The Great War

                              ~~~~~~~~~~ 0720 Hours, Snow Fall 21, 3783 (New Kingston) Onocarcan Capital ~~~~~~~~~~

     It was a frigid, snowy day in the city of New Kingston. It was the kind of day that made everypony stay indoors unless they had a very good reason for being outside. Well that is with the exception of Pinkie Pie. Every day that snow was on the ground was akin to the best day of her life.

       She was by far the most lively of the members of Delta 6 and even made routine trips to the infirmary to cheer up all of the wounded ponies there. Even Rainbow Dash was able to enjoy when Pinkie came round. It was a welcome relief from an otherwise boring day of lying in a hospital bed and listening to the sounds of the machines around her.

        “And then the Viking said no that’s not a Chevy it’s a fjord” said Pinkie rounding off her joke and laughing hysterically in front of Rainbow Dash who was watching from her bed.

       “Uh Pinkie I have a question” said Rainbow Dash a confused look on her face “what’s a Viking?”

       This wasn’t the first time the pink earth pony had confused Rainbow Dash with a joke about something that nopony knew about and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.

       “Oh silly” laughed Pinkie in response to Dash’s question “you know what a Viking is”

       “Uh actually I have no idea what it is” stated Dash looking even more puzzled now than ever.

       Pinkie Pie was just about to explain to Rainbow Dash what a Viking was when the room door opened drawing their attention. It was Dr House the Doctor who had been assigned to take care of Rainbow Dash.

       “Well miss Dash you’ll be pleased by what I have to tell you” said Dr House walking over to the injured Pegasus “you are now well enough to go back to your quarters but”

      “Oh thank goodness” said Rainbow Dash cutting off Dr House “you have no idea how good it’ll be to get back to work”

       “Now hang on just a moment” stated the doctor a look of amusement appearing on his face “I cleared you to leave the infirmary, not to go out on any missions”

        “But why not” argued Dash getting out of the bed and stumbling a little “see I’m fine”

        “Miss Dash” stated Dr House rather sternly “you still need to strengthen up a bit before you’ll be ready to resume your job in the field”

        Rainbow Dash sighed. She knew the doctor was right even if her pride would never allow her to admit it.

        “Pinkie Pie” sighed Dash “can you help me to my room upstairs”

         “Oaky Doky Loki” said Pinkie Pie pressing herself against Rainbow Dash’s side, ever glad to help a friend in need.

           The whole way up to her room Rainbow Dash could’ve sworn everypony was staring at her. She felt helpless just like she had once as a child, the feeling she had vowed to never experience again was here and unavoidable. What would the others think, that she was weak and defenseless just like the old Rainbow Dash. Anyway she couldn’t do anything about it. If she tried to walk to her room on her own her leg would give out and only make the situation worse. Despite how long the journey seemed to stretch out for her and Pinkie eventually made it to her room. She lay down on her bed and Pinkie left to go entertain the others in the infirmary again leaving Rainbow Dash alone in her room.

           A few minutes went by which seemed like hours to the Rainbow Maned Pegasus before something broke the silence of her room. It was Gilda who walked through the door followed by Applejack and Rarity.

      “How ya feeling Dash?” yawned Gilda clearly exhausted from her new duties of running the squad while Rainbow Dash was recovering.

     “Better” responded Dash “and at the rate I’m at I should be ready to reassume command of the squad in a few days”

      “Why on earth would you want to go back to work in the field?” Asked Rarity shock showing in the tone of her voice “you could have died! And now you want to go back out and do it again as if nothing ever happened?”

       Applejack rolled her eyes and responded to Rarity’s outburst “of course she will, she’s a fighter and there ain’t nothing gunna stop her from getting her job done”

     “Well obviously” responded Rarity “but she could always take a job in ops with me”

      “No offense Rarity” said Rainbow Dash “but that sounds just awful”

      “Now that’s the Dash I remember” joked Gilda remembering their days as kids in jr speedsters, She still hated that chant but it had always been worth it to make her friend happy.

      “Well I need to get back to ops” stated Rarity clearly displeased with her friend’s choice to remain in the field “Big Macintosh is being sent on a recon mission with Pinkie Pie and somepony needs to monitor those two”

     Rarity left the room followed by Applejack clearly to go see her brother and friend before their upcoming mission leaving Rainbow Dash and Gilda alone in the room.

    “Your job is a lot harder than I would’ve guessed” said Gilda chuckling a little.

     “Yeah” responded Dash “but it’s a rather good job for me”

    “Well if that’s your thing, but don’t you ever get overwhelmed by all of the random crap that command sends your way?”

     “I used to” confessed Dash remembering back when she first took over control of Delta 6. Back then there were only 3 squad members: Herself, Big Macintosh, and new to the squad Gilda after they rescued her from captivity during an assassination mission in Hykidos City. She had almost relinquished control of the squad to Big Macintosh but her never give up attitude had kept her going and eventually after the squad became a 4 pony team with the addition of Soarin she found a way to cope with the responsibility of leading a squad.

    “How’d you do it?” asked Gilda breaking into Rainbow Dash’s thoughts

    “It just got easier as time went on, I made a system that worked for me and it got easier”

    “Well I don’t think it’s a job I’m very fond of” confessed Gilda “don’t get me wrong, second in command is a job I can both do and be proud of doing, but I don’t think I’m ready for your job just yet”

    Rainbow Dash shook her head “you do know that I’m gunna be alright?” she said with a bit of humor in her voice “you won’t take on this job for a good while now”

    “I guess so” said Gilda cheering up a bit “well I’ve got some work to do, so I’ll see ya in a bit bye”

    Gilda walked out of the room leaving Dash alone once again.

     ~~~~~~~~~~ 1400 Hours, Snow Fall 25, 3783 (New Kingston) Onocarcan Capital ~~~~~~~~~~

     A thick fog enveloped the city of Appleoosa decreasing visibility by such a great amount that Rainbow Dash couldn’t see more than about 10 feet before images blurred into the mist. Even though this should have been a happy time for Rainbow Dash finally being out in the field after a few days of a recent tragedy during the mission of Big Mac and Pinkie Pie cast a dark shadow over the team leaving them completely drained of spirit and even Rainbow Dash had begun to doubt her teams strength.

     Not allowing herself to dwell on the subject Rainbow Dash continued onward toward her meet up point with Vinyl Scratch.