly arms and no heads, about knee-high to an apple tree, usually carry light ordinance; they're the units we fight on the ground. Yet this group has no weapons at all. For the last -- I time check to Helter -- two hours or so, they've just been scanning the edge of the treeline. Haven't set foot in it yet, but something's up. We've kept silent to avoid tipping them off and have not engaged, even though "not hostile" does not and never will apply to these things.
Back when the wounds were still fresh and we hadn't yet figured out what was going on, most of us fled Ponyville north to Canterlot. The Princesses organized every unicorn who could lift a teacup into a magical fighting force, and they brought down every last flying disc that approached the city. It only caused Them to send more, though.
Back then, us foals were the ones tasked with reclaiming salvage from the wrecks, since we were small enough to fit in tight spaces. That's when I found Winona. She's as big as I was back then, and it took all my strength to drag her out, but once I had her, I knew I never needed nothing else. She was special. All the other weapons we find shoot little beams of light that'll set trees on fire if you're not careful, but Winona shoots metal pellets. She eats 'em too, and I gotta keep her fed bits of metal if I don't want to run out of ammo. The pellets react to my mood; that's where the name Hollow Point comes from. If a little hole appears in the end of one of the pellets, like when I get that empty feeling from killing one of the walker mechs only to see two more take its place, then whatever I hit with it explodes real good and I don't have to shoot as much. There's never anything inside those machines, though, so still no idea what They really are.
Winona's my cutie mark. I named her after my dog. I miss that dog.
That was all before Celestia and Luna disappeared, of course. Most think they were captured by one of the discs, but nopony's ever been sure. The few who survived that day said the Princesses vanished in a flash of light, then one of the discs took off and the rest moved ahead, turning Canterlot into rubble. They even destroyed the mountain the palace had sat on. With Canterlot in ruins, we didn't know what to do; eventually, we ended up here.
I heft Winona and wave to Longshot; we've seen enough. Carrying Winona around got me real good and strong; I could barely lift her when I first got her, but I trained and trained and now I'm almost as big as my brother. I wish Applejack could see -- no, I take that back, I don't. She never deserved to see any of this. I don't care if she was one of our best scrappers, none of us deserved to see this.
Crusader Squad reconvenes behind the bluff and Longshot fills us in on what she saw.
"They're just doing the same thing over and over: they touch a plant, it glows, then it looks like they have a conversation."
"Can ya hear anything?"
"No. They've never talked before and they aren't now."
I shake my head. "I don't like this. Somethin's up; we gotta tell Grand pronto."
They don't need me to tell them to move out, or to be quiet. We're a good unit; we can communicate a lot without saying anything, plus these things hear real good and there's a lot of underbrush in this area, so everypony's well aware of the danger. We take our time picking our way back to the path, but wouldn't you know it, it's not pointing the same direction it was when we came out here. Instead of running north-south, now it comes down from the north and bends back northwest.
Longshot kicks at the dirt. "Luna dammit!"
"Shush, Long. Helter, you all right?"
She shakes her head, eyes squeezed shut. "I'm so sick of this stupid forest!"
From the way she's shaking, it looks like she's two seconds away from another freakout. I wish I had some way to calm her, to comfort her. It's one of those things I think I've forgotten how to do, like it's some ancient ritual lost to the ravages of time. All I can do is hope that she gets over it. Longshot looks away, but I keep my eyes on Helter, and she looks back at me. After a minute, her shivering quells and she takes a deep breath.
"I'm okay, Holl. Sorry."
"Good. We're not lost, we only hafta go back north. Don't let this get to ya."
We fall in, trotting up the path, the forest pressing in around us, always dark. The Everfree has a way of keeping you on your toes. We use it for shelter, but it's still no friend, and every time you turn around, it's laughing at you. I almost think the forest enjoys this; having all these ponies inside it means it's not lonely anymore, but that sure don't make it good company.
There's always something moving out of the corner of your eye, some shadow that may or may not be stalking you. I've learned to ignore it -- usually, it's nothing -- but Helter's really on edge, so I stay close to her. Even Longshot's wings are rustling, her eyes searching the treeline back and forth, back and forth. Nothing's out there, but she's got me on edge now. I pick up the pace.
Halfway back to base, there's a blast of light. It makes an unearthly keening that rides up into the tips of your ears and rattles your teeth. The sound's more bearable when you're fighting for your life than when you're straining your hearing to make sure there really isn't anything following you. I crouch down, swinging Winona to bear, and see Longshot, eyes glued to her rifle scope.
"Gotcha!" she cries, cradling the weapon. She's smirking.
"Dammit, Long, was that really necessary?"
She shrinks back, turning around, looking like she'd forgotten we were even there. Helter's pressed up against my flank, hooves over her head. We need to get her back to base, now.
"It was a cockatrice," Long says with a sniff, and looks away. "I think. Just making sure."
I grit my teeth. "Lieutenant...!" I still hate pulling rank on my unit, given all we've been through. "Just... keep it holstered until we get back, okay? Unless something actually jumps out. Things are spooky enough around here without you shootin' at everything that moves!"
Her face is covered in resentment, but she does as told. "Yes, Major." We don't have any more incidents, though the foliage at our side rustles at one point. Nothing emerges.
Base Aleph is built into a cliff beside the Everfree River, a dank but cozy fortification in the forest's upper heart. We had a dummy base, Base Beth, in the Whitetail Woods for a while, but it was smoked out eventually, and of course Canterlot burned to the ground years ago. We stay here because They won't come in after us. Yet.
The guards are our two best camouflage experts, ensuring maximum concealment for our headquarters. If not for the entry and exit of our forces and the occasional visit from the local river serpent, you'd never know this was anything but a hole in a wall.
That serpent brings us news from elsewhere in the forest every now and again, and he likes to stop and chat with the Colonel. He's not nearly as cheerful as he once was, according to her, but who can blame him? He hasn't come around for a while, though. Too bad.
The guards know us so it only takes a called password to gain entry; we never even see them. The immediate entrance is dark, but we all know the way through the branching tunnels so seeing isn't necessary. If you start to feel like you're getting lost, running a hoof along the wall works. There's indentations that make different noises depending on which way you go, plus it lets 'em know you're coming.
About seventy paces in, you start noticing the light, and the fact that there really isn't anything to notice in a cave entrance even when you can see. Pony-made or no, it's just a bunch of rocks. We double-time it down the corridor and into the heart of our base, a brightly-light vaulted chamber with a topside entrance, it reaches up so high. You'd better believe that thing's under twenty-four hour guard.
"Welcome back, Crusaders."
The voice is smooth, collected: the voice of the Colonel. She's looking tired, but then she has since this whole war of attrition in the Everfree started. Her mane is primly styled as usual, curly and purple, her uniform sharp and pressed, despite the fact that things like looking good and having nice mane aren't exactly combat effective. My squadmates and I keep ours short, dyed neutral, and under bandanas, or a helmet in Helter's case.
I salute her and wait for the at-ease. She may be Helter's sister, but that doesn't mean we get any special treatment. The same thing's true when it comes to my brother.
"Report, Major."
"Is the General in? I think he's gonna want to hear this."
The Colonel's neatly-plucked eyebrows lift. "He's asleep, but I'll go and get him at once. Wait here!"
I nod and she trots off to the General's quarters. I turn to Longshot and Helter and tell 'em they can skedaddle, if they want to. They do; it's always worth taking a breather when you can, and Helter still looks like she really needs one. After they leave, I gaze at the Wall of Heroes.
I see it all the time, but it's still impressive. Pictures and paintings of all those we've lost, surrounding five very important portraits. The Colonel's is one of them, though she doesn't really like it being up there. I used to know them all.
Fluttershy died in the initial assault. Her cottage was vaporized before we even knew what was going on. I'm glad she didn't live to witness any of this. She was gentler than even Helter; the stress would have been too much for her. We lost a lot of gentle ponies that day, of course, but with her gone our frontline offense, the Elements of Harmony, was kneecapped. They couldn't be used, and trying to find a pony kind enough to take Fluttershy's place went too slowly to do any good.
We lost Pinkie next. A building collapsed on top of her as she was rushing a bunch of foals to safety. They lived, she didn't; that's the way of war. She was a gentle soul, too, always laughing and singing songs to keep morale up, but none of us had ever realized she was that brave.
Rainbow Dash and my sister were some of our best fighters, of course. Rainbow flew with the Wonderbolts in the Manehattan Assaults, but it was only a matter of time before her luck ran out. She died a warrior's death, and took two flying discs with her.
As for Applejack... My eyes still mist over a little when I think about her. She headed Base Beth, in the Whitetail Woods, until the bitter end. Saved at least two dozen good ponies because of it. I'd always thought she'd be with us until the final fight, but... I guess fate had a different plan.
Rarity of course survived, by virtue of being lucky and keeping away from major skirmishes. As her friends died one by one, she got braver, and more and more competent with leadership. She always did have a level head on her withers. Nowadays, she does everything the General can't, and the whole operation runs smoothly thanks to her.
Of course, I'm leaving somepony out, but that's because I'm the one who ripped her picture down off the wall. Ain't nopony put it back up yet, so I guess that's that.
The Colonel comes back out, with the General in tow. She wears metal shoes so he can hear to follow her. Seeing my brother this way used to hurt, but I guess all pain comes to an end eventually; now I'm just glad he's here to lead us.
He's lost a little weight over the past few years, partly on account of not bucking apples all day, and partly because we all have; the living ain't exactly easy. Mostly, it's just that his eyes aren't there anymore, so he wears bandages to cover 'em. He lost them in the same fight that cost us Pinkie Pie, but since then he's been using his mind's eye to guide us in combat. There's nopony better at planning assaults, ambushes, retreats: anything tactical, really. That's why we call him Grand Scheme. I never knew he had it in him.
He never did, either.
"Hollow?"
"Sir!"
I salute, even though he can't see it. The Colonel gets really bent when protocol isn't followed. It doesn't matter, though, since he bumbles over and tries to wrap a leg around me; there's no convincing him to treat me like a soldier and not a little sister. He doesn't react when I dodge it and begin my debrief.
"We found something at the edge of sector 12."
He nods. "What's up?"
I bring him up to speed on what we saw. You can tell he's listening because he keeps his head down and stays still. It's like he hears with every fiber of his body, and if he moved, he'd miss something. After my report, his head sinks lower. That's not a good sign.
"Sounds like the start of the end." He says it softly, and suddenly looks ten years older. The Colonel nudges him with the tip of her muzzle, worry occupying her face.
"I guess it's time," he continues, "to execute Plan TR. You know what to do, Colonel; it's in your hooves."
She nods and gives him a long nuzzle, before he plods slowly back to his quarters without a guide. He's dragging so much that, if he wasn't held together by skin, I think he'd just start leaving bits of himself behind.
"What's Plan TR, Colonel?"
She gives her head a tiny shake. "You'll know when the time is right, Major. Get yourself rested, your squadmates as well; you three will accompany me in the morning. I'll give you the rundown then."
I nod and salute, but something's not sitting right. It's not like either of them to be so secretive. Good communication has always kept our operations running smoothly, and I'm not used to being left out of the loop; it must be really serious.
It's definitely got me worried, because all of a sudden I'm in the mess hall, staring at a bowl of untouched slop, and I ain't been thinking of nothing else the whole time since I got here. Helter and Longshot are with me, and Long's telling one of her war stories for the dozenth time. She always adds way more danger and explosions to them than is accurate or really necessary, but the younger troops enjoy 'em.
Like Pathfinder there. He's the leader of Trailblazer Squad, who map the forest's twists and changes and keep the supply lines open. He's a patchwork of brown blotches on white, giving him some nice natural camouflage in the daytime. The compass rose on his hindquarters attests to just how good he is at finding his way pretty much anywhere.
He and his squad, they're all orphans, which isn't to say most of us aren't either, but they all lost their parents at the same time, in the same stroke. He'd been living with his aunt, and his parents were just getting into town from Trottingham when the attack came. They were met at the train station by the mothers of Feedback, our best communications expert. Then Stargazer, who's night ops, her mom was the mailpony, and she blundered right into it. Couldn't see too well.
Three lives, ruined in an instant, all the same way. It was a real bonding experience, I guess; they've been inseparable since. Except right now, Pathfinder's making eyes at Longshot -- he always does this -- and I have half a mind to bond my hoof with his face. She's never noticed, but we don't need that kind of emotionality taxing morale.
It's only half a mind though; a fight would be far worse.
I'm suddenly very aware of Winona's weight in the harness on my back, like a yoke dragging my head toward the earth. Pathfinder's got a simple colthood crush on my sniper, because he's just a colt. In that moment, I see all of us for who we really are: little foals with pretend water squirters, running around playing Ponies and Buffaloes. Bang, you're dead! Don't get up, you're dead and that's the rules. Whose idea was it to turn kids into soldiers? Was it so necessary to kill the parents and leave the children behind to clean up the mess? It's crushingly unfair.
But that's life, isn't it? You don't get your cutie mark when you want it, only when it's necessary, and suddenly you're a pro at toting heavy weapons and mowing down bad guys while all around you light blasts are incinerating everything they touch. You wait all your life to grow up and then suddenly you're raining hot lead on a living machine at fifteen paces and hoping it'll fall over before it shoots you between the eyes, and it's too late to go back and be a kid and have fun because now life is just about avoiding death. One slipup, one bullet too few, and bang, you're dead. You fall down and don't get back up because that's the rule.
It's enough to make you want to just lay down and never move again.
"Colonel wants us with her in the morning."
Helter's head snaps up. "What'd we do?"
It's almost enough to make me laugh, and Longshot actually does.
"Nothing, it's a mission; covert ops."
"Ain't that our gig, then?" Pathfinder leans across the table, his eyes still fixed on Longshot.
"Sorry, Path, Colonel requested Crusader Squad. Top secret, can't tell ya nothin' more." Normally, I'd get a little bit of satisfaction out of one-upping his team, but not today.
"You mean she wouldn't even tell you what it was." Longshot grins eagerly at me from across the table. She gets way too excited about this stuff.
I snort. "Said we'd find out everything come daylight; best to get some shuteye." I stand, my food untouched. I may regret that in the morning. "That's exactly what I aim to do, if you'll excuse me."
I take off without waiting for a reply. Longshot goes back into her story, urged on by Pathfinder. Feedback and Stargazer chat with Helter. Once upon a time, it might have been about something pleasant; we might have all been friends, laughing, playing, or whatever it is foals do together. We can't do things like that anymore. Like I said, in some ways, it's unfair.
But it's useless weeping over what's been lost. We're soldiers now, fighting's our purpose in life. In a way, we need that unfairness to keep ourselves going. We fight because it's all we know how to do; we fight to keep ourselves sane. I hate to think about and end to the war because I don't know what I'd do. A peaceful Equestria doesn't need soldiers, yet I can't see a military Equestria as being anything worth fighting for. It would be a curse on the name Equestria if that's all we had when this is all over.
I hope I'm not this depressed tomorrow.
"So what's Plan TR, Colonel?"
We're kitted out for a day's hike, so it's obviously not going to be a sweeping infiltration or a grand adventure. The Colonel sniffs at me.
"Patience, Major, not 'til we're topside. If you three will please accompany me, we shall begin."
Without awaiting a reply, she turns and leads us down one of the side tunnels. I'm pretty sure this one just leads to storage areas; in fact, I'm not even certain there's anything down here that isn't blocked off or empty. I turn to Longshot, who just shrugs, obviously thinking the same thing. But the Colonel, her horn lighting the dark passage, continues onward, finally stopping at a blank stone wall.
No, wait, it's not completely blank; I can just make out faint outlines of... it looks like writing. What's going on?
"Now, if I can just remember the proper harmonics... Ah, yes." She turns to Helter. "If you would, please."
Helter looks at me. I shrug and she steps up to join her sister, who whispers something in her ear. Two emphatic nods later and they're casting a spell together. I don't know anything about magic, being an earth pony and all, so it's just a bunch of sparks and colored lights as far as I'm concerned. After a second, all those bits of writing that I can just make out on the wall flare to life, and then the wall splits in half and slides open, revealing a short passageway and a fully lit chamber beyond it.
"Quickly, now." The Colonel trots in and we follow; the door slides shut once I'm through. I've seen ponies torn apart by hot light weapons dozens of times over the past six years and I've never had such a knot of anxiety in my stomach as I do right now. I don't like this.
The room's a bit larger than the standard issue quarters, about five ponies high in the center and domed like the main area of the base. The stone lining the walls is the same rough-hewn grey drabness as the rest, but on the smooth floor is inscribed a circle, just carved down a little into the rock, with six smaller circles set on its perimeter and a seventh in the middle.
"I'm sure you're all wondering what, precisely, it is that we are doing. Plan TR is simple: I will begin by teleporting the three of us to Dragon Mountain."
Dragon Mountain? But that's where...
"Unfortunately, the foci of this teleportation circle were installed hurriedly, so we may appear quite some distance from the target. We must therefore be prepared for anything upon materialization. After establishing our position, we will proceed to the mountain's summit and retrieve--"
"Twilight Sparkle."
The name leaves a dusty taste in my mouth.
"That is correct, Major, but please, do not interrupt. Your task is to guard me on this mission while I... hopefully secure the target."
I haven't seen the Colonel this unsure about anything in a long time, but I can't hardly blame her.
"Positions, please."
We each step into one of the small circles, spaced evenly, and the Colonel stands in the one in the center. It's over in a heartbeat. Her horn flares, there's a dome of light and then we're in the middle of a forest on the side of a mountain. Ready for anything, she said.
"Longshot, take point! Helter, you stay close to the Colonel. Eyes peeled, Crusaders!" I can hear something moving in the trees. I think we may have just zapped into the middle of a hostile zone.
"Ten o'clock!" Longshot cries, leveling her rifle and firing. I pull Winona and unload in that direction, even though I can't see anything.
"Long, what's the hostile?"
She spits. "Wyvern!"
Dang blasted... If it's not Them trying to kill us, it's Equestria. The Everfree doesn't even reach this far!
"Colonel?" I glance over. She's aimed a spyglass up the mountain.
"We're almost at the treeline! Press forward!"
We start scrambling up the rocky slope, keeping her covered as the beast, a half-sized dragon with wings for arms and sickly gray scales, crashes through the trees into our line of sight. Able to see it, I put it down easily, but there's at least three more out there, if the cries we just heard are any indicator. Weapons up, we book for the path and start climbing.
Luckily, the wyverns don't follow us, which is strange, since we're completely exposed out here. The peak of Dragon Mountain looms coldly above, threatening us with frigid winds and avalanches. Beyond that, there isn't much between us and our target, though.
Twilight Sparkle, the Element of Magic: one of the greatest unicorn mages in Equestrian history, from what I've been told. She showed up in Ponyville out of the blue all those years ago, a loner and a shut-in who somehow befriended my sister and the others and saved Equestria time and time again. Then, when They came, she turned coward.
First, she led the Canterlot defense to its inevitable demise. With the Princesses gone, she'd tried and failed to organize the offensive side of the war. As her friends died, she started whining about how everything was her fault, and after we lost Spike -- he sacrificed himself getting us all out of Canterlot as it fell -- she declared herself to be useless and disappeared, just up and vanished. It took us years to find out where she'd gone, and once we had, she repelled all who came up to the mountain until we left her alone.
What did the General say? "The beginning of the end"? That sounds pretty serious, now that I think of it. That we'd be looking for a traitor when everything's coming down around us, when she already abandoned us once... Well, let's just say I'm not sure I won't put a bullet in her skull when we find her.
"Major, is something the problem?"
Must've been grinding my teeth. "Nothing, sir."
She raises an eyebrow. "Somehow, I do not believe that. What's on your mind, soldier?"
I look away. "If I told you, it might be insubordination."
"Not happy with our current mission, then?"
I nod.
"Hollow Point, the situation is this: Grand Scheme believes that what you three witnessed were Them testing the boundaries of the Everfree Forest. It may yet be a while, but eventually They will come back and start tearing it apart, tree by tree. Whatever it was that kept Them out of our home, They are either no longer afraid of it, or have found a way around it. We have to act now, and destroy Them once and for all, before they can destroy us."
"But why do we have to..." I stop myself. I'm treading dangerous ground.
She narrows her eyes, dispensing her words in a measured tone. "Permission to speak freely, Major."
All right, then. "She's useless. She dropped the ball when ponies were counting on her, then folded like a house of cards. I saw my friends and family killed before my own eyes, just like she did, but I didn't curl up in the corner to cry. I took all the anger and pain and used it to get stronger! Twilight Sparkle is a traitor and a weakling, and bringing her back is just gonna make things worse!" I'm panting now. The Colonel looks at me like she's trying to look through me.
"Noted. Do you desire to no longer take part in this mission?"
I'm aware that Helter and Longshot are watching me intently. "No, ma'am. I'll finish this mission and keep my mouth shut."
"Good. We've arrived."
The path widens up here, into a dead-end plain in front of a cave mouth. The wind is threatening to whip my bandana off my head. Aside from that, it's eerily still. It sure doesn't feel like anypony lives up here. Maybe she moved after we found her.
The Colonel takes a step forward and I see something start to glow out of the corner of my eye.
"Colonel!"
"Rarity!"
There's an explosion. Helter, who's been sticking close to her sister the entire time, throws her clear a second early. A voice, deep and angry, booms out over the plateau.
"Go 'way! No visitors! Nopony here!"
The dust makes me choke as I shake tiny rocks off myself, and look to where Helter and the Colonel are lying. They both get up; neither is hurt. Thank Celestia for that medic.
The Colonel sniffs, straightening her uniform via magic. "It would seem that we are unwelcome. As if that ever stopped me before, Twilight Sparkle!" She lights her horn, and a dozen runes on the ground begin glowing, forming a complex pattern leading towards the cave mouth. The light intensifies, until one by one they snuff out. "There! That should take care of any more surprises."
The hair on the back of my neck is still standing on end. Longshot gives voice to my thoughts.
"Colonel, she's gone crazy. There's no way she'll help us."
She glares at Longshot, silently daring her to countermand her orders. "We shall just see about that, Lieutenant!" Turning forward, she marches to the cave entrance. "Twilight? Twilight! You come out here this instant, I need to speak with you!"
"No Twilight here!" calls a voice. I'm pretty sure that doesn't sound like Twilight, not from what I remember. "Go 'way, go play with the wyverns!"
I shiver. "She controls those things...?"
"Twilight...!" The Colonel stamps her hoof. "Don't make me come in there after you!"
We crowd behind her and peer into the blackness. There's really no seeing past the immediate entrance; I'll bet it's probably darkened with a spell of some kind. The Colonel changes her tone: less demanding, more placating.
"Twilight, it's Rarity. Don't tell me you've forgotten your friend, Twilight! That's not like you!"
Our weapons spring to the ready as the shadows suddenly shift. Somepony -- some thing -- crawls out from them. It's covered entirely in dirty brown mane that covers it from poll to rump and obscures its face. I can just make out a horn sticking up through it. The deep, creaky voice speaks again.
"No Twilight here, just Night. No friends. Go 'way."
The Colonel presses on. "Twilight, I know it's you. Stop this silly charade at once!" Her magic lifts the mane out of the thing's face and...
It's Twilight.
She shrinks back. It looks like she hasn't slept in years, and even her face is dirty, but I'd recognize it anywhere. My triggerhoof is itching; I could say it was a misfire. I feel a hoof on mine, pushing Winona down. Helter shakes her head and I meet her eyes for a moment before looking away.
The thing that was once Twilight Sparkle squints and blinks in the sunlight, looking first at the Colonel, then at us.
"Rarity... Why?" The vocal disguise is gone.
"You have to come back with us, Twilight. We need you."
Twilight shakes her head. "No. No, I'm not Twilight anymore. I'm Night, that's my name, and Night is useless and nopony needs her."
"Colonel, can't we just..."
She ignores me and raises a hoof, smacking Twilight sharply across the face. Stunned, the other unicorn flops back onto her haunches, tears forming at the corners of her eyes.
"You listen to me, Twilight Sparkle! Things are too dire right now for petty self-recriminations. You are not useless and you never have been! When you left all those years ago, nopony stopped you because we knew you needed some time to grieve, not to mention we simply couldn't follow you because you teleported. Then after we found you, you attacked us! So we've waited this long, too long perhaps, to bring you this message: We need you, Twilight, we always have. I..."
She pauses, looks down. "Things have gotten desperate. It's likely we face the final confrontation in this war, and total annihilation with it. With your help, we have a far better chance of survival."
Twilight's mane rustles as she shakes her head, filtering back down over her eyes. "No. I'll just let you all down like I did before."
The Colonel takes a step forward. "There's another reason, Twilight, before you refuse. Grand... I mean, Big Macintosh and I want to get married, before we launch our assault. We want you to officiate."
There's a gasp from all present, Twilight included. Winona slips from my grasp and thunks onto the dusty rock.
"No!" I say it before I even realize what's going on. "You brought us all the way up here to have this traitor do a wedding? Are you out of your mind?"
The Colonel's eyes flash. "Major!"
"Holl, stop..." I'm vaguely aware of Helter's closeness.
"No! I ain't riskin' my flank for this! We should be training, fortifying... Buildin' weapons, I don't know! Anything but standing on top of a dusty mountain pleading with a dirty, crazy coward to come back and help us throw a party! She tried to kill us, twice!"
Hooves wrap around my midsection, pulling me backward, and Longshot growls in my ear. "Stop, it's not worth it, dammit!"
"You don't win wars this way!" My eyes sting. "You have to be strong, brave, tough! Not... Not whatever it is we're doin' right now!"
"Apple Bloom."
Hearing that name, I stop moving. Nopony calls me Apple Bloom anymore. Twilight lifts her head, and her mane parts so she can look straight at me.
"What's the point of winning a war if you've got nothing worth winning it for? If you spend your whole life getting stronger, eventually you'll become the strongest, and then what?"
She stands, wincing as she paces out into the light. "I've spent a lot of time alone, thinking... Do you want to know why I ran away?" Her eyes sparkle behind the dirty mane.
"I regret it now, but at the time, I thought our situation was hopeless. I saw my friends slip away from me because they were wrapped up in the fighting. I saw you, growing tougher and more distant by the day until you were no longer the happy, bouncy filly I once knew. Everypony has to grow up someday, but nopony should have to grow up the way you did. And because there was no hope anymore, and I couldn't think of a way to bring our hope back, I ran.
"You said I'm weak, and you're right; I've always run away from problems I can't face head-on." She looks at the ground and I suddenly feel ashamed. "I made the exploding runes and kept the wyverns under control to keep visitors out so I wouldn't have to face my problems ever again."
She lifts her head. "But now I see why you four came out here. Rarity, I don't know if I can fight for you, but if you want me to marry you and Big Macintosh, I will. If life can go on as normal even when our world is crumbling around our ears, then I think that's... It's a sign of hope, blooming anew." She sniffs and closes her eyes. "That's something worth fighting for."
The Colonel smiles and releases a sigh. "Thank you, Twilight."
"But..."
More hooves wrap around me; I'm not straining against them anymore. Helter, why are you holding me back? I feel pressure around my barrel. What are they doing?
Helter whispers, "I'm sorry I let you get this way."
"Me too," adds Longshot.
I squeeze my eyes shut. All the wind and the dust is making them water, and it burns.
In my mind, I can see a tunnel. As I walk down it, a light shines from the far end. Within the light is Equestria: beautiful, peaceful Equestria, as it was and as it will be when this war is over, if we can win. A voice tells me I don't have to fight anymore. I get closer and closer, and as I do, the light intensifies until it blinds me, and it blinds until it burns me.
I struggle against the light, against my captors, against this claustrophobic future clawing at the edge of my unfairness. I have to keep fighting. Fighting's all I have left.
Don't make me go into the light.