The Mane Six Militia and The Shadow of a Phantom

The morning sun rises on the next day with thankfully no incidents over the night. Everypony that awoke peacefully with exception of the night shift taking to their beds as the morning shift relieved them of duty.

    Dash and Shy emerged out of their hut to go and meet with the rest of their friends as per the daily ritual. They swore to each other they would not let the war tear them apart and as of far, they were successful. The two mare nodded to the various ponies that were roaming about the camp already. Rarity joined them as they passed her tent with Sweetie close behind. Rarity looking grumpy as usual while Sweetie bell was smiling and singing quietly to herself.

    The group traveled through the rows of tents and huts toward the makeshift farm after greeting one another to retrieve Applejack from her small farmland at the edge of camp. She however did not look so well, no doubt due to the events she had participated in the night before. Apple Bloom was no where to be seem.

    "Hey uh, where's your sis Apple?" Dash asked with concern and immediately regretted asking the question aloud as Sweetie Bell jumped to the front of the group. "Where's Apple Bloom?" She practically yelled in fear that another of her friends were lost. Scootaloo had vanished one night, having followed Rainbow and a small team out on an recon without permission. A couple of the militia guard reported seeing the orange Pegasus leaving over a gate, shortly after the recon team was dispatched. However she never returned. Sweetie and Bloom where devastated at the loss of a cutie mark crusader. Sweetie had  a cutie mark of a needle through thread and a single button whilst Bloom's was a basket with apples inside. Scootaloo had been the only one that had yet to receive her own and wanted it to be something of strength and valor.

    AppleJack winced at the high pitch squak of the frightened filly. "Sweetie calm ya self. She just sleepin. Decided she was gonna drink with her sis last night and found out quickly she couldn handle it." She explained, chuckling then groaning as her head began to pound again.

    "Sound's like she isn't the only one that needs to quit dear." Rarity smirked.

    Apple Jack shot Rarity a dirty look but could do nothing to disagree. After leaving her family behind and losing her brother she had to unwind once in a while, what her methods of doing so were her business however.

    After having hooked up together they made their way to the last member of the group, toward the Mess Hall where Pinkie Pie would be hard at work cooking and serving up chow for the camp with Ditzy Doo close beside her. Their specialty was baking of course but that did not mean they couldn't whip up anything else.

    They made their way into the mess hall and sure enough, Pinkie and Ditzy Doo were hard at work, serving breakfast and bouncing around merely, enticing smiles from most of the ponies they served and the other servers who often joined along.

    As it came to be their time in line Pinkie's eyes lit up with excitement as if she were surprised to see them. She gave Derpy the usual, 'Can I?' look and Derpy smiled, nodding her head as per the norm. Pinkie gave Derpy a quick hug before fixing herself a plate and hurrying after her friends, balancing the plate on her muzzle as to avoid spilling her food.

    The group waved her over and she plopped down at the table beside them. "Hi Guys!" She squealed, bouncing in her seat. She never seemed to stay still.

    Sweetie Belle giggled and waived at her. "Hi Pinkie." She loved having the bouncy party mare around who always seemed to brighten up her day.

    So, hows everything going on y'all's end? Dash asked, taking her first bite of food for the day.

    "Well, as far as ah can tell the crops are doin fine. Me and da other farm ponies have it down to a sience now, jus as long as the rain don wash away our fertilizer again." Apple Jack grumbled. "Rarity?"

    "Well, nothing new dears. Almost done with the armor repairs. Thankfully there has not been much conflict in a while, either that or the royal army have pushed the enemy back."

    "Yup and I'm happy to be helping my big sis." Sweetie bell piped up. Whenever Bloom was not with them she always joined along with her sister and her friends.

    Fluttershy giggles at Sweetie before looking around the table at her friends who all had eyes on her. She shrunk back a bit before speaking. "W-w-well, everypony that I h-have been caring for seem to be d-d-doing alright." She stammered. After years of being around them she was still nervous speaking in groups. Though when alone with her best friend Rarity or her Mare-friend Dash she was confident enough to speak without the stutter or hiding behind her bangs.

    "Well, nothing much has happened on my end, just busy serving up tasty treats for everypony with Derpy. I know its not perfect but we are doing the best we can." Pinkie finished.

    "Its fine dear, really." Rarity ensured her.

    "Yeah its actually really good!" Sweetie squeaked. This was enough to put a smile on the pink mare's muzzle.

    That's when they turned their attention to Dash, who looked down at her plate avoiding their gaze.

    "Dashi?" Shy asked concerned.

    "I'm okay Shy." She sighed before looking up at the worried faces of her friends and dropping her fork. "I'm going out again tonight."

    Instantly every pony's mood dropped. Fluttershy's eyes were already starting to tear up as she placed her head down in her hooves on the table. Rainbow patted her back. "Shy its just another recon." Dash tried to reassure her friend. "I'll be fine."

    "Sugar cube, why do ya have to do this?" Applejack questioned.

    "Guys its how I contribute, I know its dangerous but y'all don't have to worry about me."

    "B-but Dashi, I see what happens to the other ponies that go across the border. If you ever ended up on one of my medical beds I don't know what I would do." Shy mumbled, fighting back tears.

    Now Dash felt horrible for having ruined they're ritual breakfast but it was the only time she knew they would all be together throughout the day. "Look im really sorry, but I can't just sit in the camp and do nothing while everypony else contributes. I've been well trained. I will never leave you all." Dash pleaded with them to understand.

    Pinkie looked up with grief. "Pinkie promise?"

    The sadness in her voice almost broke Dash's heart. "Y-yes I P-pinkie promise." She stammered. "Guys, I have to go check on some things for tonight. Fluttershy I promise I'll come see you before I leave, and I will see everyone else tomorrow if not sooner." With her parting words she gave Shy a peck on the side of the muzzle and was happy to see the canary mare's muzzle break into a shy smile.

    When Dash exited the mess hall she breathed a sigh of relief. She absolutely hated telling her friends she was going over the wall. She had little time to breath as she heard a small commotion break out not to far away. "Oh what now?" She asked herself as she took off into the air and after the noise. The commotion came from one of the nearby gates, where two of the Militia guard held a zerba mare down on the ground. Rainbow at first thought of Zecora but that was impossible seeing as she had stayed back to take care of Ponyville. No this was somepony new, and Dash was going to investigate.

    Dash landed not to far away from the struggling trio. The zebra seemed to be protesting her confinement while the two Minute Stallion were chuckling at her struggles as they held her to the ground. The guards at the gate were already trotting over, trying to figure out the same thing Dash was.

    "Hey what in Celestia's name is going on here?" Dash demanded. At the sound of her voice the two stallion and the zebra stopped their struggle.

    The first Minute Stallion, a gray coated brute with a brown mane, named Rockcoat looked up to see who was brave enough to demand information from him. His demeanor changed however when he saw the rainbow maned mare. "Ah how are you doing my love?" He asked.

    "Rock I don't have time for your bull-shit, now tell me what's going on." Rainbow snorted.

    "Oh my love, why must you be so difficult?" Rock inquired.

    "Rock!" Rainbow growled, stomping the ground.

     Finally the other stallion had had enough, A smaller but thicker built pony with an all brown color scheme. "We caught her snooping around the outer walls of the camp just an hour ago. When we questioned her she ran. So we caught her and brought her back here. This was all she was carrying." He finished, tossing a small saddle bag from his back to the ground in front of Dash.

    "Thank you." She told the Brown Minute Stallion then shot Rock a dirty look before carefully rummaging through the bag, finding just a few bits and a couple of miscellaneous books. "No weapons?"

    "Nope." This time rock answered, obviously trying to win back a bit of respect.

    Rainbow mumbled to herself then stomped her hoof in frustration. "Damnit." She motioned for one of the Militia gate guard to restrain the zebra with a set of shackles.

    "Not on your life." The zebra piped up again, resuming her struggles but the two stallion were not having any more of that as they forces her to the ground with her forelegs out in front of her, allowing the guards to shackle her.

    "Alright, you two can let her go now. I'm going to bring her to Grayscale."

    The two almost were happy to push the zebra to Dash, happy to not have to deal with her any-longer.

    The mare stumbled when the chains restricted her ability to catch herself, luckily however Dash caught her just in time, shooting the two another dirty look before turning tail. "Come on you, your coming with me for now."

    "And why should I?" She questioned defiantly.

    All it took was another agitated stomp and curse from Dash for the zebra to slink on her way with her. She decided she had pushed enough buttons for now, not wanting to piss off a whole town of angry ponies.

    Dash walked slow enough so that her captor could keep up, grumbling all the way.

    "So what is this place anyway? It doesn't look very nice for a town." She decided that she would find out what she could, being restrained here and all.

    Rainbow sighed. "That's because its not a town."

    "Well what is it then?"

    "A camp?"

    "Really? Then why does a camp require armed stallion and mare and walls and gates?" She inquired.

    "Its a war camp." Dash specified.

    "A war camp? Your fighting  in the war against the Solandian army? You won't last long with this force." She chuckled which angered Dash but she held her composure.

    "We act as a probing and support force for the Royal army. We built our camp far enough from the frontlines as to not have to worry about large scale attacks. The most we worry about here and there are tactical squads, just small enough to break the border. One of our roles as militia is to find and annihilate these squads so the Royal army can focus most of its resources on the war effort. If these enemy squads decide to attack the camp they're saving us the trouble of finding them." Rainbow explained, then found herself wondering why she was explaining herself in the first place.

    "What about food? How do you feed all of these ponies?" She asked.

    Rainbow was already getting tired of the questions but figured it be better to answer them and keep her quiet then drag her to the tent. "We have small farms within our walls that provide plenty of food for every pony."

    "A farm? In a camp? How did you get the food to grow so fast?"

   "With the help of unicorns who specialize in agriculture. Magic can solve alot of problems when used correctly."

    "Does the food still taste the same?"

    "Does it matter?" She answered the question with a question of her own, grateful they were getting closer to General Grayscale's tent.

    For a moment it seemed as if the zebra would stop asking questions, a moment later however... "So who is Grayscale?"

    Dash gave an audible groan before answering. "Our general."

    "Like a real general?"

    "Yes, I mean no, not really. Just our general." Dash stammered over words agitatedly.

    "Then she's not really a general?"

    "No technically not, by while here you will treat HIM as such." Dash made sure to put emphasis on the general being a stallion so there was no confusion when they got inside.

    "The way you talked to those Stallion back there I thought mares were in charge." The zebra pointed out.

    "Our positions in the militia have nothing to do with our gender."

    "So y'all have a rank system?"

    "Not much of one, just key leaders."

    "Are you one?" She asked hopefully.

    "No, im more like a merc. I don't know really. Where all like mercs. Stop asking questions, infact I have one for you. What's your name anyway?"

    "Why do you want to know?" She asked, again testing the blue mare's patience.

    "Answer the bucking question." Dash growled.

    "Okay okay, don't get all testy. My name is Alsvid." She replied, bowing low at the mention of her own name.

    "Good you wait out here." Dash looked around for a nearby Minute pony and found one walking by. "Hey you, watch her and don't let her go anywhere until I get back." She indicated to him, gesturing toward Alsvid. Without waiting for a response Dash disappeared into Grayscale's hut.

    "Ah Rainbow Dash, why so flustered?" Grayscale asked, looking up from his parchment and quill. He was an old gray Stallion, tall and strong in stature, though way past his prime. Even the light bad started to fade from his eyes but he denied even death itself that he was nearing his end and refused any and all treatment that had anything to do with his old age.

    "Well General, a couple of our troops out on patrol happened upon a young mare who calls herself, Alsvid. She was sneaking around the outer walls and ran when they confronted her. They... Didn't find any weapons on her, just some bits and a couple of books. I know its not my job to report to you but the stallion that were handling her were not being very professional about it all." Rainbow explained.

    "Really now? Maybe just a straggler perhaps. Did you happen to get anything out of her besides her name?" He asked, placing his quill back down on his desk and diverting his full attention on Dash.

    "No actually." She replied scratching the back of her head nervously. "She asked most of the questions."

    "What kind of questions?" He asked seriously.

    'Oh buck I'm screwed.' She thought to herself, suddenly regretting talking to the mare. "Well, things like what this was, who we were fighting, how we sustain ourselves, our rank structure." She let her voice trail off as her face lit up red.

    "And you answered?" He asked with a hint of a growl in his voice.

    "Well, see I wasn't really thinking, I didn't think much of her and I figured it wouldn't hurt, I just wanted her to shut up and-"

    "Rainbow Dash, it is fine. She knew to much the moment she found our camp." He cut her off and began rubbing his temples with his forhooves. "We'll just have to hold her here in the camp until we can figure out if she has any hostile intentions. For now, send her to the cages. Tell them to watch over her with the rest of the prisoners but make sure to segregate her from the others." He finished. "Now please Dash, I have work I must attend to." He sounded more agitated than before, but she could not blame him when such trivial task seemed to appear out of thin air.

    Dash decided to leave the tent without saying another word. When she got back outside she instructed the guard to move her to the cages as she was told. Immediately Alsvid began to protest.

    "What? Cages? A prison? Why?" She again began her futile struggle only more violently. Even while detained she managed to lash out at the guard, busting his muzzle. Other ponies had to rush over to help detain the zebra and tote her off to the cages seeing as she would no longer walk compliantly and kicked and screamed the whole way.

    Dash shook her head and took a deep breath, relieved to be rid of the nuisance. 'I hope I never have to deal with her again.' She thought as she began to trot back to her own tent to rest up before tonight.