Reality and War

Hollow Shades

Year 1013

Nov, 5th

5:13am

Injured. Broken. Dead. Whatever they could get their hooves on and bring back, the Rainbow Rebels tirelessly worked, setting up triage tents and treatment centers in their small command site of makeshift tents. They all scramble to help aid the wounded they best they could, having just suffered another crushing defeat at the hooves of Twilight’s Regime. Ponies would be given tags as they came in. one meant walking able to help. 2 meaning walking wounded. 3 meaning immediate aid. 4 meant dead or was going to be dead.

Yet among all the chaos, there is one caramel unicorn with a matted brown mane doing his best to keep up with all the names that crosses his path. With a pen and clipboard in his magical grasp, the stallion is going down a list of pages to mark all those who have returned in good condition or otherwise. However by the serious concern look on his face and all the names he has marked off the list was looking very bleak. Not to mention that some ponies that he has passed on stretchers were barely recognizable or maimed beyond belief. The disheartened unicorn found a crate to set his haunches on and simply gave up.

“It’s useless, simply useless…” He mutters in complete defeat, pressing both of his front hoofs against his face.

All while the stallion was sub coming to his frustrations, a pony came from behind him and took the clipboard with a hoof. It was a rather old crystal mare who had a blueish gray coat with a pink mane. Here crystal complexion was enough to bring the unicorn to remove his hoofs from his face.

“Now young one, I understand this is hard to do, but these ponies have families and friends. We just can’t allow ourselves to quite.” The old mare remarks wisely.

“Yes, I understand that all too well, I’m the one who’ll most likely tend to these injured you see and we just don’t have the supplies to sustain all these casualties and injuries… I’ve been forced to use medical methods that have been out of practice for years because were so low on supplies!” The stallion responds, unmotivated by her words.

They both looked up at the amount of ponies pouring into the camp and took another look at the list that had way more red markings on it than it should. And where the stallion felt defeated, the old mare still had something left to say.

“So what is that cutie mark of yours?” She questioned

“I-it’s a electrocardiograph monitor… why do you ask?” he recoils in response, not entirely sure on what she was getting at.

“Well when I lived in the Crystal Empire, I was the librarian. I kept up with more Literature than you could have ever read and my cutie mark is a scroll because I’ve kept my list right, and I’ve read them twice. So how about you let me handle this job from here and you go tell those huffing horses in main camp what we're dealing with here.” she says, giving a reassuring nudge to the baffled doctor.

And without thinking twice, or even considering the old timers capabilities to keep up with the list, he had jumped up and started to make his way deeper into the labyrinth of a forest to get to their main camp. The main camp was a small cave cornered by a large tree in the center of their makeshift network in Hollow Shades that had light encampments all around it. It was were all the current leaders of the rebels would meet and discuss strategy and plans for claimed territories, however the meetings have been happening less and less frequently due to constant defeat and decline in rebel moral. Not only that, the stallion knew he would be heading their eventually anyway, because one of their current leaders had just previously fell in the last battle against the great General Applejack. And he was sure word has not yet made it main camp.

vVvVv

        Arriving at the guard outpost for main camp, he presents himself and passes through without a problem due to the fact he trots through quite often. Yet when he enters the well lit cave and opens the wooden doors to the leaders meeting room, he is met with violent outbursts and arguing, as their are six ponies in the room venting their anger. But not all of them are fighting the front lines, three of the six the stallion recognized as investors to the rebels cause and wouldn’t be caught dead anywhere near conflict. The most powerful investor in the room was none other than former ponyville residence Filthy Rich and it was said that he has thrown his net worth into the cause, as far as the stallion knows. However the other two he is unfamiliar with that are bickering next to Filthy.

Then their are the ones who are battle hardened, their is the blue unicorn mare with the light blue mane that always refers to herself in third person oddly enough. Trixie Lulamoon, A very boastful magician who tends to be distrusted by those who fight under her. Still she possess great power and specializes in Combat magic, yet she is rather unskilled to speak lightly. And then there's the reason this whole war is happening, the cyan rainbow maned Leader who is seated in front of all the yelling slowly losing her patience. Rainbow Dash, a charismatic and strong leader, however at times she experiences great faults in judgement due to some bullheadedness and not to mention her crippling fear of facing her former friends that often times causes questioning about her leadership. However she is resistant to Twilight’s magic and unwillingly stole the essence of harmony when she fled ponyville, causing many ponies to follow suite and clamor to Rainbow’s actions.

The carmel unicorn stayed in the doorway analyzing what was going on, unwilling to step forward. Until he was noticed by the sixth figure in the room, a bright pink Earth pony with a long flat dark pink mane and a hellish scowl on her face. Pinkamena, and as soon as she made eye contact with the weary unicorn it had almost seemed as if she had been activated.

“Well, what are you standing there staring at!” She shouted, breaching through all the nonsense that was being said among the leaders.

Everypony in the room turned around to look at the now dumbfounded looking stallion standing in the doorway.

“Are you deaf, or should I get a little closer!” Pinkamena yells.

“Pinkie, please! Now is not the time for this” Rainbow exclaims, slamming a hoof on the ground.

“Well she does have a point though, why are you here… you're in charge of the medical operations right?” Filthy asks inquisitively.

“Yes, you see… it isn’t good news.” The doctor said, all while his ears laid flat on his head.

“Oh great, more bad news, Trixie can never hear enough bad news.” Trixie sarcastically says, not expecting nothing else

“Wait, where is Thunderlane, I heard he was injured during ou-our last battle. Still we received word that he was on his way back to the camp.” Rainbow added in.

“He’s dead.” The stallion says bluntly.

“DEAD!” Everypony in the room simultaneously said, except for Pinkamena, who showed no emotion to those words.

Rainbow Dash flipped the large table in front of her in a fit of anger as she refuses to believe what she has heard. Not only that she began slamming her hooves violently into the dirt until it starts turning red due to the fact that her pounding is damaging her hoofs.

“RAINBOW DASH, CONTROL YOURSELF!” one of the unknown ponies to the doctor yelled out.

Still while the investors were trying to tame and control Rainbows rage. Trixie was not satisfied with the simple he’s dead, she wanted to know who claimed his life. Although it wouldn’t be for revenge, only for confirmation.

“Trixie wants to know, was it none other than Twilight’s famed chess piece?”

“If you're referring to General Applejack, then yes… The troops said he died on the way back, he took a direct hit from her hind legs and suffered from massive internal bleeding, he played it off long enough to corral his men to safety.” The doctor responded disappointedly.

After hearing what the doctor said Rainbow immediately stopped her rage and looked up at him wide eyed.

“I TOLD HIM NOT TO ENGAGE HER, I TOLD HIM!” She wailed

“That is enough of that, they are not your friends anymore. I didn’t invest my life into this only to have you dance around the enemy because of your little fantasies!” Filthy says, sternly making his point.

“No no no, I don’t want anypony to engage her because she will KILL THEM!” Rainbow cried.

“Pff, Trixie is not intimidated!” Trixie boastfully exclaimed.

But the legitimacy of her words faltered at a glance from Pinkamena. Who looked as if she had cut straight through her soul with a sharp dagger, yet she didn’t have to utter a word and with Trixie silenced one of the unknown investors left the room. Before leaving though, he had some parting words.

“Do what you will with what I’ve provided so far, but don’t expect anymore support out of me. You all have proven well enough that is is all coming to a close end and I don’t want to be here to see it.” He waved the five off and walked past the doctor.

“And if I was you I’d be finding a new profession as well.” He whispered slyly to the doctor.

“Ok, does anypony else want to jump ship while we're at it?!” Rainbow furiously yelled.

This time the second unnamed investor got up from his seat and slowly made his way to the door before anymore words could be said. Leaving Rainbow Dash to grimace the thought of losing her last investor, Filthy Rich. Still he sat unmoved by the actions of the two others, and at that it left room for the Doctor to come take a seat at the signal of Filthy who obviously still wasn’t finish with this war, just not yet.

“Ok, now that those fools are gone, let’s get down to business.”

Rainbow looked up at Filthy as if she had no Idea what he was talking about.

“Oh, now Rainbow you know what I’m talking about… The M.P.C” Filthy said, as if he was on to something.

“Wait, how did you know about the production of that thing. Only Flim, Flam, and Maud has any authorization to that project?!” Rainbow stood up, offended by his knowledge of a secret project.

“M.P.C... why hasn’t Trixie been informed of this?”

Since it was all in the air now, Rainbow Dash had no other choice but to reveal what has been under production since the beginning of the war. Even Pinkamena raised a brow to what her dashie was speaking of.

“The Modified Party Cannon. It was built off the same design as Pinkies old party cannon, however it is six times larger than its original and instead of shooting confetti and balloons, it fires eight to twenty four pound Rocks at deadly speeds. Not to mention it’s range can exceed almost an entire mile, however it’s accuracy isn’t the best in equestria.” Rainbow reluctantly explained.

“Wh- what!” The doctor was in disbelief that anything like she just explained could exist. As a doctor he has seen the scars and wounds of war left from Spears, knives, wing blades and spiked horseshoes. But he couldn’t fathom the amount of agony and death something like that could cause. Yet his horrified thoughts were cut off quickly by Rainbow Dash.

“Now if reports are true, Twi-Twilight's regime is amassing on the other side of Canter mountain and may begin their march by tomorrow at daybreak. What is our death toll from our last defeat.” She asked in a rather commanding tone.

“Well, considering our lack of aide and from where I last left of, We are going well over 200 at this rate and we expect 100 more to sub come to untreatable wounds.” The doctor responded rather sadly.

“That means there are roughly 150 left from Thunderlane's troops that are able to fight and Trixie you command 300 still rather fresh and there are at least 100 capable of fighting within our camp.”

“Trixie thinks those are rather unimpressive numbers compared to 2,000 of that farm ponies army!” Trixie said with some concerned while Rainbow was crunching the numbers.

“Hmp, not to mention the new gap in leadership we have. I see no pony fit to fill that role, they seem like they never last to long fighting against Applejack, the only way we can claim victory is if we use that little ace of yours Ms.Dash.” Filthy adds in.

“NO, we can’t handle any more deaths, we must move out while we can!” The Doctor says fearfully.

“She would only follow us.” Trixie dead panned.

“Yes she would, I know Applejack to well. She won’t let us go, so we must make our stand here.” Rainbow says while making her way to a map on the cave wall.

“We’ll make our stand at Foal Mountain, right where the rock farms are at. That their will provide a natural choke point, preventing the majority of Applejacks ranks to freely move. So if were able to route Applejacks army their we can also take the farms as well, providing vital resources for our army. Trixie, I’ll need you to prepare evacuation of the camp and take a small detachment to Manehatten, I’ve been hearing of distress among the population their and a minor resistance growing in the heart of the city. If you slip through you might be able to rally some to our cause; because reports say that their garrisons have been becoming increasingly lazy due to our… decline.” Rainbow couldn’t believe what she was saying right now, she would have never thought that she’d be capable of such things.

“Wait, what? who is engaging that farm pony if Trixie is going to Manehatten?” Trixie asked still rather concerned.

“I will, and the newly appointed Leader Pinkie here.” Rainbow said rather quickly hoping they would just nod their head in agreement.

“WHAT, THAT MONSTER IS A NEWLY APPOINTED LEADER!” Trixie frightenedly points a hoof at the motionless pink pony that hasn’t left the corner of the room.

“And what about you, the last time you was on the front. You froze up at the sight of that temptress Rarity, we had to withdraw that day…” Filthy chimed in.

“PINKIE KNOWS THAT LAND BETTER THAN ANYPONY HERE! Not to mention she has the most experience messing with cannons and rocks as well.” Rainbow Pointed out.

“Trixie knows this, Still Trixie doesn’t see how she stands as any benefit to us? Trixie doesn’t even think she has a moral compass?” She rebutted

Pinkie cut her eyes once again at the blue mare all while growling as if she was a rabid dog. Forcing Trixie to leap up out of her seat and give Rainbow a see what I’m talking about gesture. Yet Filthy and the Doctor were unmoved, leaving Rainbow to dismiss it and continue on.

“She is one of the original bearers of harmony, and she made me a Pinkie Promise that she would help me through this… And she hasn’t failed me yet.” Rainbow said boldly, making eye contact with the pink hollow figure standing behind her as if she was a bodyguard.

However Pinkamena refused to return eye contact or even acknowledgement of her words. But if anything has been proven over the short course of this war it was her loyalty to Rainbow Dash, and that could not be questioned.

“I see no problem with your decision, I assume she’ll be commanding what’s left of Thunderlane's little force and not to mention that M.P.C of yours will also be under her jurisdiction as well” Filthy says

“AUGH!” Trixie whelped while displacing the wizard hat atop of her head.

“Yet, I don’t see your role in this whole thing. No offense, but since this all begun, you haven’t been able to cut it out there on the front.” Filthy added

“She suffers from severe anxiety attacks Mr.Rich, it can’t be helped.” The doctor weighed in, aware of Rainbow’s Condition

“Well then, it wouldn’t serve well to have her prancing around on the front lines would it!”

“If you don’t have faith in me fine, take my place. Otherwise leave me to my damnation, with Thunderlane gone, with everypony risking their lives for the fact that they believe I’ve stole harmony from Twilight after her change…. THE LEAST I CAN DO FOR THOSE PONIES IS FIGHT FOR THEM!” Rainbow raged once more.

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE TALK OF DOUBT, WE ARE WASTING TIME… GET OUT!!!” Rainbow yelled at the top of her lungs, causing Trixie and Filthy to leave the room immediately. Still two remained. The doctor and her companion, Pinkamena who had been completely unaffected by the whole show.

Hesitantly the doctor rose from his seat to address Rainbow on his concerns. “ Ponies don’t think you bear harmony, they know, I know… The day you broke that barrier Twilight resurrected over Ponyville, their was those there who saw what happened. Harmony did in fact that day flee with you, that’s why you're immune to Twilight's magic now, that’s why you escaped when you did.”

Rainbow only looked down in utter disappointment remembering that day, and at this point she couldn’t even contain the tears brimming in her eyes. A steady flow begun to slide down both sides of her cheeks as she did her best to hide it. Still the doctor could see it all to well.

“You regret, that’s why you're capable of leading us. But I must ask you, PLEASE REFRAIN FROM FURTHER PRODUCTION OF THAT MONSTROSITY YOU DEPICTED! I understand it is vital now, but please don’t allow this war to exceed our capacity to dig graves! I and a couple of others will be behind your army, ready to properly handle the dead on both sides, EVEN IF IT COSTS US OUR LIVES.” The doctor emotionally blurts out.

Rainbow Dash just gave a simple nod of her head and nothing more, because at this point she was beyond emotionally exhausted. The Doctor knew this as well, so he decided to make his exit.

“I believe in you,” Were the last words the doctor spoke audible before leaving the dim room.

 Rainbow fell back on her haunches immediately after the doctor left, sitting in an eerie silence until it was broken by what had seemed like fearful crying. At that point she felt that their was no reason to hold back her emotions anymore, in just another day or two their fates would be decided with one decisive battle.

“I’m still here Dashie.” Pinkamena said, forcing herself to sound vaguely emotional. Still the expression on her face proved otherwise

“Yes Pinkie I know, you're always their…”

“A doctors job in never considered a profession during times of war… Only a curse.” Doctor Stables