Open track between Canterlot and Ponyville, 1530 hours (Report assignment, Operation Invictus [Fourth Fleet])

Thirty minutes. It was a mere thirty minutes along the three hour train ride to Canterlot before Dash could no longer take it. There was a Fluttershy-shaped hole in her chest, and fortunately for her, liquids like hard cider would conform to any shaped container given enough of it. Why do I even know what any of that means? She groaned to herself, taking care to make it quiet enough that nopony else could hear her. Twilight's really getting to me, isn't she?

She'd never admit it to herself, Dash really did owe a lot to Twilight- without her coming to Ponyville all those years ago. Without the threat of eternal night, she never would have met four of her greatest friends on earth. Fluttershy, of course, was excluded from that group. Not for being outside of the group of Dash's closest friends, but for having known her since she was just a filly.

"Two minutes," she mumbled, under her breath but still out loud. "Two minutes before I thought of Fluttershy." New record, I think. It was becoming increasingly obvious she'd need more cider if she was going to make it through the what would likely be months without her. Turning her head, she reached into her saddlebag, which still sat upon her flank. She reached in with her mouth, biting down on the rim of the bottle. As she pulled it up, however, she was met with everything but the peace and quiet she desired for herself. Rainbow confetti and various candies rushed forth from the bottom of the bag, exploding outward and covering the space of floor in front of her.

The laughter was stifled and first, just small giggles escaping from hoof-covered the mouths. That is, of course, until a stallion Dash didn't recognize decided to shout out, "Hey, everypony! Party on Rainbow Dash's flanks!"

Depression was abandoned the instant that phrase hit the cyan mare's ears, replaced by a blinding sort of rage that had been rivaled only on rare instances throughout Equestrian history- the only two coming to mind being when the celestial sisters faced off against Discord and when Luna transformed into Nightmare Moon. The pegasus wouldn't be able to tell you why she was mad for the life of her, but for some reason, she was mad.

An image flashed through the mare's mind, one which prominently displayed her hind legs going straight through that stallion's face and impaling him on the wall of the train car. Fortunately for him (ponies should really stop assuming that she wouldn't do it. Just because she'd never actually hit somepony doesn't mean she'd hesitate to legitimately do it), before that image could become reality, a tall, beige-coated earth stallion dressed in a stark white jacket came through the door at the head of the car and called out for her.

"Second Lieutenant, Dash, Rainbow, Equestrian Air Force?"

Dash's ears perked up at the sound of her name, not like they did when the other stallion called it. This one sounded of respect. Respect that, as an Equestrian hero, Rainbow Dash felt she deserved. She shot another look at the first stallion at the rear of the car, who seemed to be walking towards her, head hung low. She turned back to the head and stood up. "The one and only!" Her usual boastful attitude restored, she stood and planted a forehoof firmly on her chest, raising her own head high in her signature pose. Well, her signature pose minus the wind blowing mercilessly in her mane. After all, it only looked that cool while she was outside at a higher altitude, like Cloudsdale. She just couldn't do it anywhere else. But it was her signature pose, and don't let anypony tell you otherwise.

Absolutely none of it was noticed by the sailor. He kept his neutral expression throughout the entire display, but waited as patiently as he could for it to be finished. Without looking away from her, he continued. "Petty Officer, apologize to the Lieutenant. Ma'am, Commandant Sparkle desires to speak with you, and has directed me to send you to her at your earliest convenience."

"Aye, aye, Ensign." The petty officer had finished his walk over to Dash, still hanging his head low. Ever so slowly, he looked up and attempted a second, more polite introduction. "Forgive me, Lieutenant. I spoke out of hoof without bothering to check whom I was addressing. I'll be reporting this to my superior as soon as I can and will be subjecting myself to formal discipline."

A few years ago, the airpony would have never even considered accepting that apology. Maybe he would report it, but he wasn't sorry- it had taken an ensign to get him to apologize. And he certainly knew who he was saying it- he knew her name, after all. But something about him made her want to. Rarity was right. Fluttershy really was wearing off on her. "It's-" She caught herself before she said something informal. She had the feeling that if she wanted these ponies' respect, she would have to be doing that a lot. "Consider your apology accepted, Petty Officer. Just don't let me catch you doing it again."

"Yes, ma'am!" The stallion let go of his attention and walked back to his former position.

Dash didn't care at this point- she was already out the door and into the next car, a private setting put into the train specifically for the purposes of transporting royalty after Twilight's ascension. Inside, there was a small desk pointed towards the wall, and a slightly larger than usual- for a train- bed in the corner. Twilight sat at the former, looking over some papers. She began to close the door behind her, but was stopped by a hoof in the way of its path. The sailor walked through after her and walked over to Twilight, who hadn't seemed to notice what was going on yet. She seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that anypony was even in the car with her.

The sailor reached into a bag on his flank that had seemingly popped out of nowhere and pulled out a think manila file folder with white papers stuffed disorderly into it. He's going to give that mess to Twilight? Dash thought. I hope he wasn't looking forward to going home. She almost giggled at the thought, but quickly caught herself. Really, Dash? Do I really think like that now?

"Ma'am, personnel rosters from Combat Team Arclight, Equestrian Air Force, as requested." The sound of the ensign's voice snapped Dash from her thoughts back into the realm of reality. "Further, Lieutenant Dash is her to speak with you."

"Hey, Twi. What's up?" A friendly greeting, like so many times before, usually met with a warming smile and a "hello", was met with neither sentiment. Rather, it was met with a very disapproving glare from a very disapproving sailor.

"Lieutenant, with all due respect," With all due respect. The words echoed through the mind of the cyan pegasus. She could seriously get used to the whole military thing if ponies would keep calling her "ma'am". "I'd suggest that you learn to show more respect while addressing your commanding officer."

Twilight spoke up before Dash could refute the statement on her own. The violet alicorn walked over to the two, saying as she went, "It's fine, Ensign. She has more than enough permission to address me however she wants. You really need to lighten up."

A grin, not quite large enough to be considered a smile, crept onto the stallion's face. "Aye aye, ma'am. I guess I'll just have to work on that." With that, he took his leave of the mares, instead choosing to take post in the corner, facing the middle of the car. He sat on the floor and squirmed around a little, like he was trying to get comfortable.

"Let me get this straight, Twi," Dash began, finally coming to the purpose she was invited into the car for. "You tell him he needs to lighten up right after you call him by rank? Doesn't really make sense." She shot a look over her shoulder to see that he hadn't even perked up at his own mention. He just sat there, not unlike a statue.

"No, he refuses to tell me his name. I think he's afraid I'll start using it." The mares shared a laugh at that. "Actually, I just thought of something. Ensign, I order you to tell me your name."

The stallion gave a short sigh, knowing that he'd been beat. Try as he might to preserve some semblance of military discipline while in the presence of the Princess, he couldn't disobey a direct order to the contrary; that would have violated military protocol, something much more important to him. "Full Stern, ma'am." He mumbled something indistinguishable under his breath, but Dash was pretty sure it sounded something like "you could have just read the nameplate."

Before she could say anything, however, Twilight spoke up again. Dash got the feeling that she would be doing that a lot. "Come on, Dash. Come sit down with me. Full Stern, would you be so kind as to fetch us some glasses?"

The sailor visibly blushed at the sound of his own name, as though embarrassed to hear it. "Of course, ma'am. If you don't mind, though, I do prefer Ensign." He left out the rear of the car, his destination unknown but unimportant.

"Glasses?"

"Don't tell me you were thinking about drinking it alone?" Twilight gave Dash a slightly mischievous smile, fully aware that she had, in fact, planned on drinking ALL the cider.

"Well, a pony can only hope." Twilight giggled a little at the response, thankful that the sailor was no longer in the car to hear such an unprofessional elation. Rainbow giggled a little as well, but did a much better job of keeping it to herself that Twilight did. Giggling was far too uncool for such an awesome pegasus. That, and there was far too heavy a burden on her soul for such good times to be shared.

And it showed in everything she did, from the way she walked to the sulking tone of her voice. It showed to the point that even Twilight Sparkle was able to pick up on it. "That's it," she suddenly said, a hint of irritation plaguing her voice, the rest consumed with audible worry. "I can't take it anymore. Sit down and tell me what's wrong."

The shift in conversation was startling to other mare, but she did as she was told, hitting the floor like a stone hits water. She was vaguely aware of a violet alicorn taking a seat across from her. Honestly, her mind was just sort of out of it. There were a million and one things wrong, as Twilight had put it. She felt angry, of course, that a punch of uncouth pencil pushers decided she would be good for war. She also felt angry at the griffons for deciding now was a good time to declare it. At the same time, though, she was about to jump off the walls, ecstatic that she would have a chance to prove herself to the Wonderbolts. She was frightened, for the first time in her life confronted by death or failure. Above all, however, she was saddened. No, saddened wasn't the right word, it wasn't strong enough. Depressed, that was more like it. She was depressed about leaving home, leaving her friends- leaving Fluttershy.

As Rainbow began to tear up, she shut her eyelids tight, sealing off her magenta eyes from the world around her. Rainbow Dash doesn't cry, she told herself, first once, then at least ten times before she lost count. After a couple of minutes, when she felt as though she wouldn't cry anymore, she opened her eyes once again, only to be met with deep violet ones staring back at her, as though her friend hadn't moved an inch since it all began. Her sight darted to the left, in the space between them, and saw a familiar brown bottle, as well as two glasses. When she looked around the room, however, the sailor was nowhere to be found.

"Whenever you're ready, Dash." Twilight was worried, but did a surprisingly good job of concealing that worry in her voice, wrapping it up in that cool, newfound confidence that had become only somewhat familiar to the princess- the control of which was still something needed to be mastered by the studious pony. "Whenever you're ready," she repeated.

Rainbow Dash was once again reminded of how lucky she was to have a friend like Twilight. Despite the fact that the mare had spent the first twenty years of her life without friends apart from her brother and foalsitter, that pony was probably the best friend anypony could ask for. She was so caring to everypony who needed it, always willing to make friends, and always trying to strengthen the bonds with the ones she already had. And now, here she was, trying to comfort Rainbow Dash on the train ride to what felt like certain doom.

The cyan pegasus looked right into her friend's eyes and finally spoke. "How long do you think we'll be gone, Twi?"

Twilight, during the time it had taken Dash to get over her "liquid pride", had considered, evaluated, and formulated a response to a wide variety of questions that the pegasus might have asked. The one she had most expected had been along the lines of "why me?", not "how long". That frightened Twilight, not because she was unprepared for something, but because there was a question asked of her that the alicorn had no answer to.

It took her no more than a few seconds to get over her shock, however. As she stepped forward more and more in the political working of Equestria, Twilight had found that there were actually quite a few questions that she didn't have an answer for. She breathed out a deep, heavy sigh. "I don't know," she began, head hung in the direction of the floor. "Luna says no more than six months- we go in, show them a little bit of force, and they'll back off."

"But you're not so sure?"

"No, I'm not. I might have known next to nothing about military operation a week ago, but I'm a fast leaner. Like I said yesterday, the griffons we could handle. But with the zebra's by their sides and no small amount of ponies living in the kingdom, they've considerably stepped up their own military strength. The first six months of this war will likely be spent in stalemate.

"But enough of that. We've got cider here, and you were planning on drinking it." She lifted the bottle in her magic and poured it into the two glasses, almost to the rim. "We're two hours out from Canterlot, so let's make the most of it."

Dash took the opportunity to use something she'd learned while back in Ponyville. "Hooah."

In response, Twilight rolled her eyes and said to her drinking partner, "That's actually a Legion thing."

Correcting Dash whenever she made a mistake so simple? Yeah, that was definitely Twilight's thing. If she can still be herself, Dash thought as she drank deep of her cider, letting the burning sensation trickle its way down her throat. So can I, Right? She smiled at the thought.

Maybe it won't be so bad, after all.

Author's Note

Sorry guys, it took me forever to get this up. And it isn't that long (I mean, there's only so much one can do with a train ride, right?). I've been going through some tough shit lately, but I think I got it figured out. So go forth and have War-torn Love, like I know you want! After all, if you've read this far into the story, I'm doing something right! Right?