Rule Number 4, Sub Rule A: Confirmation of Results

A day that will live in infamy...

A black winged figure beat its wings slowly across the battlefield. The battlefield was on the peak of a lonely mountain that pierced the clouds. There was a small plateau that lead up to the summit. The side of the mountain was dotted with dead trees that thinned out near the top.

The battle was over. Small pockets of fighting still rang out. These pockets of fighting weren’t toward any objective, they were mostly for survival. Smaller squads of pegasi tried to take wing and were cut down by any number of things. One small pack of hellhounds greedily pursued a panicked platoon. The hellhounds weren’t fighting, they were sporting. Some gasped their last breaths inside of a poison cloud of pink gas. The gas poured out of a number of raptor-class cloud ships that had wrecked into the side of the mountain. A detachment of pegasi set up a radio repeater in an attempt to establish communications. A hissing static filled the air. Some escaped, but the majority weren’t fast enough as every orifice in their head began to leak, then pour out, blood. There had been no warning of the necromantic magic that now permeated the Enclave’s radio signal.

Over the entire battlefield there were two things certain. The first was that the fighting had been intense. Second, that the fighting had not been fair. In the end, the pegasus corpses were copious, especially compared to the proportion of other types.

On one forgotten end of the battlefield a gray pony was getting to his hooves. “Hello?” he said, looking down. “Can you hear me?” He was talking to the form of a pegasus on the ground. The pegasus’ eyes shot open. The eyes started to look around frantically. “I’m sorry I sedated you, you were convulsing. I checked you out, but there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with you. Now. Listen to me very carefully. You’re conscious. Concentrate on me. Look at me.” The pegasus’ eye focused on the one thing they could see.

“Now, what you just did was the key to everything else. You don’t know it, but trust me: that’s a miracle. Focus. Focus on how you just looked at me. Because you wanted to, right?” The pegasus just stared at the pony… a unicorn. He was smiling. A crazy unicorn. Great. The pegasus huffed out in frustration. “See? You did it again!”

Did what, you foal! The pegasus' muzzle formed the words, but no sound came out. “Ah ha! Brilliant! Look at that!” The gray pony was gleeful. “You see, you’re remembering what you can do, but you don’t know how. That’s because you have to find the new path. You got completely cut off, but you can get back again. Think. Concentrate, find the way back.” He wasn’t making any sense. The pegasus got to his hooves, or at least tried. “Whoah there! Now, this is going to sound weird, but you can’t do that yet. Um well, you can, but you don’t know you can.” The pegasus scrambled to lift himself up. His hooves flailed and he fell back down. “Oh hey, oohhh! Yes, I have an idea. We can try something. Remember what it was like as a foal? Maybe not. But hey, let’s try that. Look. All you need to do is keep trying. That’s what you did, right? You kept trying until your brain joined the pathways and remembered them. Yes. Forget everything I said earlier. We’re going to start over. C’mon little stallion, you can do it.”

The pegasus rolled his eyes. He felt patronized. “Ooohhh, sarcasm! I love it! Are you getting angry? Well, get up here and buck my face. That’s right little colt, stand up and buck me.” The pegasus actually was getting angry. “What’s the matter? Still can’t do it? Fine, I’m just going to keep talking to you because I’ve got nothing better to do.” The pegasus wished he’d just shut up. He tried to tell him that, but no sound came out. His muzzle was moving, though. He knew that much. Instead of just letting his body do what it wanted, he thought about what he wanted. He wanted to be in control. He wanted to get up. Oh, and this bucking unicorn! Shut up! Just shut up! He wanted this stupid unicorn to just keep quiet and..

“Don’t you know what I’ve been through? Don’t you see what’s going on?” The unicorn leapt up in the air. The height of his jump was pathetic, but looking at his excitement, one might think he could fly.

“Just in time, too! Now RUN!”

The pegasus looked around him. A band of forms were surrounding them. The crack of gunfire and cruel hiss of a magical energy rifle split the air. They had opened fire too early. They were too far, the pegasus noticed, and the circle wasn’t closed. He picked the direction they hadn’t enclosed yet and took off. The unicorn was following. The near-miss hiss of an energy rifle blast let the pegasus know that at least one of the team of hunters was a decent shot.

“Serpentine! What’s wrong with my hooves?”

“What?”

“I can’t, what? Don’t run straight, dodge! I-I’m faster than this.”

“Oh, right!” The pegasus looked back, the unicorn started to weave. It was pathetic, but at least he was trying. “Y… you’re… huff… just remember how… huff you… started talking.”

That makes no sense, the pegasus thought as he ran. His body was all wrong. It should just do all that on its own. He wanted to be better, he needed to be better. He was better.

Noticing a fallen pony in reconnaissance armor, the pegasus put on speed. He dove behind the form and turned around, staying low. A number of blasts scorched the earth around him; some bullets ricocheted away. He twisted the armor toward an earth pony on the left flank of his pursuers. Sighting in, he didn’t even think as the barrel of new weapon started to track. He held the dead pony steady as he wrapped a muzzle around the magical energy rifle and fired it. Then he lifted the whole recon pony onto his back, and kept running.

The wreck of a sky tank came into view. He scrambled behind it for cover, dumped the body, and got to work. Jackpot! Where’s that damned unicorn? Suddenly, there was a strange whinny. Then, an all-too-familiar voice called out. “Hey, I um found something. But, uh, then I got caught!” The pegasus rolled his eyes.

“Come out empty-hooved or we’ll kill your friend! Hell, we should just kill him for the one of ours you got.”

The pegasus trotted out. Ten-thousand… Two earth ponies and a unicorn were in a triangle. The stupid gray unicorn was in front with one of the earth ponies holding a gun to his head. The voice that had spoken earlier sounded again.

“That’s it.” nine-thousand… It was the mare in the back left of the triangle. She was the leader, she was also the unicorn. Not the one watching the hostage. Leader’s gun isn’t aimed. Back right pony. eight-thousand…

“Shoot him and I kill you all. Walk away and you live. Maybe I’ll kill that one in front just to show you I’m serious.” seven-thousand, six-thousand… The mare had a dark brown coat and a black mane. She laughed cruelly.

“Shaft, shoot the unicorn.” six-thousand…

“Do that, see what happens,” the pegasus soothed with perfect confidence. five-thousand…

“Boss? He ain’t scared like the others.” , four-thousand…

“What, and you are? Shoot him NOW, he doesn’t have a gun!” the mare hissed through clenched teeth. The pony in front looked confused. three-thousand, two-thousand …

“Sure about that?” His eyes locked onto the pony in front. one-thousand … The pegasus shook his body. The pony in front pulled the gun away from his hostage. The pegasus kicked the small round ball that had landed at his hooves. The grenade flew to the right while he dove left. The back right earth pony squeezed her trigger. There was a hiss followed by a loud explosion. The earth pony in front fired wildly, the gray unicorn galloped forward wildly. There was an irregular ticking sound, almost like a glass jar being dragged across a wooden table. The earth pony looked down, but saw nothing. The loud explosion of the grenade was followed by an earth shaking boom.

A few seconds passed in silence, the dust settled. Shifting, the pegasus got to his hooves. He tried to walk, but immediately one leg curled under his body. Trying to extend it and put some weight on it only made it pull in again. Four upturned hooves caught his eye. They looked like they were galloping, then kicking, then quickly shifting side to side. Though he had trouble walking, the pegasus made his way over. He soundlessly chuckled when he saw the unicorn was up-side down. Struggling to get free, the unicorn was trapped in between a rock and a metal box.

Using his muzzle, the pegasus pulled the unicorn, whose hooves started to flail when he started moving, out by the tail. When out, the pegasus pushed him onto his side, and then he got to his hooves… but promptly fell over again.

“Give it a minute, you’re probably in shock.” The pegasus couldn’t hear himself, the unicorn looked up in pain. “What was that!?” The pegasus whispered. He looked and gestured at the scorched earth where their assailants had been. The unicorn came into view and his muzzle started moving, but no sound came out. “What… what?” The unicorn started gesturing wildly. He seemed to want the pegasus to stop talking and lay down. The pegasus reluctantly complied. As he did, his body rolled on his side so that his hooves weren’t under him.

He felt the unicorn bend over one of his hooves and something shifted in his leg. His body started shaking. Looking back he saw the unicorn doing something to his haunch, but he couldn’t see what was going on. He got antsy and tried to get up, but the unicorn leaned on him with all his weight. The pegasus sputtered and snorted in defiance, but didn’t try to get up anymore.

Moments later an open bottle popped in his mouth and he felt his head being lifted. He felt like a colt getting fed a bottle. He tried to protest but was forced to swallow to avoid choking. Sound returned to the world. Wait, when did it go quiet? More than that, there was more movement in his leg. It was strange.

“Okay, now. I’m sure you have questions, and I’ll be happy to answer them. Just, please promise me you won’t shout.”

“I’M NOT…” Now that he heard himself, the pegasus realized he was yelling at the top of his lungs. The unicorn ducked his head under his fore legs. “Oh, sorry. Must’ve been the explosion. I only kicked off that grenade, what in the buck,” the unicorn winced, “was that other one?” Perking up, the unicorn came out from under his hooves with a look of delight.

“That was what I found! It was a lunchbox with a switch on the end. I tried to put it into my captor’s saddlebags, but it just landed underneath him. I did a great job saving us, huh?” The pegasus blithely ignored the last comment.

“Who are you, who were they? Why can’t my wings work? I had to shove that grenade under one of ‘em cause I couldn’t lift my wings. I- Wh-what’s going on…” The unicorn put up his hooves in an attempt to get the stallion to slow down.

“I’m Grey. Grey Grid.” It was so stupid it made sense. “And you and I just survived, well, it’s a small miracle we’re alive.”

“What. Those three?”

“Look around you, what do you remember?” As if for the first time, the pegasus looked around. They were on a battlefield. The main fighting must be done, looking at all the burning wreckage and dead… everything. Many of them were pegasi, like him.

“I- uh, nothing.” He didn’t know if he should be sad, angry, or confused.

“Nothing at all? And you’re still in such good shape? What about your name?”

“I already said nothing! And what do you mean good? I can’t remember a bucking-” the pegasus stopped. Grey was backing up, his ears pricked forward. He looked terrified. The pegasus hadn’t felt angry, didn’t feel himself yell, didn’t even mean to be threatening, but that’s all exactly what he was doing. “Look, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean.” The unicorn looked around and stopped.

“I believe you. We’ve been through… well, I don’t know what to say. But you can see how bad it was.”

“…It doesn’t get any worse than…” the pegasus trailed off.

“Wait? What did you say?”

“I don’t know.” The pegasus shook his head. Something was bothering him, but he couldn’t put a hoof on it. “What’s wrong with me Grey? Nothing makes sense. I can’t feel what I’m doing, I-I’m broken and I don’t know how!” As he got worked up, his body started to do strange things: a hind leg went limp, a shoulder started to twitch violently, his ears faced opposite directions as if they were paying attention to two different things.

“Look, I don’t know exactly what happened to you. But after it did, I found this book that can help me figure it out. I can’t read it though, so I need it to be translated.” He put a hoof on the pegasus’ twitching shoulder. “What I do know, and what you need to know, too, is that you’re alive. You’re alive, and you’re in control of yourself. It’s different than it was, I know, but I promise you that I’m going to be here to help you any way I can. In the meantime, you need to learn what it means to be in control of yourself, you’re the only one who can.” The pegasus’ shoulder stopped twitching.

“But Grey, I don’t feel… anything.”

“You still know things. You may not be able to feel it, but you know it. You can see yourself getting angry. Use that to your advantage. Now I’m going to do everything I can to figure out what’s going on and why. But until then, and until I can translate this, we need each other and we need to survive. The best way we can do that is by making friends. Whaddaya say, buddy?” Grey held out a hoof in friendship.

The pegasus almost face-hoofed, Grey’s expression was so corny. He was right though, stupid expression and all. He shook the offered hoof.

The hoof-shake turned awkward when Grey didn’t know when to stop. Seconds ticked by as Grey continued to shake his hoof. “Uh, Grey? Grey.”

“I passed the threshold of comfortable hoof shaking, didn’t I?”

“Probably about twenty seconds ago.” Grey continued. “That means you can stop.”

“Right. Got it.”

“Soo, why are you still shaking my hoof again?”

“Okay, stopping now.” Grey stopped shaking his new friend’s hoof.

The pegasus’ ears perked at sporadic gunfire. “Right now, we need to get some supplies and find a way off this wretched rock. This is too dangerous. Look around Grey, see what you can find.”

“On the…” Grey swallowed hard, “dead bodies?”

“Sure. They don’t need it anymore.”

“But won’t they be dirty?”

“Probably, but we need a way off this rock. Any longer here and we may not see Celestia’s sun again.” It was Grey’s turn to admit that his friend was right. The sun was starting to set and the gunfire was getting steadily closer. The pegasus began to scavenge. Grey half-heartedly pawed at the ground near the smoking wreck of the skytank.

The pegasus tried to start up a conversation. “Seeing as I can’t remember anything. Tell me, what’s going on?”

“Well, uh, there was a battle. We lost.”

“We, who’s we?”

“The Enclave. You know, it’s probably good you can’t remember anything.”

“Why not?”

“Well, it’s just, umm…” Grey was taking too long to think.

“Grey, just tell me.”

“I don’t know how to tell you about everything that’s happened. That’s why I was so surprised you were handling things so well, and why it’s probably good you can’t remember anything.”

“It’s not. Not knowing what’s going on makes me feel worse. I’m all screwed up and I don’t know bucking why.”

“Do you think knowing the answer would make it any better?”

“Don’t know. But at least then I could bucking find out.” Grey winced. The pegasus looked over at him. Even though he wanted to ask Grey why he kept wincing, there was something he wanted to know a whole lot more. “You’re not telling me something Grey, what is it?” Grey’s ears drooped to the side, he looked away sadly.

“I’m trying to be happy. I’m trying to make things better. I’d been working my entire life to help Equestria the best way I knew how. My parents taught me that. The Equestrian Wasteland isn’t broken, it’s a stained glass window waiting for the right pony to come and put the pieces together. Always fight the good fight. I’ve been fighting it, and today I learned what it means to lose that fight. Just when I was about to win, just when we were going to change the Wasteland for the better forever, everything was taken away. Things changed alright, but I saw them get worse. You can’t remember what’s bothering you. I can’t forget.”

“Looks like we have something in common. We’re both in this to fix things, whatever that means.”

“Hey,” Grey’s ears perked up, “you can’t remember your name? Well I’ve got one. You’ve been through all this and you’re still a decent pony. That takes an unbreakable spirit. That takes a heart that’s one of a kind, one that can’t be stopped, that keeps beating no matter what. I like Iron Heart. What do you think?”

“Sure, why not?” The pegasus shrugged. Grey clearly liked that. He did another tiny jump-spasm of joy. He disappeared into the wreck of the skytank.

“Grey?” Iron Heart called out. “I forgot the 4th rule of combat. You stay there, I’ll be back.” A moment later, Grey’s face peeked out from the skytank, a mass of wires tangled about his head.

“What was that? Iron, Iron?” Iron Heart was gone. Grey tapped a contemplative hoof on the skytank, figured it was nothing, and went back inside.

Iron Heart cursed under his breath. He found some vital pieces of the earth pony that was keeping Grey hostage. He found the smoking remains of the pony in the back right of the delta formation, but the brown mare wasn’t where she had been lying after the explosion. There were some marks made by sliding hooves, and a small impression in the dirt. There was also no pony in that indent, and a small trail of red was leading away from it.

If I could fly, I’d track her down in no time. He followed the trail until it stopped by an opened medical box. Sighing, Iron Heart guessed which way he would hide if injured and needing to recover. He settled on a small cave in the side of the mountain. He approached it haphazardly, casually noting a hastily assembled tripwire. Heh, easy. She better hope it reaches out to… here! Iron Heart kicked a rock from where he was standing. The small rock went flying and bounced off a larger pile of rocks that was propping up one side of the wire. The pile shifted.

A sudden blast echoed from inside the cave. Iron Heart stalked up to the cave. Peering inside, he saw that the trip wire had indeed been tripped. He carefully approached the corner of the cave and glanced around the corner. He noticed the smoking barrel of a gun that was aimed at the cave’s mouth.

Having seen nothing else, he jumped into the mouth of the cave. He didn’t approach further until his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the cave. A wall of rock lay close to him. He would have thought the cave was just a small hollow in the rock, but he noticed a small passage winding through the stone.

He scavenged what he could off of the gun and came away with a hoof full of shotgun shells, but didn’t take the time to take the gun off its mount. He approached the corner and glanced around it. There was something there, but it wasn’t a pony. He darted around the corner, swift and smooth.

A pool of drying blood lay next to an empty bottle and a discarded inhaler. Sunlight could be seen at one end of the tunnel. He moved as quickly as he could down the tunnel while still moving mostly quietly. The trail of blood thinned. There was a gentle arc to the tunnel. Iron Heart broke into a gallop when he spied the end of the tunnel but no forms inside it. He checked left, and then right when he reached the exit. Still no pony. The trail continued on. His eyes took just a moment to adjust to the sunlight, but he hurried even faster when he realized where he was.

In the skytank there was a locker; it was so named because it had a lock on it. Grey concentrated and brushed his magic over the lock, getting a feel for what was inside. He had a knife off the recon pony outside and carefully wedged it into the keyhole. He started pushing on the insides of the lock with his magic while he jiggled the knife with his mouth. The lock was starting to turn, but the tumbler caught on some pins that weren’t fully down.

“Hrbph, frhubnhr,” he said to himself. Another gentle push and the knife tip snapped. “Furrpgbb hercgin!” he scolded. The lock made no reply. “Plew!” he spit out. The knife clattered inside. Maybe this new method wasn’t the way to pick a lock. He sighed. Back to the old way, he thought. He started looking for a screwdriver.

“Grey?”

“Yes me, what can I do for you?”

“Grey!” That wasn’t him…that was coming from outside his head. He poked his head out of the skytank. A bleeding, brown mare stared at him. She was levitating a bloody knife. Grey ducked back into the skytank. The mare jumped in after.

“YOU’RE MINE!” she charged in, but tangled on a number of wires that were just inside. She found herself inverted, looking up at the skytank’s slanted roof. A gray face poked into view.

“Hi there!” he waved a hoof cheerily. “You’re bleeding.” She growled, found the knife and slashed at Grey with the full force of her magic. He ducked, but the knife still glanced off him.

“Look at that! Now I am, too! Oh, those cords tripped me up, too.” The mare looked around for the knife frantically. “Over there somewhere,” Grey pointed. Her chest heaved with every breath. “Okay, so here’s the deal. You’re awfully active for someone who’s lost so much blood. You’re probably running on adrenaline.” She righted herself and got to her hooves and lunged at him. “And buck. Yep, definitely buck. You can keep trying to kill me, but you’ll be dead in a matter of minutes. So, why don’t we help each other out?” She slowed. “The one stipulation is, you can’t try to kill me while I help you.”

“You’d just kill me.”

“Nah, I’d let him do it.” She swiveled to find Iron Heart inside the tank, staring. She tried to back up but caught in the wires inside the door. He knocked her to the floor and started to beat her. She was still hyped up on buck and started struggling violently. Her struggling tangled her in the wires until she couldn’t move anymore. As Iron Heart continued to beat her, the buck kept her conscious.

“IRON HEART STOP!” Parts of the skytank rattled with the sudden noise. Iron Heart looked up at Grey.

“What? Why?”

“Didn’t you hear me telling you to stop?

“No. She’s incapacitated. Best kill her quick.”

“By beating her to death? That’s not quick Iron, that’s cruel.”

“Tried to kill me. Tried to kill you.”

“She can’t resist anymore. Look at her.” For the first time Iron Heart considered the brown mare. She was helpless and bleeding. Tears were pouring out of the mare’s eyes. “What now?” Grey went over to the mare.

“You want me to help you?” She looked confused. Without waiting for an answer, Grey bent over the mare. “You’re still bleeding, but it’s not heavy. Something’s wrong… did, did you drink a health potion?” She gave a small, frightened nod. “Celestia’s shiny white beard! Look, I’d give you a sedative, but your heart would probably collapse. I do have this, though.” Grey worked a small syringe around the small wound on the mare’s chest with a syringe. A scalpel floated toward the mare.

“No, wait!”

“Iron Heart, hold her down.” With Iron Heart’s weight and the wires, the mare’s struggling all but stopped. “What’s your name?”

“Gash.” She started squirming as she felt some pressure. She couldn’t see what was going on, but the pressure didn’t hurt.

“Lovely.” She tried to look at him as if he were crazy, but couldn’t lift her head. “Alright Gash, dangerous part is over. A few medical bandages… and done!” The wires were cut away and she was rolled over so that she could sit. Her eyes started to droop. Grey got her attention and floated a hunk of scrap in front of her. “See? After the explosion you survived, you probably tried to cut out some shrapnel. You missed this when you drank the potion. Got the rest of it, but you’ve lost a lot blood. I’m sorry. I really am. But you have to stay here and rest. Don’t move for at least four hours. We have to go. Whoever your friends are, you should be able to meet up with them, but they’d try to kill us.” He leaned in close and put a hoof on her nose. “Gash. You can do better than this. I know you can.” Gash’s head lolled. “That’s the buck wearing off…” Grey’s voice was suddenly distant to her. Her eyes widened.

“I… I don’t understand. I, I…this.” She floated out a small slip of paper to Grey, then collapsed.

Silence caressed the lonely mountain. The last rays of light closed the last chapter in the lives of numerous dead. As light continued to fade, night promised to set a silent vigil where the air and land had been shocked with violence. Work hadn’t begun to clear the debris or deal with the bodies. One side was, well, lifeless. While there was activity around the mountain, no effort was being expended by the other side to coordinate cleanup, at least not tonight. Silent forms moved among the field, ironically searching for physical possessions to satiate their ghostly forms.

A large cart-like box was being lifted, inch by inch, to where Grey sat fiddling with some saddlebags.

“Hey… huff … little help,” Iron Heart gasped. Grey perked up.

An aura of gray wrapped itself around the box. Iron Heart heard the sounds of straining as his unicorn friend tried to lift the box with magic. The box didn’t feel like it got any lighter. Both ponies worked their way past where Grey had been sitting. A few more minutes and the cart was hoisted off Iron Heart’s back. It came to rest near a sheer edge of the mountain.

“So, uh, what’s this?”

“What’s it look like?”

“Hm.” Grey puzzled a moment. “It has a rack on the back. It’d be perfect for stacking bombs on. Wait, this is a bomb cart!” Grey looked pleased with himself. Just another one of life’s little mysteries he’d figured out.

“Nope.” Grey deflated. “This is our ticket off this rock.”

“Oh. Okay.” Grey hopped into the back. Iron Heart strapped into the harness.

“Grey?”

“Hm?”

“Something’s wrong with the spark batteries back there, that’s why I had to carry this thing. Figure out what’s wrong.”

“K.” Iron Heart heard some magic behind him, along with the sound of some tools. He started to get bored.

“Need help?” he called back.

“Nope. Found the problem, just have to fix it.” There was a snap.

“Grey? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, just broke one of my tools. Uh, I mean. Nothing at all. Don’t worry, I’ve got something else.” Iron Heart kept himself from face-hoofing; he felt doing it again would leave a bruise.

“Grey, hurry up, we’re running out of light. And I don’t like being a sitting duck out here,” Iron Heart whispered, scanning the surrounding area for threats. “Hey. I meant to ask you, where’d you get all that stuff you helped that mare with? Those tools, too. Wait, how’d you know all that about the mare, anyway?”

“Well, all this stuff was given to me. I was helping the Enclave research the SPP hub. Gave me all the tools I asked for. They sent me to the fight here, but I thought, who knows when I’ll be back? Might as well be prepared, right?”

“Yeah, but what would you need the medical supplies for?”

“I didn’t. I just asked for them. I can help ponies medically sometimes. You might say I’m a Johnny do-it-all. My enemies have oft criticized me, though, by saying that means I can’t do anything well.”

“How does that bode for our repairs?” There was another snap. “Grey you feather-brain! I swear, if you bucking-“

“All done.” Iron Heart gave a little test jump. The bomb cart responded by lifting a number of feet off the ground. “W’aah!” Grey made a thump as he rolled around in the back. A sudden cry pierced the sky. It sounded perfectly normal for the top of a mountain, but it gave Iron Heart a kick of urgency. “Whoah there! You said you didn’t know how to fly!”

“Tell me something Grey. Why’d you help Gash, I doubt we have any supplies left. Not to mention we had almost no time for scavenging.” Grey didn’t answer for a moment. Iron Heart was unclipping and readjusting the harness as quickly as he could.

“After everything I’d seen. Even if I lived, I was ready to give up. I was ready to lay down and wait until I died. Two things changed me today. It’s hard for me to describe, but I saw, in the middle of all this, the most beautiful thing ever. You should have seen her, I know you would’ve liked her. Flying low, and for a few moments, I swear I saw a pegasus in perfectly white clothes. She was beautiful. It looked like none of this had touched her. I had to keep going, I had to see if she was real.” There were so many dubious details about that, but Iron Heart didn’t have time. Without even thinking, he opened his muzzle.

“What color was her mane?”

“I can’t remember, why?”

“I-I don’t know. Forget it. What does that have to do with Gash?” He nickered at the harness. It was way too hard to get it to cooperate.

“It was the other thing. The other thing was seeing you come alive. It took most of my medical supplies, but the feeling I got when you started breathing again… it gave me a reason to live. I just couldn’t let her die if I could do anything to save her, I needed her to live.”

“Keep doing that and your friends might die instead.”

“What do I become if I don’t take that risk? So many ponies, and other folk too, died today fighting for what they believed in. If I don’t live like they did, am I really alive at all?” Iron Heart heard the cry again. The cries were getting closer. Could anypony, even a unicorn, be this oblivious? He looked at Grey, who wore a face so stern that it might actually intimidate a mouse. Iron Heart chuckled to himself. “And don’t think I forgot about earlier either. You said you couldn’t fly, I remember. Did you intend for me to be in the back of this thing while we just crash?”

Iron Heart turned around to face the sun. His blue coat and mane silvered in the light just before twilight. The clouds wore caps of rose. He smiled at the sun with confidence. “Hello beautiful.” He didn’t feel the warmth, but there it was, clear as day. Grey didn’t know it, but the unicorn had shown him how to rely on his senses without feeling them. “No Grey, I don’t intend that at all.” He kicked off the side of the mountain.

He felt the rush that Grey must have felt, judging by the unicorn’s whinnies and cries. He had to admit that the free fall was exhilarating, perhaps even frightening, but only in a way that caused him an excitement that lofted his heart above the clouds. The clouds looked like a soft, fluffy ground as they continued to fall.

Very little trace remained of Iron Heart and Grey Grid when a detachment of Griffons arrived. A female griffon circled and landed. The rest of her detachment followed. “Axe!”

“Ma’am?”

“Tell me again. Where in this shit storm you say?”

“I swear ma’am, Gash said they were heading to this end of the plateau. I even caught a glimpse of ‘em before I caught up with ya; 4th rule and all.” The female griffon walked to the end of the plateau. She noticed some crumbling rock near the edge.

“Pro’lly jumped. Poor bastards. Alright wing, nothing to see here. Looks like we miss out on this “savior bonus,” too. Damn weird work for mercs. Aw hell, let’s go boys, time to see if we can bring at least some survivors in.” She scratched at the rock in disgust, some pieces off the side and into the open sky.

Looking up at the sun once more, Iron Heart’s blue wings unfolded. Iron Heart would have liked to watch the sunset, but if half of the things pouring out of the unicorn’s muzzle were true, it was a good thing they were gone. That was all behind him now. The crazy unicorn was behind him, too, although he was in tow. He wouldn’t shut up, but Iron Heart didn’t care, he was flying. Though he felt like he always knew he could (what pony ever heard of a pegasus that couldn’t fly), it was the first time he remembered flying at all. It was also the first time Iron Heart remembered feeling alive.

Addendum I:

Excerpt From "The Battle for Dragon Mountain," a speech made after the black events of, "...a day that will live in infamy." This speech was made to all pegasi, above the clouds and below, to rally home for the survival of those they know and love, for their terrified families, for the Enclave!

"...and now, beloved. Now we have seen what those earth ponies, and hellhounds, and griffons, and unicorns intend to do. Ask any soldier. Ask any peacekeeper sent below to extend the hoof of friendship. We came as friends, they came to kill us. We came in peace and they came in war. We showed them love and they showed us no mercy. No. Mercy.

How many of us have lost loved ones in the balefire bombs of Splendid Valley? How many of you have gotten the letters of condolence from the horrors of a thunderhead or raptor that has been lost through various weapons of mass destruction. Oh yes, dear ponies, their weapons are the cruel weapons from the great cataclysm. Pink cloud, balefire bombs, Celestia One, necromancy. Many of you do not know what these weapons are, and with what we seek to undertake, you never will.

We thought that such weapons and the ponies that use them had become extinct since the great cataclysm. We thought our brothers and sisters were reasonable. We were wrong.

Dear citizens, many of you know what happened at the Battle of Dragon Mountain. That is a day that will live in infamy. However, I promise you this senseless violence ends today. No longer will we live on in the pursuit of the folly of peace. Our loved ones are too precious, our survival too dear.

I promise you, that today begins a new era in our prosperity, in our life. There will be change, but this change is good. We have come away from this with the ability to regroup, rebuild. The council has the intelligence and the technology it now needs to be triumphant. All I can ask from each of you is to be true to each other. From today on, we stand as one, and we will make those who seek to harm us rue the day they met our emissaries of peace, and killed them.

Two more things, my friends. Firstly, I know all of you have been saddle sore with the restrictions we have placed on your families. Too long you have wondered how we could demand such a thing from you. You were right to complain. No pegasus should ever have to face what you have. Thank you, good pegasi, for your cooperation. I assure you that your sacrifice has not been in vain. Now we have food, and plenty of it. I want each of you here and at home to take out your birth request forms, your license applications, your certificates allowing you to grow your families. As down payment of what is to come. As a symbol of what will now be, I want each of you to throw these away. I want you and your families to know the joy that comes from loving freely, growing without concern, and knowing the happiness that comes from a family as large or small as each of you sees fit.

Finally, I want you to know that the Enclave was started as a place where the pegasi could live with our pony friends in peace and harmony. The Enclave is now become something more. In the face of such oppression, the Enclave has become our last, best hope for victory!"

The news of the abolition of family size restriction was heralded as a great freedom. This, and the verifiable truth that the killers of the great war had once again been used against pegasi, the pegasus race became convinced that those on the ground were a threat that could not be reasoned with and an enemy with whom no peace could be made. The Pegasus Race rallied behind the cause of the Enclave and flourished.

LEVEL UP

New Perk: Reborn!
You have been through such a traumatizing experience that you're a new you! All of your previous skill points and SPECIAL characteristics have been reset and reassigned by you. However, you may now Tag! four new skills, instead of three. Each tagged skill gains an instant 15 point bonus.

Author's Note

-End Ch. 2
-Which character gets the Reborn! perk, anyway?
-I guess you could say Grey was stuck between a rock and a hard case...
-4th rule of combat: Confirmation