A Warrior's Heart of Gold

Being on the Wonderbolts Soarin had not experienced much violence. He was always used to publicity and racing, but not what he was about to see. His squad waited...waited for the command to kill. They watched as the green hills stood there silent. Any minute now the changeling army would appear out of the mist. Soarin prepared himself for the worst, his guns strapped to his sides and beads of sweat dripping off his forehead. When could hear the faint sound of a trumpet, he paused for a moment until his brain finally collected everything going on around and charged. His first instinct was to aim, his second...to fire. On and off he aimed and fired until he looked around and realized half his squad was already wiped out. He bolted for the hills along with a few other ponies where the changeling army seemed to never end. They continued to shoot down the enemy. Soarin watched as his once fellow soldiers perished in the dust and fell to the ground in a heaping crash.

When it seemed like the enemy had finally disappeared, what was left of his squad finally appeared out of the dust. A few tattered with bruises and covered in dirt. Soarin himself was a bit dirty. When the medic carts came to collect bodies that seemed to still have a bit of breath in them, the leftover squad recruited back to camp where they were patched up and rested.

Rainbow Dash could see occasional plumes of smoke appear from behind the rolling hills of Ponyville. As she passed town, she would notice signs pasted up all over the shop walls. These signs were not the normal WANTED adds or FOR SALE signs. They were signs of war. Ponies had been talking around town. Rumors spread about how the smoke was getting closer and there was no hope for them now. Rainbow Dash stopped to read one sign from the royal palace. It stated how they were currently losing and were suggesting all ponies prepare for the worst and a possible invasion. Dash had thought about packing some necessities and leaving town but she couldn't just run off now. She had her best friends here and Soarin in the war. She would weep practically every night as she thought about him. Oh how she missed him so and she would occasionally panic in a fit of worry about what could have happened to him. Her friends tried to comfort her during these panic attacks and it often calmed her down a bit but nothing could cover up the sadness in her heart. Rainbow Dash sat atop the clouds gazing off into the distance at the smoke...wondering if he was still alive.

Soarin always thought about Rainbow Dash as well. He would try and send her letters but everytime would be sent to battle. He felt so lucky to even be alive after what he had seen after the first few days. As the weeks past, he became even more frightened of whether or not he would live the next day.

Rainbow Dash started noticing guards appearing in the cities more and more often. She wasn't sure whether or not it was just a precaution or if they really were worried. Her friends began packing a few of there things as the smoke got denser. Rarity had already moved out of town to her parent's house and Applejack had closed the orchard until further notice. Rainbow Dash began to worry on whether or not she should be taking those precautions and preparing herself as well but she lingered and stayed in town. She would talk to her friends about it and they all told her to prepare herself and expect the worse but Rainbow Dash was to saddened and worried for Soarin to leave. She had packed a small suitcase of things she thought she might need in an emergency but that was it. She would never have thought that she would of actually needed to use it until that fateful day...