A Twinkle of Hope

A Twinkle of Hope - Chapter 6

"What an awful dream." thought Rainbow Dash as she awoke. She had a nightmare the previous night, in which Ponyville had been destroyed and her friends...but it wasn't a dream. Often times she would awake in the morning feeling like the whole war had been a bad dream, only to quietly cry. But this time was different. Tears poured from her eyes, and before long the sheets of her bed were soaked...wait! Her bed? The element of loyalty gazed around the room she was in. There she sat in a white bed, which was very uncomfortable. The walls and ceiling were a dull green color, and seemed to sag like they were made of...fabric! She was in a tent. But why?

She panicked in her mind as thoughts raced through her head. Who had placed her here? For what? Were they going to kill her?

Just then a unicorn walked in, his coat was pleasant cobalt and his mane had a light blue sheen. Rainbow noticed he wore a white coat. This must be the doctor. Before Dash could unleash her army of questions, the doctor opened his mouth.

"Ah, you're up. Good morning! I'm Dr. Mend. I'm a bone specialist. Anyway your right wing had a light fracture, nothing severe. Thanks to my magic you'll be back ready to fly in a day or two." Rainbow glanced at the bandaged wing. "I'm sure you're wondering where you are."

Rainbow Dash replied in the most condescending way she could. "Of course I want to know! Are you with the Republic's Army? Are you here to tell me I'm going to die? why should I trust you? Why..."

She was cut off by a gruff, deep voice coming from the tent entrance. "If we wanted you dead, we'd be burying you right now, if that. Why bother fixing you're wing, hm?"

The voice came from an older looking pony, walking to the right side of Rainbow's bed. He appeared to have a limp in his right hind leg. This stallion was tall, perhaps almost as tall as Princess Luna, and easily as well built as Big Macintosh. His charcoal coat and navy mane were covered by a dark blue military uniform and hat. This pony was obviously important. But what most intimidated the cyan pegasus was his left eye; it was covered by a black eye patch, shadowed by a vertical scar. He cleared his throat.

"We mean you no harm here, girl. You seem to have had a run in with some rather forceful ponies. You’re lucky I came and decided to pick you up in front of our little fort. You gotta name, rainbow-mane?"

The young mare responded as if insulted. "I am not gonna give you my name or any other information until you tell me who you are and what this place is!"

The doctor felt he was no longer needed and went to check on the other ponies in the tent. The large pegasus stared at Rainbow Dash with his good eye.

"Very well miss. My name is Cloudrunner. They call me General here. This place you've been fortunate enough to wind up in is the last stronghold of the Equestrian military. Here the remnants of the Kingdom's armed forces take refuge and train, for the...counteroffensive"

"So...this is like a freedom fighter camp?" Rainbow felt a tad less uneasy.

"Precisely. We've been here ever since Canterlot fell. The Rebels don't know our exact location, but I'm sure they've got us pretty much figured out. Every so often we shoot down some scouts flying overhead, and place them far away from here. I imagine that has bought us some time."

"So I'm in no immediate danger?"

"No, ma'am."

"What a relief!" Dash sighed and fell onto her bed, before instantaneously rising up. "Wait! So you're General Cloudrunner?? THE General Cloudrunner? As in 'the fastest Wonderbolt ever?' "

The General seemed to delight in his reputation. "Haha! Yes that was me, before I got a promotion."

"You were mind-bogglingly fast! They called you the 'Night Phantom' because you know how your coat would blend with the night sky. I'm a huge fan! Could you show me some of your moves?"

The grey pegasus suddenly looked saddened by her request. "I COULD have, once."

"What do you mean?"

"Look." The General raised his right wing up, stretching it out as far as it could go. It was a large, wondrous wing that would have cast a majestic silhouette in the sky. But something was missing. There was only one. "I'm afraid I'm...grounded."

Rainbow Dash's face shifted to an empathetic expression. she had broken or injured her wings several times before, but they always healed up good as new. She never thought about losing her ability to fly.

After a moment of silence, the cyan pegasus spoke. "I'm...I'm sorry about that."

"Life goes on."

"What happened?"

"Information like that will be revealed on a need-to-know basis, rainbow-mane." His tone livened up. "Anyway, I told you who I am, so now it's your turn."

"Oh, yeah. My name is uh Rainbow Dash."

"Where do you come from? What did you do there?"

"I'm originally from Cloudsdale, but I've been living in Ponyville for several years now. I'm a weather pony."

"You live in Ponyville? Hmmmm" He trailed off in thought. "My condolences, miss Dash."

Rainbow started reminiscing about what had happened at the town last night. She had a million questions now for the grey pony standing at her bedside.

"Why did they do that...they said we were going to be evacuated. They killed so many...and.." She gasped, her eyes tearing up again. "My friends! What happened to them?"

Cloudrunner hesitated for a moment, then began, "I'm afraid to say that whatever those...Rebels told you, it was a complete lie. But i'm honestly shocked to hear they would stoop to such levels...taunting survival like that..."

"Why did they do it?!" Rainbow Dash restrained her temper.

"Because Ponyville was something special. You see, Miss Dash, the captured towns saw Ponyville as a sort of beacon of hope. Silently they dreamed of an Equestria where fear did not rule them. The Republic could not have that. In that symbolic act they destroyed the town, crushing all hope with it."

"And my friends?"

"War prizes...or dead."

"Wha...?"

"The population served little purpose to those brutes. The strong stallions could work in factories or farms, and toil for the 'good of the state'. But the weaker ponies were simply killed on sight. Foals are given over to the state houses for indoctrination. And mares...awarded to loyal soldiers...it's disgusting. Broken and beaten, they parade the capture through streets to tell other ponies what happens to those who dare to dream. Ponyville's people were raised to false notions of peaceful integration, and when that hope was about to be fulfilled, the enemy took it all away, and everything they loved. Now not only broken and beaten, the ponies also revel in absolute despair."

"No...No...It can't be... How could anypony be that cruel? How could anypony do that to my friends?"

"I ask myself that question every damn day."

"So you think you can stop it?"

"That's why we're all here. We've spent the last five month’s training whoever wanders into the fort, military or civilian. We engage in guerilla tactic, blowing up railroads, sabotaging factories and bases, planting mines, whatever we can do to harass them while we prepare."

"And when do you think you'll be ready?"

"The plans have been drawn up. We execute them in one month's time."

"Is there room in this army for me, General?" Rainbow Dash felt a new sensation of duty and loyalty to her friends. She was going to help then, if it was the last thing she would do.

"It’s hard enough to feed everypony here. This ain't a refugee camp. You wanna stay, you gotta earn your keep. You either become a soldier, or we gotta send you off."

The element of loyalty was tired of running. "When do I start?"

The General smiled. Unbeknownst to Rainbow, he was anticipating having the pegasus join his ranks. "When that wing is useful again, Cadet Dash" He saluted her.

Rainbow saluted back. "Sir yes sir!"