True Colors

Through Crimson

Twilight Sparkle shifted uneasily as she sat behind a wall of rubble in the street along with the rest of her squad. She could hear the sounds of battle in the distance, and it worried her more than when they took the city. She was technically in the middle of a battle, and she was doing nothing. Her instincts and training both screamed at her to be moving. To look for a target, and take them out before moving onto the next one. She had to wait, though. That wasn’t her position. She was to wait until the enemy came to her. Which may never happen, and if it didn’t then how many lives would be lost that wouldn’t have if she had been in the battle? Twilight wasn’t prideful, but she wasn’t stupid either. Her master taking the time to personally train her in combat. The compliments she received from the alicorn on her skill, and the looks of surprise and awe on others' faces when they watched sometimes. The young mare knew she was powerful, but now that power was going to waste.

She glared at her commanding officer. The stallion was staring out over the rubble. He was starting to grate on her nerves. He shot down every idea she had. He wanted them to wait, but Twilight felt they should be out patrolling. The enemy had to proceed through the camp ringing the city to get in, but who said they had to come from one direction? All the republic forces were either at the gate or spread throughout the city. What if a pegasus, who could fly over the walls they’d erected, managed to escape from the battle? He could get in easy, and start wreaking havoc without anyone being the wiser. Patrolling would eliminate that issue.

Cold Water, however, felt they should wait to ambush anyone who came. Twilight wasn’t an expert strategist, and she had admitted there were advantages to that plan. They’d have a better chance of dealing with a larger group than if they were patrolling, and they’d certainly have better defense. It wouldn’t help if someone snuck up behind them, though, but there was no arguing with Cold Water. He refused to listen, and he refused to budge.

The young mare looked at the four other ponies near her. They were all watching Cold Water dutifully for the signal that would likely not come for awhile. They were soldiers, she would give them that, but they were also sheep. They did as their commanding officer told them. They didn’t object. They didn’t question, and they didn’t offer alternatives. They were dutiful, and that was it. It disgusted Twilight, to her own surprise. Nightmare Moon had taught her many things, but chief among them was creativity. You must see all your options to make the best choice, even ones no one else would ever think of, and if you’re harder to predict then you’re harder to counter. Both these things came with creativity. There was more to it than that, of course, but none that fit her situation at the moment. These soldiers were uncreative. They would fight like soldiers, and they would die like soldiers. Twilight had no intention of dying this day.

To say the least, things were not going as Decurion Duster expected. For one, the fire spells and burning arrows that had made contact with the log wall surrounding Stalliongrad were not taking well. The wood was too thick and damp. It was always humid this far north, so this wouldn’t have been surprising had Duster been from the region. Even if it didn’t rain, the logs were too wet to burn. The other bit was the worse news.

It was total chaos in the field. Not two seconds had passed from when the first shot was fired that those who were swayed by Nightmare Moon made themselves known. In an instant at least half, perhaps more or less as Duster was in no position to count, of the troops had turned on him, and now soldiers of the Grand Army were fighting each other. What was worst of all was that there was no way to distinguish friend from foe. None of the rebelling soldiers did anything to identify themselves. They simply fought. Which meant that now no one trusted anyone. The only advantages they had were that the rebelling soldiers were in as much of a pickle as them, and that the republic forces were not attacking yet. Duster could only assume they valued the soldiers they could get from this, and he thanked Nightmare for that, despite the fact she was now his enemy.

A soldier lunged at Duster with a shortsword in mouth, but the Decurion bounced the blow back. Fluidly, he followed the blow up with a counter slash to the unprotected side of his assailant’s neck. Then he quickly retracted the blade, allowing the twitching corpse to fall, and blocked the sword of another foe that had attempted to flank him. Duster had not used to be a Chief Decurion for nothing. It took more than just commanding skill to rise to such a rank. The earth stallion shoved his opponent back only for the mare’s head to be skewered by a javelin thrown from elsewhere.

Duster didn’t even have time to think before another enemy engaged him. However, this one backed off after recognizing him, but the soldier found his life quickly ended when a bolt of electricity from a unicorn roasted him alive. It was madness. Fortunately, it was not to last much longer.

It took the Decurion awhile to notice, but the fighting began to slowly die as soldiers galloped for Stalliongrad’s wall, quickly discarding their helmets. Duster didn’t question this. He had to take this moment to regroup. Jamming his sword into the ground to clear his mouth he shouted, “All those still loyal to the Empire form up on me!”

Immediately, his soldiers began recover. Gathering their wits, they started forming defensive lines only for pegasi in non-uniform armor to begin dive-bombing them. The Lunar Republic was beginning its attack.

Nightmare Moon had not been entirely pleased when the troops she hoped to recruit turned in on themselves, slaughtering each other. Ideally they would’ve all turned to the Republic’s service, but, then, ideally the entirety of the Celestial Empire would rebel. Which would be foolish to hope for. Still, even as it was, things were going better than if no one had listened to her. That did not mean things were going well, though. Sure, the Republic could just sit back and watch as the grand army soldiers tore each other apart, but that would leave little to no new recruits from among them. The Lunar Republic needed to press forward, and capture more towns and territory if it was to be anything significant, let alone the nation changing force it wanted to be. Yet it could not hold Stalliongrad, a single town, and press forward at the same time. The Republic was in dire need of troops, and Nightmare could not allow their only chance at recruits to pass them by.

The alicorn had set to work as quickly as she could, and crouched against the rampart to protect herself as she acted. Via magic, her mind flew from one grand soldier’s psyche to the next, and quickly sorted through for the soldiers’ motivation, doing her best not to damage their minds in the process. She left those who fought for the Empire alone, and targeted the ponies who now believed in her words. She planted in their minds a subtle but insistent urging to rally at the gates of Stalliongrad, and discard their helmets so they could be told apart from the Republic’s enemies.

Small streams of ponies began to do as they were instructed, unknowingly, but on this scale what Nightmare Moon was attempting was a difficult task, even for her. It would take her time to complete. As she was doing this, however, the republic forces did not remain idle. Pegasi took to flight under the command of Hail Bolt, and began to bombard the enemy soldiers to keep them at bay while the Republic’s new allies rallied at the gate.

Hail Bolt and four other pegasi dove from the sky, weapons in mouth, directly at the front line of the enemy. She was uncertain how many of her ponies found their mark, but her dagger met flesh. She expertly drove it under the high collar located on the front of most grand army plate armor, to protect the throat, and thrust the blade into her opponent’s neck. Quickly, she withdrew her dagger, and began a rapid ascent to avoid retaliation from any of her dead target’s allies.

As she rose, the blue pegasus checked her sides to see the rest of her group rising in synchronization. Pleased that they had made it, she changed her ascent into a large loop by turning on her back in the air, and then beginning a descent as fast as the climb up. Picking a target, she flew straight for him, but he was able to bring his sword to bear in time to block her strike. Having no time to waste, she slammed her hooves into him, using her momentum and strength to knock him down, and bolted into the air again. This tactic wasn’t so much about killing as it was delaying the Grand Army’s recovery. Checking ahead real quick, she saw several other teams of pegasi doing the same as her group further into the mass of enemy soldiers. She could’ve sworn she saw a few missing from the supposed-to-be groups of five, but she didn’t have time to be certain as she made another loop.

This time, however, the enemy was prepared. Arrows, bolts, and a few spells were launched at the republic pegasi. Forcing them to dodge, and swerve off path a little. Hail Bolt evaded the missiles with some effort, but only narrowly managed to clip a pony’s ear with her dagger before beginning the loop again. She thought it odd, on her way back up, that none of the enemy pegasi had taken to the air to counter them. Did all the pegasi in this contingent convert to the Republic’s side? Were there no enemy pegasi in the first place? Each seemed rather unlikely, but as Hail Bolt caught sight of the massing traitors to the Empire they did seem like a larger group than what was still attacking. There was no one else moving between the groups either. Whatever Nightmare Moon had been up to, she was done.

Hail Bolt turned her loop into a dive, and landed amongst the new recruits. “Who here bears no loyalty to the Empire?” She called out loudly, ready to fly if the force assembled was not what she thought.

In response, however, she received a raucous shout from all the troops around her. Soldiers wearing the black armor of the Grand Army. Cheering. It was so familiar. Too familiar. She couldn’t focus on that right now. There was a battle to be won here. “Then follow me!” She ordered, tucking her wings into her sides, and charged through the crowd to lead them back to battle.

Twilight’s patience was wearing thin. What was going on? Were they winning? Losing? Had any soldiers been swayed by her master’s words? It was so aggravating waiting here. Once upon a time she would’ve been just as patient as any of her squad, and maybe she still could be under different circumstances. However, now was a battle, and from her current position she had no fucking clue what was going on. Her master could be dead for all she knew! The thought made the lavender mare stop, and her blood began to run cold. She quickly fought it off with a vicious shake of her head. There was no way Nightmare Moon could be dead. She was too strong to just be killed by some random soldier.

Twilight’s thoughts were interrupted by a scream from a few streets over. The unicorn went rigid, and pointed her ears in the direction of the sound, trying to hear more. It was difficult to tell, but it almost sounded like there was a struggle. She took a few steps towards the edge of the street only to be halted by a shout from behind, “Stop!”

Turning, she saw Cold Water glaring down at her. “Where do you think you’re going?” He asked in an annoyed voice.

“There was a scream. I’m going to check it out.” Twilight answered, trying to remain respectful.

“Your place is here.” Her commanding officer responded.

“But someone might be in trouble. We should help them.” She argued.

“We are to wait her for grand army forces, and ambush them when they come.” Cold Water pointed out in growing agitation.

“We’re here because we’re supposed to protect the civilians. What good will we do them if we hide, and let them come to harm?” Twilight rebutted, her own aggravation rising.

“It is an ambush. We take our enemy by surprise. THEN we go around killing any we find.” The unicorn stallion explained as if she were stupid.

“And what if the enemy doesn’t come down this road? Should we just sit out every chance we have to help? What if it’s pegasi that come? They’ll see us from above, and ambush us instead!” Twilight growled.

Cold Water scowled and threatened, “Cease being insubordinate right now, or Nightmare Moon will hear about this!”

“Go ahead and tell her!” Twilight replied, and cantered away without further word.

She had nothing to fear from her master knowing. She was right, and the alicorn would see that. Twilight stopped as she heard hoofsteps behind her, and turned to see the earth pony from her squad following her. “You’re coming?” She asked in surprise.

The earth stallion hesitated before nodding an affirmative. “Yes ma’am. You’re right, ma’am.” He replied.

Twilight allowed herself a small smile. It seemed some ponies were willing to listen to her. She waved for him to keep following, and continued down the alley between streets.

After crossing over several roads Twilight came into the middle of one in particular to find a pegasus mare in black leather armor digging a spear out of the corpse of a clear noncombatant. The young unicorn was slightly shocked. Her point in being here was to protect civilians true. Yet to actually see an enemy soldier not only have killed a civilian, but, judging by the ruined door to the building not far behind the corpse, to have purposefully hunted one out was repulsive.

The grand army soldier stared her for just a second before flying straight at her. Twilight’s instincts kicked in, and she teleported on top of her assailant. The unicorn was surprised by this, having never teleported on a moving target before, but she didn’t have time to wonder at her own actions. Her weight brought the pegasus mare to the ground, but her foe began struggling underneath her. The pegasus was stronger than Twilight, so the lavender mare acted quickly. Her horn glowed brightly, as she focused her telekinesis around her enemy’s head. Then pushed inward. The pegasus mare’s entire skull caved under the force of Twilight’s magic. Before she had time to rest, though, her ally rushed past her.

The unicorn turned to see the earth stallion buck at one of a group of three more pegasi, forcing the foe to flutter backwards. Twilight quickly resumed a battle stance, and brought her horn to bear. The leftmost pegasus appeared ready to charge, but he quickly found the ground lashing upward to pull him down. The pegasus struggled in vain, his efforts proving worthless. Only for the republic earth stallion to grab his head, and twist his neck.

Taking advantage of Twilight’s distraction, the rightmost pegasus charged her. The lavender unicorn only realized this at the last second, and flinched as she attempted to bring an energy shield to bear. A wet cracking sound made her reopen her eyes to find her attacker hanging onto her half formed shield by a bloody throat. Twilight took a few moments to analyze this, and realize what had happened. Then she smiled proudly as an idea hit her, and she dispelled the shield, allowing the body to drop. Turning her attention back to remaining pegasus, she found her ally taking a shortsword from a trampled corpse. Only then did she notice that the earth stallion had oddly been unarmed.

Pushing the issue aside, she rushed into the broken in house. “Hello!” She called. “Is anyone still alive in here?”

Receiving no response after a moment, Twilight grit her teeth in aggravation at herself, and turned back outside. She scanned the skies, and found that there was a significant more amount of grand army pegasi flying about. They hadn’t seemed to take notice of her, though. They were diving below, and presumably landing on buildings to raid them. Not good. “Ma’am?” A voice asked, and Twilight turned her attention back to the earth pony who was with her.

He appeared worried. “Come on. It’s not safe for the villagers in these buildings anymore. We need to move them. The former Duke’s place would be best.” She ordered, and rushed to next door to check for any civilians.

Hail Bolt narrowly dodged the unicorn’s stomp, but sprang forward like a cat without hesitation. Her dagger dug its way slowly through her opponent’s leather armor, forcing the pegasus to stop mid jump. With a hard jerk, her dagger was free, and there was a long bloody cut down her enemy’s side. The unicorn fell over screaming from the pain. He would be dead soon enough, and she had no time to waste.

Before she could be engaged again, Hail Bolt flew into the air, and took in the scene of the battle. She was uncertain exactly what kind of fortune it was, but not only had the bulk of the regiment sent against them converted to their side. The enemy was losing ponies at a much faster rate, as well. They were winning more effectively now than when they had taken Stalliongrad initially. Granted, the blue mare was concerned by the lack of enemy pegasi, but not one grand army soldier had managed to make it inside the town.

Whoever was in command of these soldiers could not be faulted for underestimating the Republic. Though his pathetic attempt at burning the wall showed he was unfamiliar with combat in the north. The fact was, however, his or her current condition was due to no mistake on their part. After all, it was hard to account for or counter over half your own ponies turning against you.

A nearby boom of thunder alerted Hail Bolt to Nightmare Moon’s turning of the weather against their foes. A clear scorch mark of burnt bodies lay where the lightning had struck. The alicorn seemed to be avoiding using much magic at this time. Which Hail Bolt found curious. Had whatever she done been truly that taxing on the faux deity’s magic? The pegasus had trouble believing that. Whereas she had once doubted the alicorn’s movement of the moon she had seen Nightmare at work on the night several times now, and her faith on that account had been restored. If the former empress was capable of altering the night then, however magic worked, she still had plenty of magical strength left. So why was she avoiding magic? It would do the pegasus no good to bother herself over it. Hail Bolt had a job to do.

She dove back down into the mass of soldiers below her, and picked a random target in plate. Quickly, she jammed her dagger into his eye before he even knew she was there. She didn’t have time to pull it from his corpse, as a large ball of rock slammed into her hip, knocking it out of place. Hail Bolt bit back a scream, and turned to see a unicorn mare charging at her and levitating a conjured blade. The pegasus’ movement would be limited on the ground now, but fortunately she could fly. She pulled out her second knife from its sheath on her chest, and waited until the last second before taking to the air. Her assailant’s blade swiped at nothing, and she was able to circle around to the unicorn’s side. She thrust her dagger forward, but her enemy’s hauberk prevented blade from going in far. Even so, the unicorn neighed in pain and reared, her conjured blade disappearing with her loss of focus. Continuing to hover, Hail Bolt was quick in moving to her enemy’s front, and slitting her throat.

The pegasus did not have time to relax, however. Hearing a rustle of approaching hooves, she turned, and barely blocked the sword strike in time. She was at a disadvantage, though. She was using a smaller weapon, and holding back the sword required strength from her wings since she was hovering, rather than her legs. Needless to say, this was difficult. That’s when she took in her opponent, and both her eyes and his own widened in recognition. This was her old subordinate. Duster. She never even felt the blade slide up from behind her, and cut her throat open.

Nightmare Moon was attempting to aid the battle from a distance. She was not weak by any means, but she had been routing around the minds of hundreds of soldiers. One of the spells she had been using was fueled by stamina, and as such her strength was sapped significantly. Even so, her aid from the sky was, aggravatingly, proving limited in its usefulness. Making lightning strike was easy. It was just a simple stomp of her forehooves. Ensuring that it only roasted enemies was not. It took an amount of carefulness and time she did not have. The republic pegasi weren’t bothering with weather attacks either. They were either dive bombing the enemy, or switching between ground combat and aerial movement. Finally growing fed up with her efforts, Nightmare jumped off the cloud she was on and dove.

A few spells were launched at her, but they hit the invisible bubble that surrounded her, generated by her chest plate’s enchantment. The spells were weakened as they entered the magic dampening field, but even so Nightmare had to grit her teeth at the burning caused by the blasts of energy. She landed directly on top of an enemy stallion, using her weight and momentum to crush him, and a field of dark blue energy extended from her horn, her helmet’s enchantment nullifying the effect of the magic-dampening field on her.

The soldiers about her, enemy and ally, stood in awe for a moment. Their goddess stood before them ready to fight. Eventually, one young stallion forced himself to attack. Swallowing hard, the earth pony charged. Nightmare sent a blast of air from her horn, and tripped him. Before he could climb back up she rushed to him, and used the cone of energy extending from her horn to chop his head off. She wasn’t in a situation to use arkanai properly. She didn’t have much time to waste with annoying her enemies. She needed brutal efficiency.

Two more soldiers, possibly seeking revenge, came for her. Thanks to the exhaustion from her efforts earlier in the battle she did not react in time. The unicorn shot a fireball at her, and though it was weakened by the field around her it still packed enough power that when it slammed into her chest plate it forced her to stumble back. The earth mare took advantage of this, and drove her blade into the alicorn’s shoulder.

Nightmare neighed in pain. Her boots’ enchantment made her skin as tough as leather, but they offered little protection to her insides from the cold steel. She retaliated by rearing, and slamming her hooves into the ground, channeling a spell through them instead. The immediate area quaked, causing her opponents to lose balance. Then, wincing in pain, she telekinetically jerked the sword from her shoulder, and threw it into the unicorn’s face. Just as the earth pony was recovering, she swiped her energy horn across the grand army soldier’s neck, and severed her enemy’s head.

There was more rustling behind her, and she turned to cut off the snout of whoever was stupid enough to attack her next. However, she quickly stopped short when she saw it was one of her newly acquired ponies. “Your highness.” He said with a bow. “The day has been won.”

Nightmare allowed the energy on her horn to dissipate, and looked around. Surely enough, their remaining enemies were dropping their weapons, and pressing themselves into the ground in surrender. The alicorn allowed herself a weary smile. Good. She may be able to gain even more soldiers for the Lunar Republic. The only question on her mind was where were they going to keep these prisoners?

Twilight Sparkle slid to a halt, her charges continuing to hurry forward, and turned around. With hardly a thought, she generated two shields, but stopped forming them when they were only in the shape of foot wide discs. Then she threw them at her pursuers. Her new technique proved useful for the umpteenth time. One disc cut off a pegasus’ wing, causing him to drop, and the other sliced straight through another pegasus’ torso. Energy shield spells apparently made for excellent cutting weapons.

There were at least five more pegasi behind those two, but Twilight was not left alone. Two more republic unicorns were quickly by her side, and shooting balls of magical energy at the enemy. “Go ahead, ma’am. We’ll hold them off.” One said.

“Thank you.” Twilight responded, and hurried after the villagers she had been escorting.

This was the tenth party of civilians the young mare was shepherding, and at twenty strong it was the largest. She hadn’t remained unnoticed by the grand army pegasi for long once she had started gathering civilians, and moving them to safety. Fortunately, Twilight and her earth stallion ally hadn’t remained alone in their efforts. There were other squads in the town set to protect the villagers as well. Whether Twilight had met them moving through the streets or defending homes they had quickly agreed to her plan, and, without even realizing it, she had risen to command of the operation.

The bulk of the republic soldiers in town were protecting the former home of Duke Gravel Pie. As that was where all the civilians were being moved. There were a few soldiers patrolling, though, in attempts to protect the escorts or simply take out as many pegasi as they could. Twilight and six others were the escort. They would go out, and collect the civilians to safely move them. The unicorn had been fortunate enough that Masque Raid had been at the Duke’s old home, and he was now in charge of protecting the villagers already moved.

The thought made Twilight wonder why Hail Bolt, Thunder Cracker, or her master hadn’t sent them any air support. Unless, they didn’t know the Grand Army had made it into the town. The only way the young mare could see that, though, was if the Grand Army’s pegasi had somehow slipped away from the bulk unnoticed to sneak around into town. It was the only thing that made sense.

Twilight caught up with the villagers and her allies just as they arrived at their destination. Pegasus corpses littered the area. The lavender mare could only hope the enemy was thinning at this point. “Open the door!” She shouted, and one of the many ponies guarding the structure knocked on the door to signal this wasn’t a trick.

The door opened, and the villagers hurried for the safe haven. A colt tripped and fell, but Twilight levitated him out harm’s way, saving him from being trampled. Once everyone else was inside she levitated the colt in, and prepared to head out to gather more civilians.

She was halted, however, as a large group of pegasi began flying towards the building. Twilight did not wait or waste time. Immediately, she began creating her shield disks, and tossing them at the enemy. The spell was draining her emotionally, and her mind was beginning to slow down. But she forced herself to continue. If she stopped now she would die, and the civilians her master had charged her with the protection of as well. One disk cut off a pegasus’ hind legs. Another decapitated one, and a third cut another pegasus in half. After that, however, the pegasi began to catch on, and were quickly swerving around her energy disks. However, this left them open to spell and bolt bombardment from the many other ponies present. The enemy pegasi were dropping like flies under the constant shooting, and turned to try to retreat. Their retreat was stopped, though, when they came face to face with Nightmare Moon and the republic pegasi.

Twilight let out a breath she’d unknowingly been holding in all this time, and allowed herself to pant. She felt more exhausted than she should. Regardless, she’d succeeded at her task. The civilians were safe now. If Nightmare was returning, then the battle was likely finished outside of town.

Hail Bolt lay on the ground outside the town. Nopony bothered her, but she was alright with that. She just wanted to rest right now. She was surprised, actually. He breathing came easy and normal. There was no strain to it or wetness from the blood. Actually…she didn’t think she was bleeding anymore, either. She felt pretty normal. Even though the cut was still on her throat.

Her thoughts were cut short when a set of pale hooves stopped in front of her. They seemed oddly far apart. As if the pony, for she was certain that’s what it was, was much taller than a normal one. Her visitor was silent for a moment before a kind feminine voice said, “It’s time to go.”

Go? Go where? She needed to head back to the town sure, but…couldn’t she stay here for a little longer? “You can’t. Not here.” The tall pale mare spoke again, seeming to know what was on her mind.

Wait…Did she mean…? No! Hail Bolt couldn’t leave the Republic! She needed to stay here! She needed to fight! She needed to…The image of Duster’s face swam before her, and she forced herself not to weep at the memory of what they had done all those years ago. “Am I…forgiven?” The pegasus asked as if her visitor could absolve her of her crimes, or even know what she was talking about.

“That’s up to you.” The kind tall pale mare said as she offered one of her forehooves to Hail Bolt. “Take my hoof.”

Author's Note: Right, so it's been way too fucking long. I'm sorry guys. Really. Suffice to say writer's block is a bitch. I know some of you might think that that's what the other hiatus was about. No. That was planning out what I wanted to happen. This was a problem with a single scene in this chapter. And that was...How the FUCK was I going to make the Empire traitors identifiable to the Republic?! I hope I did a good job with that when the answer came to me. At any rate, I'll stop ranting, and let you guys start speculating and telling me what you think.