The Mane Six Militia and The Shadow of a Phantom

by Nocturnal Derp

Rating: mature
Tags: Adventure, Dark, Alternate Universe, Romance, Tragedy
Length: 44174

The mane six join a militia when war errupts on Equestrian soil after Celestia refuses to turn over the unicorn that reside in Equestria.

Equestria has fallen into chaos. It has been two years since war has torn through the land like sharpened steel. The mane 6 have devoted themselves to an volunteer militia supporting Equestria's army in the effort to defend their home from the invading forces of Solandia, a nation bent on the eradication of unicorn. With their help and the help of a few other unlikely heroes Equestria may just win this war.

Credit goes to http://a4r91n.deviantart.com/ for cover art. A4R91N

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-08-31 07:10:08 UTC

Rainbow's Thorn

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.

Shadow of an Ally

It was that time again, time for Rainbow to get out of her comfort zone. Into the unknown perils of enemy territory. She sniffed the night air and let it out slowly. "Perfect." She whispered to herself. She loved it, she'd always have love for danger. Unfourtanetly their was one other thing she loved more than the fight for survival.

    Fluttershy stepped out beside her looking defeated. She had tried her best to convince Dash to turn the assignment down but to no avail. In the end she understood why Dash did what she did, she just wished it didn't have to be her Dashi.

    Dash turned to face Shy, forcing a smile for the sake of her mare-friend.

    Shy takes a couple steps toward Dash and nuzzles the side of neck in which she takes the opportunity to breath in Shy's sweet aroma and closes her eyes.

    Dash felt Shy pull away and opens her eyes again.

    "Dashi, please be careful." She whispered.

    "Shy, you don't have to worry. I'll be back before you wake up in the morning." She reassured her.

     Shy seemed to accept this. She was just scared that one of these days Dash wasn't going to come back. She wouldn't know what to do with herself if she lost her Dashi.

    Rainbow Dash gave her one last kiss before taking off into the sky. She flew slowly over the camp, enjoying the cool air that swept through her fur, mane, and tail. For just a moment she forgot where she was headed.

    The armory came into view a moment later as she began her decent. She could just make out Rarity's figure in the dark before touching ground. "Rarity? What are you doing here?" Rainbow inquired.

    "I was asked to lay out your ponies's gear for your assignment." She replied simply. "Come on, the others are already inside."

    In the armory, there were three other pegasi. Two mare and one stallion. All she could see of them where their faces as they were all dressed in black. Dash obtained her clothes and a small sword in which she sheathed to the small saddle bag that was included in the equipment. Inside were various supplies for marking, climbing, and sustainment, along with basic medical supplies.

    Dash gave a small nod of approval and closed the bag, tossing it over her back and securing the straps along her waist and over her forlegs.

    Rarity stopped Dash before she took off with the team. "Rainbow do be careful."

    "Rare, nothing can hurt the Dash." She chuckled before nodding to the rest of the team. They took off into the night, heading toward the front lines, and Solandian border.

    The leader of the group was a mare named Freefeather. She was a bit taller than Rainbow but skinny, with caramel colored fur and a white mane. Her cutie mark was of a tennis racket and ball. Before she volunteered for the militia she played on the Equestrian tennis team, so she was moderately athletic and had quite the body, of course you couldn't tell with the black apparel. She didnt talk a whole lot but she was rather kind. She did have her moments where she would break down for almost no reason on occasion. Aside from that she had adapted really well to militia life and proved quite the adversary with a dagger. Despite her fur color she was adept at concealment and stealth tactics making her more than qualified for recon missions.

    The second member of the team was a stallion named Hoard. He was rather large to be a Pegasus but with proper training his wings were more than capable of sustaining his weight. Hoard's fur was tan and his mane a slightly darker shade of brown. At a young age he had decided to use his attributes to his advantage, joining the royal guard in the desert regions of Kayan, his cutie mark confirmed this being a shield. For reasons he refused to explain he was exiled from the land and came to Equestria where he became a simple security guard, not being that smart. When he heard about the militia forming up he could not resist, wanting to get back into the fight.

    The third, another blue colored mare with a dark blue mane, who used to be a waitress decided that joining the militia was an exciting and much needed change in her life. The founders of the militia were impressed at her ability to shoot a cross bow and so accepted her as a fighter in their ranks. Her name was Flora.

    In a little more than an hour they made it across the border, managing to avoid allied and enemy encampments alike by staying just above the clouds. They needn't worry about enemy fortification occupying any clouds seeing as a fortification in the sky would easily be torn through or infiltrated by the opposing side. So instead of attempting to fortify the sky they simply posted pegasi to watch over the clouds.

    Anypony already in the clouds would see them coming before they realized they'd been spotted so they descended to the ground, relying on the forest to mask their trail.

    As the team landed they ducked low into the brush, waiting to see if they had been spotted. After a minute or so of silence, which seemed like an eternity they made their move. Avoiding well beaten trails and roads of any sort they picked their way through the brush.

    They did a good job avoiding the Solandian troops until complacency caused them to stumble almost on top of a patrol.  The four quickly ducked down low, hoping they had not already been spotted. Dash's heart sank when the head of the patrol stopped and the soldiers ears perked up. "Did you all hear anything?" The stallion asked the rest of the squad.

    Dash's hopes dropped even more when they rose to their hind hooves, dawned their swords and began to pick their way through brush. The enemies patrol consisted of three rather large earth pony in armor and five pegasi. In a head on fight they wouldn't stand much of a chance, and if one of the pegasi flew off to alert the others that were sure to be nearby they would have to scrub the mission, whether they survived or not.

    Just before they stumbled upon Dash and the others a miracle fell upon them. From the very rear of the formation a muffled scream alerted the others. Dash nearly jumped from her hiding place out of shock before realizing it was one of the enemy being slain. She strained her eyes from her hiding place to get a view of what was happening. All she could see was the Solandian soldier drop dead and a black blur disappear into the tree's shadows.

    "Its The Phantom!" One of the soldiers shouted.

    "Where gonna die!" Another panicked.

    "Silence You Fools." The head of the patrol shouted angrily. "Are you all a bunch of cowardly fillies? Its but one pony. Just keep your heads on." He growled, scanning the area around him.

    "Buck you man, im outa here." One of the mare pegasi announced before lifting off into the air.  However she barely made it five feet before a bolt shot from somewhere in the trees and into her neck. She fell to the ground with a sickening thud, thrashing and grabbing at the bolt as the blood rushed to escape her body. A moment later she lay still.

    This convinced the remaining six to stand there ground. All but there leader shivering with fear, barely able to hold their weapons steady as their heads snapped back and forth, trying to locate the demon that thirsted for their blood. One of the earth pony dropped to the ground, dropping his weapon and covering his crying eyes with his forhooves.

    Another flash of black blasted by the group. It looked like a curtain flying through the air. A second later two more of the soldiers dropped dead, slashes on either side of their bodies.

    The pony that had dropped to the ground took off in a mad dash toward the thick of the forest. He disappeared but a moment later a scream was heard from his direction.

    The patrol of eight was reduced to three in the matter of a minute and no pony had even seen the assailant. One of the Solandian stallion soldiers had backed to close to Freefeathers position. Before the pony took another step Freefeather rose up swiftly, grabbed the soldier and dragged him down into the brush, wrapping her hooves around his throat to stop his scream. Only after he passed out and quit thrashing did she release her hold.

    "Watch my back." The head of what used to be a patrol told the remaining soldier. The two who were left stood back to back holding their weapons out in front of them. The blur appeared again, above them this time, snatching the remaining soldier up and flying back into the tree tops. The lead turned around but saw only the soldier's sword lying in the dirt. A moment later the body of their owner fell atop them, dead.

    The remaining Stallion growled. "You coward, Show Yourself!" He shouted into the air but got no response. His ear twitched to the side and with amazing speed he spun around, just managing to block the phantom's attack from behind.

     For the first time Dash got a look at the legend. Definetly a pony, she also spotted feathers protruding from the cloak it wore. "A Pegasus." Dash breathes to herself.

    However lucky he may have been, the leaders time had run out. With a twitch and a spin, one of the phantoms blades gutted the stallion and he to fell dead, joining his soldiers.

    Everything was quiet again. "What if it comes for us?" Flora whispered frantically.

    "If it wanted us dead we'd be that way already." Hoard growled and rose from his hiding place. "Come on, we don't have much time we still need to find the enemy fort and gather intel." He grumbled.

    Freefeather cleared her throat and stood up abruptly as if reminding the heavy built stallion who was in charge.

    Dash and Flora followed suit. Before continuing they searched through the fallen soldiers belongings and saddlebags to see if they carried any sensitive information and to Feathers disappointment they found none.

     For another hour they crept through the forest brush, stopping once to sip at some water from a water skin from in their bags. The faint glow of fire directed them toward what looked like a sto e wall, hiddin by a thick formation of trees just south of their path.

    "Flora, go check it out." Feather ordered quietly.

     The blue mare looked as if she were about to protest but chose to keep her muzzle shut. With a nervous shake in her step she crawled low until she reach the trees. Flora peeked around the edge of one of the trunks to see the wall standing just taller than the trees and as wide as their own encampment. Between the wood line and the wall itself, a field stretched out a hundred yards out, leaving plenty of room for the archers to spot invading forces. On the walls archers were posted that patrolled back and forth lazily, obviously still oblivious to their squads disappearance.

    Flora swallowed nervously and crawled backwards until she was sure they couldn't see her, then turned tail and moved swiftly back to the other three. "That's it."

    "Your sure?" Feathers asked.

    "Yes, but its much bigger than we initially thought. Our militia couldn't possibly overtake that thing."

    "What do you mean? Its only supposed to be a forward operating base from what we were told." Feather exclaimed.

    "I'm telling you, there has to be an entire brigade of enemy soldiers in there, if not more."

    Feather growled to herself. "Well at least we know now. Lets get out of here." However as she spoke the words a sound that none of them wanted to hear froze their hearts.

    "Hey You Over There! Identify Yourselves." Another patrol that seemed to just be leaving the gates had spotted them, again exposing the four militia's inexperience as true soldiers.

    "RUN!" Dash exclaimed. The others had already took off before she had finished the word.

    "INTRUDERS! SOUND THE ALARM!"

    The team heard the squads hoofsteps behind them and they wished they could take off into the sky but the thick tree tops prevented a clean take off. A bell sounded behind them, alerting the fort of the intrusion. "Shit." Dash breathed as her hooves pounded across the forest floor.

    An arrow passed just over Flora's head and she whimpered in freight. The near miss distracted her enough to where she tripped over a rotting log. She screamed for help as she tried desperately to get back to her hooves.

    Dash and the others skidded to a halt and turned to help but saw that the enemy had already caught up to her. With a quick thrust they cut her crying short.

    "Nooo!" Feathers breathed then cried out as she attempted to rush the group of soldiers. If not for Hoard grabbing her she would have fallen victim next.

"There's nothing we can do for her now." Dash called out to Feather. "We have to go, Now!" Dash was going to wait no longer to take off again, and was thankful to hear the others follow suit. Unfourtanetly the delay had allowed the enemy force to gain on them.

    Then another scream was heard. Only not one of their own. Dash turned her head for only a second, spotting the cloaked pony's blade claim another Solandian life before disappearing into the shadows again. This did not detour the remaining, much larger force from their chase however. Their numbers being to great for the phantom to pick them all off however a few did cut back to search for the source of their soldier's death. 'They must have thought they had ran into an ambush.' Dash thought to herself as her hopes flared. Finally they came upon a clearing and the night sky glimmered above them. "Lets go!" Feathers called out before rising into the sky, followed suit by Dash and Hoard.

    Before Dash could get far enough however an arrow grazed her hind leg causing her to cry out in pain. She didn't stop however. Stopping meant death. Stopping meant breaking her promise to Pinky, to breaking her promise to FlutterShy.

    Feather and Dash had no trouble out flying the enemy pegasi, however Hoards sheer size meant he was not as lucky and he knew this. So he did the only thing he could. He turned to face the enemy force that had been gaining on him.

    "Hoard!" Feathers stopped and turned.

    "Go, I'll never make it. The least I can do is buy you time." He called over his shoulder.

    "Hoard No!" Feathers pleaded, crying. "Please!"

    "I said Go!" Hoard called out.

    Dash came back for Freefeather. She turned Feather to face her. "He's right. We have to go." She told her. Feather's head dropped at the undeniable truth. "Come on." Rainbow told her before taking off again, Feather close behind.

    Hoard breathed a sigh of relief as the two mare flew farther away then looked toward the gaining force. Tonight was his night, to die the warriors death he had craved for so long. The fastest but smallest of the pegasi to reach him attempted to drive his sword into him. Hoard effortlessly caught the smaller Pegasus's hoof. With his free hoof he took hold of the soldiers wing and snapped it before tossing him away to fall to his death. Hoard drew his blade as two more of the pegasi caught up and with the grace of his former years he deflected the first one's sword and slashed the others throat. By this time an archer had caught to the fight and released an arrow at Hoard who barely dodged the projectile.

    The distraction was enough for the enemy sword pegasus to slash down with her blade, cutting across Hoards back. Hoard growled and gnashed his teeth together before turning to slash at the soldier who blocked the attack. Hoard used the opportunity to take hold of her throat and toss her away. She was able to catch herself in time to see Hoards blade drive itself into her gut. He kicked the soldier off of his blade and she fell, this time she would not be able to catch herself as her blood left her body as she fell. If the wound would not kill her the fall would.

    Hoard cried out as he felt a sharp pain in his back and through his gut. He looked down to see the tip of an arrow protruding from his stomach, blood beginning to gush around the sides of the arrow. He caughed up more blood as he grabbed the arrow, pulling it through as he yelled in pain until he was able to pull it free from his body. He discarded the arrow and turned to face the growing force again. Bleeding profusely from his wounds he still was not done. "Die, DIeeeeee!" He cried out as he rushed them slashing and cutting wildly until finally he was struck down.

    Down he fell, the light faing from his eyes. He smiles one last time as a tear escaped his eye. His wish had finally come true. His wish to die a warrior.

    Dash and Feather had finally reach the border where an Equestrian fort stood tall. The Solandian force wouldn't be as foolish as to rush the border recklessly. However they did not want to be stopped by the Royal army for questioning so they flew on past the fort. The faster Dash reached the camp the faster she could examine the wound on her leg. It couldn't be to bad or she would have passed out from blood loss by now.

    The sight of the camp was that of beauty to the two mare. They removed their hoods so as to allow their guards to identify them as they landed infront lf the gate. Dash winced as she put pressure on her hind left leg and chose instead to limp on her three good legs.

    The militia guard rushed out to meet them. "What happened?" One of them asked frantically but neither Dash nor Feather answered. Feather was still crying at the loss of the two pony under her watch. She had failed them. Even though the mission was a success she considered it a failure. No pony should have died over such a ignorant mistake as talking openly like that, especially so deep into enemy territory.

    Dash thought it best to leave her be as they stumbled back into the camp, ignoring the two guards frantic questioning. When they got inside Feather turned toward Dash. "I'll go give the report. Give me your gear and get that leg looked at."

    Dash didn't dare argue with the grief stricken mare. She gratefully turned over her apparel, weapon, and saddlebag. She knoddes gratefully to her and offered her a weak smile which was not returned.

    Rainbow was not going to wake Shy to wrap a simple flesh wound. She went to the medical tent were Raisen sat, watching over the few injured pony that remained there.

    Dash said little as Raisen inquired about her wound that she tended to and the mission. A few minutes later Dash left the tent, thanking Raisen before she limped back to her hut.

    Though it had only been a night it seemed like forever since she had laid eyes on Fluttershy, who slept peacefully on their bed. She climbed gently into her place next to Fluttershy, happy to keep her promise that she would see her when she woke. The sun would be up in all of two hours, Dash was exaughsted and shaken by the night's events. However as soon as she breathed in the sweet aroma of flowers from Fluttershy's fur she began to doze off, falling into the merciful hooves of sleep.

False Imprisonment

Alsvid woke before the sun rose that morning. For a second she had forgot she was a prisoner as she scanned the four small walls of the makeshift hut that was converted into a cell. Two windows on either of the hut were barred and the door itself was locked from the outside.

     She stood up on her hind hooves and looked out the window toward the door, where a stallion sat sleeping against it with his helmet half off his head, and his shield laying to the side. "Hey, Hey guy. Helllooooo." No reaction. Alsvid let out an agitated puff of air and trotted over to the door. She turned and bucked at it as hard as she could.

    "Gah, what in?" Came the voice of the guard on the other side of the door.

    Alsvid rushed over to the window again seing that the Stallion was struggling to recover his helmet that had fallen off. "Hey what kind of guard sleeps on the job?"

    The guard looked back and forth, trying to find the owner of the voice.

     "Over here dumb ass." Alsvid shook her head in disappointment.

    "Huh what do you want?" The guard asked with agitation.

    "I'm hungry, if you all are gonna keep me up here your gonna feed me" She snapped.

    "Your not in a position to be giving orders." He yawned. "You'll get fed after the camp has eaten."

    "Typical." Alsvid sighed and slunk down to the ground. "Can I at least get some water.?" She whined.

    "Yeah yeah." Was her response and she heard him trotting away.

    "Wow he's a bigger idiot than I thought." She said to herself before trotting back over to the door, examining the small crack her initial kick had caused. "The door should not be the weakest part of a prison." She purred before turning and kicking at it again, hearing a satisfying crack as the door began to cave. Quickly she kicked at it two more times and the bottom of the door gave way, shattering on the ground, leaving just enough room for her to crawl out.

    After she cleared the door she scanned the area to see if her commotion had alerted anypony. To her disappointment, it had not. "This is almost to easy."

    Though as she begun to sneak away the original guards voice rung through the air. "Hey Stop!"

    "That's better." Alsvid laughed as she took off. She had little idea where she was going but she figured if she just kept running she'd find a way out.

    The sound of her pursuers hoofsteps only encouraged her as she made a series of twist and turns through the paths of the camp, leaving anypony she passed looking bewildered.

     "Don't let her get away!" The guard called out to the other militia stallion and mare.

    Alsvid had to dodge and weave through a couple of them as they pounced to catch her, though her excitement was short lived as she turned the corner and ran straight into that brute of a stallion Rockcoat. She crashed into him at full speed, stopping her dead in her tracks and knocking the breath out of her. Alsvid looked up. "Damnit." That's the last thing she remembered saying before Rock struck her over the side of the head.

    "Ohhh, my head." Alsvid tried to touch her head but could not move her hooves. "Wha?" She opened her eyes and found herself in new surroundings, a tent. She lay flat on the ground, each of her hooves chained to different poles of the tent. A couple of armed earth pony accompanied by a mare unicorn, stood in front of her.

    "She's waking up." One of the guards pointed out.

    "Good, then we can start." The unicorn replied.

    "Start? Start what?" Alsvid inquired.

     "This will go easier for you if you comply." The unicorn told her.

    "Comply with what? I'm all chained up." She pointed out dumbly, starting to get tired of playing prisoner.

    "Just remain calm, this will only take a moment."

    "What will take a moment? What's going on?"

     The unicorns horn began to glow an eerie white color and Alsvid's vision began to blur, she tried to scream as she began to panic but no sound came out. Everything flashed bright and all was quiet for just a second, then it was over, though she felt as if she had ran a marathon and her head was throbbing even worse.

    "Well?" One of the guards asked as the unicorn opened his eyes.

     "Nothing of any importance." He replied.

    "Are you sure, I mean she was snooping around the edge of camp, ran when questioned, then tried to escape." The other guard protested.

    Alsvid had just caught her breath and retorted angrily. "I'm sorry but when a curious mare such as myself stumbles upon a structure not on the map, she tends to investigate. When two armed stallion approach you asking questions, like where your from you get frightened, and when you get held prisoner against your will, you tend to want to get out of that situation." She snorted. "I had no weapons, showed no hostility until you all put hooves on me first. Now I'm chained to these damned polls, have a knot on my head from one of your brutes and an even worse headache from whatever the fuck you did to me." She finished, shooting a nasty glance at the unicorn.

    "Your asking for it bit-"

    "Dot That's enough, she's right you know." The other guard cut him off. The unicorn nodded in agreement.

    "Now that were all in agreeance could you please just unchain me now?"

    "Unfourtanetly no, but, if you agree not to try and escape again I'll undo three of the cuffs so you can get comfortable."

    Alsvid groaned. "Oh come on!"

    "Sorry." the stallion shrugged.

    "Ugh fine." Alsvid sighed. The two guard walked over, undoing her two forhooves and her left rear hoof before leaving the tent again.

    Meanwhile back in Dash's Hut.

    Fluttershy stirred, blinking the sun out of her eyes. She had slept in later than usual, being accustomed to Rainbow Dash waking her.

    'Dashi!' She suddenly remembered the night before and turned frantically to find the blue mare sleeping soundly in her spot. Thats when she noticed the bloody bandage on her rear leg. "Dashi!" She cried out alarming her mare-friend who sprung up to a sitting position.

    "What?" She asked alarmed, afraid something had happened, then saw her teary eyed canary mare. "Shy what's wrong?"

    "Rainbow what happened last night?" She questioned as she held back tears. "Why are you hurt?"

    Dash looked down to her injured leg and was surprised at how much it had bled. 'Must have been worse than I thought.' She thought.

    "Dashi!" Shy exclaimed again, reminding her she was there.

    Rainbow took a deep breath before speaking. "Shy, the fortification we were sent to recon, well its alot bigger and much more organized than we thought. We were spotted just as we were heading out, as we took to the air an arrow grazed me, that's all." She wasn't about to tell her of the two that didn't make it.

    "That looks alot worse than a graze." She snorted. "Who wrapped it? Why didn't you wake me?" She inquired angrily.

    "Shy please,  I just didn't want you to fret. I was just happy you managed to sleep at all. Raisen took care of it for me." Dash explained, trying to calm her.

    Shy's look turned from mad to upset again. Whenever she panicked her emotions got all mixed up. "I'm going to have to redo the dressings' and sterilize it."

    "Shy don't worry about it, I'll have one of the other-" Thats as far as she got when Shy shot her a look of warning. "Okay Shy, you win." There was no point in arguing when she felt so strongly about something.

    "Wait here." Fluttershy jumped out of the bed and hurried out the door, returning a short while later with a small box in her muzzle which she placed beside the bed and sat next to it. "Give me your leg." She ordered, not giving Dash another chance to argue.

    With care she removed the old wrappings, Dash winced as the wrap peeled from her wound where it made contact. Shy took gauze with one hoof and soaked it in alcohol. "T-This is going to hurt Dash." She announced before dabbing at the wound, making sure to cleanse the entire wound.

    Dash took in a sharp breath as the gauze made contact and let it out as Shy finished with the gauze. Rainbow looked down at Shy as she worked, the look of genuine concern and care in her eyes as she took special care of her leg. That was one of Fluttershy's best qualities. She cared more than any other pony she new. She never stopped, even when it hurt her the most. Which was exactly what Dash needed. Somepony to care. Somepony she wouldn't be afraid to open up to.

    Shy tied off the bandage as she finished then crawled back up onto the bed, giving Dash a hug and started crying into her shoulder. What she had feared the most had nearly become a reality.

    Rainbow Dash nearly began to cry herself. She needed to be strong for Shy though. Rainbow  unfurled her wings and wrapped them around Shy before holding her in her hooves. "Its okay Shy, I'm still here. I'll never leave you. I love you." she whispered to her canary colored mare.

Alicorns and Zebras

Twilight paced nervously up the hall to Celestia's quarters and knocked at the door. At once the door opened. Twilight stepped inside the grand room and found Celestia sitting at her desk. "Is something wrong Twilight?"

    "No princess, but I have a request." Twilight announced bowing.

    "Twilight Sparkle get up. There is no need for such formality. Come, take a seat."

    "Yes Princess."

     "Twilight please call me Celestia." The two went through this every time Twilight addressed her.

    Twilight giggled half heartedly and took her seat across from the Princess.

    "Now, you say you have a request of me?" Celestia inquired.

     "Yes I do." She took a deep breath.

    "Well?"

    "I want to join the castle's third division on the front lines." Twilight announced.

    Celestia sat back in her chair, her expression unchanging. "Twilight, tell me where it is you really wish to go."

    Twilight sighed and looked down at the ground, her face turning a faint red at having been figured out so easily. "The militia encampment." Twilight admitted.

    "Twilight did you really think I wouldn't figure it out? Every report you see I have already read. You do know how dangerous it is out there don't you?"

    "Yes, I do. Its just, I'm worried, scared. My friends are out there in danger, while I sleep comfortably in my quarters."

    "Well, as long as you understand, when the enemy discovers your out there you'll become a primary target."

    "I understand." Twilight replied, her hopes flaring.

    "Having said that, I am assigning you a guard."

    "I understand."

    "Good." Celestia called for one of her guards to retrieve Twilight's escort.

    A moment or so later the guard returned with Trixie close behind.

    Twilight turned back to face Celestia. "What is she doing here?"

    "She will be your escort."

    "What? How is she going to help." Twilight was growing upset.

    "Twilight, she was one of my best students. She will prove valuable in your efforts on the line. Also she has traveled all over Equestria, quite adept in map reading.

    "But-"

    "Twilight please." Trixie interrupted. "I am not who I was before. I want the same thing you do. I know what the Solandian forces have been doing to unicorns. I want to help."

    Twilight got down from her seat and turned to face Trixie then sighed. "Okay, I'll give you a chance. Love and tolerate." Twilight reminded herself.

    "Thank you princess." Trixie replied bowing.

    The gesture shocked Twilight. 'Is she really?' She thought. "Trixie please rise." It was just to weird.

    Trixie nodded her head and rose. "Just send for me prior to your departure and I will be ready." Trixie replied before trotting out of Celestia's quarters.

    Twilight retook her seat with Celestia. "How did you know I would come to you with this request? Am I so predictable?"

    "Twilight I know how close you are to your friends. I knew you would worry. Besides, the front line could always use a brilliant strategist as yourself."

    "Thank you, from the bottom of my heart." Twilight replied.

    "Understand however, I have an assignment for you regarding your request."

    "Of course." Twilight replied.

     "Good now their encampment could work to our advantage. Depending on their numbers and training level we may be able fortify that position and use it more effectively. I will de sending a battalion of soldiers along with workers with supplies with you, you will take charge of the unit. When you arrive see out their leader and explain that you are to take charge of the camp, of course be sure to explain they will still have a degree of command over their troops. The pony in charge may not relinquish his power so easily, even to a princess. Give him this." Celestia retrieved a sealed scroll from her desk with her magic and placed it in front of Twilight on the desk. "Do not break the seal or its contents will lose integrity. A supply route will be established to sustain your position. Any questions?" Celestia asked.

    "Just one, when do I depart?"

    "Tomorrow morning."

    Twilight rose from her seat and onto her hooves. "Thank you Celestia." She trotted out of the chamber, anticipation and worry heavy on her mind.

    Evening began to fall on the camp when she heard the door to her prison open. Alsvid picked her head up to see who had come to agitate her now. She hoped maybe it would be dinner, she had received two bland meals for breakfast and lunch and while it didn't taste gourmet, it was edible, especially to a hungry zebra.

    A ragged looking Stallion walked through the door, to Alsvid's disappointment, empty hooved. "Ohhh what now? This isn't fun anymore you know." She groaned, letting her head fall back to her hooves.

    "Grayscale has requested your precense." He replied.

    "Requested?" She parroted.

    "Yes requested, your free to go." He told her unlocking her hoof restraint and stepping away from the door.

    Alsvid took a few cautios steps towards the exit to see if the stallion would make a move to grab her, but he did not. He just sat there, staring at her as if he were curious at what she would do.

    "So... requested huh? Okay, if you would be so kind as to take me to him then." What was the harm after all? If he had nothing of importance to discuss she could at least get her own word in about her mistreatment.

    The stallion nodded his head in agreement and trotted out of the tent, Alsvid right behind him.

    A few turns and paths later they arrived. The stallion held the flap to the tent open so Alsvid could proceed. When she saw three different ponies, two with armor and all three armed. "Alright so, which one of you is responsible for my abuse?" She asked in a harsh tone.

    "I assume you are referring to me." The eldest one spoke and trotted over to face her. "I am-"

    "Grayscale, I know." Alsvid finished his sentence.

    "Do not interrupt the general." One of the other pony exclaimed.

    "No no she is fine. Please give us a minute alone." Grayscale requested.

The two hesitated, untrusting of there former prisoner but obeyed without a word.

    "Now that we will not be bothered, please take a seat." He gestured toward a chair at a small table beside them.

    "Uhh... Sure." and she sat.

    Grayscale took the seat across from her. "Let me start by apolagizing for my troops." He paused, thinking of the correct term. "We'll say, hmm... Harsh behavior. You must understand we are under a great deal of stress." He finished.

    "That does not call for confining me against my will." She shot back, expecting the old stallion tl anger.

    "Yes yes, I do apologize. One must never be to careful. My guards tell me you were quite the hoof-full. You nearly outmuscled one and outran many others."

    "Adrenalin mostly but yes this is true." Alsvid replied with suspicion.

    "Well, it has come to my attention that I have lost two respectable ponies as of late. We could use another soldier on the grounds."

    "What does that have to." She stopped for a moment. "You want me to join your militia?" Alsvid asked skeptically.

    "Voulenteer is a better word. At least a term I prefer."

    Alsvid's first thought was to tell him to fuck off, but she bit her tongue. "What is in it for me?" In truth she did not need a reason to fight against such cruelty as the Solandians plague on the unicorns, but there was no reason she couldn't strike a deal.

    "We have nothing much to offer except food and shelter, and judging from the contents in your saddle bag, you do not have much of either." The general replied.

    'Got me there.' She thought to herself. She sighed knowing there would be no reward. "Hmm... I suppose it could not hurt. The sooner this war is over the sooner I can go back to exploring the land freely."

    "I am happy to hear that. Let me be the first to thank you for joining our ranks. I hate to cut this talk short but I have matters to attend to. One of the guards outside will gladly escort you to your hut where you will be staying within the encampment." He told her.

    "Well, I will turn the other cheek for my maltreatment for now." She replied, as she got up from her seat and exited the tent where a guard waited to escort her to her hut.

To Applejack and Rarity's Surprise.

Derpy sat atop a hill right outside of camp, having finished cleaning the mess from dinner. Her thoughts wondered as she stared upon the sky, hopelessly wishing her time lord would come and save her from this place. She knew he wouldn't, though.

Flashback

    "Wait what? No you, you can't leave, you can't leave me here." Derpy started to sob having heard those words she had feared for so long.

    "Ditzy, I'm sorry. If I take you from Equestria now or if I stay, it will dramatically alter the future, and disrupt this dimensions universe. Its possible it will tear a whole in time and space." The doctor began to tear up himself.

    "But doctor, I-I don't understand. "Why? We've traveled together for a long time and nothing bad has ever happened because of it." She argued.

    "I know ditzy, I know. You've never had such a big role in a major event before now." The doctor tried to explain.

    "What do I have to do with this war that's supposed to start months from now?"

    "I do not know. All I know is you play a vital role in Equestria's future." The Doctor was upset himself that he could offer no more of an explanation.

    "W-will I ever see you again?"

    The question crushed the doctors heart. "No, by the time this war has ended it will have been years and years in the tardus. I can't promise I'd be back, where I'll be or when I'll be. I'm afraid I must say goodbye." Finally the doctor's floodgates broke and he himself started to cry.

    "You can't."

   "Ditzy I have to."

    "Your one of the few ponies that have accepted me for who I am. You've saved me more times than I can count. I can't lose you. Please Doctor." She knew not why she pursued this futile attempt at convincing the doctor to stay or take her with him. Once he made his mind up, that was it.

    "I'm sorry Ditzy." The doctor replied simply. "I'm only leaving because I care."

    Derpy fell to the ground and covered her eyes. Tears streamed  over her cheeks and muzzle. The docter lay down beside her, nuzzling her neck which seemed to calm her down a bit. "Doctor, I know your doing this for the better, I just wish there was another way."

    "I do to Ditzy. I don't have much time left in Equestria however. I need to get going." He replied with grief.

    "O-okay, just promise you won't forget me."

    "Ditzy no-on, I mean nopony could ever forget you." He stood up on his hooves and Ditzy followed suit, walking with him over to the tardus. The doors opened as the doctor got close and he stepped inside. He turned to see Ditzy one last time. "Goodbye Ditzy Doo."

    "G-goodbye Doctor. I'll never forget you."

    The doctor was about to close the doors when Ditzy stopped him by blocking the door with her hoof. "Ditzy?"

    "Avante." She whispered.

    "Upwards and onwards." He smiled, the gesture nearly broke his heart. He wanted so badly to kiss her, to tell Ditzy that he loves her, but he knew that it would only make this harder on her. So he just smiled. He hoped that one day, she'd find a pony to make her as happy as he himself had, even if it meant Ditzy forgetting him and loving another.

    With this she allowed the door to close, forever taking her doctor away. Soon after the whirring began as the tartus faded in and out of existence. She watched until she could no longer hear the whirring and the tartus faded out its last time in Equestria. She let her head hang low as she turned to make her way back to Ponyville. That's when she noticed the key was still tied to her pony tale. 'He never took it back.'

    To this day the key never left her side, either around her neck or tied in her hair it stayed for 16 months now.

    She began to toy with it. "I miss you." She told the sky, hoping that somehow the doctor could hear her.

/Back at Dash/Shy's hut\

     It was one of those rare occasions that Rarity, Apple jack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy were together other than breakfast. They sat together in a circle, picking at one another and sharing laughs.

    "Well excuse me for being polite. It is only custom to clean your hooves before walking into somepony's home. " Rarity snapped.

    "Rares, you wiped your hooves outside, only to walk in the dirt inside." Apple Jack challenged.

    "There is no need to drag anymore in then, is there?" Rarity replied.

    AppleJack put her head into her hooves. "There's no arguin with a drama queen." She said to herself.

    "Excuse me? What was that" Rarity snorted.

    "Oh nothing sugar cube." Apple Jack replied. "Just thinkin aloud is all."

    The other three giggled at this and Rarity stuck her chin up. "Hmph."

    "I swear, you two argue like your married." Dash chipped in.

     "Oh I'm sorry Ego Dash, are you to cool to listen to us?" Rarity went on the offensive.

    "What do you mean, Ego Dash. I don't have an ego." Dash exclaimed.

    This time the laughter was directed to her. Even Shy herself began to crack up.

    "What's so funny? I'm serious."

    "What ever helps ya'll sleep tonight Dash." Apple Jack replied and Dash huffed.

    "Shy, I don't know what your laughing at, your barely over the fear of your own shadow."

    "For somepony afraid of her shadow I seem to handle you well enough." Shy shot back and the group let out a series of ohhhh's while Shy hid behind her bangs, realizing that she had just spoken aloud.

    "Lets not forget Pinkie with the sweet tooth. Ya know, since we have gotten out here ah think you lost a few pounds seeing as y'all no longer able to eat cup cakes all the time. Ah can tell you right now its all going to your flank." Apple jack exclaimed.

    "Hey are you saying I have a fat flank?" Pinkie narrowed her eyes at Apple Jack.

    "Nah ahm just thinkin you could lay off them sweets for a while is all." Apple jack chuckled.

    "Well, well uhhh... Shut up." She huffed and crossed her forhooves fueling Applejack's laughter.

    "Well, ah believe its about that time, Have to be up with the sun." Applejack said just before yawning. "Plus ah don't want to leave Sweetie and Applebloom alone to long. Ya comin Rares?"

    "I suppose I must. I will see you all tomorrow."

    "Alright bye guys." Dash replied.

    AppleJack and Rarity left Dash's hut and started in the direction of the farm. "How has AppleBloom been lately?"

    "Ah suppose she been doin fine. She still won't really talk to any pony in the camp besides Sweetie and well, us of course." AppleJack explained.

    "You must understand darling, she simply just does not know any of the other fillies or colts. Sweetie has been the same way." Rarity replied.

    "Ah know ah know, its been over a year now. I don't want her to grow up bein afraid of other ponies because of the war."

    "AppleJack they are old enough to understand the difference between good and bad. They are just seeking comfort from one another. I believe it reminds them of better times, if I am not mistaken." Rarity would be lieng if she were to say she was not at all concerned but she was more than willing to give the two friends the benefit of the doubt.

    "Ah just wish they didn't have to go through this. We never had to worry about such things. Ah feel like a bad sister." Applejack told her, letting her head hang low.

    "AppleJack, were not even that old ourselves. Do not be so hard on yourself, you are a better sister than most."

    "Thanks Rares. Ah really appreciate it." Applejack replied.

    The next few minutes the two walked in silence until they got to the farm. Applejack and Rarity walked into her hut but saw no sign of the two fillies. "Where are they?" Rarity exclaimed.

    "Calm down Rares, they probably in the barn." Applejack explained. "Come on."

    The barn doors were shut, which was strange to Applejack. She normally closed the doors before sun-set but she had not been there to close it. 'Maybe AppleBloom took care of it for me.' She thought.

    AppleJack pulled the door open just enough to slip through. She didn't get half way in before backing out quickly and closing the door, standing between it and Rarity, her eyes closed and her muzzle scrunched in disgust. "You'll never believe what ah just saw."

    "What, are they okay?" Rarity asked alarmed.

    "Oh they're more than okay." Applejack replied leaving Rarity confused.

Seeking Comfort

    Twilight almost could not wait for the sun to rise as she stirred restlessly in the early hours of the morning. After another agonizing hour or so the sun peaked into her room through the half drawn curtains of the window. "Finally." Twilight hopped down from her bed and picked up her saddlebags which contained her personal belongings. She trotted out of her room, down the stairs, through the great hall, and into the courtyard where the Royal guard were preparing her convoy of troops, workers, supply carriages, and of course her own personal carriage.

    "Hey, uh... You over there." She called out to the nearest of the guard who quickly trotted to her and bowed for her.

    "Yes my princess." He replied.

    "Please please get up." She told the guard, she was not one to flaunt her royalty over her subjects. "I need you to find Trixie for me. Tell her to prepare her things and meet me in the courtyard."

    "Yes Princess." With this the guard was off to carry out his orders stopping only to pay his respects to Celestia and Luna as they entered the courtyard.

    "Are you sure this is what you want to do Twilight?" Celestia asked, taking her place beside the smaller alicorn.

    "Yes, I'm sure. I worry for my friends and I would be much more useful out there than here in the castle." Twilight replied confidently.

    "You promise to be careful?" Luna asked, a genuine concern in her eyes.

    "Of course." She replied, smiling at Luna, even though she was Celestia's student, Luna had always been more like a big sister to Twilight.

    "I'll try not to worry then, I look forward to receiving your reports." Luna replied.

    "I'll make sure to attach a little note for you, for each report I send back."

     This made Luna smile, which in turn made Twilight feel much better.

     A moment or so later Trixie came trotting into the courtyard with her own saddlebag. Twilight took note she had not brought her hat or cape, or at least she was not wearing it, and she hoped that Trixie would not waste space in her bags for them. Trixie stopped in front of Twilight and for the second time bowed down to her. "I hope I did not keep you waiting Princess Twilight."

    "Trixie, please get up. Don't worry, you did not keep me waiting. Final preparations for the trip are just being made." Twilight sighed. Celestia and Luna both giggled at Twilight's impatience for the new and formal Trixie.

    "Is there anything I can do to help Princess?" Trixie asked, standing up straight.

    "No, no not that I can think of, wait, do you have a map?" Twilight asked, remembering she would act as the guide for this trip.

    "Yes of course Princess." Trixie replied, her horn glowing as she removed a thick roll of paper from her bag and opened it for Twilight to see.

    "Well, that's all then. We will be leaving shortly." Twilight replied.

    With this Trixie put away the map and trotted toward the convoy.

     "I suppose I should get down there. I want to depart as soon as I can." Twilight said eagerly.

    "Can't wait to get away from us huh?" Luna replied with a smirk.

    "Luna you know better." Twilight answered.

     "Be safe, and leave with my blessing." Celestia told Twilight before wrapping a hoof around her former student.

    "Thank you Celestia. You needn't worry."

     Twilight then turned to Luna, who almost looked as if she were about to cry. "Oh Luna, cheer up, I'll be back before you know it, and when I return, the war will be over." Twilight tried to cheer her up.

    "I know, its just, so many are in the field, Prince Blue Blood, Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, and now you are leaving. I just worry so much." Luna replied.

    "Just, try to relax, for me." Twilight replied, nuzzling under Luna's chin.

    Luna gave Twilight a hug in return. "I'll try."

    "Thank you."

     "Princess, preparations are complete." A guard captain called from the convoy.

    "I must be off." She told the two sisters. "I'll send word as soon as I reach the encampment." Twilight began a quick trot to her carriage, eager to start the journey to her friends.

    As soon as she got in she told the Guard Captain she was ready to move. She looked out the window of her carriage back at Celestia and Luna and waived goodbye. She waited until the gesture was returned before ducking back into her carriage. Within a minute of giving the order they set off.

    Twilight took a look around her new mobile quarters which were actually quite cozy. A small bed sat in the corner with two pillows and a couple of blankets. Curtains hung from the two windows on either side, and a small table and chair sat under the left window. Atop the table sat a kettle of tea and a cup, a stack of blank parchment, a few quills, a few ink wells and candles. Under the other window sat a small two shelf book-shelf and upon examining, Twilight found to be some of her favorite books, a few spell books, and some titles she did not recognize. To compliment the entirety of the carriage a deep color purple carpeting blanketed the floor.

    "Its gonna be a long trip." Twilight told herself as she picked one of her favorites from the shelf and sat at the table. As she read she listens to the various noises that surrounded her temporary home. The sound of the guards hoof steps as well as their voices and laughter. The different birds she heard singing, happy that it was morning. The wagon wheels that role smoothly on the cobblestone path that led away from the castle. It was as if nothing was wrong, and it was all quite relaxing.

    After a short while she happened to glance out the window to see the blue mare known as Trixie trotting along on her own, staring at the ground as she made her way. Twilight actually felt bad for her. Twilight was worried about her friends but at least she had friends to worry about. Trixie was alone. Twilight found herself wondering about her two assistants but figured the two were not much company to begin with.

    Twilight sighed, placed her book down on the table, got up and opened the door to the slow moving carriage. "Hey Trixie, hop in." Twilight took a step to the side to allow Trixie the room to land.

    Trixie hopped into the carriage and looked over at Twilight. "Did you need anything prin-"

    "Trixie, stop that." Twilight told her before closing the door before turning to face her and taking a seat on the soft carpet. "Please sit."

    Trixie did as she was told but could not help but to inquire. "Stop what Princess?"

    "That, my name is Twilight, you know this." Twilight answered.

    Trixie sighed and her expression changed to one that Twilight could not quite read. "Twilight I know what your name is. I'm just trying to pay you your proper respect." There was an edge of agitation in her voice.

    "Trixie there is no need. I will not demean you just because I grew wings and became a princess." Twilight replied.

    "But you are what you are, you made it, not me. You won."

    "Trixie it was not a game. We chose two different paths to live by, that's all. Besides, I almost miss the self righteous, confident Trixie."

    Trixie looked a tad surprised to hear Twilight say this but continued with her argument. "I know it was not just a game, but the path I chose was wrong. All I want to do is make it right." She did however, lose the edge in her voice.

    "Again Trixie, you needn't worry. No one is still mad at you, we all know what the alicorn amulet did, besides, you have apologized a thousand times  before."

   "But are you sure? The things I said and did." Trixie trailed off, looking to the floor.

    "Everypony has done things they have come to regret. If it makes you feel any better I'll say it again. I forgive you Trixie." Twilight replied.

    "O-okay, if your sure, and do you really want me to quit with the formalities?" She asked hesitantly.

    "Please."

     "Alright then Sparkle, you got it." She almost sounded like her old self again.

    "Eh... I do prefer Twilight."

    "Oh, right sorry. Twilight." Trixie corrected herself.

    "Now, tell me why you were walking, don't you have a place to ride as the escort?" She questioned.

    "No, im pretty much on the same level as the soldiers." Trixie replied solemnly.

    Twilight thought for a moment. 'It couldn't hurt.' She thought to herself. "Not anymore, you'll be riding with me whenever you are not needed to navigate."

    "Twilight? Are you sure, I'd hate to impose." Trixie replied. "I know you said to cut the formalities but you are still a princess none the less."

    "Nope, to you, I am your friend." Twilight replied. She assumed she had learned enough about friendship to make that call.

    Trixie smiled. "Thank you Twilight, that means alot." It was all she could think to say.

    That afternoon Rainbow was walking through camp as per the norm when she was not tasked out. Something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. A particular black and white pattern of fur. "She escaped... Again?" Dash said to herself as she sprinted toward the direction of the zebra zig-zagging through various ponies. When she turned the corner however Dash saw that she had a blade sheathed to her side. "Where did you get that?" Dash barked.

    Alsvid spun around quickly, startled by the sudden outburst. "Oh its you, how are you on this glorious day?"

    "Answer the question." Rainbow growled, starting to attract a small crowd.

    "What question?" Alsvid asked, legitimately confused.

    "Where did you get the sword. Who did you steal it from?" Rainbow was growing tired of her games.

    "Ohhhhh you must not know yet, I'm one of you guys now. A soldier... If you can call yourselves that." She giggled.

    Rainbows expression changed from anger to dis-belief. "A couple of days ago you were a prisoner."

    "Do you see anypony else trying to lock me back up?" She replied smugly.

    Dash took a quick look around, she was right. 'I must be the last pony to know.' She thought. 'Just... Stay out of trouble." She grumbled and took off into the sky, uneasy at the scene she had just caused. She wanted to be 100% sure however and stopped at Grayscale's command tent. "Is it true sir?"

    "Is what true?" Grayscale asked in surprise.

    "Is that zebra really one of ours now?" She asked again.

    "Oh right right, Alsvid I believe. Yes she volunteered. Who am I to tell her no, especially if one so able such as herself happens along?" Grayscale replied.

    "But can we trust her?"

     "Im sure we can. After her interrogation and a few questions I made that call." General Grayscale replied. "We need all the help we can get Dash, soon we will need to push forward and tip the scales in the Royal army's favor. This war has been at a standstill for to long, and from the report I received from Freefeather, the enemy is rallying its troops."

     Dash could not argue there. She herself had seen the strength in their numbers. "I guess your right." Dash grumbled. "I am still keeping an eye on her though."

    "As you wish, just do not let it interfere with any taskings you may receive."

    "Don't worry, I won't sir."

     That night, after Sweetie Belle and herself finished with their work they were on their way to Applejack's hut. As they arrived Sweetie Belle saw AppleBloom sitting in front of AppleJack looking guilty. 'Uh oh.' She thought to herself.

    "Sweetie, would you mind taking a seat next to AppleBloom?" Rarity asked as she stood next to AppleJack.

    "Yes sis." Now she was worried.

    There was an awkward silence amongst them. AppleBloom and Sweetie Belle avoided eye contact with one another. "So... What did y'all do last night while me and Rares were gone?" AppleJack started.

    "Uhhh..." AppleBloom was stuck. Sweetie didn't even bother to attempt an answer.

    "AppleJack dear, I think a better question is, do they know what they were doing last night?" Rarity chimed in.

    "S-so, I take it y'all saw that then did ya?" AppleBloom stammered as her face began to lite up the color of an apple.

    "Well I most certainly did not, but AppleJack got a pretty good picture." Rarity replied, looking over to AppleJack.

    "Yeah, I saw ya." AppleJack replied.

    "A-a-are you mad?" Sweetie asked.

    "Mad? Darling why would we be mad? We just wanted to make sure you two understood what you both were doing."

    Sweetie and AppleBloom glanced at each other with the same expression of confusion.

    "We can't really be mad at ya'll. Hell we were expecting it to happen sooner or later, just not so soon." AppleJack replied. "Ah am a little upset ah saw my sister doin that." She added shaking her head to keep the image out of her head.

    AppleBloom's face lit up again. "Sorry sis, we weren't expecting you two to come back so soon."

    "So, does this mean AppleBloom and I can still be friends?" Sweetie asked hesitantly.

    "Of course dear, just be more careful in the future." Rarity smiled.

    Sweetie Belle and AppleBloom let out a sigh of relief and started to giggle. "Thanks for understanding sis."

(Twilight's convoy)

    "Twilight, while I was looking over the map I noticed something that may be of assistance." Trixie told her as she reentered the carriage.

    "Really? What do you mean?" Twilight looked up from her book at the table.

    "Clear the table." Trixie told her as she herself began to work on the task, moving everything to the floor. She then spread the map out over the table. "Look, The 3rd division fort is here. Now from the reports the militia camp is down south somewhere in here." She explained, tracing a small circle on the map with her hoof. However, just east of the fort there is a small town called Oakdale in the hills, closer to the frontlines. If we can get the Militia's cooperation then we can occupy that town. Its closer to the frontlines so it would be easier to support the rest of the army, easier to fortify with the hills working in our favor, and im sure much more comfortable than a camp." Trixie looked rather pleased with herself as she finished.

    "Trixie." Twilight sighed. "It all sounds good, but what about the ponies that live there? We can't force them out of their homes."

    "Twilight if they have been that close to the fighting I'm sure a majority of them have already moved south as with the enemy occupied towns. They'd be safer if we did force them out." Trixie tried to explain.

    "Its their choice though. Some of those ponies have probably lived there for years. They won't want to just give that all up."

    "You can't just give everypony what they want, everypony has to make sacrifices. Besides, like I said, they would be safer south anyway, and should the war go in our favor, they'll all be able to move back. I'm not recommending we burn it to the ground Sparkle. Hell with the fortifications we make to it we'll be making it safer for them when they do return." Trixie argued.

    Twilight thought for a moment. 'She's right.' Twilight decided. "I'll send word to Celestia, if she approves then we'll occupy the town." Twilight decided.

    "I knew you'd agree, I'll make sure the rest of the soldiers are on the same page." Trixie then jumped out of the carriage and up to the head of the convoy.

    As the convoy rolled along, stopping only for meals and to give the soldiers rest, Twilight was left alone with her thoughts for far to long. On the fourth night she broke. She had always thought being a princess was what she had wanted. What she didn't think about were her friends and how they would eventually fade away, leaving her alone with her immortality, and even now she couldn't be with them, after the war she'd go back to the castle and they back to Ponyville. She would have to live through all of the tragedies, all the pain, alone. For now she had ponies she could count on, sure she could make new friends, but... The mane six would be no more.

    It was all to much. She lay on her bed crying silently, hoping nopony could hear her. This war was just one of many hardships she would have to endure.

    In her sadness she had forgotten Trixie, who jumped into the carriage. "Twilight? Why, I mean what's wrong?" She took a couple of steps toward the Princess but stopped. She didn't know what to do.

    "Trixie? Oh im so sorry, you really shouldn't see me this way." Twilight unfurled her wings, hiding her face from Trixie's gaze.

    "Twilight tell me what's wrong."

    "Trixie please, I'll be fine in a while. Just, give me time."

    "No." Trixie stamped her hoof. "You said I was your friend, this is what friends do. Now, tell Trixie what is wrong."

    The authority in her voice surprised Twilight. "O-okay." Twilight Stammered, folding her wings back to her sides. For the first time since becoming a princess she poured her heart out to some pony. Trixie had come a little closer and sat in front of her, listening patiently. She started to feel bad for the alicorn as she expressed her feelings on her new immortality and how her friends would one day leave her. As Twilight finished she grew quiet, with her eyes closed and her head rested on her hooves she continued to cry quietly on her bed.

    She opened her eyes as she felt something brush up beside her. "Trixie?" There beside her the blue unicorn lay beside her. "Twilight I know what its like to face hard times, I know what its like to be alone. I don't like to admit it but I spent many nights between travels wishing I had somepony to talk to. Especially after my assistants left me. I know it sounds silly but I haven't had anypony call me a friend since I was a young filly until three days ago. I know that I won't always be around, that even I the great and powerful Trixie will one day be gone, but until then, I'll stay by your side, not as your subject but as your friend." Trixie finished, nuzzling the side of Twilight's neck in a rare show of affection from the blue mare.

    Twilight almost didn't believe what she had just heard, though it made her smile and stopped the tears. "Thank you Trixie." She whispered. Normally she was not a fan of being so close to another but the warmth from Trixie's coat was to comforting to let her insecurity drive it away. So instead she unfurled her left wing and lay it over Trixie.

    Trixie purred and snuggled closer to Twilight under her wing. The two mare eventually dozed off, lost in the comfort they provided to one another."

The Phantom Revealed

"Dashi! Dashi get up, Dashi!" Fluttershy shook Rainbow Dash roughly, as she panicked due to the events that were unfolding just outside.

    "Shy?" Dash groaned as she stirred, then shot straight up as she heard the chaos, a mix of screaming ponies and steel on steel. "Shy what's happening?" She asked frantically as she jumped down to the floor, grabbing and hooking her belt with her blade onto herself.

    "I-I-I don't know, I-I just woke up. Rainbow I'm scared." She stammered as she hid behind her wings.

    "Stay here." Dash replied, not waiting for an answer she left the hut and took a look at her surroundings, nothing was happening close by thankfully but the noise did not die down. Rainbow took to the sky, drawing her blade. In the sky a number of pegasi where fighting. 'Solandian forces of this size? How did they get through the frontlines?' She was horrified by her next thought. 'Has the 3rd division fort fallen?'

    She was snapped back to reality as the body of a militianpegasi fell dead from higher in the sky. "Shit!" She blurted out as she looked up. A Solandian Pegasi was making a beeline for her. She barely had time to raise her sword to deflect the oncoming strike. As their blades met Dash lost a little altitude but stayed airborne. Another deflected blow later Dash slashed at the soldiers wing, the most vulnerable place on a Pegasus. The sword cut halfway through the muscle on the Pegasus's wing and he cried out before pulling away, struggling to stay in the air. He didn't last more than a couple seconds before his bleeding wing gave out on him as he spiraled out of the air, hitting the ground with a thud.

    Dash took the opportunity to take in her surroundings once more, trying to get a grip on the situation. The air battled looked like it was going in their favor but the ground battle was a different story. The militia soldiers had formed a line on one of the paths that led deeper into the camp where their resources were kept. Unfourtanetly the line began to thin as the Solandian forces pushed through, not only there but the whole camp. Fighting, screaming and dying pony filled the camp. To top it off a fire had been started on the west side of the camp.

    Dash decides to dive down, targeting a lone Solandian who had been dumb enough to break away from the rest of his force. The pony had seen Dash a second late as Dash buried the sword into the chest of the mare solandian troop and landed over her dead body, Dash again took off into the sky, looking for any more stragglers. She repeated the process three times before another situation required her attention. A small group of MilitiaPony had been cornered and in the group was Alsvid, sparring frantically with two Solandian earth pony.

    Within seconds Dash had landed behind them, slashing at one of their necks and stabbing the other from behind, blood spatter soaking Dash's fur.

    Alsvid was breathing heavily, actually happy to see Rainbow. "Thanks."

    "Don't mention it, just keep fighting. We need these fuckers out of here now." Dash replied before taking to the sky once more. Rock was just a few yards away, laughing merrily as he took hold of a Solandian soldiers had and smashing it against the wall of a hut, crushing the soldiers skull. As dumb as Rock was he was a vicious soldier, no including his sheer size. Another Solandian made the mistake of charging him head on with her sword raised. As she swung down on him she stopped dead in her tracks, the look of shock obvious, even through her helmet as Rock stopped and took hold of the blade's edge with his bare hoof. Blood leaked down his arm but he showed no sign of pain, just a wicked smile as the soldier attempted to pull her blade from his grasp. With his free hoof he took hold of her throat, lifted her into the air and through her into the ground. The soldier cried out and released her blade. She turned over on her belly to crawl away in pain, enticing laughter from Rock who took her by the scruff of the neck and tossing her aside like a stone.

    "Rock quit playing and finish her.!" Dash shouted angrily. Rock was effective but his cruelty knew no limits.

    Rock turned to face Dash for just a second before laughing. "Fine then!" He took hold of the soldiers head with both forhooves and broke her neck.

    Dash shook her head in disgust but refocused on the battle. "Alsvid, go defend the medic hut." She ordered before rushing to the aid of another. 'Its no use. There's too many of them.' She thought as she traded strikes with the enemy. Another MilitiaMare went down as an arrow pierced her neck from above. "Damn It To Hell!" Dash yelled as she took to the sky, slaying the archer responsible before he could dock another arrow.

    That's when she saw it, the black cloaked pony who had saved her before, slashing through a group of Solandians. "The Phantom." Dash breathed to herself.

    To their luck, the supposed phantoms appearance sent panic through the ranks of the Solandian troops. "The Demon, The Demon is Here!" One of them shouted before turning tail and fleeing, followed suit by a good number of his allies. However the camp was still in danger as the Solandian soldiers brave enough to hold ground fought on.

    The news spread throughout the enemy troops of the Phantom's appearance and their numbers suffered. Soon after the surviving enemy troop decided to cut their losses and call the retreat. The militia soldiers shouted and gave chase, cutting down the few they caught.

    However just before the battle ended, Dash witnessed an enemy archer aiming at the cloaked pony.

    "Watch Out!" Dash shouted but she was to late. The arrow was released and as the phantom turned around the arrow sunk into his right for leg, immediately dropping the pony.

    The archer shouted victoriously before taking off with the rest of the retreating enemy.

    Dash hurried to the cloaked pony's side who backed away on three hooves, his forth leg bleeding profusely with the arrow still stuck in his leg. The Pegasus spread its wings about to fly off before Dash yelled. "Wait! You Need Help!" Dash called out. "You won't make it far bleeding like that."

    The cloaked Pegasus kept its wings spread for just a moment before folding them back down and looking to the injury as if deciding whether or not she was right. "Okay." He replied simply.

    By his voice she could tell he was a stallion. "Come on." She hurried to his side, about to help him walk, but again he backed away. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Dash inquired. "We don't have time for this."

    The stallion spread his wings again and shook the cloak off of them revealing the thin blade that stretched around the edges of his wings. "You can't get near my wings right now." He replied. "I can still fly."

    "Alright, follow me then." Dash flew off into the direction of the med hut with the cloaked pony behind her. Even though the battle was over and had been short lived, anarchy still ruled the camp. Ponies who weren't injured ran throughout the camp, trying to put out the fire, aiding the wounded and finishing any of the enemy wounded as well as the occasional straggler who continued to fight.

    The medic tent was buzzing with activity. Any pony who had any medical experience was there, working in overdrive to save anypony they could.

    Dash landed and turned to make sure the stallion had followed her. As he landed he stumbled and nearly fell. He had lost to much blood and was becoming light headed. "Lay Down, I'll go get help."

    At this point he had no choice but to comply. Dash disappeared inside of the crowded tent, looking for an available medic, but there were none. Even Fluttershy had made her way over and was trying frantically to patch a wound on a soldiers chest who had passed out from the pain. She barely took notice of the ponies blood that stained her hooves and yellow fur.

    "Damnit." She breathed. "Buck it, I'll do it myself." She took hold of nearby dressings and bandages before rushing back outside where the cloaked stallion waited, fading in and out of consciousness. Dash knew very little about medicine but she was not so ignorant as to remove the arrow herself. If she would it would do more damage and he would bleed out faster as the tip of the arrow would cut on its way out. She'd leave that for somepony more experienced. Instead she focused on stopping the bleeding. She applied the dressings on the edges of the wound around the shaft of the arrow, then wrapped it tightly with the med tape to hold it all in place.

    To her relief the blood stopped leaking out from around the arrow. "Your lucky the arrow didn't go through. You should be fine for now. Can you still fly?" She asked.

    He shook his head no, making no attempt to do so. He doubted he could still stand, as dizzy as he was.

    "Fine, I'll carry you then. We need to get you inside." She stuck her muzzle under his stomach and gently rolled him onto her back, careful to avoid the blades on his wings. Dash was surprised that the Stallion was complaining very little about his wound. She made her way quickly to her own hut which luckily sat undisturbed by the fighting, brought him inside and lay him on the bed. She then took a bottle of water and hoofed it to him. "Drink."

    Again he found little choice but to obey as he gulped down the cool liquid, sighing as he finished.

    "Will you be all right here?" Dash asked. "I need to find somepony to get that arrow out."

    He nodded his head and just like that she was gone. The brief conflict, his injury, as well as his dizziness made him wish he were dead. Even more so he wished he hadn't been hit at all. He rarely took more than a glancing blow until now. Eventually he faded out of conciousness.

    When he woke he found he was still on the bed, he still ached but the pain wasn't nearly as bad as before. Looking down he realized the arrow was gone and his wound had been neatly wrapped in white bandages. About the same time he noticed that his hooded cape was missing and his blades were no longer latched to his wings. "Wha- Where?"

    He hadn't noticed the blue Pegasus who had aided him and a very distraught looking yellow one beside her. "He's awake." Fluttershy told Dash.

    "Thanks Shy, I know your tired. Just let me find a place for him to say and you can sleep." Dash replied, nuzzling her cheek gently. "Get yourself cleaned up first. I know you don't like blood."

    "Its worth it to help everypony." She told her.

    Dash turned back to the pitch black Pegasus. His fur was pitch black, his mane, black, and he didn't even have a cutie mark, or at least it was all black to. That's when she noticed his eyes which made her tilt her head to the side. He had two different color eyes, one emerald green and one sapphire blue. "Woah!" Dash exclaimed. "That's so cool!"

    The stallion sighed. 'That makes one of us.' He thought.

    Even Fluttershy was amazed as she cautiously stepped closer to get a better look.

    "Your one strange pony." Dash pointed out. "I've seen some funny looking ponies before but I haven't seen this yet."

    The Pegasus looked away, he didn't like being around other ponies, much less being observed like an animal.

    "Dashi don't be mean." Shy ordered.

    "Oh no no no, I wasn't being mean, I think its awesome." Dash thought everything that was different was awesome. "That's why it was so hard to see you. On top of your hood being black, everything else is as dark as night to."

    As the Pegasus sat up Shy shrunk away, afraid that Dash had angered him, but instead all he did was jump down from the bed, keeping wait off of his bandaged leg. "Thank you both for your help, but I would really like to gather my things and go." He said as politely as he could.

    "Oh but you can't." Shy exclaimed then shrunk back again as the stallion turned his gaze on her. "I-I mean, i-i-it wouldn't be good for you to leave before your leg has healed. You need to wait a few days, uh if you want." Shy finished.

    "No, not if he wants. Your staying here, we can't let you leave and risk further injury after all you have done." Dash stamped her hoof.

    "I have done nothing." He replied.

    "Bull shit, I know your the phantom." Dash shot back. "Your the one the solandians are so afraid of."

    "So my fame stretches as far as here does it." He sighed. "Yes, I am the supposed phantom. I prefer to be called Kumori however."

    "Kumori?" Dash repeated.

    "It means shadow. I don't know my real name." He replied.

    "How don't you know your name?" Dash asked.

    "I don't know that either. I never knew it, for all I know I do not have a name." He replied.

    "That must suck." Dash said.

    "No, a name is just that, a name." He replied. "Now please, I don't wish to stay here any longer."

    "Where would you go?" Dash asked.

    The question left the Pegasus quiet.

    "Do you even have anywhere to go?"

        He sighed. "Not anymore. I used to live in Solandia in a small town." He admitted.

    "Solandia? Your not a unicorn, so why did you leave?" Dash challenged.

    "Because I chose to defend them." He snapped.

    "But... I thought you all wanted to kill unicorns." Dash was now confused.

    "That is quite ignorant." The black Pegasus replied.

    Dash bit back a angry retort and instead asked. "Then what happened?"

    Kumori sighed and sat. "I suppose you will not let me go until I explain will you?

    "Nope." Dash was quite stubborn and took her own seat, Shy who had been quiet during the debate sat beside her, curious herself.

    Kumori sighed and closed his eyes. "Fine, before the Solandians set a campaign against Equestria they had a rebellion to put down. A small civil war broke out in Solandia. The ponies who wished to eradicate the unicorn species, and those who defended them. However as you know there are far fewer unicorn than any other breed of pony and even fewer in Solandia who supported them. The war didn't last three months. My town was burned to the ground. As far as I know I was the only survivor. It took that long for me to realize that an open war against their force was impractical. So I hid in the shadows, striking when I could, using fear against them. Most ponies fear what they can't see. Then I learned they had declared war on Equestria. Their cruelty knew no bounds. You would think that after they had nearly cleared their land of the Unicorn species they would stop."

    "But, why?" Dash asked, that's all she could think to ask.

    "They believe in a spiritual being called Azura. Supposedly a crystal pony god or something. They think that unicorns are a mockery of Azura's power. That only Azura should be able to wield magic, along with his three decendants who ironically, are Alocorn."

    "What, but I thought..." Dash was even more confused now.

    "Yes yes I know. Those three Alicorn rule over Solandia, much like your princess Celestia. However unlike her, the three Alicorn of Solandia did not want to share their power. So they spoon fed the Azura god bullshit to ponies for hundreds of years, starting as just a pony tale which eventually turned into the violent belief that fuels their rage today. The three Alicorn believe that if they killed off the unicorn race their would be no new Alicorn that would rise to power."

    "If it started that long ago, then how do you know any of this? You can't be much older than me and much less older than an alicorn." Dash inquired.

    "Their were books passed down from then to now that explained the origin of the old pony tale. Some ponies from back then were paranoid this would happen, so they wrote these books. In their nooks they spoke of how they were exiled from the land for conspiracy to commit treason and their paranoid beliefs. Most of the books were burned but a few were saved as artifacts. It was only two years ago that ponies began to realize the books were not the jabering of paranoid fools but a warning to Solandia that had not been heeded, and those who chose to rebel against Azura and the three Alicorn suffered for it." He finished re-opening his eyes. "Simple greed started this war. I fight here in Equestria because this is one of the few nations powerful enough to stand against the Solandians, if they win this war and their power spreads, the remaining nations wouldn't stand a chance."

    "T-that's terrible." Shy finally spoke.

    "Well, that gives you another reason to stay. I mean no offense but you can't do any real damage on your own, not to mention the fact that if you were injured while on your own you would die." Dash replied.

    "I was injured because I fought during the day."

    "Your not invincible." Dash barked. "I've seen you once before. Do you remember, not a few days before, you helped four ponies who had crossed the Solandian border?"

    "I do." He replied, his eyes narrowing.

    "Well I saw the pony who had blocked your attack. I know you killed him but if just one is quick enough to rival your speed then there is always another. Your luck will run out if you continue this lone pony bull shit." Dash stamped her hoof again.

    "You were one of the four?" It was his turn to be surprised.

    "Yes, that's how I know your the phantom." Dash explained.

    Kumori sat in silence for a minute, just thinking. Then looked back up at Dash. "Fine, I will stay and fight along side your militia, however I will not be staying in the camp."

    "Then where the buck will you go?" Dash was losing her patience for the Stallion.

    "I will stay nearby. Just not in the camp, these are the only terms I am willing to accept." He stated simply.

    Dash growled. "Fine, but you have to come back in the mornings to get your leg worked on."

    "Understood, now may I have my cloak and blades?"

    "Ha, if I give you those back now you'll just run. You can have them back when you no longer need the bandages." Dash smirked at her small victory.

    "You will not keep me here against my will." He growled rising to his hooves.

    "I'm not, but you won't be leaving with your possessions until you agree to let us help you." She spat back rising to her own hooves.

    "I could just take them." His anger was apparent now as his he unfurled his wings aggressively as is the nature of pegasi when angered.

    "You can try." Dash replied, spreading her own wings.

    "Stop It!" Fluttershy jumped between the two and turned toward Kumori tears in her eyes yet her expression was that of rage. "You will not hurt my Dashi." She growled.

    "Shy get out of the way." Dash told her but was surprised when she turned on her.

    "And You! I know You Want To Help But You Can't Just Take Everything Into Your Own Hooves! Every Day You Fight I'm Freightned That You Wont Come Back, And Now Here You Are Fighting Again!" Shy took a step toward Dash and Dash took a step back.

    "S-shy?" Dash had never seen her so angry before, much less speak out in such a manner. Dash folded her wings to her side, concerned for her mare-friend. "Shy, I-I had no idea. I'm sorry."

    Fluttershy collapsed to the ground sobbing, her emotional dam had broken. "Dashi." She whimpered.

    Dash rushed to her side and lay beside her. She didn't know what else to do but cover her with her wing and try and comfort her. "Your things are in the drawer in the corner. Just get them and go." Dash spat at Kumori before attending to the sobbing cannary mare beside her.

    "Thank you." He didn't know what had happened but he was not happy being partly responsible for the yellow mare's outburst. So he retrieved his wing blades which he sheathed and threw his hooded cloak over himself. Just as he was about to exit he was stopped.

    "Hey!" Dash called out and Kumori stopped. "You'd better be back in the morning like you promised."

    Kumori simply nodded his head before exiting the hut and taking to the night sky. He was going to stay true to his word and stay near by but he would not be staying. He decided on a small hill at the edge of the encampment. When he felt he was alone he began to cry himself. Re-telling the story of his home had brought back old memories, bad memories.

Seeking Comfort pt 2

Derpy Hooves was a bit upset at the days events that had re-shook her world. She trotted up the hill she sat upon when she thought of the Doctor. That was one of the few things that comforted her anymore in this chaos. Though halfway up she noticed the black furred Pegasus that lay at the top that distracted her from her thoughts.

(Kumori)

    Kumori didn't know what else to do but lay there. Lay there and think of all the wrong that had been done to him. He felt empty, drained.

    "Hey."

    Kumori jumped up startled. In his emotional state he hadn't heard anypony approach him. He spotted the Gray mare who had called out to him, sitting not a foot away.

    "Are you okay?" Ditzy asked.

    "I'm fine." He replied and sat back down, deciding she was not a threat. Something about her seemed strange, the look in her eyes, not the fact they were not aligned properly but there was something in her eyes that most ponies did not have, though he couldn't quite place it.

    "Then, why were you crying?" Derpy asked.

     "No reason." He replied. 'Why are these ponies so persistent?' He thought.

    "That's silly, nopony cries for no reason." She replied.

     "What are you doing up here?" He decided he was going to turn the line of questioning around to get the focus off himself.

    "This is where I go to think." She replied.

    "About what? Why come out here for something you could do anywhere.?"

    Derpy looked up to the sky. "The stars." She replied simply.

    "What about them?" He asked. 'She's... Strange.' He thought to himself.

    "They remind me of somepony special."

    "Who?"

    Derpy looked back down and giggled. "You'd think im crazy if I told you."

    "Try me." Usually he would not put so much effort into talking to any pony but in his vulnerable state, he welcomed the company.

    "Well, okay." She replied as she untied the key from her mane and began to toy with it. "He called himself The Doctor, but he wasn't a real doctor, and he lived in a blue box that was much larger on the inside than the outside, and it wasn't really a box, it was a time machine."

    "A time machine?" Kumori replied. "What is that?"

    "Oh yeah, sorry. Its a machine that lets you travel through different times, and even planets if you wanted. Me and The Doctor traveled together for a long time, he showed me so many things, and was one of the few ponies that didn't make fun of me because of my eyes. He was amazing, but one day, just a year and four months ago he left. He said he couldn't stay, and couldn't take me with him or else something really bad would happen, but he couldn't tell me what it was. I still don't understand but I trust him." She finished looking down sadly. "Think I'm crazy yet?"

    "No." Kumori replied.

    Derpy looked up surprised. "Huh?"

    "Well, just because I didn't see it, doesn't mean you didn't. I mean can you see magic? Yet unicorns use it all the time." He explained.

    "That's true." Derpy had never thought of it that way.

    "So, this doctor, he was special to you?"

    "Yes, I'd even go so far as to say I loved him." She had no problem admitting this now that the doctor was no longer around, though she wished she hadn't had the trouble before.

    "Did he love you back?"

    "I don't know. He never told me."

    "Don't worry, I'm sure he did." He replied.

    "Well, since I told you something, you have to tell me why you were crying." She replied, not wanting to discuss what could have been.

    In truth he knew he didn't have to do anything of the sort, but for some reason he felt he could trust her. So for the second time that night he told his story, with a detail he had left out before.  "When they burned the village, they killed somepony special to me. She was a unicorn, and... Well she was the only pony I had ever trusted. She was only a friend, but...  She was my only friend, and they killed her. Now I am alone, that's why im sad I guess. I can't really trust anypony anymore." He lay down on his stomach, tired of sitting.

    "I'm sorry, I know how it feels." She sighed. "You can trust me if you want. I know you don't know me but... Well, I just want to help. Nopony should be alone."

    On any other night Kumori would have told her to go away and leave him alone. Maybe even if it had been any other pony. Tonight was different though, this pony was different. "Okay."

    Derpy's ears perked up a bit and a small smile crossed her muzzle, shocked that he had agreed. "Do you mind if I stay up here with you tonight? You shouldn't be alone while your so sad." In truth she didn't want to be alone herself and was willing to push her luck to prevent that.

     "Yes, that would be nice." He decided against his instinct.

     Derpy trotted up next to him and lay down on her stomach beside him, making Kumori shift uncomfortably, but he settled down quickly. "I'm sorry, do you want me to move?" Derpy asked.

    "No, no your fine, I just normally don't let ponies so close to me. Makes me nervous." He replied. "I'll have to get over that eventually, why not now?"

    "What happened to your leg?" She asked, noticing the wrappings around it. "Where you in that fight?"

    "Yes, I was." He sighed. "I saw your camp was being attacked and I came to help. An arrow caught me as they were retreating."

    Derpy gently raised her hoof and traced the edges of the neatly tied bandages. "Fluttershy did this?"

    "Yes, how did you know?" Kumori inquired.

     "Look here." She replied and pointed to the inside of the bandaging. "See how it overlaps here? What does it look like?" Derpy asked.

    Kumori hadn't thought to examine his bandages so closely, why would he? So when he saw what the mare was talking about he blinked a couple of times, making sure his eyes were not playing tricks on him. "It looks like a heart, but what does that have to do with her?"

    "We never really talked much, but I know enough about her to know just how nice she really is. In Ponyville she tended to the animals that stayed around her cottage, and if she had to wrap a wound on one of the animals she always ties them so that somewhere in the wrapping it looked like a heart. So when she started taking care of ponies here she did the same. I asked her about it one day and she was surprised I had noticed, most ponies don't. She told me that she believed it helped the wound heal faster if there was a little love in the bandages." Ditzy explained.

    "She really believes that?" Kumori asked.

    "I don't know, but remember what you said about unicorn magic? Just cause you really can't see it, it doesn't mean its not real." Derpy reminded him.

    "I, hmm... I guess your right. Everypony believes in something that others might find strange."

    "What do you believe in?" Derpy asked.

    "I, I don't know. I've never really thought about it." Kumori replied. "What about you?"

    "Its always the most unique ponies that make the biggest splash in the world. Like the Doctor." Derpy replied smiling.

    "I, I think I can actually believe that." Kumori sighed. He hadn't really thought about such trivial matters before, he'd only concerned himself with killing the Solandians since the war started. "But, what does any of this have to do with anything? How does it help?"

    "Well, since you've been having this conversation have you thought of anything that made you sad?" Ditzy asked smiling.

    "No, in fact I haven't. Your good at this." Kumori complimented her.

    "I've been alot of places, talked to many ponies, I may be a young mare but I've traveled farther than anypony I know, well besides the Doctor of course." She replied twirling the key on the string before tying it back in her mane.

    "What does the key go to? It doesn't look like any key I've seen before." Kumore inquired.

    "Its the key to The Doctor's blue box." She replied. "I hope I get to use it again one day." She sighed and lay her head down.

     Try and get some sleep, the weathers nice and tomorrow couldn't possibly be any worse than today." She told him, laying her head on her hooves.

    "I hope not." He replied.

    "Trust me, tomorrow will be better."

    "Okay, I trust you." Kumori laid his own head down, realizing just how tired he was despite sleeping through the afternoon and dozed off.

Twilight's Command

(Twilight's convoy.)

    The sun was high when Trixie jumped into Twilight's carriage. "Twilight we'll be arriving by nightfall." Trixie chirped.

    "Really?"

    "Yes, as  long as we keep at this speed."

    "Finally." Twilight huffed. The journey hadn't taken but 5 days. Now all she had to do was wait another 5 hours give or take.

    "I was thinking that when we reach the camp, we rest until morning, then as soon as we get the militia's cooperation we set off that for the town."

    "Sounds good, you've actually proven to be quite the navigator Trixie."

    "This is nothing to me, I have traveled all over Equestria, I've almost memorized the entirety of the map." Trixie boasted with pride.

    "Impressive." Twilight replied.

    Those last hours were the longest hours of the trip. Just as the sun began to set they spotted the encampment. However Twilight was not happy with the picture that greeted her. Having no knowledge of the battle yesterday she was not ready for the aftermath. Burnt huts and tents were scattered throughout the grounds and a good chunk of the sand was stained with blood. The only thing that stopped her from signaling an attack were the ponies that trotted throughout the camp and the lack of noise.

    Some of the militia guards began to stare at the convoy, wondering what the Royal army was doing here of all places, and the soldiers of the Royal army stared back, wondering how this shit hole was still standing.

     However when Twilight jumped from her carriage the militia bowed quickly, startled by the appearance of one of the the royal alicorn.

    "Get up get up." Twilight ordered. "If I could ask of your assistants I need you to find some ponies for me." She told the nearest militia guard.

    "Who do you need?" The militia guard asked eager to help the young princess.

   "Bring me Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Apple Jack and Pinkie Pie please." Twilight replied.

    "As you wish Princess." He replied before dashing off into the camp as fast as his hooves would carry him.

    Trixie trotted up next to Twilight. "Well at least you know they're okay or else he wouldn't have agreed to get them." Trixie stated.

    "Thank Celestia." Twilight replied.

    The first of her friends to arrive was Rarity.

     "Twilight? What, Why are you here?" She galloped and pounce hugged Twilight. "I missed you so much, when he told me it was you I didn't believe him but your here. Oh where are my manners?" Rarity released Twilight. "I do apologize, that was quite unlady like of me."

    Twilight giggled. " Its alright Rarity, I'll tell you everything as soon as I figure a few things out."

    "Twilights here!" Pinkie shouted as she arrives. "Do you know what this calls for? A Pinkie Hug!" Pinkie bounced over and tackled Twilight to the ground.

    "Oh geez Pinkie!" Twilight stammered. "Pinkie I can't breath."

    "Don't be silly Twilight, if you couldn't breath you wouldn't be able to talk." She replied holding her even tighter. To make matters worse Rainbow crashed atop of them, just as excited to see Twilight as the rest of them.

    "Guys please." She giggled. "Let me up."

    "Oh alright." Dash whined pulling a scrambling Pinkie away who was still trying to maul the Princess with hugs.

    "Oh h-hey Twilight." Fluttershy landed softly beside her. "Do you need any help getting up?" She offered her hoof to Twilight who took it graciously.

    Apple Jack along with Sweetie and Apple Bloom arrived moments later. "Well if it ain't the Princess herself." Apple Jack giggled.

    "Hi Twilight." AppleBloom and Sweetie greeted her in unison before bowing to her.

    "You two get up." Twilight chuckled as she shook her head. "Where's Scootaloo?" All of a sudden Twilight felt nervous as her friends shook their head no. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom both looked down to the ground. "Oh... I'm, im so sorry."

    "Its okay Twilight, you didn't know." Sweetie replied.

    "So, Twilight, Hows it been?" Rainbow broke the awkward silence.

    "Good given the circumstances." Twilight told her.

    "What are they all doing here?" AppleJack inquired.

    "That's another reason I'm here." She sighed. "Who is in charge of everything around here?"

    "An old Stallion named Grayscale. He acts as our general." Dash answered. "Why?"

    "Princess Celestia has sent me to take command of the militia. I must speak to him." Twilight told her.

    "Really?" Dash asked in surprise. "Well, okay then, follow me then."

    "Thank you, Trixie can you get the letter for me?" Twilight called out behind her.

    "Yeah, one second." Trixie called back.

    "Trixie? What is she doing here." Rarity was surprised to find her of all ponies here.

    "We have alot to catch up on, but it will have to wait." Twilight told her friend.

    Rainbow led Twilight and Trixie to the tent Grayscale resided in and entered with Twilight and Trixie close behind.

    Grayscale looked up from his parchment and his eyes were wide with surprise when he saw the Princess. "Princess Twilight! To what do I oh this honor?" He asked, placing his quill on the table.

    "You might not like the reason im here." She replied, levitating the sealed letter to him.

    "What is this?"

    "Everything you want to know should be in there." Twilight replied.

     Grayscale gave Twilight an inquisitive look before unsealing the letter. A little more than a minute later he looked back up at Twilight. "I see... She didn't really leave me much room for debate." He sighed placing the letter down.    "After what happened yesterday I really don't have much of a choice to begin with. The militia is yours Princess."

    "Thank you for understanding. We have some things to discuss." She replied. "Dash, I know I just arrived and you really want to talk to me, but I really need to talk to Grayscale right now."

    "Okay Twilight, its alright, I understand." Dash said before backing her way out of the tent.

    Dash made her way back to the others giddy as could be that Twilight was here, yet couldn't help but wonder what Grayscale had meant when he said the militia was hers.

     An hour later one of the militia guards ran up to them. "General Grayscale and Princess Twilight want everypony to meet up at the tent." He told them before running off to inform others.

    "Uhh okay, come on guys lets go." Dash said.

    They were some of the last ponies to arrive at the tent were Twilight and Grayscale stood, Grayscale looking particularly disgruntled.

    Twilight took a step forward to address the crowd. She looked a bit nervous but spoke with confidence. "Me and General Grayscale have come to an understanding. While Grayscale will still lead you all I will take command overall from here on out. Your participation is strictly voluntary of course. If you so chose to head back south you have every right to do so. If you chose to stay with the militia, you will all become temporary members of Equestria's Royal Army. You must make your decision by tomorrow morning. For all soldiers under my command will be moving north to occupy the small town of Oakhill tomorrow. This is all I have to announce for the time being. Celestia wishes you all safe travels." With this Twilight, Trixie, the general, and some of her royal guard disappeared back into the tent, leaving the ponies outside with their murmurings and debates.

    "Twilight's taking over the militia?" Rarity asked.

    "I guess so." Dash answered. "Wow."

Decision

    That night had been restless for many of the ponies in the camp. Most were deciding on whether they were willing to continue and fight. Some were anxious to finally have the pony power to strike back against the enemy, tired of waiting. A few had left almost immediately after Twilight's announcement, upset that the kingdom was taking control of the militia.

    When the sun had finally rose on that day, Twilight waited by her convoy. She was pleased with the number of pony that had decided to stay and fight on as they slowly gathered around the Royal army's carts with a few of their belongings in tow.

    Dash who was in the crowd had suddenly remembered Kumori, who he hadn't seen that morning. "That bastard." Dash mumbled. "He ditched us after all." She scoffed, shaking her head.

    That's when she spotted him for a brief moment, sitting a short distance from everypony. "Well what do you know." Dash said. "He didn't leave, guess I owe him some sort of apology."

    "Rainbow, Hey Rainbow." The familiar voice that Dash had learned to dread called her name. Alsvid pushed her way past some ponies to get to Dash. "Hey Dash, what gives with the unicorns?"

    "What do you mean?" She rolled her eyes. 'Great, more questions.' She thought to herself.

    Well when I was defending the medical tent I noticed a group of unicorns fighting the Solandians, and I'm no magic expert, but they were only using telekinetic and blast attacks. Why didn't they just burn them away or just toss them aside with their magic?" Alsvid asked. "Its not like the enemy has Unicorn soldiers casting counter spells."

    "Its their armor. Nopony knows how but they were able to enchant their armor to protect them from magic. So the unicorns use telekinetic spells to wield their weapons more efficiently and blast attacks because that's more of a physical energy, though the enemy's armor still shields them from the brunt of the the damage." Dash explained. "If they had declared war on unicorns without some kind of protection from magic the war would have been over before it started."

    "Hmm... I guess that makes since. I should have known but that was the first time I had seen the conflict up close."

    That's when Dash remembered Kumori saying something about the three alicorn. 'They must have enchanted their armor. That's why none of the unicorns can break the enchantment.' She thought.

(Twilight)

    "I guess that's everypony." She told the guard captain. "Lets get going."

    "Right away Princess." He replied.

    Twilight roles her eyes and sighed.

     "Not what you thought it would be, is it?" Trixie asked.

    "No... but somepony has to do it." She replied as she trotted back in the direction of her carriage.

    It took almost an hour for the guard captain to round everypony up that had decided to stay, and to get everything ready to go. Very few of the militia pony intermingled with the Royal army soldiers. Rainbow Dash figured they were just sticking with who they knew, and hoped it wouldn't be a problem later.

    Kumori trotted at the very back of the convoy, not wanting to talk to any pony. He felt dumb for letting that gray mare get so close to him the other night. She had caught him in a state of vulnerability, still she had been right about something's.

    According to Trixie, the town should be half a days trot away, however given the terrain they would have to cross, such as the hills, mountains and cliffs it would take them a little longer than expected. They stopped only twice that day, just to eat and rest their hooves.

    A scout had located a small path between two of the steep cliffs that was not on the map. Trixie made a mental note to get that drawn in. The path was wide enough for two carts to travel side by side comfortably yet the sun was beginning to set and the darkness put some of the ponies on edge.

    The convoy stumbled upon an open gate leading into the town, but no local guards or otherwise were around. The guard captain stopped the convoy, called for four of his guards, and instructed them to recon the town. No guards at the gate sent up a red flag.

        The four soldiers entered the gate, staying along the edge of the cliff, listening and looking for any signs of life. The silence made them nervous. When they entered the town itself, they found nothing, everything looked normal... Even worse.

    They trotted slowly up to one of the buildings, which seemed to be a general store. The door was cracked open, and everything was dark inside. They lined up outside the door, reared up on their hind hooves, drew their swords and shields from their sides. The first guard bashed the door open with his shield and the four rushed in.

(Convoy)

    "They've been in there a while sir." Another of the soldiers told the Captain.

    "Actually here they come." He replied pointing toward the gate.

    "Anything?"

    "No sir, its a ghost town. Everything is missing from the stores though, maybe they left after all." He replied shrugging.

    "Alright, well I'll report this to the princess." The captain replied.

    "No need." Twilight said as she trotted up from behind. "I heard everything. Lets go and bed down for the night and we will figure out everything in the morning." She suggested. "Work out some kind of watch for the night." She told the Captain.

Infiltration and Strange Attractions

Quick note: Copper is the Guard Captain.

    Twilight had picked a smaller house from the town to stay in even though her guards recommended she stay in something more fit for a princess she declined saying that she would leave the bigger houses for the soldiers to sleep in. The carts were staged outside of the town hall, an old wooden building that desperately needed a new paint job. Probably the original building from when the town was first founded. This would act as their command center.

    Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Apple Jack, Fluttershy, Sweetie Belle, and AppleBloom stayed in two different houses that sat beside each other. Rainbow, Shy, Rarity, and AppleJack In one, Sweetie Belle, AppleBloom, and Pinkie in the other. Rarity and AppleJack had been nice enough to allow their younger sisters stay in the same room given the circumstances.

    Kumori on the other hoof, dreaded the thought of sharing any living quarters with anypony. He decided to find a supply shack behind the local school and stay there, where he might be left alone with his thoughts.

    Derpy hooves, or Ditsy ended up staying in a room of an apartment complex, that most of the pony of the militia chose to occupy wanting to segregate themselves. Even though they had technically become soldiers of the Royal army they didn't share the same mentality as the institutionalized ponies.

    Alsvid however along with a few of the militia chose to intermingle with the soldiers, and stayed close to them. Alsvid didn't really consider any of the militia true warriors, seeing their lack of leadership and certain dumb individuals only strengthened this belief. Still they were all their for the same reason, so she tolerated these negative qualities.

    As Twilight searched through the house for anything of use she was lucky enough to stumble upon clean sheets for the bed, a few unlit candles and a couple of books she hadn't yet had the pleasure of reading.

    Trixie had stayed with Twilight while she searched the house just to be safe, even though the guard captain assigned two soldiers to guard the perimeter of the house for the night. As Trixie was about to leave Twilight called her before she made it halfway out of the door.

    "Hey uh... Trixie?"

    "Yes Twilight?"

    "Could you maybe, stay with me here? I don't want to be left alone with all this." She asked, her cheeks glowing a pale pink beneath her fur.

    "We'll geez Sparkle, I thought you weren't going to ask." She giggled before shutting the door to the house.

    "Thanks Trixie." Twilight trotted into the small room with one of the candles and one of the books she had found. She placed the candle on a night stand that sat next to the bed, lit it with a small burst of magic before climbing under the covers and opening the book before her. She was pleased when the blue fur of Trixie's brushed along side hers as she climbed in next to her. "What are we reading?" She asked as she snuggled into the bed and alongside Twilight, making herself comfortable.

    "I'm not sure, the title was rather vague, called The Key. There's no description or summary either so I guess we'll have to find out. " Twilight replied. "Want to take turns reading? I read a chapter, you read a chapter?"

    "Sounds good." Trixie replied.

    As the night reach its peek, one of the militia ponies named Pure Peak crept from his room, making sure not to wake anypony. Unfourtanetly the old boards of the apartment's balcony creaked with almost every hoof step. He thought he had heard a door open and he turned quickly. Nothing. Peak let out a sigh of relief before making his way to the street.

Ditsy let the door creep open again. Curiosity took hold of her mind due to Peak's sneaking about. 'Maybe he's fooling around with one of the mares.' She thought and giggled at the idea. Only one way to find out. The good thing about being a Pegasus, you were usually light on your hooves.

    There were no ponies in the immediate area, but still he kept to the shadows as he made his way to the front gate of the old town. Two soldiers chatted back and forth, having been stationed to guard the inside of the gates. As casual as he could he trotted up to greet them. "Hey guys."

    The two soldiers looked at him simultaneously turned to see the light blue Stallion trot up to them. "What are you doing out here so late?" One of them questioned.

    "Nothing really, have trouble sleeping is all, thought I'd come and keep you guys company since I'm awake." He replied with a smile.

    'Why is he sneaking around just to talk to the guards?' Ditsy inquired as she stuck her head around the corner of a nearby building.

    "We appreciate the gesture but you should really get back to your room." The other replied, with a hint of hostility in his voice.

    "Why? Is something wrong?" He asked, trying to sound worried.

    "No, nothing like that, We just can't be distracted by small talk while on duty."

    "But I just saw you two talking. What's the difference between the two of you and me?"

    "Were on duty together, please go, now." One of the soldiers, obviously the hot head of the pair was losing patience.

    "Alright alright, but can I get you guys anything? Tea? Water?" 'What is taking these guys so long?' He thought to himself, growing nervous.

    'What is he doing? He's going to make them mad.'

    "I Said Go-"

    "Hey hey, calm down." The other soldier cut him off. "He's just looking out for us. Hey, we really appreciate it bu-" He was cut off as he heard a thud from the other side of the gate. "What the buck?" He asked as the two soldiers turned toward the gate, drawing their blades. "Figgle You Okay Over There?" He called over the gate.

    Pure Peak took his opportunity, lunging at the guards, revealing two hidden blades that he stuck into either of their necks. "I have a feeling Figgle feels about the same way you do right now." He chuckled before pulling the blades free and watching the two guards fall as blood poured from their wounds. Then a voice that made the hair on his neck stand on end sounded behind him.

Ditsy stifled a whimper at what she had just witnessed, the only thing that kept her grounded was the brute of a stallion that had galloped up on the situation

    "You Traitorous Bastard." Rock yelled as he charged the smaller stallion.

    "Oh Buck!" Pure Peak exclaimed as he galloped over to the gate, just able to open it for the four Solandian assassins before he felt a hoof grab the scruff of his neck and lift him into the air.

    Peak scrambled frantically, drawing one of his hidden blades once more and sticking it into Rock's side who did little more than wince as the blade pierced his thick skin.

    With his other hoof he took hold of the hoof that held the blade and slowly pulled it away from him before stripping the weapon from peak's grasp and throwing him to the ground. Peak gasped for air as soon as he hit the ground. He managed to get ahold of his second blood stained blade but Rock caught his hoof before he could stick him again. "How many of these silly toys do you have?" He laughed before Snapping his for-leg like a twig.

    Peak cried out in pain, hoping the Solandian assassins would save him. He was helpless against Rock's brutal methods of combat as he felt himself rise from the ground again before meeting it head on for the second time. Everything was a daze for Peak now. His vision blurred and his ears rang as he feebly attempted to get back on his three good hooves. He wasn't sure but he thought he heard Rock laughing as he began to cough up blood. "Somepony h-hel-" More blood now. It was at this moment he wished he hadn't accepted the infiltration mission from the Solandian army. The Solandian assassins never came to his aid and he felt himself rise from the earth one last time and crash back into darkness, dead.

    "That'll learn you, you traitorous scum." He laughed as he tossed Peak's corpse aside. However Rock had not been aware of the four silent killers that had slipped inside while he dealt with peak. As he turned around he was met with the sharp end of a sword that disappeared into his gut and a red mask that covered his assailants face.

    The assassin leaned over to Rock's ear. "Thank you for taking care of our loose end for us." he whispered. When he pulled away he was shocked to see Rock smiling.

    "What do you-" Rock coughed a few times before continuing. "Know, one of you fuckers finally got me." He chuckled weakly. "I'm not going alone though." With a swiftness unnatural for a stallion his size he took his attackers head and smashed it with his own. The assassin took a few steps back, releasing the blade that still rested in his gut. Rock growled and screamed as he took the handle and pulled the blood soaked blade free, but before he could swing down on the assassin, a blade from one of the other assassin parried the strike. Not taking any chances, he sliced Rock's throat, blood spraying his mask and made sure he fell before dropping his guard. He took the sword from the dead Stallion's grasp and handed it to his ally. "We don't have much time." He stifled through his mask.

    Ditsy, who had previously been frozen hy fear, finally regained her composure. She took to the sky, not caring if the Solandians could see her. She began to cry out for help, making all the noise she could to wake the small military town.

    "Shit, Get Her!" One of the earth pony assassins exclaimed to the two Pegasus of the group who took off after her.

    Ditsy was fast, but the trained killers were faster. Within seconds she felt one of them crash into her, sending her tumbling out of control. She just manages to spread her wings to stop her fall a mere hoof from the ground.

    However the second pegasi assassin landed atop of her, forcing her to the ground. Derpy swung up with one of her forhooves, hitting the snout of the masked Pegasus who growled before swinging back down on her.

    The resolve of the gray mare was to strong to be broken by such odds and she kept up the fight, preventing the assassin from reaching his weapon to finish her, he had to settle with holding her in place until his comrade got there. All at once Ditsy knew the end was near when a second red mask appeared in her sights. In his hoof he held the instrument of her oncoming demise. She closed her eyes and whimpered, hoping that by some miracle The Doctor would appear and save her like he'd always done.

    Instead of the cold steel of the blade, she felt the weight of the enemy Pegasus lift. She opened her eyes and scrambled to her hooves, wondering what had happened. That's when she saw Kumori sparring with one of the assassins, as the other lay clutching his slit throat, and seizing back and forth as the blood squirted and gushed  through his hooves.

    The assassin did not fear the Solandian phantom yet he was unable to compete with the strategic weaponry of Kumori's wing blades. Derpy watched in amazement and fear as he swirled and turned with ease, almost like a dance.

    The assassin was growing tired quickly trying to keep up and was eventually caught by one of the blades that sliced one of his rear legs that he stood on. He took a few steps back and fell to his good knee and looked up at Kumori, almost in appreciation of his last fight. With one swift movement, Kumori thrust forward with his wings outstretched.

    The assassins head sat for just a moment, before rolling off his shoulders as his body fell to the ground. Blood sprayed the sand from his neck until it had almost drained completely from his body. Ditsy winced and closed her eyes at such a horrific sight.

    However they snapped open quickly, remembering the two others that still remained. "Kumori!" She exclaimed. Before she could tell him however the other two were already galloping in their direction. They didn't make it far before a mix of militia and Royal army soldiers flooded the street stopping the two earth pony assassins in their tracks. In one last act of defiance they drew their swords.

    An arrow struck one of them from an archer Pegasus on a nearby building that instantly brought the Solandian down. Now only one remained. The group of soldiers charged the lone Solandian assassin, but before they could reach him  the guard captain stopped them. "Do not kill him, take him alive!" He exclaimed.

    The assassin was not having that, he turned the blade on himself, prepared to die before capture. Another arrow from the archer struck the hoof that held the blade, causing him to drop his suicide weapon and grab his now bleeding hoof. Moments later they detained the struggling assassin and bound him by all four hooves. The guard captain trotted up to him and removed his mask revealing the surprisingly calm face of their new prisoner. He was a dark brown colored stallion with a gray mane that had been covered by the mask and helmet. "Take him to the guard house and lock him up." He spat down at the ground before trotting off in the direction of Princess Twilight's quarters to make sure she was unharmed.

    Twilight and Trixie had already awoken from the noise and were standing just in front of the small house. To the guard captain's relief the two guards stood on either side of them with their weapons drawn.

    "What's going on?" Twilight asked anxiously.

    "Enemy assassins, four of them infiltrated the town. Four soldiers are dead along with two of the militia guard. They came through the main gate but didn't make it much farther before a pair of the militia guard stopped two of them. That's when the majority of our force arrived, we took one of the assassins alive. By now he should be in the guard house prison. That's all I have to report for now Princess."

    Twilight's frustration was clearly visible on the situation. She had not been around as long as Celestia or Luna, she was no older than her friends even.

    Trixie nuzzled the side of Twilight's neck. "Calm down Twi." She told her before looking back at the guard captain. "Find anypony that may have seen what happened. They didn't get in without help of some kind. If they have any information bring them to the Princess." Trixie told the guard captain who looked at the princess for conformation, he didn't take orders from just anypony but when he saw the princess nod her approval he agreed.

    "Right away." He replied before trotting away.

    "That was, so simple. Why couldn't I just tell him that?" Twilight scolded herself. "You might have made a better princess." She told Trixie sadly.

    "Twilight that's what I'm here for, your under alot of stress, its understandable. You'll get the hang of it." Trixie reassured her.

    "But you were able-"

     "I'm not under the same pressure as you. Its easier for me to think." She replied shrugging.

    Twilight smiled weakly. "Thanks Trixie."

(Derpy)

     The guard captain arrived back on the scene, happy to see the one of the original Pegasi were still in the area.  Ditsy sat still, unmoving. A harsh reality had settled over her just then. The Doctor was not here to save her anymore. She'd almost died. Tears of anger and sadness poured down her face. "Why?" She asked herself. 'Why did he leave me here, in all of this? To suffer?' She thought. 'I have to take care of myself now. There's no more Doctor.'

    "You there, the gray mare." The Copper called, breaking her trance.

    She regained as much composure as she could before turning. "Yes?"

    "Come with me, Princess Twilight would like to have a word with you."

    Ditsy and Copper made their way back toward Twilight's residence where the two still sat, waiting patiently. "Derpy hooves?" Twilight asked. She hadn't even known she was part of the militia. Even worse she looked a mess, her fur was covered in dirt and spots of blood from where she had landed on the ground, her feathers ruffled, and her muzzle was bleeding. "Derpy, are you okay?"

    "Yes princess." She answered solemnly.

   "Derpy, please call me Twilight, you know me better than that."

    "Okay."

    "Did you see what happened?" Twilight asked.

     "Yes..."

   "Please elaborate." Trixie told her.

    Ditsy sighed and sat down. "I was awake in my room, through the curtains I saw the shadow of one of the stallion pass by very slowly. So I went to investigate. I think his name is... Pure... Uh... Pure peak, that's it. Anyway, I thought he had been fooling around with one of the mares in the militia so I followed him, but he went to the gates. He began to talk to the two guards at the gate like they were friends or something though I couldn't hear what they were saying exactly I knew the soldiers were starting to get angry. For some reason they both turned toward the gate and drew their swords. A second later Peak stabbed them both. I was going to run but I saw Rock galloping up to the gates." She cringed a moment, remembering Rock's brutality and chose not to elaborate the details. "He killed him. Four of the Solandians had come through the gate but they did nothing to help Peak. I don't think Rock knew the Solandians had come in, when he turned round one of them stabbed him. Rock was still able to fight off the one and had pulled the sword out of himself. However another of the assassins cut his throat."

     Again she cringed. She was okay with a little blood shed but this was overkill. "That's when I flew off, calling for help. One of their pegasi caught me, knocked me out of the sky and landed over me. I fought him as long as I could until another of them caught up. He was about to kill me but, Kumori saved me." She whispered.

    "Kumori?" Twilight asked.

    "The black Pegasus in the militia." Ditsy explained. "He killed two of them on his own."

    "Copper, find him for me." Twilight told him and he galloped off. "Ditsy, I am grateful for what you have done. Are you okay?"

    "I'll, I'll be alright." She replied looking down.

    "Why don't you go find one of the medics?" Trixie suggested.

    "If its okay, I want to wait for Kumori, he saved me, the least I can do is make sure he is alright." Ditsy replied.

    The sight of the crestfallen mare saddened Twilight and she nodded her head in agreement. "Trixie could you find a towel so she can at least wipe the blood from her muzzle?"

    "I'll be right back." Trixie replied as she disaoeared into the house, returning a moment later  with a damp wash cloth which she hoofed to Ditsy.

    Ditsy took it gratefully, wiping her face and muzzle, embracing the cool material against her burning skin. She wanted to get as much of the blood out of her fur as possible.

    "Come sit up here with us." Twilight said and ditsy complied, happy to have the company.

    It took quite a while for Copper to find Kumori behind the school house. Be had been asking around the apartments for him and a few of the ponies told him they saw a black Pegasus go behind the school, but they didn't recognize the name which came up as strange to Copper. Yet he found him laying in the grass just outside an old shack. "You, is your name Kumori?"

    Kumori didn't bother looking at the Guard Captain. "Yes." He sighed, wishing these ponies would leave him alone.

    "The princess wishes to have a word with you."

    "Tell her she can keep wishing." He replied casually.

    Copper stamped his hoof to the ground and snorted.  "You will not speak of the Princess in such a manor. Now get up and start moving." 'Disrespectful militia swine.' He thought to himself.

    Kumori sighed again. He didn't wish to entertain anypony with an audience but he also wanted to avoid unnecessary conflict. If this was what he had to do to effectively fight the Solandians then he would comply for now. He lazily rolled over to his hooves and stood up. "Fine fine." He replied.

    Copper snorted again before turning tail. "Follow me."

    Kumori followed Copper to the Princess and the two mares that sat alongside her. He paid little attention to the Princess or Trixie, but kept his eyes trained on the crestfallen gray Pegasus until Twilight cleared her throat. "Your Kumori?" she asked.

    Kumori sat and gave her a dumb look for a second.

    "Answer her!" Cooper snorted, his patience wearing thin for the black pegasus.

    Kumori rolled his eyes and sighed. "Yes, my name is Kumori."

    Twilight walked down the steps and got closer to Kumori, then took a moment to study him, probably due to his different colored eyes. She blinked and shook her head before refocusing. "I understand you saved Derpy here from the two assassins?"

    "Yes." Kumori cocked his head to one side, wondering where this was going.

    "Thank you."

    Kumori was confused, had a princess really just thanked him for such a task? For killing? Or was it for saving Ditsy? Either way, royalty expressing gratitude was not an gesture he was used to in Solandia. "Er... Your welcome?"

    Twilight nodded her head, walked back up the steps, bowed her head to Ditsy before wishing her a good night and reentering the house with Trixie close behind.

    Kumori turned to leave but was stopped.

    "Kumori?" Ditsy called.

    Kumori turned his head to look at Ditsy. "Yea?"

    "C-can you walk with me a while? Just until I find Fluttershy?" She stammered.

    Kumori thought for a moment. He realized what he saw in her now, it had been obvious all along. The pain of loss. She was alone and despite her general happy appearance, depressed. "Lead the way." He replied, managing a smile.

    Ditsy trotted down the stairs and stopped next to Kumori. "Thanks, its this way."

    The two walked in silence for a while, Kumori felt an unnatural need to break the silence. "I'm surprised you haven't said anything about my eyes yet." Probably not the smartest thing to say.

    "I'm surprised you haven't said anything about mine." She countered. "Its not nice to point things like that out, I know how it used to feel when ponies would mention mine, I didn't want to do the same to you, but if your asking my opinion, I think their beautiful." She smiled. "I think its great to be different."

    Kumori was stumped for the second time that night. 'What is with these equestrian ponies? Why are they so... Nice?' He thought to himself. He was thankful she didn't look his way, his muzzle and cheeks were glowing a faint red. However he shook his head to dispatch such thoughts, he couldn't let anypony get to him. He remained quiet until they found the house they were looking for.

    "I'd hate to wake her." Ditsy said to herself, hesitating to knock on the door.

    "You need to be looked at." Kumori told her before pounding the door with his own hoof.

    A moment later a distraught looking Rainbow Dash appeared at the door. "Who the fuck is... Derpy!?" She shouted as she saw the dirt and blood that covered her fur. "I'll go get Fluttershy." She disappeared back into the house, leaving the door open.

    Not a minute passed before Fluttershy appeared, waving the two pegasi into the house.

    "Derpy lay face down on the couch." Shy ordered. She wasn't nearly as shy when she was working on someponie's injuries.

    "Kumori, leave them be for now. Fluttershy needs to focus, come into the kitchen with me." Dash told him.

    For a second Kumori considered ignoring her, he felt like he needed to stay, but complied.

     Shy parted Ditsy's fur in various places on her back, looking for anything worse than a scrape or scratch. She found a particularly nasty scratch on her lower back but it had already stopped bleeding.

    "So, Kumori... I'm surprised you actually chose to stay, especially when the Royal army rolled up." Dash told him. "You never came back to get your bandages changed though." She accused as she looked down at the old wrappings on his forleg.

    "Yeah well, be glad I even stayed." He replied smugly.

    Dash sighed. Why was she pushing the matter? There were more important things at hoof these days. "Listen, Kumori, I don't want to argue about this. I apologize." She told him, holding out a hoof to him.

    Kumori eyed her suspiciously but took the opportunity to quell the situation by shaking her hoof. Being the only other pony he had really talked to in the group he decided to try and figure a few things out. "Rainbow is it? I-I don't understand you ponies."

    "What do you mean?" She asked, shooting him an akward glance.

    "How do you all stay so happy? Despite everything that's going on?"

    Rainbow Dash sighed. "Listen, Kumori what would be the point in fighting this war if everypony was just going to be miserable in the end anyway? What is the point in living in misery?" She asked him and continued when he didn't answer. "Exactly. It is okay to be upset here and there but you can't let it run your life. This lone pony bullshit will only get you so far."

    "I am living to take revenge on my old country." He shot back.

    "Hey, and I'm nopony to tell you otherwise, im bad about stuff like that to, but what happens after the war is over? Lets say every Solandian is dead. What then? And why be miserable till then?" Dash countered.

    "I-I-I don't know." He admitted. "I just don't want... Forget it." He mumbled.

    Dash slammed her forhoof on a nearby table startling Kumori. "No, okay? No. Stop this evasive shit. There has to be some kind of heart in there, hell if not you wouldn't of walked Ditsy here." She exclaimed. She noticed when she mentioned Ditsy he turned his head away. "So, Ditsy huh?" She pursued the topic.

    "Yeah? What about her?" Kumori replied.

    "She's not that bright is she? Pretty dumb actually. I mean who's cutie mark is bubbles? What kind of talent is that?" Dash continued, watching for any sign of aggravation from the Pegasus. "She's pretty fuckin sad to. You think I haven't seen her staring at the stars wishing for that weird ass Stallion to appear out of thin air and take her away with him? Actually on second thought, I wish he had." Dash snickered, casting a sideways glance at Kumori who's eyes gave his anger away. "Maybe then I wouldn't have to look at those fucked up eyes of hers."

    That did it. Kumori snapped and jumped at Rainbow, boling her over as he landed over her with one of his forhooves raised ready to strike. He stopped when he heard Rainbow laughing.

    "Got you, so you do have a heart." Dash said as she pushed Kumori away from her and got back to her hooves.

    Just then Fluttershy trotted into the room. "Derpy is washing up before I bandage her. Thankfully she looks worse than she is." Fluttershy sighed.

     "Did she happen to tell you anything?" Rainbow asked.

    "Yes, apparently Someponies got in who were not supposed to be here and she ended up fighting with one of them."

    "How? Why didn't anypony wake us?" Dash was wide awake now.

    "She said there were only four of them, and they came in through the north gate, to far from anypony to hear." Shy explained. "She told me everything is fine now, except... Four of the Royal soldiers are dead, and Rock was killed to. Ditsy told me he caught Pure Peak murdering the two guards on the inside of the gate before opening it for Solandian soldiers. Rock killed Peak and nearly one of the assassins before dieng."

    "Damnit." Dash snorted. As much as she hated that stallion she couldn't deny he was a good soldier.

   "A-and she a-a-also told me you s-saved her?" Fluttershy's shy demeanor returned as she turned to Kumori.

   "Yes." He admitted, avoiding the blue mare's watchful gaze and smirk she wore from having her point reinforced.

    Shy nodded her head before trotting back into the living room, awaiting Ditsy's return.

    "I'll tell you this Kumori, you can trust her. She's never proven otherwise to any pony, and that's more than I can say for even myself." Rainbow told him with sincerity. "She just needs a little attention."

    There was no point in trying to play it off any longer, Dash had seen through him. "I just don't want to lose another friend. If I don't make any friends I can't lose any friends." He told her.

    "Wait, another friend?" Dash asked in confusion.

    Kumori realized his mistake, he hadn't told Dash about his unicorn friend, only Ditsy. "Please, leave it alone." He told her.

    "Okay... Still..." Dash sighed. "Look, your not doing anything but making yourself miserable. I got it, some ponies like to be alone sometimes, but all the time isn't good. I know your scared of losing somepony you care about. What, do you think im not terrified of losing Fluttershy? Well I am, every fucking day were out here. I'm scared that one of these days, those Solandian fucks are going to attack us and kill everypony I care about, but ya know what? They give me something to fight for. Knowing that they are in danger makes me fight that much harder, now you can do whatever the hell you want, but the only pony your hurting is yourself." Dash replied. "And remember, its better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved at all."

    Kumori sat for a moment, absorbing the words he had just heard. 'Is she right, am I being the fool here?' He asked himself. His whole world was being turned upside down for the second time in his life. He suddenly questioned everything, was it time to move on? Start over? He shook his head and bit back a tear. "Damn it to hell." He whispered under his breath. There was something about Ditsy that drew him to her, made him want to get closer to her. 'I guess I can try.' He thought to himself. "Fine." He finally spoke. "I'll try and talk to her."

    "Thata stallion." Dash replied.

    Kumori growled quietly to himself and turned his head away. Deep down inside he knew he was being a coward, avoiding any emotional connection with everypony, he could kill without batting an eye, but when it came to talking to any pony, he was the biggest bitch he'd ever known.

    "Here have some tea." Dash told him. "Shy managed to make it just before she went to bed, so its still fresh." She poured the tea into an old tea cup they had found in the house and hoofed it to him. "It might be a minute before Shy is satisfied with her work on Derpy. Come, have a seat." Dash sat at a old dining table and placed her own cup of freshly brewed tea on table.

    Kumori reluctantly agreed, taking the seat opposite of Dash. He gave the tea a quick sniff before taking a sip.

    "Geez, you really don't trust anypony do you?" Dash replied taking a drink from her own cup.

    Kumori snorted lightly before drinking more of the sweet black liquid. "Its a habit." He replied.

    Dash just shook her head. "Hey, whatever you say." Dash told him before sitting all the way back in her chair, stretching her forhooves over her head and giving an audible groan. "I was sleeping good to." She muttered.

    They sat in silence for about fifteen minutes or so before Ditsy and Shy entered the kitchen. Ditsy's fur was no longer dirt or bloodstained, though she had a bandage over the too of her muzzle, the base of her left wing had been bandaged, and there were a few other bandages in various places.

    "She is okay now." Shy told them both. A few cuts and bruises, most of the cuts didn't even need bandages but I applied them anyway, I didn't want her to catch an infection." Shy explained.

    "Yeah, I feel alot better now." Which was needless to say, she looked alot better.

    "Hey, uh Ditsy, lets get out of here, let them get back to bed." Kumori suggested, already trotting to the front door.

    "Yeah, we should probably go. Shy, thank you for your help. I'm sorry I woke you." Derpy said bowing her head.

   "Oh, well, it was no problem Ditsy." Shy replied.

    Ditsy accepted this and followed Kumori out of the house. She was surprised to see that Kumori had waited instead of trotting ahead. He sat on the side of the old dirt road, shifting uncomfortably.

    "Lets go." Kumori said as he began to trot along, Ditsy beside him.

Not Alone Anymore

    "Lets go." Kumori said as he began to trot along, Ditsy beside him.

    "Thanks for walking with me here." Ditsy stated. "I haven't been feeling myself lately."

    "It, it was no problem." Kumori replied.

    They trotted slowly down the road, to tired to hoof it out. Kumori noticed that every thirty second or so, Ditsy would shake her wings and wiggle uncomfortably. She had an annoyed look on her muzzle as she opened them half way and lay them back to her sides.

    "What's wrong?" Kumori inquired.

    "My wings, after landing on them like that and fighting in the dirt... Well they need to be preened badly." She replied. Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink as she looked as if she were about to say something. "I'm sorry if I am crossing some kind of line here, but... Could you preen them for me? I was going to ask shy but she had already done so much, and I'd do it myself, but it would take forever in the condition they're in."

    Kumori wasn't going to tell her he was a little uncomfortable with the idea, but she did need his help, it was a small task but also quite the personal one. He thought it over for a moment before sighing. "Okay, I'll take you to your place and help you out." Kumori decided, his cheeks blushing a bit themselves. "But then im leaving." He added quickly.

    "T-thanks." Ditsy replied without looking at him. "I'm sorry I'm being such a nuisance."

    "Your fine... I actually... Well I actually have come to enjoy your presence over the past two days." Kumori admitted. He was mentally beating himself up, as he was going against every instinct to run from the situation.  'Not this time.' He told himself.

     "I'm just happy your talking to somepony, I know what its like to be alone and I don't want any pony to feel that way."

    "Yeah... I guess your right." Kumori replied.

    "I never got the chance to thank you for saving me."

    "Think nothing of it." Kumori replied. He wanted to say it was his pleasure to kill them but he felt that would be inappropriate given the circumstances.

    The rest of the walk they were silent. Finally they arrived at the beat up apartments she was staying in. "I'm on the fourth floor at the top. I'd fly up there but, well you know. You can go ahead and fly up there. I'll take the stairs.

    "Its okay, I'll walk the stairs with you. My wings aren't exactly a hundred percent either, being I use them to fight." Kumori shrugged.

    Ditsy smiled and trotted up the stairs with Kumori in tow. Ditsy skipped a few doors until she got to hers. "Not exactly the prettiest place but its not bad for an abandoned room." Ditsy told him before opening the door, inviting Kumori inside.

    Kumori stepped inside and nodded his head in approval. The wall paper was old but relatively undamaged. The bed's sheets were a plain blue color and the carpet was a plain gray color, and from what he could tell there were only a couple of stains. Two bed stands stood on either side of the bed along with a few unlit candles on one which Ditsy lit for lighting.

    "Well, ya sure you don't mind?" Ditsy asked.

     "No, I don't mind." Kumori replied. Just, lay down on the bed and I'll get started."

    "Alright." Ditsy jumped up and laid face down on the bed, spreading her wings slowly and painfully.

     Kumori jumped up after her and stared down at her awkwardly before shaking his head. "Which ones worse?"

    Ditsy shifted a bit and folded her wings with a grunt. "Definetly my left one." She replied, unfurling her wings again.

    "Okay." He shifted to his left and looked at what he had to work with. "They are bad." He mumbled.

    "Yeah... I hadn't preened them in a while anyway." She explained.

     "Alright, just take a deep breath and relax. I'll do what I can." He decided to start with the base of her wing as he gently bit at the feathers, working them back into place one by one. He was careful not to pull any of the sensitive feathers out.

    Ditsy had forgotten how good it felt to have her wings preened by another pony seeing as she hadn't had it done since she was a young filly. She took slow deliberate breaths and sighed, almost falling asleep.

     Kumori finished with her left wing after a few minutes then started on her right, repeating the process, starting with the base of her wing to the tip.

     After he was done he took a step back to examine his work and gave a nod in approval. "How does that feel?"

     Ditsy stretched he wings out and fluttered them slowly. "Much better, just a little sore now." She replied.

    Kumori thought for a moment, he decided it wouldn't do any harm. "Stay there, I think I can help you out with that."

    "You've done enough already Kumori. I feel like im bothering you with to much." Ditsy replied.

    "Its no problem, really. I want to help if I can."

    "Well, i-if you wouldn't mind then." She replied, relaxing her wings back on the bed.

    "I don't." He approached her wings again, starting with the left he began to massage her wing from the base where most of the stress was put on the wing. He started gently and pressed a little firmer the more she began to relax, careful to avoid any of the bandages areas.

     Ditsy sighed happily, making no effort to move as he finished with her left wing and moved to her right. Kumori finished with her right and started on the space between her wings. Ditsy let out a squeal and jumped up turning to face a bewildered Kumori. "D-don't do that." She stuttered, her cheeks and muzzle glowing.

    "Did I hurt you?" Kumori asked, taking a step back trying to analyze the situation.

    "No, just." Ditsy sighed. "Quite the opposite actually. I've never had that kind of reaction before."

    "What do you-" Kumori stopped as he figured it out. "Oh... I'm sorry." It was his turn to blush.

    "Its okay." Ditsy took a deep breath. "Have you done this to other ponies before? Your really good."

    "No, I just do what I would imagine what would feel good to me." He replied, thankful for the change of conversation.

    This gave Ditsy an idea. "Lay down." She told him.

    Kumori got where this was going and shook his head no. "No, I don't let anypony touch my wings. Its nothing personal."

    "I want to though, you've done to much and I haven't done anything." She replied. "Besides, with you fighting with those wing blades your wings can't be in good shape."

    Kumori had to admit that his wings did take a toll when he fought, but that was the price to pay for his strategic assault. "I-well..." Kumori growled at himself. There was that damned insecurity again. "Okay." He finally said.

    Ditsy smiled. "Lay down." She repeated.

    Kumori did as he was told, spreading his wings.

     Ditsy looked down at his pitch black wings, fur and feathers that seemed to reflect the candle light. "Your wings are really pretty." She told him before going to work on his out of place feathers. She came across one that was damaged at the tip. "Uh... Kumori, this is going to sting a little bit. I'm going to need to pull this one." She told him.

    "Alright." He winced as he felt the sting but held still.

    Ditsy took the feather from her muzzle and placed it on the table before continuing to preen Kumori. She wasn't happy to see all the scars under his fur from fighting but continued none the less.

    The preening complete she moved to massage his wings with a gentleness Kumori had never known. "I use to do this for The Doctor." She explained.

     "He was a Pegasus?" Kumori asked.

     "Yeah." Ditsy said sadly.

     "Well, I can tell, your really good at this." He tried to cheer her up.

     Ditsy sighed and stopped her work.

    "Is something wrong?"

     "Its just, tonight. It hit me all of a sudden. He can't save me anymore. If it wouldn't have been for you, I-I'd be dead." She choked and began to sob. "Why would he do this? Leave me here like this?"

     Kumori sat up and turned to face Ditsy. There it was, what the look in her eyes represented. It made him sad to just see her this way, but he didn't know what to say. He didn't know who this Doctor was or even Ditsy to be honest. He did know what it was like to lose somepony he cared for though, that feeling of emptiness. To have them there one day, laughing, talking, playing. Then the next... Gone forever. "Ditsy, I... I don't know what to say." He suddenly felt utterly useless.

    Ditsy sniffles a bit, calming herself she looked up at him. "Kumori, I need you to teach me how to fight." Ditsy told him. "Like you, you learned how to take care of yourself."

    Kumori was taken aback by this. "Ditsy, I don't know if I can do that, I tought myself. Plus, you'd need wing blades. They don't exactly mass produce these like swords. Not to mention the strain it takes on your body and wings, its dangerous and-"

    "I know somepony who'd be able to make me a pair. Please Kumori, I want to feel safe again, and if fighting is how I do it then so be it. I can't rely on The Doctor to save me anymore. I have to learn to take care of myself, I can handle it, I promise." She pleaded.

     Kumori thought long and hard about this. The two sat in silence as Kumori pondered it over. If he taught her how to fight, she'd want to fight and she might die. Then again, on the other hoof if he didn't and she needed to defend herself one day, she wouldn't be able to. Plus he would be out of his comfort zone for a while, with Ditsy being around him much more than usual, but, was that necessarily a bad thing? "Buck it, I'll do it."

     Ditsy sighed with relief and hugged him. "Thank you." She told him.

     Kumori was lost for a moment as the Gray mare hugged him tightly. After a couple of seconds he wrapped his own for hooves around her back, deciding once and for all to trust her.

     Ditsy pulled away a moment later, gratitude and a drop of happiness in her look.

    "Well... I-Its getting late." He told her. "I'm sure its actually morning by now, I'm going to get some sleep."

    "Goodnight." Ditsy replied. "Sounds like a good idea anyway." She yawned.

    "Uh... Tomorrow night, whether you have the blades or not, meet me behind the old school in town." He told her before jumping down from the bed and trotting to the door.

    "I'll be there." Ditsy replied.

     "Okay, see you then." He replied before leaving and closing the door behind him, the lingering feelings of awkwardness following him, but with it a since of relief, almost like he wasn't alone anymore.

Settling In

    Most of the ponies in the town didn't even know there had been a disturbance during the night, and were quite startled to here this when Twilight summoned them all to the old town center. At her side was Copper, a few of his soldiers, Trixie, and a few other unicorns.

    "I'm sorry to have to do this but everypony in this unit will have to submit to a mind test. To explain, these unicorn are going to cast a spell to see into your mind, if they find any significant information regarding the Solandians, you will be detained for further test and questioning. Also, if your mind is locked with a spell, we will detain you, the reason being we have received reports that the Solandian force has locked their soldiers minds to protect sensitive information.

    I'm sure by now you all have learned of the attack last night. Five soldiers died, and a traitor. Their bodies will be given a proper burial later today." She paused a moment after giving the news out of respect and grief, then looked back up to address the crowd.

     "Militia pony will be tested first, followed by the Royal army. Any attempts to avoid test or questioning will be considered a hostile act. Several soldiers of the Royal Army have already undergone testing and are stationed at the gates with orders to stop anypony from leaving, with force if necessary." Twilight said. "Now each unicorn has sworn to safeguard any personal information they might find, they have been warned not to disclose or discuss any information not relevant to the task at hoof."

    Several ponies in the crowd were displeased at this information. Their privacy would be violated, yet they had no choice but to agree, there was no other way.

    "Before we proceed, I will give everypony the chance to turn themselves in if they are guilty of treason or espionage. Your punishment will be less severe however you will not go free." Twilight was upset she had to do this to everypony as the word punishment left her muzzle. She'd never actually punished anypony.

    When no pony spoke up Twilight sighed. "File through to each of the unicorn one at a time, including myself. After you have been cleared I ask that you sit inside the town hall."

    As instructed the militia pony went first, but not without complaint. After each pony was tested they had to take a moment to breathe. Alsvid knew this all to well having been read just a few days before. She wasn't particularly happy when her time had come. Of course she cleared, how much could have changed in three days. She would have argued this point had she not learned from experience it would be easier to just do as she were told.

    Kumori was extremely displeased as he stood in front of Twilight, however he hid it well and bit back a sharp remark.

    Twilight began her spell, relieved to find his mind was openly accessible. She found nothing of any significant information regarding the Solandians. His mind was very dark and was full of negative emotions of hate, misery, and so much pain. Twilight was surprised however to find thoughts of Ditsy. Out of curiosity she wished she could dive deeper to understand but she wasn't going to take advantage of his cooperation and released the spell. She waited for Kumori to recover from the stress. "Your clear." She told him, attempting to show no signs of collecting this  information, though he gave her a suspicious look before trotting his way into the hall.

    As fate would have it the next pony to stand before Twilight was Ditsy. "Stay focused Twi, its none of your business." She mumbled to herself.

    "What's that?" Ditsy asked.

     "Oh nothing nothing, just relax, this will only take a second." Twilight was pretty sure Ditsy had nothing to do with the incident so she didn't have to probe to far into her mind allowing her to avoid any feelings she may or may not have for Kumori.

     They got about halfway through the militia ponies when Trixie happened upon a very sketchy looking red furred stallion who shifted uneasily before her. Trixie lowered her horn which began to glow as she attempted to read his mind. She wasn't surprised to find his mind locked. "Guards, this one." Trixie exclaimed. "I can't read him."

    The red stallion looked frightened for a moment, and almost seemed like he was going to attempt to flee but he stood his ground. "Look, I know what it looks like but-"

    "Sorry, no exceptions. You will have your chance to explain later." One of the Royal army soldiers told him before cuffing his for legs together.

    "But but im serious." He argued.

    "Like I said, you'll have your chance." Two other soldiers pushed him forward as a warning to start walking.

    The red stallion almost looked as if he were about to cry as he was escorted away, toward the guard house with the living Solandian spy.

     Luckily everypony else checked out okay. She couldn't help but notice her friends displeasure at having been doubted but they said nothing. When the last pony was finished with his test Twilight entered the town hall where they all waited.

    "Now that you have all been proven innocent. All militia will be supplied with guard's armor and weapons. As I promises you are all now temporary soldiers in the Royal army. Some of my soldiers are at the carts and will pass out your equipment. Afterwards, we begin fortifying this town, converting it into a fortress." Twilight explained. "Copper along with our engineer team will supervise construction throughout the day."

    A few complaints later the ponies trotted out to receive their gear while the original soldiers were sent to retrieve the supplies to fortify the walls.

    Once the militia had finished receiving their new weapons and armor they took it to their rooms before joining the other ponies who had already started planning the construction. Two watch towers would be built at either entrance. Other towers would be placed on the highest points of several hills surrounding Oakhill. The gates were to be reinforced along with the walls. It was a simple design but would prove to be quite the task due to the size of the town. None the less they worked with minimum complaints.

    A few had doubts they would be able to effectively defend the town given its sheer size and there lack of any supply sturdier than wood. However others thought it was a great idea to convert the town. They argued that the hills and passages would funnel most of an invading force into the front gate. It would be inconvienent for an invasion force to cross over the rough terrain of the hills and mountains surrounding the town, and that's if the front lines were pushed back.

     Construction went smoothly throughout the day. The difference between the Solandians and Equestrians was the Equestrians were more than happy to work with unicorn to complete a task.

     Ponies that were not wrapped up in the construction of the town found other ways they could make themselves useful. Fluttershy found an ill supplied clinic she could use to treat ponies with the help of the healers that had accompanied Twilight's convoy though Raisen had said her goodbyes and had opted to return south into safer lands. Luckily the convoy had enough medical supplies to treat minor injuries for a while, at least until the supply route Twilight spoke of was established.

    AppleJack and AppleBloom on the other hoof were not happy with the terrain. It was nearly unworkable which meant the fort wouldn't be self sustaining, so the two decided to help with construction.

     Pinkie pie had established her new kitchen would be out of a large pub, along with a few other cooks she had already began working on everypony's next meal. The building wouldn't be big enough to seat everypony but that could be changed at a later date.

    Rainbow Dash decided, much to Shy's dismay to continue to fight despite the arrival of the official fighting force.

     Rarity and Sweetie Belle found an actual workshop were they could work on weaponry and armor toward the back of the town. Twilight's convoy had also included a few armorers of its own that could take much of the work off the two unicorns.

    Rarity was surprised to see Ditsy had tracked her down to the shop. "Derpy? What are you doing here dear?"

    "Um... I kinda need a favor, a special request that is." Ditsy told her.

     "Well of course, just tell me what you need."

     "I need you to make me a weapon."

    "A weapon? You don't fight do you?" Rarity was confused by the mare's request.

     "I'm learning, but that's not the point." Ditsy was annoyed by her surprise at the request she had made. "Anyway, the weapon I need isn't a typical sword. You know that black Pegasus that fights with his wings?"

     "I've seen him." Rarity replied.

     "Well, that's what I want you to make, wing blades."

     "Derpy I don't know about that." Rarity shook her head. "The sheer design is impractical, near impossible. They would have to be sturdy enough to withstand attack, yet light and flexible enough for you to use your wings. I wouldn't believe it possible if I hadn't seen that Pegasus using them."

     "Exactly, you know its possible. Please Rarity, I really need them and your the only pony I know with enough skill to pull this off."

    "Sweety I don't know, I am used to working with cloth, not steel, I only have a basic understanding of forging."

     "I'll do it!" Sweetie Belle had been listening from the back of the shop and had entered the room.

    "Sweetie forging isn't the same as-"

       "Sis what's the point in not trying? We have a better forge now and I'm sure we could figure something out."

    Ditsy was relieved that Rarity's little sister was reinforcing her request and to see Rarity's resolve melting away.

     Rarity sighed and looked back to Ditsy. "Okay, we'll see what we can do, but I can't make any promises."

      Ditsy smiled and bowed her head. "Thank you. You to Sweetie Belle." Ditsy said looking over to the smiling filly.

    "Just come on in to the back, if we are going to make this work I am going to need to take some measurements." Rarity mirrored the pegasus's smile.

(Twilight's quarters.)

     "Okay, Celestia has been informed of our change in location and has agreed to modify her plans for the supply route." Twilight explained to General Grayscale, Copper and Trixie as they all stood over a map of Equestria. "Copper how is the work coming along?"

    "There have been a few kinks in the work, such as getting the supplies atop the hills for the towers but the soldiers are managing. It may take a couple of days to get them standing. We won't be able to finish the walls with the supplies we arrived with, we brought enough to fortify a camp, not a town. That being said I have focused fortifications at the weak points and entrances to the town. I would be wise however to send word for additional materials once the supply route is established princess."

     "Okay, I'll be sure to keep that in mind. Thank you Copper." Trixie replied. "Grayscale, have you spoken to any of your militia soldiers as of late?"

    Grayscale looked down in disappointment. "I have spoken to a few. Most are disgruntled with the original Royal Army troops and the empire's interference for lack of a better term. There has also been doubts amongst the population of your leadership, but of course I shut down such talk. On the other hoof they have continued to cooperate despite their complaints."

     This was not something Twilight had wanted to hear though she understood their doubts. She wasn't even sure if she could keep everything under control. "Thank you. Now, Trixie I know that the Equestria council are responsible with the path for the supply route but most of them are basing themselves off a map such as this but I am well aware of your first hoof experience with the land. If needed do you think you could come up with a safe trail for the caravans?"

     "I'm way ahead of you Twilight. Their are quite a few possibilities but I believe the fastest and safest route would be through Sedear valley. There is a lake that cuts through the middle of the valley that could act as a guide and support the soldiers with water in an emergency. When they clear the Valley the most direct route to Oakhill is through Gravel Canyon which is here." She pointed to a small path on the map. "Its far enough from the border to avoid any probing attacks that may pierce the front lines." Trixie finished, looking rather pleased with herself.

    "Fantastic, I'll send your option to the castle and see if they agree. Unfourtanetly in the end it is their decision." Twilight replied. "Do any of you have any additional reports for me? " After a brief moment of silence giving them the opportunity to speak she sighed. "Well that is all there is for the moment. Copper you may go back to supervise the construction. Grayscale I'd greatly appreciate it if you assist the Guard Captain."

     "Right away Princess." Copper bowed before starting for the door.

    Grayscale wasn't amused with being stuck with construction but did not debate the matter. Confrontation would lead nowhere.

    After the two Stallion left her quarters Trixie gave Twilight a look of approval. "Your starting to get the hang of it."

    "Its still all so very nerve racking." Twilight took a deep breath to clear her mind. "I just hope I cam keep it up, there's alot of pressure."

    "Don't worry Twilight, if you need any help you know I'm happy to lend a hoof." Trixie replied. "Give it a little while longer and it'll become second nature. Your already doing great after only a few days."

    "You have no idea how grateful I am  for your help." Twilight said with up most sincerity."

    "Don't even think about it, were all serving the same cause, it'd be ignorant not to help."

    "All the same I am still grateful." Twilight replied before hugging the blue unicorn.

Will of the Broken

That night Ditsy waited for most of the town to settle down before leaving her room. She trotted quietly through the streets, listening to the various insects and nocturnal creatures that ruled the night. The occasional guard passed by without so much as a second glance in her direction, some she recognized, others she didn't. The school came into view a minute or so later, the tree tops that loomed over the grounds from behind the school were illuminated by the familiar glow of fire. As she trotted around the school she discovered the source of the flames to be torches which were distributed throughout the yard in no particular order. In the middle of it all was Kumori, who lay sleeping peacefully, not yet aware of Ditsy's arrival.

     Ditsy approached him slowly at first, not wanting to startle him. She successfully crossed the yard without alerting the sleeping Pegasus and gently nudged his for-leg with her hoof. She wasn't ready for what happened next.

     Kumori woke with a start, jumping up and knocking Ditsy to the ground before pinning her by her wings. Ditsy cried out in freight and panic as she covered her face with her hooves. "Kumori Its Me!" She panicked.

    Kumori's gaze softened and his face betrayed shame as he realized what he had done. As quickly as he had attacked her he jumped back. "Ditsy, I'm sorry I-I just, I don't know, you scared me and." He scolded himself for being so careless. "I didn't hurt you did I?"

    It took a moment for the look of freight to fade from her face as she took to her hooves and backed away from him. Her breathing became steady as she began to calm herself. "W-what was that?" Fear became concern in an instant. 'What has him so frightened?' She asked herself.

    "I don't know, I just, I mean you have to understand I-I was having another nightmare before you arrived and when you woke me-" Kumori was trying desperately to justify his actions but couldn't find the words to do so.

    "Another? Kumori how often do you have these dreams?" Ditsy began to visibly relax and took a few steps toward Kumori.

    "Yes, another, I have them quite frequently." He was beginning to feel better once  he realized Ditsy was not hurt or angry with him. "Its nothing really, just a dream."

     "Kumori that wasn't nothing, what's going on?" She pursued the subject, fishing for an answer to his fear.

     "Its just a dream Ditsy, I'm awake now. Please do not worry about me."

     "No!" Ditsy stamped her hoof to the ground. "You said you trusted me, I want to know what's wrong. Keeping things like that bottled up will only lead to more problems."

     'Again with this defiance' Kumori thought to himself, remembering Rainbow Dash's spat with him over his secrecy. At first he had thought their probing was influenced by nothing other than curiosity but the more he got to know these ponies he came to understand that there was a possibility they honestly cared. Kumori sighed and decided to cut his losses as he sat on the soft grass of the school's yard. "Okay." He breathed. Ditsy took her spot beside him but made sure to give him room to breathe.

     "Its alright Kumori, you can talk to me." Ditsy spoke in as soft and caring a voice she could manage.

     This seemed to be enough to comfort him enough to explain. "Its usually the same dream. I'm back in Solandia, in my old town carrying on with my every day life. A bell tolls in the distance after a short period of time. None of the ponies seem to know what it means seeing as it had been so long since anypony had heard it. Its a warning of an oncoming threat. By the time anypony figures it out the sky turns red as if on fire and the Solandian army begins their sweep of the town. The local guards do not share their loyalty to the throne so they fight to defend the town. Of course our defenses fall within minutes and the Solandian force begin to slaughter every unicorn and anypony foolish enough to defend them. At this point, I begin to panic, searching for my friend. I spot her, hiding beneath a cart with her hooves over her head sobbing. I take off as fast as I can in her direction but it seems like I am going nowhere. The streets grow longer the faster I gallop. That's when I see a Solandian soldier pull her from beneath the cart, she fights back, driven by fear but she is quickly overpowered. The soldier draws his sword and, and... H-he-" Unable to continue he breaks down in an instant, collapsing to the ground and hiding his muzzle as he begins to sob.

    Ditsy didn't need him to finish the story, her heart ached for him. Even the strongest of ponies fall victim to emotion. She couldn't imagine having to re-live such an experience every time she lay her head down to rest. With only a seconds hesitation she lay down beside him, covering him with one of her wings as he let his emotions pour from his heart, accompanied by his tears. She gently nuzzles the side of his neck, doing everything in her power to calm the Pegasus. She waited patiently until his sobs converted to the occasional tear and sniffle. "I'm sorry you have to deal with that. You just have to remember its all a dream. I understand you don't have power over your what is done or your dreams but you can make the decision on whether or not you will let it affect you, and if you ever truly need somepony to talk to just come find me, no matter the time. I may not be able to do much but I can always offer an ear to listen and a wing to cry under." She put on the most reassuring and friendly smile she could muster as Kumori turned his head to face her.

    He had to admit that telling her this was like lifting a weight from his shoulders. "I really appreciate it Ditsy. Its been a while since anypony made such an effort to care, it just hurts. Like a wound that won't heal." He whispered.

    "I may never know how that feels, and I hope to keep it that way. I know I can't replace your friend, but I can try to numb the pain if you'll let me." Ditsy cooed.

     "Thank you Ditsy, but I think for now I'll just let it pass. I made you a promise for tonight." He reminded her.

     Ditzy accepted this and nodded her head. "So, where do I start?"

"Well." Kumori started as he got back to his hooves. "I was thinking about it. If your serious about this then the first thing I think you need to work on is wing strength."

     "Okay?"

     "One second." He told her before trotting over to the small shack in the corner of the yard. He emerged with two small cement bricks with rope tied around them slung over his back. He dropped them in front of her. "Its going to hurt, but if you're truly serious I'm going to tie one of these to each of your wings. All you have to do is keep your wings outstretched for the night." Kumori was half hoping this would be enough to disdain her from following through with her plan to fight. He suddenly wished he had refused her request in the first place.

     "Whatever it takes." Ditzy stated with confidence. She got to her own hooves and unfurled her wings parallel to the ground.

     Kumori sighed and picked up the first of the weights and tied it just before the tip of her wing. As he released the weight Ditzy's wing dropped a bit before she was able to catch it. It was much more difficult than she thought it would be and she hadn't even started. "Ditzy are you sure?"

     "Yes." Ditzy gave him another weak smile of reassurance.

     "Alright." This time Ditzy was ready for the weight and was able to keep her wing steady as Kumori released the weight. "If you succeed, I'll teach you everything I know." Kumori told her before taking a few steps back and curling up on the ground.

    Ditzy nodded in approval but was suddenly faced with doubt. How was she supposed to keep her wings outstretched for the whole night when they were already becoming sore under the weight.

     Kumori knew the task was practically impossible and felt terrible he had set her up to fail, especially after she had just finished comforting him but he felt it was for her own good. This exercise was not designed to cause muscle failure. Any Pegasus could accomplish the task if it were not for pain. This exercise was designed to cause pain and fatigue to warp the mind into thinking the weights were heavier than they were. Thus creating the illusion of muscle failure. He closed his eyes, feigning sleep so as to keep an eye on the gray mare who had already started showing signs of discomfort. This wouldn't take long.

     A faint glow of light shown upon Kumori's face as he blinked his eyes a few times. He hadn't recalled falling asleep and thus was confused when the first rays of sunlight shone across the yard. That was when he remembered Ditzy.

     Her entire body was shaking and tears stained the fur on her face. She was gritting her teeth and had her eyes shut tight in concentration. Each breath seemed to catch in her throat as quiet growls escaped her muzzle accompanied by an occasional whimper. To his surprise, her wings remained outstretched as they had been when he had first laid down. "Ditzy! What are you doing!?" Kumori exclaimed in disbelief. He could only imagine the pain she was in. "Drop your wings!" He ordered, almost angry she would do this to herself.

     Ditzy dropped to the ground, her wings to sore even to fold them to her sides as they lay on the ground on either side of her. She was crying now, not only her wings but her whole body felt as if it were on fire.

     Kumori hurried to her side and untied the ropes that bound her wings to the bricks. He was even more upset when he saw the marks the ropes had left around her wings. 'But how?' Kumori asked himself. He had known warriors twice her size and strength that would have crippled under such a task. He looked over her trembling body with a sharp pain of guilt. He had done this to her, set her up to fail and caused her pain in an attempt to crush her will to fight even after she had done nothing but comfort him. Sure his intentions had been well but who was he to decide her fate in such a manner? Yet she had unknowingly defied him. "Ditzy." He whispered to himself as he lay beside the quivering mare. The name suddenly took on a whole new meaning to him.

    Despite the pain she was in she turned her head to face him with a smile. "I did it." She managed to whisper before passing out, her head falling to the ground.

     Kumori lifted her head gently and placed it on her hooves that lay in front of her. "I'm so sorry." He told the unconscious mare as he nuzzled her cheek and lay a wing across her back in a rare display of affection. "A deals a deal." He spent the day by her side, watching over her as she took her well deserved rest.

The Enemy's Side of the House

    "My majesty, it seems our assassins have failed." The Solandian officer, General Iron Ore bowed before his rather displeased Queen. "One of our informants have been snuffed out as well."

     "Who?" She shook her head in disappointment, her red and purple mane resting over her left shoulder.

     "Pure Peak my Majesty. It seems he was discovered around the same time our assassination attempt was thwarted." The officer grew nervous the longer he was in the presence of his Alicorn Queen, Queen Thistle. Her appearance did not betray her as hostile, her pink fur remained well groomed and her wings almost seemed to glow brilliantly on the rare occasions she took flight. She stood slightly taller than her two princess sisters and much taller than the rest of her kingdom. Even when not utilizing magic her horn seemed to give the faintest glow of red aura. However everypony knew that appearances were deceiving, and that their queen had begun to lose her patience with this war on Equestria.

     She sighed and kicked at the ground, relieved it had been nopony of significance. "If my memory serves me right, Pure Peak was with the militia encampment?"

     "Yes my Majesty, however-" Iron Ore's voice trailed off, debating on whether he wished to correct her in her error. "However the militia encampment, according to our recent reports have joined forces with the Equestrian army and have changed their base of operations to a small town named Oakhill. This and the last update we have received on our assassin's failure will be the last of the information we can collect on them due to heightened security and the death of Pure Peak without reconnaissance teams to observe their post. Unfourtanetly sustaining a reconnaissance team will be difficult due to their position behind enemy lines." He kept his head low to the ground, expecting a impulsive act of anger but was relieved when she spoke in a calmed tone.

     "Very well, this is war, and in war there are always downfalls. It seems that I have greatly underestimated the Equestrian resolve. Are we aware of  the Unit's commander in OakHill, and do rise, you've been down there for far to long." She gestured with her hoof for him to stand tall.

     "Yes your majesty." He arose with a sigh of relief as he stretched one of his forhooves before continuing. "The target of our assassination was actually the Oakhill commander. It turns out she is one of Equestria's Princesses, goes by the name of Twilight. That is all we know for now."

     "With such little information, who ordered the hit?" Now a bit of her temper flared, wasting resources on such matters that could have waited to be resolved later when they were better prepared. Now four of her troop was dead because of a hasty decision probably made by some young officer who was trying to make a name for themselves, and to her amusement...

    "Down in Fort Haysfire, our spy had reported to the Fort Defense Commander Tumble Crax. Without sending the report to any of the Fort's generals or the Fort Commander himself he had sent a small team into Oakhill to take out Twilight." The officer had wished she wouldn't have asked him for this information. Tumble Crux and he were very good friends, if only he were not such a fool. He heard exactly what he had expected.

     "Have him relieved of his command and send for him here at the castle. I wish to have a word with him." With this Queen Thistle turned away and began to trot back to her chambers disgruntled that such ignorance resided within the ranks of her army. With so many ponies however one could not expect there not to be a few idiots here and there within the population. She could do nothing but weed them out, one by one whenever their faults become such a problem that she hears of them.

      As she entered through the doors to her chambers her two younger sisters, the Princesses of Solandia awaited her. "What now?" Thistle exasperated.

     "Our apologies sister, you know we would not be here if it were not important." The elder of the two, Venus an orange furred blue maned alicorn spoke. She took a few steps toward Thistle and bowed.

     "Get up Venus, you know better." Thistle sighed, shaking her head.

     "Its just, the news, the Equestrian Royals broke through the southern lines and wiped out Fort Frostmore." The youngest of the three who's name was Jaded Thorn. Her fur was silver with a white shine in the right light, while her mane was a pitch black.

     "No it didn't." Thistle stated flatly, denying the increasingly bad news that had flooded her day.

     "I'm afraid it has, just last night. According to reports the Equestrians used some sort of magic cloud cover to mask their assault. Of course our enchantments neutralized the spell within our fort's immediate perimeter but they were able to get through most of our ranged defenses with their cover and storm the fort before taking any significant losses." Venus stated as she sat in her own pool of disappointment.

     Jade sighed after hearing the news for the fourth or fifth time. Out of the three she was the one that had doubts about this whole campaign to wipe the unicorns out. In truth she was against it, but her loyalty to her sisters was greater than her own belief. She loved them to much to risk a confrontation with them, even if it meant wiping out a whole species of pony. "Sister, if you think it worth while I'll organize a counter attack to re-capture Fort Frostmore."

    "No!" Thistle took a deep breath before continuing, not wanting to take her anger out on her sisters. "No, I will organize the raid myself, and I will lead the charge. I think its time the Equestrians learn the wrath of Solandia."

    "What!? Thistle you can't." Venus rose hack to her hooves. "Let me go in your stead."

     "No, this war has gone on long enough. I shall not sit here in this castle when Equestrian Royals join the battle and turn the tides in their favor. If I wait any longer to take action we will only continue this stalemate or worse, lose more ground." Thistle stomped her hoof and spread her wings wide, establishing her confidence in her own decision.

     "At least take one of us with you, I won't have your safety jeopardized in battle." Jaded Thorn joined Venus's side as they continued to detour their sisters impulsive decisions.

     "Ah, little sister I'm afraid I must refuse, for it is I that is responsible for your safety. There is a reason I have kept you far from the horrors of this war. Your strategic skills have proved invaluable here at the castle. Losing you in any petty dispute would be a tragedy to Solandia, your sister, and myself. You needn't worry about me, either of you. My magic is much greater than any common unicorn they could muster and I will be damned if i will be slain by a common soldier." Thistle was honored to have her sisters so worried about her safety, but her resolve was to strong to be dissolved by emotions or the threat of death alike.

     "But Thistle, you mustn't even chance such a thing. Your loss would-"

     "Sister." Thistle interrupted Venus. "This is settled, I am going. What kind of queen am I to hide behind these walls while our country pony die for my cause?" She looked over to Jaded Thorn before sighing. "Jade, I must speak to Venus in private."

     Jade had a mind to debate her request for a private audience but she held her tongue. This new series of events had disgruntled her. During her sister's speech she had realized she'd never actually seen any of the results of this war. For the past year now they had kept her in the dark, allowing her only the most vague information of her plans. Did they think her weak? Where they just being over protective of their youngest sibling? The reason did not matter to Jade, she was tired of all the secrets but she could do nothing at the moment. "Of course." She replied simply before leaving the room, making sure to close the doors to Thistle's chambers behind her.

     "Venus, in my absence you mustn't allow Jade to come to harm. She mustn't be allowed down in any of the dungeons or our interrogation quarters. Yes she is aware of our grand plan but the reality has not yet hit her and you would do well to prevent it at all cost, at least until the war is over. Her heart is far to kind to understand our ways." Thistle spoke in a hushed whisper, even though she was sure there was nopony else around.

     Venus sighed in a rare display of annoyance. "Thistle she is a Princess, not a foal. If she can not accept the harsh realities of the world then I am sorry to say she is not fit to rule." Venus loved Jade very much, but her innocence and ignorance to the real world had become a bother to protect over the ages. While her intelligence knew no bounds and her strategies had proven useful she treated everything much like a game. Not by her fault however, they had spent most of their lives shielding her from the world and had come to regret it.

     "Venus you know we promised mother, she is not like us. In time we will open her eyes but during this war is not ideal. Please, as a favor for a sister, protect her just a little longer." Thistle did not like to beg, but she would make am exception for her family.

     Venus sighed once more. "You needn't even have asked. I was just letting you know my opinion. However, back to the matter at hoof. I still must disagree with your decision on leading a unit of your own."

    It was Thistle's turn to sigh. "I really hate to have to say this but I am the Queen, and this is my decision to make."

     As much as Venus hated to hear these words she would never deny them. She had accepted her sister's rule long ago. "Understood, when will you be leaving for Frostmore?”

“I will not be leading a charge for Frostmore, The Equestrians may have their victory for now. Tumble may have been a fool but he had the right idea. I shall set off for Fort HaysFire. Unlike some of my generals I will not attack in haste. A few scouting parties will be organized and sent to scout OakHill. However if I am not mistaken they are well behind the lines and an enemy fort stands between our border and Oakhill.”

“Fort GrazeTree, sister they will not be easily bested in such a short time and OakHill is under official command now. They will be made aware of its downfall.” Venus remarked.

“I have no intentions of bringing them down as of now. A smaller force will be sent to distract them, disrupting their scouting parties and focusing their attention on the immediate threat. When the time comes for me to conquer OakHill we will simply use the distraction to slip past the border and straight through to OakHill.” Thistle finished.

“Sister our force attacking GrazeTree will be wiped out, that is a lot of Solandian lives.” Venus was skeptical about using a unit of her troops as bait.

“I know, I am not happy either but sacrifices must be made. If we get our hooves on the Equestrian Princess Twilight then we may be able to organize their surrender in exchange for her safety. They were foolish to allow such a young inexperienced Princess into battle. I shall set off for HaysFire in three days time to begin operations.”

Venus thought it over for a moment. Thistle was right, gaining their Princess as a hostage would give them a crucial advantage. They had been winning the war in the first place but progress was slow and the resolve of Equestrian troop was strong. “Very well sister, I will organize your convoy and rally your personal guard.”

Isolating the Isolation

It took a couple of days for Ditzy;s wings to get recover in any shape to use them again. When she had awoken she was just able to fold them to her sides. Kumori winced as he watched the mare suffer for the next couple of nights. Showing up regardless of her discomfort, yet Kumori turned her away for three nights, feeling it was better for her to allow her wings to rest before training.

Today was a new day for Ditzy, and her wings felt much better. She had started on her way to the work shop to check on Rarity and Sweetie Belle's project they had been working on for her. Ditzy was more than pleased as she entered through the old doors into the warm atmosphere of the shop. Sweetie was in the front of the shop, carrying a variety of tools through the doors as Ditzy entered. Her face immediately lit up when she saw the gray Pegasus

“Ditzy oh Ditzy, wonderful news, we did it, we actually did it. Rarity and I found a way to work  the metal so as to make it lighter with the same amount of resistance as even a sword. Finding a way to allow your wings maximum maneuverability was a challenge but we made it work. You should, should still be able to fly, but were not certain. That's on you.” Sweetie was excited to finally allow Ditzy the opportunity to test her work.

Just a few minutes later and Ditzy was in the back with Rarity and Sweetie getting fitted with the new weapons. Rarity looked overly pleased with herself when Ditzy finally got them on. “So dear, how do they feel?”

Ditzy lifted each of her wings one at a time, getting a feel for the light but added weight of the blades. They fit snugly around the edge of her wings, not slipping or sliding in the least which was good if you wanted to avoid blisters. Two metal clips on each blade to fasten it securely did however ruffle her feathers but she didn't see a way around this. They had to be secured somehow. She lowered her right wing in front of her and traced one of her hooves down the edge of the blade. She pulled away with a light squeak as the blade nicked her hoof.

“Well don't do that silly.” Sweetie pipped. “How do they feel?”

“They're actually better than I would have thought.” Ditzy nodded in approval. “Besides the clips I barely feel as if I am wearing anything.

“Ohh I was hoping you'd like them!” Rarity replied. “I am glad Sweetie convinced me to work on them after all.” Rarity patted Sweetie on the top of her head, ruffling her mane in the process and enticing an annoyed growl from her sister.

“Sis stop it, you don't like it when people mess up your mane.” She pulled away from her sister and smiled back up at Derpy. “Lets go outside and see if you can still fly.”

“I'm pretty sure I still can but okay, just to be sure.”

Out in front of the shop Sweetie and Rarity stood off to the side as Ditzy stretched her wings out and gave them a couple of flaps. “Yeah I think I got this” She took off in a short gallop before leaping into the air and with little difficulty she spread her wings and flew. She could hear Sweetie and Rarity cheering from down below as she turned through the air and elevated slightly. Her mind was swimming with accomplishment. One step closer to her goal. She landed with a couple of steps in front of the two mares. She threw her forhooves around both of them in a tight hug. “Thank you two so much, if there is anything I can do.”

“Oh dear that wont be necessary, but please be careful. Your wings are a tad bit close right now.” Rarity had to lean her head back a bit to avoid the edge of one of the blades.

“Oh, I'm sorry.” Ditzy took a couple of steps back with her cheeks glowing.

“If you come inside we have a belt with sheaths for the blades to fit under your saddle bag.” Rarity chimed and sighed with relief as Ditzy got a safe distance away.

(Later that night)

Ditzy trotted behind the school with a bit of pride in her step as the blades hung loosely from her waist in their sheaths. Kumori sat waiting as per the norm and smiled when he saw her.

“So you were able to get them after all.”

“I told you I know a pony.” Ditzy smirked. “Can we start tonight? My wings are fine now, I even flew today.” She didn't even attempt to hide the eagerness in her voice.

Kumori sighed, he was still having doubts about teaching her but he had made a deal, not to mention he felt terrible for hurting her a few nights back. “Yes, we'll start, we wont be using the blades tonight though. I don't want you getting hurt during practice.”

“Who said I would be the one getting hurt?” Ditzy smirked.

Kumori shot Ditzy a look of amusement at her mock confidence. “Drop the blades Ditzy.” He told her flatly.

Ditzy giggled and sat to unstrap the belt from her waist before recovering to her hooves. “So what first?” She suddenly became giddy with excitement.

“Well, I'm not really sure. I told you I am self taught and I am not really a teacher, but... I will say the wing fighting has more to do with your agility than anything. While fighting with your wings leave your hooves free its also a bit more difficult to get a straight shot in so I like to use a small sword or dagger when I can in conjunction with my wings. We'll get to that later though, one thing you'd be smart to avoid is to many direct defensive strikes with your enemies blade. Keep sparring to a minimum and do more dodging than anything. Your wings are not quite as strong as your hooves.” He looked down to the ground in thought as he fought to remember any other first hoof details to give Ditzy but could think of none at the moment. “Your sure you want to do this?” Kumori asked once more before looking back up at Ditzy who stood in front of her.

“Definitely.” Ditzy nodded and smiled before catching a strike to the side of her muzzle and stumbling sideways. She looked back at Kumori who had his wings spread and was crouched low in an aggressive stance. “What was that for?” Ditzy asked as she rubbed the side of her muzzle.

Kumori shrugged. “The way I learned is I practiced.” He replied. “You might want to put your guard up.” He pounced forward and turned, swinging his left wing at Ditzy who stumbled backwards to avoid getting hit.

“I don't know what to do.” She panicked, as her heart began to race from the sudden conflict.

“Fight, defend yourself, do something.” Kumori used her imbalance and turned low, swiping Ditzy's hooves out from under her.

Ditzy squeaked as she hit the ground and was just able to roll out of the way before one of Kumori's hooves hit her while she was down.

Kumori wasn't trying to hurt her, just get her started though he still didn't like it but he didn't know another way. He'd just keep hitting her until she fought back. He was relieved when she recovered and spread her own wings, a somewhat agitated look across her muzzle.

“Well don't just stand there.” Ditzy's overconfidence shown apparent across her muzzle.

Kumori ducked low and made for he hooves again to try and unbalance her, however he was surprised at how quickly she jumped off to the left and charged him, hitting him in his side with her head. It was Kumori's turn to stumble as he fought to hold his ground but was given little time to do so. Ditzy mimicked Kumori's earlier twisting motion, to try and catch him with the brunt of her wing but met nothing but air. Kumori had lept up and hovered above her to avoid the attack and dropped down in front of her. “Not bad.” He chided. 'Maybe its not over confidence.' He thought to himself.

After an half hour or so of keeping this up, both sides taking hits but it was mostly Ditzy taking the brunt of the damage, Kumori stopped her. “O, Okay... whew... Alright lets take a break.” Kumori manage between breaths as he fell to his stomach. Sweat, dirt, and a small bit of blood stained both of their pelts.

Ditzy couldn't even find the energy to argue and graciously accepted the opportunity to rest, collapsing in front of Kumori.

Kumori could see the look of pain on Ditzy's face and the signs of tears that matted the fur on her cheeks. “Ditzy if you want to call it a night we-”

“No!” Ditzy interrupted quickly. “I don't have the time to train at my leisure.”

“But Ditzy I don't like hurting you.” There was almost a pleading tone in his voice.

“Your not hurting me Kumori your helping me, you made me a promise.” Her words came a bit harsher than she had wanted but her exhaustion and pain altered her tone.

“O-okay.” Kumori breathed. It absolutely baffled him. He had killed and hurt so many but he felt guilty striking her. He'd never felt guilty for anything before. “Alright, you seem to have a basic understanding of hoof to hoof combat already. Is there something you are not telling me?” He inquired.

Ditzy took just another moment to catch her breath before answering. “Nothing you haven't already asked about. Lets just say that some of my travels haven't exactly been the safest of trips.” She feigned a weak smile through her pain to comfort him.

“Well, I know I said you want to avoid sparring with your wings as much as possible it is not possible to completely avoid it. So after we rest, you and me are going to have another go, except this time we're going to focus more on our wings. If we focus on that you will be more efficient with the wing blades.”

“Sounds good.” There had been a couple of instances during their fight where their wings collided in the conflict. She was relieved to find that the contact had not hurt nearly as much as she thought it would. Her wings were a lot stronger than she thought they were she just had never takin the time to test that theory other than her normal flight. At first Ditzy was scared she might break her wings if she used them to fight but it turned out the bone and muscles in them held strong though she still needed to be careful.

A few minutes later Kumori rose to his hooves. “Lets go.”

Ditzy wanted a little longer to rest but she didn't dare to complain, she'd figured that Kumori was skeptical on training her so she didn't want to give him another reason to argue. She got to her hooves, spread her wings and crouched low as she had seen Kumori do before. This time however she didn't give Kumori the pleasure of striking first. With a couple of running steps she jumped at Kumori.

Kumori jumped back and took to the air on his wings, hovering a few feet away. Ditzy had expected this and as soon as she landed she jumped back up gliding on her own wings and catching Kumori in the chest with her right wing. Kumori recoiled but stayed in the air. Ditzy turned and tried to  hit him again but Kumori cut right, took hold of Ditzy's right wing and threw her toward the ground.

Ditzy was just able to turn to land on her back before she hit the ground. She cursed herself for falling so early until Kumori landed in front of her. “What are you mad about? That was great!” He exclaimed.

Ditzy got back to her hooves and shook off the crash she just had. “Then why was I the one to hit the ground?”

“Ditzy if you would have had your blades on I would be dead, or at least down. I wasn't expecting you to recover so quickly and jump up at me like that, much less actually catch me in the chest.” Of course Kumori was taking it a little slow for her but he was still impressed with her speed and natural talent. 'I'll have to take it up a notch.' He decided.

Ditzy realized he was right and smiled. “I forgot about that.” With a renewed since of energy she took her stance back up. “Come on.”

Kumori couldn't help but grin. He had never seen anypony this eager to do anything before. She had a since of enthusiasm he had seen in only one other pony before. Except this time the memory of his friend did not make him sad. It made him smile.

The two pegasi engaged in combat once again, Ditzy went at Kumori with all she had but Kumori's change in pace proved to much for her. She couldn't get through as he twisted and turned, ducked and pounced. It didn't help he had more endurance than Ditzy either. With each collision her wings hurt more and more but she wasn't going to give in so early.

In order to avoid a particular nasty blow she folded her wings in front of her, however Kumori followed through with his strike and knocked her off her hooves. She slid a fair ways back before unfurling her wings to recover but Kumori was upon her. He placed one hoof upon her chest to hold her to the ground and the other beside her head to brace himself.

Ditzy decided against struggling, she took the opportunity to rest. Kumori was thankful for the chance to breath himself. After he was sure she was done he removed his hoof from her chest and placed it on the other side of her head. With each breath they took their fur brushed across the others.  Kumori realized the position they were in and his cheeks beneath his fur began to glow. “I-uh I'm sorry.” He stuttered as he attempted to move away. Ditzy caught his forhooves with her own and stopped him from moving. “D-Ditzy?” He looked back down at her and saw the same shade of red across her muzzle. Though her mane was ruffled and her fur was spotted with dirt, grass stains and the faint traces of blood from their fighting she still looked cute staring up at him like that. He had to figure he didn't look much better himself seeing as he'd takin his fair share of falls.

The fire's light provided just enough glow to see the aggression and hostility had left her eyes, though he couldn't quite figure what it had been replaced with. She looked, a bit bashful, but longing with a faint glimmer of hope. At long last the awkward silence was broken. “Kumori, I know... I know we haven't known each other for lo-”

“Ditzy, w-where are you going with this?” Kumori asked but didn't try to move again.

“Kumori, what am I to you?”

“What do you mean?”

“A student? A friend? Or... I mean...” She suddenly looked hurt. “Never mind.”

“No.” The word had come out unintentionally and in an instant. He looked away but spoke none the less figuring there was no since in denying it any longer. “Ditzy I didn't want to teach you for one reason, I didn't want you to get hurt. That test I gave you a few nights back, I-I well, I hadn't expected you to pass. In fact I was counting on you to quit. I accidentally fell asleep and when I woke, seeing you still standing I was angry, angry with myself. If I had known you were that determined I'd have never tried to break your spirit. Its been a while since anypony has shown me such resolve. Before that you'd convinced me to stay, I was going to leave the night you found me on that hill, but you convinced me otherwise for which I am grateful now. Most of all, your the first pony since the incident that seems to understand me and yet... I tried to push you away.” He closed his eyes, he felt a deep since of sadness and suddenly regretted his decision to stay after all, he'd done nothing but hurt her. That was when he felt Ditzy's gentle touch of her hoof on his cheek.

“You were trying to protect me Kumori, please don't be sad. That's what I wanted after all, somepony to protect me. Then, that morning when I collapsed, you stayed with me throughout the day while I slept, and... Well I know it seems small, but when you talk to me you look me in the eyes. Most ponies avoid looking at me when we talk, or just avoid talking to me.” She smiled at up him and took a deep breath. “You saved my life Kumori, I thought I was alone, that I was going to die without The Doctor but you saved me. You proved me wrong, made me happier than I've ever been and you didn't need to say anything at all to do it.”

All at once Kumori didn't feel so empty anymore. A single tear rolled off his muzzle, not one of sadness but of joy. “You asked what you were to me?” He sighed. “Well, its whatever you want to be.” As the words left his muzzle he felt Ditzy wrap her forelegs around his neck and pull him gently to herself. She brought their lips together and kissed him with as much emotion as she could manage. The action startled Kumori for a moment, his wings fluttered before resting back to his sides and he relaxed, closed his own eyes and gave into the emotion once and for all, shutting out his isolation. His pain, sadness and fatigue disappeared as he kissed the young beautiful mare beneath him, replaced with compassion and care. Their shadows danced as one across the grounds, formed by the fire of the torches that lit the school yard.

Two young and damaged souls had come together as one to heal. Too light the darkness that had once plagued one another. Brought together by pain and suffering to prove that there was always a silver lining, a faint flame of hope that now threatened to spread and burn the memories that caused them so much pain and the will to overcome any future endeavors.

Their training did not resume that night, nor did their conversation. They lay side by side, Kumori's wing draped over Ditzy's back as she purred and nuzzled his neck, feeling warmer than she had for a while despite her current physical condition. She placed one of her forhooves over one of Kumori's and rested her head upon it. In turn Kumori rested his head upon hers. At long last they drifted off to sleep, one shortly after the other and without a care in the world. Much like a vacation from the harsh realities of the world they now shared.

Tolerate

Alsvid walked throughout the streets of the newly born military town as the sun rose over the mountain range to the east, starting to have doubts about the effectiveness of these supposed soldiers. Even the official military that had arrived were showing signs of incompetence and it disappointed her. This was her first real impression of soldiers, she'd imagine them being more disciplined, machine like killers. Instead they were all to emotional, had to many opinions and feelings. The only thing that stopped her from leaving was her own curiosity on how they had made it this far.

She noticed Rainbow Dash trotting by a ways up the rode, she seemed to know quite a bit and who better to ask than the pony she had been most acquainted with since she had been here. “Hey! Hey Rainbow wait up!”

Rainbow turned her head and saw the zebra running up behind her. “Ohhhh why today.” Dash groaned just before the zebra caught up and met her stride. “How are you Alsvid?” Rainbow sighed.

“Don't sound so happy to see me.” Alsvid rolled her eyes. “I have a question.”

“Oh gee, what a surprise.”

Alsvid ignored the sarcasm in her voice and thought for a moment on how to word her inquiry. She shrugged and decided she may as well just come out with it. “So, are all soldiers this soft or is it just you guys?”

“What!? Why would you even ask something like that?” Dash didn't attempt to hide her anger as she snapped at the zebra mare and halted.

Alsvid halted alongside Dash and turned to face her. “Its so easy to upset you, this is kinda what I mean.”

“Well you find a new way to piss me off every time we meet. What makes you so crude?” Dash sneered.

“I like to think of it as being direct, not crude. I tend to get better answers that way, which reminds me, you haven't answered my question yet.”

Rainbow stamped her hoof and shot a nasty glare at a couple of ponies who had stopped to watch sending them on their way before turning back to Alsvid. “Were not soft, I'm not soft.” Dash fought to lower her voice to avoid anymore attention.

“Then what is with all this emotional bull shit? Hell over the past few days staying with the 'actual' soldiers even a couple of them were crying and bein all depressed and what not over their mare or stallion friends back home. Apparently those four guards that died the other night were somepony's friends cause a few of them still haven't stopped moping around. I thought soldiers were supposed to be stone cold killers.”

Dash almost couldn't believe what she was hearing from the mare that stood in front of her, she had half a mind to strike her on the spot but kept her bearing for the most part. “First, what do you mean actual soldiers? Second, picking up a sword and putting on armor does not change the fact that these ponies have a heart, loved ones, friends and family. When somepony dies that you care about it is natural to mourn for them. When your away from somepony you care about for to long its natural to feel a little lonely. The fact that your even saying shit like this right now just proves how ignorant someponies can be.”

“Would you calm down?” Alsvid was becoming a bit uncomfortable with the tension that had suddenly come between them.

“Calm down? Calm down? I will once you stop insulting everypony I know!” Dash stomped her hoof again.

“I never insulted anypony you know, I asked why you guys were so soft. I guess that might have been a bad word, maybe emotional would have been better?” Alsvid looked down to the ground in thought. She was not accustomed to such strong emotions. She'd spent more time traveling the unknown than socializing with ponies, which in-turn reminded her why she was here, her need for adventure. She shook her head to get her mind back on the topic at hoof. “I did not mean to offend you or anypony else. I'm sorry. Lets, get some breakfast and talk things over, yeah?” It was apparent she had crossed some sort of line in their brief conversation and she had wanted merely to learn about their emotions, not become entangled in them.

Rainbow's initial instinct was to proceed with cussing her out and flying off but she had learned a bit of patience from Flutter Shy. She took a couple of deep breaths to slow her breathing before answering. “Okay.” The rational side of her brain told her to give Alsvid the benefit of the doubt seeing as there would be a good chance they would be spending time together in the future despite her objections.

Their trot to the chow hall was quiet, and awkward. Alsvid was relieved the line was not long as of yet and that Dash's pink pony friend was giddy as could be. Maybe she could put a smile on Rainbow's face before they talked. However Dash merely grumbled as her friend greeted her, killing Alsvid's hope on the spot.

The two mares took their seats, one across from the other. Neither actually started eating. To Alsvid's relief, Rainbow initiated the conversation.

“So... Alsvid.” Rainbow started. “Why are you still here?” The question had come off as rude but Rainbow didn't care considering the earlier confrontation.

If Alsvid had been offended it didn't show. “Something new.” She shrugged.

Rainbow was still dumbfounded at this prospect. “Sooo... you're risking your life in a war for the hell of it?”

Alsvid shrugged. “I guess. What is life without a little thrill?”

Rainbow could relate to that statement. She sat back and thought on the concept of thrill and how she had experienced it with all of her aerial acrobatics.  She could boast no argument without being hypocritical and so instead, began eating her food.

Alsvid took the opportunity to turn the conversation around. “Now... I don't mean to sound rude. I am just quite direct with my statements and questions. See, while you do not understand why I would risk my life for adventure I do not understand risking your life for others. Don't get me wrong, I am quite fond of some ponies but no real emotions tie me down to such a commitment that I would be ready to die for them.” She half expected for Rainbow to get angry once more but was relieved that all she got was an impatient sigh.

“I would defend any of my friends with life or limb if need be, and I am sure they would do the same. None of us have a perfect relationship with the other but our acceptance in each others differences make our bonds so much stronger... Like Fluttershy and I.” She took a breath and smiled at the thought of the canary colored mare. “My friends mean everything to me, and if I were to lose them my life would be hollow, forfeiting my will to live even. I would have no reason to. So I fight, I kill to defend them. I'll kill anypony who try's to take them away from me.” Her voice rose with a hint of anger. Rainbow took a second to calm herself.

“I guess I can see where you're coming from.” Alsvid got the meaning of her words, yet she just simply didn't feel the same way. “I just don't think I could enjoy life if I were always so worried for somepony else's.” Alsvid replied.

Rainbow's anger had not vanished but sub-sided greatly. 'She just doesn't know.' Rainbow did not know whether or not to envy her, or feel sorry for her. “I get it.” Rainbow answered. “We're just a bit different is all.” Rainbow decided she was just going to practice what Twilight used to preach and what Fluttershy had taught her first hoof. Love and Tolerate.

The Story So Far

REPORT THUS FAR.

    Scouting parties have reported the enemy's  armor shields them from alteration magic, rendering telekinetic spells useless and other magic less effective. Inside interrogation squads have reported that mind control and mind reading magic have also been rendered useless. Its even been reported that a fraction of the unicorns that have attempted such spells show signs of temporary delusion. Others reported having visualized a mental barrier of unknown properties denying entry into the minds of P.O.W's. No fatalities have been reported from attempts as of far and studies continue.

    The front lines have stabilized for now with Equestria showing a loss of grounds. We are happy to report no crucial assets have been lost with the new border in place and that the rate of casualties has decreased. Also a small friendly self sustaining militia has been sighted just beyond Stable rock. A team has been tasked to keep eyes on them.

Further reports pending.

Celestia bless Equestria.

Signed,

General Gates of third castle division stationed on the front lines.

    Rainbow Dash sat beneath a tree on the edge of camp reflecting on the events of the past two years. A part of her loved the conflict, the fight for survival, and a part of her feared it. She was scared that one of these days, one of her closer friends would fall victim to Solandian steel and not make it back one day. Immediately she shook the thought from her head as she felt tears welling up in her eyes. "No The Dash does not cry." She told herself. "And none of your friends are going to die." She felt silly talking to herself but it helped. She looked up to the sky to see a small lone cloud in the night sky and decided to fly up to it. As she landed on the delicate white fluff she trotted to the middle and laid down, looking up to the night sky. Out of all the chaos that pursued battles the sky seemed to forever hold its composure, unaffected by the fighting, the fire, and death. She sighed and began to count the stars. A futile task but useful in terms of occupying her mind and blessing her with a since of peace.

    However a certain yellow mare had been destined to thwart her concentration as she landed at the edge of the cloud. Her job was not to fight but to heal. All her experience tending to animals made her an invaluable vet for wounded ponies from the war. Despite all the violence she had maintained her docile nature.

   Fluttershy walked lightly and planted a soft kiss on her mare-friends muzzle before lying next to the winged warrior."Hi Dashi."

    "Hey Shy, did ya get lonely?" Rainbow giggled.

    "Yeah." She admitted blushing. "I've done all I can for the hurt ponies. Raisen is watching over them right now. They seem to be doing okay." She said with a sigh of relief. Ever since leaving Ponyville and her treasured animal friends she spent as much time as she could with her Dashi. It was the only time she ever truly felt safe. She often worried that she was crowding Dash but she insisted that she enjoyed all the time they spent together. Never the less Shy made a note to give Dash space now and then.

    Rainbow yawned and snuggles up to the soft yellow pelt of the sweet smelling mare. Somehow she managed to keep her fur smelling like flowers. They say everypony has a little bit of magic, maybe that was hers.

    Shy purred at the contact, rolled over on her belly and spread a wing over her mare. If it was Dashi's job to protect her physically then it was her job to protect her emotionally and give her all the affection she could while they were together.

    Rainbow would have never gotten so close to anypony emotionally but Shy had somehow worked her way into her heart after years of friendship and trial.

    Rarity worked hard repairing the armor damaged in previous battles. It was tedious work, not to mention the sweat and heat that practically destroyed her mane. Though it was all worth it seeing as her skills made it possible for her to manufacture armor both comfortable and effective in battle. Light enough to allow the wearer to move swiftly yet sturdy enough to handle moderate damage. Of course no armor was perfect, even if designed by the fashion diva. So here she toiled in a small makeshift building with just a handful of assistants to help her.

    At last she could work no longer for the time being and collapsed on her hind quarters with a squeal.

    "Miss Rarity, are you alright!?" Trailpin asked in alarm.

    "Yes dear im fine. Just a tad bit tired." She replied. Trailpin is a small orange coated unicorn with a brown mane and brown eyes.

    "There really isn't much left miss Rarity, please go and rest, me and the others can take over from here." Trailpin pleaded.

    "Thank you Trail. If you need me I'll be in my hut." To tired to argue she agreed and made her way outside, taking a deep breath as the cool night air hit her. She walked down a row of huts, most with their lights out but a few lit with both light and the merry laughter of drunk ponies. "Ruffians." She huffed but smiled. At least someponies were enjoying them selves. When Rarity arrived at her makeshift hut she collapsed on the small yet strangely comfortable bed, or maybe it was comfortable because she was so tired. She glanced over to the opposite bed were Sweetie Bell slept and smiled. Sweetie often assisted her as she had turned out to be quite the seamstress herself.

    Applejack was enjoying the night with a bit of cider with various ponies of the militia after a hard days toil on a small farm planted to help feed the soldiers. The soil was not great and it rained too much, washing away alot of the nutrients that fed her harvest. She did all she could though and had Apple Bloom, who was now big enough to help here and there. Tonight Applejack had allowed her to drink with them after she had pointed out that Applejack wasn't technically old enough to drink herself, being only 19. So she decided if Applebloom wanted to act like a grown mare then fine. With any luck she'll wake with a bad enough headache she'd never want to drink again.

Big-Mac, her older brother, would never have that privilege again. During a battle a little more than a year ago when they were attempting to gain ground to establish this camp he fell. Insisting that his strength was better suited for fighting he charged head on into the fight, after only a minute of the conflict soldiers say he was struck by an arrow. A few days later he was givin a propper burial by the two surviving sisters of the Apple family. It took a while to come to terms with his death but they settled on the notion that he was in a better place, watching over them. The thought comforted them and they stuck with it, occasionally however feeling the pang of sadness for their lost brother.

    Twilight however was not part of the militia. She assisted the other princesses of Equestria with the war effort. Being the bookworm she was, she was quite the strategist. Intact she had helped stabilize the borders with minimal loss after the sudden attack on their land. She had fallen out of contact with her old friends after the war started. She worried after she found out they hadn't been in Ponyville but received news shortly after they had joined a militia and after receiving the report that a small militia was stationed by Stable rock her hopes flared. With permission she sent a message out to the 3rd Castle Division requesting a closer look for her friends.

    Not a night went by were she did not feel bad for living in such comfort while her friends were out in the thick of the war. However, she new that her skills were of better use here in the castle.

Two Piece Emotional Puzzle

Copper trotted into the guard house accompanied by two of his soldiers. In holding cells sat a disgruntled looking stallion who happened to be the living Solandian assassin. In the other was the nervous stallion who insisted his mind being locked had nothing to do with their enemy. "Bring him with us." Copper ordered, pointing to the assassin.

    The two guards unlocked the cell door, but when they went to unlock the chain that held his hoof the assassin made his move. He struck the first to reach him across the muzzle and took hold of his sword, before he could steal the blade the other guard tackled him to the ground. Copper made his way into the cell, the anger apparent across his muzzle. "It would be wise for you to cooperate."

     The assassin snorted in reply before he was pulled to his hooves by the guard. The other soldier had recovered and was tempted to strike back but figured it best not to lose his resolve around Copper. Instead he unlocked his chain and cuffed the assassins hooves together.

    The four of them made their way through town, toward a small building isolated from most of the others. Inside they met Princess Twilight and Trixie who sat at a small table.

     "Is this him?" Twilight asked.

     "Yes princess." Copper replied. "You two, restrain him to the chair and stay close to him. If he so much as blinks the wrong way take him down."

    The two guards did as they were told. Chaining him to the chair and to themselves for caution. The Solandian made no attempt to resist them.

    Twilight sighed before placing her hooves on the table across from their prisoner. "If you comply, and tell us everything we ask of you, we will pardon your crime here in Equestria and upon conclusion of the war you will be guaranteed safe passage back to your country."

     The assassin smirked and could not help but to laugh at the purple alicorn who attempted negotiating with him. "At the conclusion of this war this will be my country, though I fear I will not be here to witness it first hoof."

    Already Twilight was becoming nervous, as the confidence in his voice sent a chill down her spine, yet she maintained her composure. "How did you find us so soon?" Twilight decided to ignore his last statement to continue her questioning.

    "I don't remember." He replied with amusement.

     "Please do not be difficult with me." Twilight stated. "Just tell us how you found us. Was it Pure Peak?"

     "Really? The earth pony? Tell me how that makes any since to you."

    Twilight was confused by this statement. 'Is he still fucking with me?' She asked herself. "What do you mean?"

     "Oh this is rich, Let me tell you what you already know." He snickered, enticing an impatient growl from Copper who stood behind his chair. "If my facts are right you arrived at a militia camp, ohhh what was it, three days ago? Yes three. Your convoy stopped there for the night, at dawn you set off for this shitty little town you plan to fortify. It took you most of that day to reach this place. Keep in mind the frontlines are still a healthy distance from here. That night, this Pure Peak fool barely managed to open the gates for us before getting caught. So that is about a one day window for him to break away from your convoy, make it through the border, deliver your location to our forces and make it back undetected. Even with wings the task is near impossible. However, the night before you gave everypony in this militia a choice to abandon their ranks to retreat further into Equestria."

    Twilight felt as if she had been struck as the realization hit her. "One of the Pegasus that left that night." She breathed.

    "There you go, would have been much more impressive if I hadn't had to spell it out for you."

    Twilight felt like a fool, she had told everypony where they were going before she had given them the choice to leave. It would be a stretch but a healthy Pegasus could have crossed the border over the span of the night to deliver their Intel to the Solandians in time for them to attempt a hasty assassination before proper defenses were emplaced in the town. "But, Pure Peak-"

     "A pawn, a fool at that. Dangle a bit of coin in front of his muzzle and he'd sell you his mother." He snickered. He'd defected to our side long before your arrival. Though we weren't able to get him to any actual fort we settled with this shitty little militia. I had thought it foolish but it all worked out."

    "For somepony talking about sell outs you sure are singing like a bird." Trixie snapped.

     "Have you even been listening? I've told you nothing you did not already know and nothing of any significant importance. You already knew ponies had left the night before you set off for this town knowing your destination. You knew that pathetic colt was a traitor. You know our forces are aware of your presence in this town." Their prisoner sighed and sat back in his chair. "I'm actually ashamed to have been captured by such intellectually challenged idiots. I thought you unicorn lot were supposed to be smart."

    Copper had heard enough. With a swift swing of his for-hoof he slammed the prisoner's head down onto the table before pulling it back up by his mane. He was satisfied to see anger in the Solandian's eyes as blood leaked from the side of his muzzle. "Well I'll tell you what, you either start telling us what we need to know or I'll use you as a live training dummy for my troops." He growled with impatience.

    The assassin's smile returned as he spat blood on the table. "Finally, I was wondering when this little tea party was going to turn serious."

    "Wrong answer." Copper growled before slamming his head back to the table and holding it there. He leaned down and growled in his ear. "My princess may not be so keen for violence, but I on the other hoof prefer a little more force behind my discussions."

     "Copper enough." Twilight spoke up. "Leave him for now. He'll be useless to us if you kill him."

     Copper almost had a mind to strike him again for good measure but he restrained himself for her sake. He released his mane and took his place a few steps away.

    The assassin picked his head up from the table and wiped the blood from his muzzle. "What's the matter princess? Can't take a little violence? How are you to lead an army when you won't even allow your troops to do what needs to be done? I almost pity the Equestrian ponies, doomed to fall under a pathetic leader."

    "Twilight get out!" Trixie was enraged at this point. "Now!" She ordered as her horn began to glow a blue aura.

    "Trixie please, just calm down." Twilight pleaded.

    "Twilight I will not just standby while this swine mocks you and our country. Its apparent we won't get anything out of him, he's to brainwashed by his pathetic leaders to know what's good for him. However we can still send them a message, and I'm sure he still feels pain." Trixie sneered. "You don't need to see this Twilight, I'll return to your quarters once my business is finished here."

     Twilight looked from Trixie, to the prisoner. 'She's right, I can't effectively lead while showing such mercy to our enemies.' "I don't want you to do this, but if its necessary..." Her voice trailed off as she slowly made her way out the door. Copper had a look of satisfaction as he followed, his two soldiers in tow.

     "Your armor has saved you from our wrath so far, I wonder how you will fair without it." Trixie sneered.

    "At least your willing to do what's necessary."

     Twilight had gotten only a block away before the screaming started. A blood curdling scream of anguish. Twilight didn't even want to imagine what was happening to him under the wrath of Trixie who was a more than capable wielder of magic.

     "Lets go princess." Copper cooed but couldn't hide the satisfaction in his voice. "He tried to kill you, do not feel for him."

     "I know, just, leave me for a while. I need time to think." Twilight replied as she took off on her wings, an action she rarely entertained.

     Copper turned back to his guards. "When she is finished in there, clean up what's left. If he lives, take him back to his cell. He'll make a fine example for our other guest." With this Copper went about his way.

     Almost an hour later Twilight heard the door to the house open. "Twilight? Are you here?" Trixie's voice echoed down the halls, untainted with the hate that had filled it not to long ago.

     Twilight didn't answer, she'd been crying, caused by everything from stress to anger. Just as she was getting used to being a princess this war happened and turned her world upside down. She suddenly had wished she'd never had left her library in Ponyville, never got her wings, never became an alicorn.

    "Twilight?" Trixie's voice was that of concern when she saw Twilight in such a state as she trotted into her room.

    "How?" Twilight asked.

     "How what?"

     "How could you do such a thing to somepony?" Twilight asked accusingly. She had trouble believing that Trixie could go from the sweet caring mare to the monster who had inflicted such pain on that stallion.

    "Twilight? I, I'm afraid I don't understand." Trixie stammered.

     "I thought you were going to kill him, finish him quickly. I heard him screaming for minutes on end." Twilight got down from her seat and stood in front of Trixie. "There's a difference between doing what needs to be done and torture."

     "Torture? Twilight what do you think they are doing to our kind? To unicorns? That was not torture, it was justice. He mocked you, he mocked me, Equestria, Celestia and Luna. I merely opened up his eyes to the forces his country is toying with." Trixie became defensive in an instant.

     "Or did you? Who's to say you didn't reinforce their beliefs on unicorns? Maybe they are right to fear us. The things we are capable of are unthinkable." Twilight's anger became more and more apparent with every word she spoke.

     "We are no more capable of inflicting pain than any other species of pony. We simply posses a weapon they do not. Princess Celestia didn't show you did she? The messages, the signs, the Solandians have sent to the castle. Twilight they sent the horn of a unicorn that had been torn from their skull to Princess Celestia to try and intimidate her into surrendering our species save her and Luna." Trixie's eyes began to water at the memory of the sight. "You think they used magic to do that? For all we know that pony is still alive, suffering somewhere in a Solandian dungeon."

     Twilight had thought of these possibilities already, but that did not take the sting from the truth of it all. "Trixie, I-I know they are doing horrible things over there. Not a day goes by where I don't mourn for every life lost because of this mis-guided faith. I just don't want to become one of them, I don't want you to become one of them. We're better than that." Twilight's voice softened. She realized all at once that she had taken her frustration out on the one pony who had never left her side over the past few days. "I-I'm sorry Trixie."

     Trixie closed her eyes to combat the tears that had filled her eyes. "You have nothing to be sorry for. I get it. I understand. Maybe I did go to far out there, I was just so angry. I regretted what I did as soon as my rage sub-sided, and even now I am trying to justify my actions. I was only trying to be strong, to save you the trouble of the task. I thought I was strong enough to overcome my feelings and do to him what they have done to so many. I realize that was not the case. You are the brave one Twilight. It is cowardly to degrade one so just to reassure yourself of your power. It takes real courage to show mercy and give those who wrong you a second chance, to give them time to realize their flaws. It takes real courage to lead with reason and a kind heart rather than to lead with fear and pain. You keep saying that you are not strong enough for the job, but Twilight you are the only pony I know who is." Her voice dropped down to a whisper as the last few words left her muzzle. "I am no better than they are."

     Another flash of anger burned bright within Twilight upon hearing those words. "Trixie how could you say such a thing!? What do you mean you are no better than they?" Twilight took to her hooves and advanced on Trixie who retreated a few steps. "How could you even think such a thing? Want me to tell you why your wrong? Fine, here it is. From the start of this Endeavour you have done nothing but carry me through this mess and stay by my side despite all of the petty bullshit we've fought over in the past. I was practically spoon fed this position until I became the princess I am now. You overcame all of the trials, the isolation, your fears and your shame to get to where you are now. To top it all off at least you are willing to admit you've made a mistake where they do nothing but feed into lies and justify their actions as an act of faith."

     Trixie had never really thought of herself in such a way. Despite the tone in which they were delivered Twilight's words brought a faint glow of pride to her heart. "Thank you." She whispered as a fresh wave of tears broke through her resolve. "You do understand what all of this means don't you?" Trixie asked a confused looking Twilight.

     It didn't take long for her anger and confusion to turn into understanding. "Yes, I think I do." She relaxed her posture and allowed herself to lay down.

     Trixie trotted over to Twilight and lay down beside her, nuzzling her cheek with loving affection.

      What they had both realized after the brief conflict needn't be spoken between the two. They had revealed things to one another that they'd had never had seen on their own. What they had come to understand was with Twilight's heart and reason combined with Trixie's experience and resolve made them the perfect team. They balanced one another out,  keeping one another above the tides of corruption and despair.

     Every night they spent with one another, every conversation they had, every experience they shared brought them closer and closer together. A bond had formed that nopony but the two of them could understand. Together they would prevail.