A Twinkle of Hope

A Twinkle of Hope - Chapter 14

The loud resonance of a bugle permeated throughout the large walled structure, telling everypony within to wake up. Many rose as soon as they heard the sound; others had to work up the will to leave the soft, peaceful realm of sleep and warm blankets. But none more than a certain blue pegasus dreaded even opening an eye, especially at such a Celestia-awful hour as...SIX O'CLOCK!

Rainbow Dash laid there for a good two minutes, fighting a mental battle with the responsible consciousness, and the lazy id, desperately trying to remain asleep. The debate continued until her rational mind played a devastating card; the General had expectations, the most basic of which getting up when awoken. He was likely too busy to come by her tent and pester her out of bed, as he had done several times before. No, Dash needed to take charge and get up. But first, just a few more...

Then, likely to ensure the success of the bugle, a young stallion trotted through the fort banging a metal pot with a metal spoon, yelling the whole time; "Everypony get up! Everypony get up!" By the time the colt approached Rainbow's tent, he had started yelling to a rhythm, creating a truly annoying chant or song. The Element of Loyalty got up, knowing full well she had been defeated. Before she gathered her things to get ready for the day, she walked past the stallion, pillow in mouth, and SMACK! Feathers went everywhere, a large ding as the pot hit the ground. She got the last laugh.

She opened the door to the bathrooms, and found an empty shower. All the fuel had been packed up, so Rainbow Dash would have to deal with a cold shower; nothing to heat the water. At least she was wide awake now. Nice and clean, the freezing pony went back to her tent and laid her uniform over the cot. Dash never much cared for dressing nicely, but Cloudrunner held his officers to a certain level of decorum and presentation. Even Princess Luna was obligated to comply. She buttoned up her shirt, and began to tie the black necktie. The pegasus had become very good at tying it, and secretly prided herself in learning to do something so well. Next came the dark blue jacket, naked of awards. The General promised he'd get her the ones she earned, but for now her bragging rights would have to be postponed.

Smoothing out the coat, making sure there were no wrinkles, she placed on her head the Pièce de résistance, the officer’s hat. If only her friends could see her now, she thought. Captain Dash! After admiring herself for a few minutes, she began to fold up her sheets and undo the poles holding up her tent. Shortly, when all her things were neatly place in a stack, she took it and flew over to the loading spot for packing into any available truck. For an hour or so, she continued to ferry items from the ponies to the trucks. Eventually the entire fort had been completely swept clean of tents and bedding. After everypony was done, they convened around the central stage, where Dash stood, beside the rest of the officer corps. Princess Luna was front and center, ready to give another speech.

“Everypony! You have prepared well and because of your effort, we are now ready to depart! It is not 7:45 and we are right on schedule. Staff Sergeant Steno here had expertly worked out logistics. All airpony units will fly to conserve room onboard the transportation automobiles. I myself will fly. Everypony else, your officer will speak with Steno for their assigned vehicle. Go!”

Everypony saluted, yelling "Yes your highness!" They got ready to break up, officers walking towards Steno.

Princess Luna was nervous about speaking, still unused to being in command. She leaned towards her right-hoof pony and whispered, “How was that, General?”

“Very good, Princess. If I may…”

“Of course.”

“Soldiers of Equestria! I warned you when we first came here, and I shall warn you again; today we bring the fight to the enemy! If any of you have reservations about going to battle, you may leave now! If you wish to stay, Princess Luna and I greatly appreciate your devotion to the values of our once great kingdom; a kingdom that I hope will rise again! Bear in mind however, if you should choose to stay, I cannot guarantee you will survive, but I can guarantee that if you are struck down, a thousand ponies will rise to avenge you, and honor your sacrifice! Dismissed!"

Another salute-wave came on, this time followed by a "Sir yes sir!" Again the crowd began to break. By 8 o'clock everypony was either in a truck or ready for takeoff, each given a gun and ammo. Captain Dash gathered with her unit, the wonderbolts. She flew up, spotting the first trucks starting to leave.

Princess Luna flew up beside her, smiling at the nervous, unsure look on Rainbow's face. "Don't worry, we all have butterflies, so to speak. I'm new to this myself, but look confident for your unit."

"Thanks, Princess. I'm just...I mean... the wonderbolts! I get to lead the Wonderbolts into battle! What if I mess up, I'm..."

"Remember your training. Cloudrunner is a good teacher. You shall not disappoint."

"Yes Princess." Rainbow Dash's face became resolute. Luna flew up over all the other airponies.

"We all stay close to the convoy! No going off the path. If we spot any scouts, we shoot them down, indiscriminately. Understood?”

All the pegasi confirmed in unison.

"Excellent. We should be near Canterlot by nightfall."

Rainbow Dash looked around her at her lieutenant Spitfire and the rest of the wonderbolts. "You heard the Princess! Stay close to the trucks. Down!"

An hour or so passed. Trees and streams flew by as the convoy persisted in earnest. The pegasi remained low to the ground, always vigilant for any Republic sentries. One slip up and it was all over. This thought found itself within Rainbow's mind. She veered over to the Princess.

"Princess, um Steno said the enemy was on the move, right?"

"Correct. That is why we had to leave when we did."

"Where are they coming from then? What direction?

"Cloudrunner tells me they've created a line of armies to sweep across the country, covering all the ground they can to find us."

"Then won't we run into them?"

"He says they aren't going into the mountains. The one gap in their battle line. That is why we are heading for the mountain passes."

"What? Isn't that dangerous?" Rainbow knew she could fly over it easily, but her concerns were for the trucks on the ground.

"For a large army like the ones they've sent to attack our fort. But for a small force such as ours, it will cause delays, yes, but no large problem."

"I hope the General knows what he's doing." Dash couldn't help but feel a bit anxiety. If a rock slide decided to happen, it was all over. She knew all too well how dangerous a mountain could be, after her excursion with the other Elements of Harmony to stop a sleeping dragon.

"As long as we stay in a single-file line, and quiet. That is an order, young Captain." Rainbow Dash was about to return to her squadron until the ever lonely royal pony asked her to stay. The pegasus obliged, for she too enjoyed the company, and would still be too shy to speak to her idols-turn-subordinates. It was so unlike her.

"So uh princess, what's a dragonroaster? Yesterday some raiders brought in three of them."

"Ah yes, a 'dragonroaster'. It's a really large bomb, packed with so many explosives that they say it could burn a dragon up, which are very heat-resistant, as I'm sure you know. We built some before Canterlot fell, but we didn't use them right. Now surely those rebels have started manufacturing some. Ironic how our own weapon would be turned against us."

"So you built a bomb that could cook a dragon alive?! Wow that must be a powerful chunk of steel! How...how can a pegasus carry one?"

"It is difficult to carry, as multiple airponies are necessary. A great amount of coordination is needed, not to mention high wingpower. Some of my military staff suggested that made them too cumbersome, and tactically worthless. But now we have a chance to use them again....on Canterlot." The Princess remembered that to win this upcoming battled, Canterlot and it's magnificent castle would have to be damaged. "I cringed at the thought of harming my beloved city."

"Well don't worry! We can always rebuild it, right?"

"Yes I suppose we can. I shouldn't get so emotional. I'm a warrior!"

"I can't wait to see you in battle." Rainbow Dash laughed, imagining a large alicorn in shining armor, ruling the battlefield. It was like something from a fantasy novel. How cool!

"Anymore questions, Rainbow Dash?" Luna's question snapped the smaller blue pony back into reality.

"Uh...hm....yeah...er...yes! What's a railway gun? And why could we use it?"

"It's just a big gun mounted on a train car. It looks impressive but suffers abhorrently from lack of mobility. We have no railroads to use; therefore it was useless to us. Besides it'd be too heavy to move."

"How big of a gun?" Rainbow Dash was such a tomboy sometimes, recently enjoying seeing large guns fire. During her training, she would watch ponies practice at the range with rifles and machine guns, and even a few cannons. Such raw power, she thought, as she looked at the craters created by mortars several hundred yards away.

"The kind of gun they put on battleships." Princess Luna herself was also a fan of big ordnance, much to her sister's chagrin. Weapons were not becoming of somepony who was suppose to set an example.

"...wow. Simply, wow. Speaking of battleships, Equestria has a fleet, right?"

"We used to have a navy, yes."

"Where'd did it go?"

"When the rebels captured all our naval bases, so too went our navy. One admiral surrendered her fleet to prevent it from being bombed, killing everypony on board. She was captured and likely executed..." She bowed her head for a brief moment.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Don’t' worry about it! Anyway would you like to hear about our ships? I've memorized everything about them and just would love to share, unless you think you should return to your squadron?"

"Are you kidding?? I'd love to hear about that stuff!" Battleships, cruisers, tanks, guns. They were all cool to the somewhat-alarmingly gun-enthusiast pegasus.

"Well alright! There was this cruiser we used, we had about 12 of them. Anyway..."

Grounded. The sky taunted the old warpony, constantly reminded of the life he once led in the clouds. His own name could sometimes tear him down. The General would run through the clouds no more. That is why he sat in the front of the truck, away from the opening caused by the vehicle bed and the canvas covering. He didn't wish his view to be full of pegasi, passively flaunting what Cloudrunner had lost.

Most days it didn't bother him. In fact, seeing his young Rainbow Dash excel so much gave him a feeling he hadn't felt in a long time; bliss, happiness, the sensation that everything was right in the world. Watching her, he reminisced about his own youth.

His mother encouraged him as he beat his tiny wings like a bumblebee. He could only hover for a few seconds then. He cried, only to be comforted by his smiling mom, bringing him a fresh apple and cider, straight from orchard somewhere near the Everfree forest. At night, as his mother tucked him in, the colt would ask about the world, why he was different than his friends, or why the older ponies disliked them both. And occasionally he would ask about his dad. Where was he? Why wasn't he there to see his only son learn to fly? Did he not love his colt?

"When somepony leaves out of love, then you know it's real." She never gave a full answer; only a cryptic reply. Cloudrunner stayed up late many nights thinking about what she said. He didn't mind that he was different, until some of the neighbor kids began to call the future General some very odd names like "half-breed" and "dodo". His personal favorite was "Outlier", coined by a particularly nasty bully after a math lesson in statistics.

He had heard of a small orange pegasus who had the same problem; the one of not being able to truly fly. He very much wanted to meet her, but it never came to pass. Though it seemed she was not the target of bullies, not as he had been.

But those days were over. And today Cloudrunner felt very distraught. Soon he would have to lead ponies into battle again; but with one change. His only contribution could be from a war tent. The "Night Phantom" was no more.

Lost in his thoughts, half-asleep, the driver shook him with his hoof. "Wake up sir! We've reached the pass."

The sudden motion jerked the pegasus awake. "Hu...what? Oh yes! Right, well everypony who's driving knows to remain single file. The pegasi will maintain their shadowing. Brake." No sooner said than done, the truck stopped, and the General hopped out, signaling to the Princess.

She swooped in, followed by Rainbow Dash.

"Yes General? Why have we stopped?"

"Princess, if it would be alright with you, I ask that you fly to all trucks and tell them to be very quiet. Same with the pegasi. Any loud noises could cause a rock slide, you know."

"I'd be happy to, Cloudrunner. Come Captain!" They flew off, mission in hand.

"Much obliged, your highness." With that he climbed back inside his vehicle and told the driver to continue. The unicorn turned towards he CO.

"Why not just use the radio, sir?" He pointed to the communication setup on the dashboard.

"We've invested too much time in this little endeavor to throw it all away by using the radio. True all the channels are synchronized, but I will not risk our broadcast being intercepted. I believe I told everypony to never use the radio.”

"Ohh, right" The driver was embarrassed, but thankfully his blush was obscured by his orange coat.

The convoy began its trek through the pass, appropriately and frighteningly named Pony-Maimer Pass. The edges of the cliffs were lined with unstable-looking boulders. Everypony hoped with all their might those rocks would stay where they were. The pass had claimed thousands before. Cloudrunner was going to make it certain a thousand more weren't added to that tally today.