Nothing can destroy friendship, but war will damn well try

Sorin tossed and turned in his hospital bed as his dreams continued to trouble him. It had been a week since the airplane had crash landed in Ponyvillie and everyday since he had been having the same nightmare. He kept playing back to when they had found Rainbow Dash in the plane still in one piece, to an extent.

Ever injury was still stuck in her mind as the scene playing back again for the third time that night. Sorin and the rest of the team ran back to the still burning wreck of the plane as they looked for Rainbow Dash. It had been Sorin who had found her buried under a window frame and a section of seating. He worked with lighting speed to remove the ruble on top of her as he yelled to the others. The siring pain in his left leg didn't stop him, but what laid under the rubble did.

There were multiple holes in her legs from where shrapnel had blasted through her. Her left wing was almost completely torn off, the only thing holding it on was a small piece of bone and tendon. Random other cuts bled from all over and she was burned over the whole left side of her body. It was only once the rest of the team had gotten there did he step away. The others soon had her completely dug out and put her on the stretch board that the had brought with them. He had only rejoined the group once they were out of the plane and on there way to the ambulance.

For the fourth time that night Sorin woke up in a cold sweat, he was still breathing heavy even though he had seen the dream tree other times that night. "you got to get this thing out of your head man. It wasn't your fault, she went in to help another, you would of done the same thing. She just got unlucky that the wing exploded while she was under it. Sorin thought. He had been beating himself up over not stopping Rainbow Dash going into the plane again, he couldn't help feel that all her injuries were his fault. "You know it wasn't your fault right? So why do you keep blaming yourself for it?" A voice asked from the door behind him.

Sorin ripped his head around to find Rainbow standing in the doorway to his room, using the wall to prop herself up of her front left leg. Sorin was still in shock, then Rainbow spoke again, "I went back into that burning hulk because i knew there was more ponies in that plane that needed help. I knew that plane could go up at any moment and that was why i went back. It wasn't going to be long before the rest went boom, so i risked my life to save others. You were right there next to me and if you had followed you might have been caught up in the whole mess more than you were." These last few words dug into his heart, the dam in his mind finally broke as he went into a sobbing fit.

"I'm so sorry. If I had followed you and helped we could have gotten you out before the whole plane exploded. If i hadn't had decided to leave you alone in that section of the plane, you wouldn't look like this." he said as he motioned to the chard remains of her body. Rainbow just shook her head, "You got to stop thinking like that Sorin. What happened is done and there is nothing we can do about it now. I have forgotten about it already and you need to move on." Sorin looked shocked again, "How can you forget about what happened. You look like you just got fulled out of a camp fire and went thrown in you had half your body broken." he yelled as he continued to sob.

Rainbow Dash sighed again and walked further into the room, hobbling a little bit as she still couldn't put weight on her leg. When she finally got to his bed, she started to stroke his mane as he started to calm down. Rainbow spoke again, "You need to take it easy. There letting me out tomorrow and you are being released tomorrow as well. So why don't you and me go for a walk around Ponyvillie tomorrow. That would be nice wouldn't it."

Sorin slightly nodded then spoke, "But what about your leg?" Rainbow laughed a little, "I'll be fine, I'm more worried about the one who has been waking up every night screaming." Sorin tried to laugh, "I only screamed a few times." Rainbow just rolled her eyes then kissed him on the cheek, "Anyways, I'm going back to bed and so should you." Sorin smiled, "Night Rainbow Dash." Rainbow smiled from the door, "Good night Sorin."

She said as she walked out of the door and back down the hallway. Sorin sat back in his bed and smiled, as he slipped back to sleep, the only thing on his mind was Rainbow Dash, not the accident Dash, the one who he had fallen in love with that twelve years ago. It was about noon the text day when Rainbow and Sorin were walking around the center of town. It was the first day either of them had been outside since the plane crash, and they were enjoying it immensely. They were talking about where they would be staying while they were grounded. Rainbow head mentioned how she planed to stay with Fluttershy while Sorin was planning on staying with his uncle who lived near Applejack.

The mentioning of her name made Rainbow think, she hadn't seen most of her friends in some time. Twilight was trying to figure out what to do as a new princess of Equestria, Rarity was working harder than ever on her fashion lines, Pinkie was gone visiting with her Grandfather on his "rock farm, and Applejack was doing what she always did, bucking apples and working the farm. IT was about one o'clock when Sorin turned to Rainbow and asked, "Hey Dash, you getting hungry?"

Rainbow Dash's stomach answered the question before she could, "Yeah I guess I could go for some grub." Sorin smiled, "Well lets get some then, my treat. Think of it as a thanks for risking your life to save others lunch." Rainbow just laughed as they stopped at a little restaurant to get lunch. A while after they ordered, Sorin started to hear the loud sound of a diesel truck  coming up the road. He rolled his eyes, "Here comes Duster, I swear you can hear that truck coming a mile away." Dash giggled, she knew how annoyed Sorin got when Duster showed up out of nowhere. The sound of the truck got louder and louder until the truck pulled up out front and Duster got out followed by two other stallions.

Sorin looked up to see the others and almost burst out laughing, "well i'll be damned, how did he find those two lunatics." It took Rainbow Dash a moment to recognize one of them as Sorin's brother, Cloudtramp. But the other was still a complete mystery. The group of three walked over to the two as Sorin got out of his seat, shaking his brother's and the new comer's hands, "Cloud, Bash long time no see." Cloudtramp spoke first, "Hey bro it has been a while hasn't it." He then looked over at Rainbow, "who's the chick?" Sorin laughed as Rainbow Dash shot Cloud a dirty look.

"Cloud you don't remember her? That's Rainbow Dash, you know, only Pegasus to do a sonic rainboom, ex Element of Harmony, and pony who saved 70 or so lives while risking her own the other day." The new comer, Bash, looked over at Rainbow, "I read about that, that was you?" Dash smiled, "Yeah that was me. Why else would I look like I just got pulled out of a camp fire." she said indicating the burns and chard black fur over the left side of her body. Bash and Cloud laughed with Sorin and Rainbow as their food came. Sorin looked back at the group of three, "Come on we could use the company, take a seat." Duster, Cloudtramp, and Bash smiled then joined Rainbow and Sorin at the table.

The group talked and reminisced and at most points, laughed their heads off. It was only after lunch was over did Duster put in, "You guys should come stay with us while we're in town." Bash then chimed in, "Yeah, where staying over at the old shop for the next two weeks while we're on break." Bash was referring to the fact that himself and Cloudtramp were in the Equestrian military, but were on vacation for a while. Sorin smiled, "You know that would be kind of cool. What do you think Dash, staying in an old car shop on the other side of town sound like fun?"

Rainbow smiled and giggled a little, "Yeah I think that would be great, Shy is a nice friend and all, but she can get a little boring." The group laughed again then Duster said, "Well let's go." The group got up from the table and headed out the door and got into Duster's truck. He started the monster and left for the old car shop on the east side of town. We got to the shop fairly quick since Duster was a little bit of a speeder. Rainbow Dash was amazed by the amount of old cars stationed around the yard of the garage.

Dash had seen all these cars during different parts of her life, and had always loved them because of their speed and class. Duster pulled into the garage and parked the truck next to a slightly rusted hulk of a car. Sorin got out and looked at the car next to him, "Dad's old Camaro, you finally decided to fix it up." Duster smiled, "Yeah, but my true pride and joy is what i fixed up before this. Come on follow me." They two followed as Cloudtramp went up to his room while Bash started to work on the Camaro.

Duster brought them back to a large shed behind the shop which was labeled, "The Gallery." Duster opened the door and Sorin and Rainbow Dash gasped. Inside the shed was at least 14 freshly refurbished cars and trucks ranging from big and small. Duster pointed out a few, an old Dodge power wagon, a Ford mustang, a Dodge charger, a Plymouth RoadRunner. Then Duster lead them to a car covered by a sheet, with a quick move he removed the sheet reveling a Plymouth Duster.

Sorin laughed the second he saw it, it took Rainbow a second to realize what it was, and once she did, she laughed too. "Well that makes a lot of scene. Your favorite car is the one that bares your name." Duster was about to say something when Cloud and Bash came running in. Duster looked over to them, "Could, Bash, where's the fire?" Bash caught his breath then said, "We just had a royal guard show up at the place. Apparently, Cloud and I have to go back into the service tomorrow." Sorin, Rainbow, and Duster stood in shock, Duster finally spoke, "Did he say why?"

Cloud shook his head, "He only said that it was a dire situation." Still in shock Sorin said, "Why does this week keep being such a bitch." Early the next morning, Duster drove Cloudtramp and Bash to the train station, then returned back to the shop all before Rainbow and Sorin woke up.

(It's gonna get dark after this for a while, so if you want to skip this, just what till you see something similar to this and you'll be good)

It was now only one day till the "dead line" and Luna was getting worried, the warning shot the mysterious shadow pony was talking about still hadn't been fired. She woke up that morning to find another tape sitting on the balcony. The second she saw this, her heart skipped a beat as she knew that this meant bad news. Again she called for Twilight, she needed someone to comfort her if this was going to be as bad as the first one. The tape flickered to life reveling black. Then the shadow voice cut in again, "I warned you, now the shots have been fired."

Then the black was removed to see a pony who  looked exactly like Celestia with a bag over her head and a nose around her neck. Luna gasped then looked away knowing what was going to come next. The sound of a crunck and then the gargling of the gagged mare chocking slowly died out, Luna was in tears. The shadow voice then spoke one last time, "Tomorrow is war." then the tape stopped. Luna sobbed uncontrollably in Twilight's wings, she then almost shouted, "Those bastards are going to pay for this!"

Celestia sat in her cage in who knows where  as the sound of the pony choking in the other room started to die out. She knew where this was going to go, and she knew that it was going to break Luna. As she sat there quietly sobbing, she thought back to what had brought her here.

She had been flying when she heard gun shots from under her, then there was a syringe pain in her wings and she lost her ability to fly, as she plummeted to the ground, she tried to guild and catch herself but the holes in her wings made it impossible because of pain and aerodynamics. She hit the ground hard and was knocked out cold. She woke up with everything in black, a object around her horn. It was then the first tape was shot.

The pony that was doing all of this still hung to the shadows as he walked up to her cage, "That will break you sister, and we will easily take over." Celestia said nothing, the broken ribs still a reminder of what happened the last time she spoke out. The shadow spoke again, "Good, you have learned well you poor excuse for a princess. But that doesn't matter anymore, by the time we're done with Equestria, they won't need you as a princess."

(if you skipped the dark part, your good know. But if you don't like the dark stuff, this story my not be the best for you.)

The next day,

Twilight stood in front of at least 230 ponies, each were a leader of a section of the military, airforce, and navy. Twilight then spoke, "Attention Generals, I know most of you were on leave, but something unexpected has come up. That is all you can tell the ponies under you for what i say next doesn't leave this room. Princess Celestia was left two weeks ago to find the reason for why a plane was shot at to the point it crash landed in Ponyvillie.

It was during this time she was kidnapped by the same group." The shocked gasps was not unexpected, after they died down she continued, "We got a video from that group telling us that if we did not step down from our royal positions in two weeks, it would be all out war. Yesterday we got another video that i can't tell you the details but long story short Celestia is....................... dead." she said lowering her voice as the room gasped again.

Twilight then spoke again a pain in her throat, "That is why we are preparing to fight. I need all air fighters fueled up and watching the skys at all edges of Equestria, the rest of you, I want you and your brigades read to be deployed to where ever the fight starts." The group in front of her saluted and started to leave. Twilight then called out, "Cloudtramp, Iron range, please come see me." Cloud and Bash looked at each other as they made there way toward the princess, "Yes your majesty?" Cloudtramp asked. "Come with me please." was all she said.

Once they were out of ear shot of the others in the room, Twilight spoke, "I need you two to do something important for me." "What's that princess?" Bash asked. Twilight rolled her eyes, "Bash how many times do i have to tell you two, if we're in private, you can  just call me Twilight." Bash chuckled, "Oh yeah forgot about that, sorry Twilight." "Anyways." Twilight started, "Once this war starts, we're going to need more soldiers than we have right know.

So once we now where we need to fight, I am going to tell all of Equestria what has happened. When I do, I'm going to send recruiters to all the towns in Equestria, and I want you two to be the ones that recruit in Ponyvillie." The two nodded, then turned and left. Twilight turned around too as she mad her way to Luna's bedroom at comfort the mare in her time of need.

A few hours later

Sorin and Rainbow Dash were having fun with a Dodge truck they had borrowed from Duster. They had been having fun when the sound of multiple aircraft filled the sky. They looked up to see five P-51 fighters fly over Ponyville. At that same time, the sound of a familiar diesel truck filled the air, "That's strange, Duster left his truck in my hanger at the airport." Rainbow stated. "Yeah, I wonder who got there hands on it." Sorin put in.

Soon the truck could be seen over the hill, a familiar iron and dark blue colored pair of stallions sat inside. Bash and Cloud pulled up to the two, still dressed in their military uniforms. "He guys, what was the emergency?" Sorin asked. Cloudtramp looked over from the driver's seat, "Equestria is going to war."

High above the South East side of Equestria, Wing Gust and his brigade of five planes flew at about 6,000 feet keeping watch for any sign of attackers. it was quiet, then everything happened all at once. They were flying fine in a smooth formation when, the sound of machine guns tore through the air and two plane's out of his five head for the ground in a steep dive, obvious they had been shot down.

Wing Gust and the other two fighters quickly split up and increased in altitude as two unfamiliar fighters flew under them. Gust swung around and as he plunged at one of the fighters he radioed to control, "Control this is Gust wing squad rent, we have two unidentified bogies and we have been fired a pone. Two crafts have fallen over." he finished as he opened fire on the plane he was following. "Gust wing squad we copy, what is your position?" control radioed back. "129.7 South, 43.6 East."

Gust replied as he shot down one of the two planes, "Bogey one is down." he said, a minute later, "Bogey two down." one of the other pilots put in. Control replied, "Roger both bogies are down." Gust was about to reply when he heard the sound of more guns and engines roaring out near him, "Holy hell." he said into his mic as three bombers and at least twelve fighters came into view. He took to action as he radioed in, "Control this is Gust wing squad, we have multiple bogies inbound. Repeat three bombers and multiple fighters. We can't handle this on our own, we need help!"

He screamed into his mic as he opened fire on anything in sight. "Roger Gust wing squad, reinforcements on the way." control replied. Wing Gust was firing at one of the bombers when he saw one of the other two fighters, then the other, leaving him alone against the enemy. He was about to tell control when he felt his plane plummet. "Control this is Wing gust, I'm going down. We've been shot out." He said with a pain in his voice as he pulled hard against the column. "Planes heading toward Canterlot, vector two niiiiiiiinnnn.................." the radio went silent as it was obvious gust had crashed.

The mare in the tower had a pained look on her face as the 15 planes appeared on her radar. She quick wiped around and called out "It's starting!" Twilight was in the tower in as quick as she could teleport, "What's the story?" She asked quickly. The same mare who had handled Gust Wing squad spoke, "Gust wing squad was doing there rounds when they were fired apone. Two planes were shot down and the rest of the squad attacked the bogies. They thought it was over when three bombers and twelve fighters came out of nowhere. The rest of the squad was lost and the bogies are on a course for Canterlot.

"How long till they get in range?" was Twilight's only response. "About an hour and a half" the radar mare said. Twilight straitened up quick, "Gather every fighter and get them ready. I want them out and after this menus in 20 minutes." she said as she teleported away. "Well you heard what she said, Go!' shouted one of stallions as they scrambled to carry out their task. With only s little time left on their deadline, all the fighters still at base, about 55 in total, were taking off to protect the land they grew up on and lived on.

Within half an hour they had caught up with the incoming bombers, and the fight was on. The fighters protecting the bombers came out guns blazing and took three planes down off the bat. The remainder of the protection squad immediately went after any plane in reach. Planes were falling left, right, and center. Soon there was only two fighters, the bombers, and 24 planes from the protection squad left. But there was quiet a big problem, Canterlot was only ten minutes away, and the bombers were still flying strong.

Private Long Wing was one of those few 23 left, and he took a chance. He saw an opening an dove straight for one of the bombers, guns firing of every last round he had. When he saw that his firing did nothing, he took drastic measures. He waited till the plane was about to fly over a lake when he bailed out and dove toward the lake. His plane spun a little then slammed into the side of the second bomber tearing it nearly in half as it exploded. The explosion rocked the plane in front of it and shot shrapnel into the left wing of the bomber behind it, causing it to lose control and wing to catch fire.

Soon the whole left side of the plane was covered in flames until boom, the plane exploded sending it to the ground below. In that time, 9 more protection fighters had been shot down, the rest putting up a hell of a fight. What they hadn't realized until it was too late was that they were over Canterlot, what made them realize was the sound of the bomb doors opening. Then everything went to hell as eight bombs slipped from the belly of the plan falling toward Caterlot and the castle.

Three bombers dived and ended up catching them with their planes, destroying the bombs and the planes. The other five when on to hit their targets close to the castle but the closest hit 50 feet away. What caught the fighters off guard for the last time was the bomber dived hard and crashed into the castle in a fiery explosion. Twilight was walking back to her room in one of the castle many long hallways when she heard explosions above her and the wising of something, then more explosions as the castle rocked.

She was about to see what was happening when the ceiling above her rocked and began to collapse. She tried to run but was soon buried under a mountain of rubble. Luna came running into the hall trying to find Twilight after the castle had stopped shacking. She found the hall she had been in when she saw that almost the whole ceiling above the hall had collapsed and the remains of the bomber lay on top of that. She frantically began to dig with her magic when it faded out, she knew exactly what that meant, but she hopped she was wrong. She continued to dig with a passion when she uncovered a purple hoof.

As some guards ran past she called to them, "Help, Twilight has been buried!" They didn't skip a beat and ran to her side and continued to dig as more and more of Twilight's body was uncovered. Finally, when she was uncovered, Luna gasped, Twilight was completely mangled covered in bleeding cuts, broken looking bones, and missing fur. What made her almost break down right there was when she saw that Twilight's horn had broken off about an inch above her head.

She soon had Twilight rushed to the hospital wing as she sat by the rubble in thought. She knew what it meant if Twilight's horn had broken off. She had been lucky that it hadn't broken of at the hilt and she knew her horn would grow back. But she also knew hat with her horn gone, no unicorn or even herself could use their magic, not until it hat fully grown back. This was going to change the tide of war, and Luna knew that the fate of the country rested on her shoulders. Shoulders she had only been able to hold up with Twilight's help.