Nothing can destroy friendship, but war will damn well try

Rarity and Fluttershy were relaxing in the spa on their normal Thursday routine when Rarity heared the sound of explosions. "Fluttershy, what do you think was that?' Fluttershy, who was hiding behind her mane faintly said, "I don't know, and I really wouldn't mind not finding out."

Rarity nodded then when back to what she had been talking, "Anyways, Sweetie Belle is almost 18, and she still has her mind set on joining the Royal army with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo . I swear ever since she got that protector cutie mark she has had her heart set on this. I'm proud of her, but i just don't want to lose her if she gets shipped off into battle."

Fluttershy was about to reply as Rarity grabbed a bottle of cooling gel with her magic for the pool when the aurora around the bottle and her horn died and she dropped the bottle to the ground. Shy looked up at her, "Rarity, why did you drop the bottle?" Rarity looked back at her with a look of utter astonishment on her face, "I didn't. I had it in my magic and then my magic seemed to be gone." She tried again and again to pick the bottle back up put her magic refused to work. She looked at Shy again, "I have a bad feeling about this."

All over the lands of Equestria and beyond, Unicorns lost their ability to use their magic. None of them could figure out why they suddenly lost their magic, but from the amount of war planes flying over head and the sounds of explosions in the distance, they thought of it as the least of their worries.

Canterlot was in a wreck. Home's were destroyed, ponies dead, and Twilight sat unconscious in the hospital wing of the castle, cuts covering her body, and a large bandage around her head covering up her horn. Luna sat at her side as she doctors continued their work when they all dropped their tools at the same time as their magic died like all the other ponies of Equestria.

"Oh no, it's  happened." she muttered as she realized what was going on. One of the doctors, Dr. Fleet-wood, who had been part of the castle hospital staff for 30 years looked up at Luna and said, "Oh please tell me that Twilight is not literally the princess of magic." Luna sighed and nodded, "Oh god are you bucking kidding me, so there's nothing we can do is there." Luna again nodded.

The rest of the doctors in the room just stared at the two of them, then one of the nurses, nurse Vax, was the one who broke the science, "Dr. Fleet, what's going on." Dr. Fleet-wood was about to speak when Luna bet him to it, "When we gave Twilight the title of Princess of Magic, we gave her the power to control all unicorn magic that we had come in contact with over the years. The way she controls their ability to use their magic is by channeling it through her own. Now that she can't use her own magic, no unicorn can until her horn grows back. However long that will take."

The other ponies in the room just stood there until Luna spoke again, "I must go, I have to talk to a few ponies before the end of the day. Let me know if anything for her condition changes." Dr. Fleet-wood nodded and watched as Luna walked out of the room, trying to hold back tears. As Luna walked to the meeting hall, she couldn't stop thinking to herself, why did this have to happen now. First I lose Celestia and now Twilight is in critical condition. And I'm supposed to manage this whole country during a time of war with no one to help me. Now I see why Celestia has always said I would understand her stress of when I was gone only when she is gone.

It was then she walked into the Meeting Room to find three ponies, Shinning armor, Cadance, and Sargent Black flag. Cadance came running over to her as she saw the state she was in, "Luna are you alright?" she asked. Luna looked at her, "No. I have lost Celestia and now I have lost the one person who was keeping my mind whole, Twilight."

Shining and Cadance gasped, "What happened to my little sister?" Shining asked. "She was crushed under a pile of rubble when the ceiling of the hallway she was in collapsed from the force of a large bomber crashing into the castle. She is alive, and her injuries are minor except." she left hanging, not sure how to say what needed to be said.

Cadance was the one who asked, "What is wrong with her?" Luna looked down at the floor, " Her horn has completely broken off." The three other ponies in gasped, "Oh sweet Celestia please tell me your lying. Please tell me that you didn't just say what I think you said." Shining pleaded. Luna only nodded and let her head droop down to the floor again.  Cadance looked back at Luna again, "So that's why all my crystal unicorns have lost control of there magic."

Sargent Black Flag then spoke, "I know that this is a bad time, but there is more troubling news that this. It turns out that the HQ of these scum that are attacking us is buried deep in hostile griffin territory. So not only do they have there own troops on their side, they have almost all the griffin troops as well. My point is, we need more troops. It's time we set up recruitment stations in as many towns as possible. We're going to need every pony we can get."

Luna nodded, "I trust your decisions. I want you and Shining Armor to take care of the military side of this." She then looked at Cadance, "And I would like you and Shining to stay here as long as possible." Cadance nodded then hugged her aunt, "A long as you need us." was all she said.

The next day

Sorin and Rainbow Dash woke up to the shacking of Couldtramp and Bash, "Guy's get up, we need you to come with us." Rainbow slowly sat up, "Why?" she groggily wined.

Bash was the one who answered, "We have been given the job of recruiting ponies for the war, and having a few friendly faces in the crowd will help." Sorin nodded at them and then pulled himself out of bed. They talked for a little bit before getting breakfast and getting into Could's truck and heading into town.

About an hour later, Rainbow and Sorin were standing in the middle of the crowd that had gathered around town hall. They were paying attention to what Bash was saying about why they needed more ponies for the war when Rainbow heard a whisper in her ear, "Well why in tar-nation are you to her?"

Rainbow looked over to find Applejack and the teen-aged Apple Bloom standing next to them. Bash finished and the crowd started to dispersed, then Rainbow turned to Applejack, "Sorin and I were here to give Bash and Cloud support as they gave their speech, But why are you here?" Applejack smiled, "Apple Bloom and I are here to sign up for the Air Force."

Rainbow's jaw dropped, "Your doing what!" Applejack continued to smile, "Tell you the truth Dash, I thought you were here for the same reason. I mean come on Dash, Flying those planes in acrobatic moves taking your anger for that plane crash at the airport on the ones who caused it." At this point, Sorin had joined her and heard the last of what Applejack had said.

"You know she has a point Dashy. Why the hell not, what do you say?" Rainbow looked from Applejack to Sorin and back again, then she smiled, "You know what, your right, why the hell not." And with that, they made there way over to Bash to make their registration.

Twilight woke to a headache like she had been hit by a plane, and in a way she had. She sat up and was followed by multiple lines connecting her to machines. The noise alerted Dr. Fleet-wood who was on the other side of the room.

"Princess Twilight, it is good to see you up."

Twilight looked over to him, "Oh Dr. Fleet-wood, it is good to wake up to a familiar face. Speaking of which, why am I in the hospital?"

Dr. Fleet-wood chuckled, "Slight amnesia, not surprising concerning the blow your head took." Then it all came back to her, the explosions, the hallway, the collapse. "Is Luna ok?" was all she could ask. Dr. Fleet-wood smiled, "Yes she is in a way. She was very broken up when she saw what happened to your horn."

Then Twilight panicked and felt the top of her head to find only a 1 inch stub where her horn once was.  "Oh no, does that mean what I think it means?" Dr. Fleet-wood's expression went from happy to down cast, "Yes, all unicorns have lost their ability to use their magic, except for Luna, Cadance, and Shining Armor of course."

Twilight looked down at her bed, "How long till it grows back enough for the unicorns to get their magic back?" Dr. Fleet-wood thought for a second, "At  least eight months, that's the best case scenario." Twilight nodded then winched as her headache came back full force.

"Ah, my head." was all she was able to say before she crashed back into the bed, unconscious again.

Two Months Later

Nothing much had happened in two months. A few towns had been attacked, but that was about it. Although, Rainbow and Sorin wings  had healed and they were able to go back to their normal lives. Then the day came, Rainbow was at her house making lunch for herself when Sorin came flying in through on of her windows panting, "Hey Sorin take it easy, what's the rush?" she asked.

"Have.........you..........gone..........to...........get........... your............mail............yet?" He panted out. "Uh, no. I was going to get it from the post office after lunch. Why?" Sorin had finally caught his breath.

"I got mine and I got a letter saying I had to report to Canterlot in two days to start my flight training. So I grabbed yours out of your box with my spare key, and I was checking to make sure it wasn't anything you put in there since i didn't look at it."

Rainbow eyed him, then seeing how much he was worried about her, she took the mail from him and found that there was a letter from the Canterlot military. She opened it to find it detailed exactly what Sorin had described. She then found at the bottom of the page it detailed the positions that she would be trained for, top turret gunner, medic, and back-up pilot.

She then looked over at Sorin, "What position are you being trained for?" Sorin looked back at her, "Pilot. And you?" "Top turret gunner, medic, and back-up pilot." She responded. Then she looked down to a part of the page that said, to be removed only by Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash removed the warning and found it told what squadron, and plane she would be a part of, Delta 7 squad, B-17 N78MV1.

"Hey did you see this warning at the bottom off your paper?" Dash asked. Sorin looked to where Rainbow was pointing on her paper, then dug out his letter and found the same label. "Well what does it say?" she asked. "Delta 7 squad, B-17 N78MV1." Rainbow's jaw dropped again, which seemed like it was happening to often lately.

"We're in the same squad on the same plane. Wow, I guess being the friend of the princess has it's perks." Sorin then remembered something, "I wonder where Applejack and Apple Bloom ended up." Rainbow smiled, "Well I got nothing better to do, let's go."

The two then took of in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. They arrived about twenty minutes later to find Applejack and Apple Bloom doing something they almost never did, just sitting around in the fields each eating an apple. The two of them landed near by, "Hey guys, how's it going." Rainbow called as her and Sorin walked up to the Apple sister.

"Oh nothing much sugercude, just getting ready for our trip to Canterlot tomorrow." Applejack replied. Rainbow smiled, "So you got your recruitment letters to I take it." The two sisters just nodded as they each took a bit of their apples.

"Well if you don't mind me asking, what are you getting trained for?" Rainbow asked. Applejack spoke first, "I'm getting put in Delta 7 squad as a mechanic."

"And I'm getting trained to be the pilot of a P-82 fighter, also in Delta 7 squad. But they didn't tell me who my other pilot was." Apple Bloom chimed in.

"So we're all going to be fighting together huh." Rainbow said with a smile. "I guess having your friend be one of the four princesses comes in handy sometime." This threw everyone into a fit of laughter, even Sorin, tho he had already heard the joke. Sorin then heard he stomach grumble, "Hey Dash, I'm kinda hungry. Do you mind if we head into town for some food?"

Rainbow turned to him, "Sure, I could go for some lunch since you made me drop the sandwich I had been making." Sorin just laughed, turned, and started walking for town. Rainbow said good-bye to the sisters and ran to catch up with Sorin. And when she did, she punched hard in the shoulder.

The two days went by with relative ease. At 4:45 a.m. that morning, Sorin crept into Rainbow's room, only to slam a pillow into the back of her head to wake her up. "Ow! What the buck Sorin!" She yelled, obvious that she was fully awake.

"We have 20 minutes to get out of here and to the train station for our ride to Canterlot." he said in an even tone. Rainbow then panicked, "Oh my gosh, we've got to go now." She then grabbed the suitcase she had packed the night before and literally flew out the door.

Sorin rolled his eyes, grabbed his suitcase and proceeded to follow in Rainbow's wake. They got to the station in about ten minutes to find, Applejack and Apple Bloom, many ponies she didn't recognize, and Scootaloo? She walked over to her, "Scoots, what are you doing here?"

Scootaloo turned to her, surprised to see her idle at the station, "Oh hey there Rainbow. I am on my way to flight training. But why are you here?" Rainbow grinned, "Same reason. Hang on let me take a guess, you're in Delta 7 squad?" Scootaloo looked a little shocked,"Yeah, I'm training to be the gunner of a P-82 fighter for Delta 7. How did you know?"

Rainbow grinned again, "Two ways. One, me, Sorin, and Applejack are in Delta 7. And two, Apple Bloom is in Delta 7 flying a P-82." Scoot giggled with glee, "So the three of us are all in Delta 7, awesome!" Rainbow was about to ask what she meant when a white unicorn appeared next to Scootaloo, "Thanks for waiting Scoots. I swear you do that again an my........"

Sweetie Bell trailed off when she sway Rainbow. "Rainbow Dash, wait are you Delta 7 too?" Rainbow nodded,then stopped, "How did you guess I was in Delta 7?"

Sweatie Bell laughed, "Because everyone on this platform is Delta 7, we're shipped out in our squad. Does no one read that first paragraph before it tells you the day you need to be here?" she said as she face palmed. Rainbow just shrugged, she then took a look around her. There was at least two hundered ponies around her, and now she knew they were all for Delta 7, it was lucky that her friends were going to be close, she would need them.

Then she remembered that Sweetie had teleported to the station, "Sweetie Bell, is your magic working again?" Sweetie looked at her, "Not really. Rarity and I had to pool the magic we had, which was barely any, just to get me here." Then the call came from the engineer, "All aboard, next stop, Canterlot!" The six friends boarded the train with the others, as their journey to war began.