From One Civil War to Another (Old Version)

Chapter 3

The Everfree forest wasn’t the safest of places to be in, but Applejack knew that it was the place where the Lunar Guards were least likely to go. With thick foliage and fog to shroud them and difficult paths to follow, the Lunar Guard would surely have a difficult time chasing them down. Even though Nightmare Moon could easily pass through such terrain, it didn’t mean that her bat ponies could.

Taking careful steps and trying to see through the fog that was beginning to envelop them, Applejack tried to suppress a chill that run down her spine. Before this, she had only been to the Everfree once, and the memories she gained from that first experience weren’t pleasant once.

She had tried her best forgetting them, keeping it shut in a deep corner in her mind, but once in a while they just wanted to come out, in flashes that reminded her of the moment when everything changed, the moment when she had failed to save Equestria.

Although she knew that it was Nightmare Moon that changed everything in Equestria, but a small part of her kept on nagging her mind that it could have all been prevented if it wasn’t for her. That small part of her kept on bombarding her with ideas that it was her fault, her decision that caused this all. And in a way, it all seemed to be true.

It was she who told the others to leave Twilight alone in the room, so that she could concentrate; it was her left Twilight alone in that room, vulnerable to any attack. If they were in that room, then they could have protected her and the Elements from Nightmare Moon and stop the crazed alicorn from taking over Equestria.

But no, they weren’t there to help. Instead, they left the room, thinking that Twilight needed space, and it was Applejack who told them to do so. Applejack thought that she needed time alone to figure out how the Elements worked, so she led them all out.

Now she was left to pay for her mistake, as she remembered Twilight’s scream, as she and the Elelments were teleported away by Nightmare Moon to an unknown location. Despite their best attempts at locating her, searching every corner of the castle, she and the rest of the girls couldn’t find Twilight.

The next time she saw Twilight was during Nightmare Moon’s coronation, where everypony was required to attend. During that time, she caught a glimpse of Twilight, who placed inside a small cage and labeled a traitor against the crown.

At one point, she remembered Twilight looking out and staring back at her, sadness in her eyes. Applejack felt guilty remembering the look in her eyes, as shame filled her body. Despite only knowing Twilight for a short time, the small adventure they had seemed to form a bond between the small party, as if they managed to become close friends in that short amount of time. So when she saw Twilight encaged and helpless, something inside her wanted to save Twilight from the prison she was in. But she could do nothing but just look away, for she too was in trouble.

Luckily for her and the others, they left off easy. But that didn’t mean that she wasn’t after what happened. Being constantly watched was nothing compared to eternal imprisonment in a cage, but it was the shame she carried that hurt her most.

She had failed Twilight and she had failed Equestria.

Applejack always wondered what could have happened if they stayed in the room to protect her or if they were fast enough to save her. But those thoughts were often washed away, as she knew that she couldn’t change such things. Events of the past were fixed and couldn’t be changed.

“Applejack…” The sound of somepony calling her name pushed her away from her deep thoughts, as she turned her head to find that Rarity was now trotting beside her. Looking at the white unicorn, she could see a worried look plastered on her face and she began to wonder what could have caused it. “…we might have a little problem.”

“A problem, what do you mean?”

“Well, its Rainbow Dash…she’s…she’s still back there in Ponyville.” Rarity said.

“Back at Ponyville?” Applejack said before pausing. “What is she doing there? Didn’t I tell everypony to pack up and head out?”

She then paused again before stopping and turning her head around to look at the small group of ponies with her. There were only over a dozen ponies with them, a small group but a reliable one. Each member had an important role and use for the group and having to have one left behind could lead to a disaster for all of them.

“Yes, I know…” Rarity said, nodding her head. “Big Mac told me to help gather as many ponies in the group and lead them towards you. But when I saw Rainbow Dash, she just didn’t listen. I tried to convince her that she should come with us, but when she heard the part about the Lunar Guard coming, she got all determined and all, declaring that she would stay behind and hold them off, while we make our get away.”

“Hold them off…” Applejack said, thinking about the viability of it. “…but, she does know that it isn’t necessary, right? We had more than enough time to make our get away and with such a small group, sneaking out of town would be easy. Staying behind and making a ‘last stand’ would be pointless and just attract unnecessary attention.”

“I know, I know, but you know how she is, acting all heroic and such, as she tries to portray the romantic style of war. I think it’s her way of saying; I want to redeem myself from my past mistake.”

Applejack nodded her head, knowing that she wasn’t the only one who blamed herself for the capture of Twilight and the loss of the Elements. Like her, Rainbow Dash wanted to do her best to return thing to what they were, even if it meant risking everything she had.

But right now, no matter how selfless and heroic the act Rainbow Dash was doing, Applejack knew that it was a foolhardy and reckless decision that wasn’t necessary.

“She thinks that staying behind and holding them off would aid our escape…” Applejack said, shaking her head once more. “…but in reality, she just doing more harm than help.”

“Rarity, take over while I’m gone…” Applejack mumbled as she began to move away, heading towards the direction of the town.

“Where are you going?” Rarity called.

“To fetch that foolish mare!” Applejack said, before disappearing into the fog.

Rainbow Dash hid within the apple trees of Sweet Apple Acres, looking through the leaves to see the figures of bat ponies landing near the red barn. With their bat like wings, grey fur, and dark armor, the small force of bat ponies looked like a menacing force. But no force was menacing of fearsome enough to deter her, as she knew exactly what she needed to do.

Smirking as her plan formulated in her head, she kept her eyes fixed on the bat ponies, as she mapped out the path she would take.

Wanting to distract them and attract their attention, Rainbow Dash planned to zip by them and lead them away, taking them on a wild chase to nowhere. Although she knew that bat ponies were fast fliers, she was confident that nopony, half bat or not, could outfly her, for she was the fastest flyer in Equestria.

She knew her abilities and she knew it well. With an advantage in flying, she knew that she could out maneuver them and make them lose her trail, leaving them with nothing but exhaustion and wasted time.

Although she knew that this plan could still be risky, because of the possibility of having more bat ponies than she could see, she believed that what she was doing was a necessary risk. For she was doing it for the other, for the others who needed to get away. She was going to give them time, time to get as far away as possible, lowering the possibility of capture. The possibility of having somepony she knew behind bars, because she didn’t do anything to stop it.

Ever since the incident in which Twilight got captured, Rainbow Dash made a pledge not to let anypony she knew be left helpless when faced against an enemy.

Remembering that awful time, she felt a pint of shame and failure hit her, as she knew that she could have done more. She should have been faster, fast enough to pick up Twilight and rescue her and the Elements.

But instead, she was slow and failed to do any of those.

So know, she was determined to prove to the world that she was not going to fail her friend by not giving all she’s got.

Returning her gaze back towards the bat ponies, she watched as the small group began to disperse to cover more area. One group went to the humble wooden, the other went towards the chicken coop, while another went inside the barn to see what they could find in there.

Rainbow Dash gave a small murmur of thanks when she saw nopony heading towards her, as she knew an early sighting could complicate her plans.

Keeping an eye on their positions, she planned to circle around all of them; making sure they notice her, before leading them away for the chase of their lives. If all went according to her plan, then she would be able to lose them after the chase and hopefully sneak her way and find were the other were.

Flexing her wings and setting her mind, Rainbow Dash got ready to fly off and buzz them all, when suddenly, from behind, the soft sound of hooves approaching made her turn her head to see who was approaching her.

Although she was able to hear the hooves, the sound of each step was careful and nearly quiet, as if a pony was sneaking by. Turning her head to face it, Rainbow Dash saw a familiar looking orange earth pony, who was shifting behind trees, concealing herself as she made her way up towards her.

From the tired expression on her face and the weary movement, Rainbow Dash knew that the pony must have gone a long way to get to her, for nopony would be this tired from sneaking alone.

“Rainbow Dash, what in the name of Celestia has your feather brain conceived off now?” Applejack grumbled, annoyance clear in her voice.

“Applejack…” Rainbow Dash said, looking down at the earth pony. “…what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with the other in the Everfree forest?”

“What I’m doing here is picking you up and getting your flank in the Everfree with us. Like, what were you thinking? You know that staying behind and holding of the Lunar Guard is a pointless exercise.”

“I know…” Rainbow Dash said, waving her off. “…that’s why I planned of distracting them, not fighting them. Now if you excuse me, I got a mission to accomplish.”

Opening her wings, she looked out at the path in front of her and prepared to fly. But just before she could push herself up and towards the sky, she felt the quick pain of somepony pulling her down, as Applejack bit her, preventing her from flying and almost making her slip.

“Hey!” She muttered. “Let me go! How do you expect me to fly when you’re keeping me down?”

“T..hat’s b..ecause I d…on’t plan on l…etting you f…ly.” Applejack muttered, with Rainbow Dash’s tail in her mouth.

“Well you have to let me go.” Rainbow Dash said, trying to tug back her tail. “Because unless you want to fly with me, you’d have to let go.” She was already getting annoyed by this encounter and she wished to do nothing right now but fly.

“N…no!” Applejack replied, with a sound that seemed more like a growl.

“I said…” Rainbow Dash said, raising her voice. “…let g-“

Before she could finish her sentence, a loud call came from the other side of the farm, from the large barn. Bringing her eyes towards it, Rainbow Dash saw one of the bat ponies, who was glaring towards their direction.

“Hey, you, what are you doing over there!”

Immidiately, Rainbow Dash looked down towards Applejack, who was looking up at her. Their eyes locked for a moment as they both knew that they were caught.

“Run?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Run.” Applejack said, letting go of her tail and galloping away.

Rainbow Dash followed suit, flying close behind her.

Lt. Dawn of the Lunar Guard entered the barn and looked at the large object that they found inside. Quite smaller compared to most bat ponies, Dawn had to look up and marvel at gigantic machine in front of her. Made out of brass, different metals, and a large assortment of other materials, the large machine took up most of the space in the barn, as it stood out from all the other objects inside.

Looking up towards the roof, she saw the gigantic hole, which was probably caused by this strange machine.

“Well, at least we can report that it wasn’t some kind of powerful unicorn that caused this.” She murmured to herself, knowing that the Queen would probably be worrying about a new contender who wanted her throne.

When she first saw the beam of light breaking in the sky, she first thought that it was some kind of project the Queen was working on. But when she realized that it was coming from Ponyville and not from Canterlot, she began to bring more attention to it.

Curious, she kept her attention to it, watching the beam as it created an interesting spectacle for her to watch. The beams of light were quite intriguing and fir a moment, she just found herself watching and wondering

So she was actually happy when her platoon was chosen to investigate the strange the disturbance, as it would quench her curiosity on what caused the strange light show.

Moving closer and examining it closely, she could see the scratch and bents all over the machine, as it looked banged up from some kind off encounter with a blunt object. She guessed that the pony who made it tried their best to destroy the machine, hoping that whoever found it wouldn’t find an operating version of it. But from the bad job done at destroying the machine, it would only be a matter of time before the Lunar Guard would be employing it for their own uses.

Turning her attention away from the machine and onto the other guards with her, she watched as the members of her unit moved swiftly, inspecting every corner and space for any sign of the ponies who made this.

If there was anything hiding or anypony hiding here, she was sure her bat ponies would find them.

Moving away from the machine and trotting towards the barn door, she looked out to view the large apple farm. Despite having some withered apple trees, the apple farm still looked productive as ever. This place was one of the lucky ones, as Dawn remembered being posted in town where their farms that have crops and trees that have all but died down.

Being a fan of any fruit that was sweet, it brought a tear to her eye when she saw so many promising fruit trees die. But such is the life in this new world.

At least they didn’t have to be stuck back in Shady Hollows, which used to be the only place bat ponies could roam. Before the return of the Queen, bat ponies were usually discriminated by other ponies, due to their mysterious nature and different looks.  Trapped at their homes at Shady Hollows, they usually roamed the dark forest there, longing for company that wouldn’t accept them.

But now, with the Queen of the Night in power, they were free to roam wherever they want. Some f the grateful ponies, who were happy to see her return, joined the ranks of her new army, the army of the shadows.

Dawn too was happy to see that bat ponies were now free to explore around them, instead of being isolated from the world, but there was always one problem that nagged at her. And it was the fact that ponies were still scared of them.

Ruled by the Queen or not, there was no doubt in her mind that the pony population was still scared of bat ponies. Right now, they just tried to hide their fear, not wanting any reprisal from the bat ponies. But deep inside, she could sense the scared souls within.

She had joined the Lunar Guard to serve and protect the ponies of the land, in hopes of keeping things safe and protected. She was told the Nightmare Moon has finally returned to bring equality for all the races and rid Equestria from evil. So far, she had already seen the return of some equality, as bat ponies were free to roam once more. In hopes of helping fulfill the second, Dawn went up and gained a commission in her nation to help serve and protect its citizens. But if all the ponies were scared of them, then how could she protect them?

Sighing, she shook her head and returned her attention back to the mission. There was plenty of time o wonder about all of those things, but right now, she was on duty.

Looking out towards the apple trees, she began scanning the large farm once more, when a small blur of orange caught her eye.

With sharper eyesight compared to the other pony races, she was able to focus her gaze towards the blur to get a clearer view of what it was. There, she found an earth pony, who was seemingly hanging onto something and giving an angry gaze towards something she could not see.

Curious as to why a pony was there, she cleared her throat and bellowed in the loudest voice she can do.

“Hey, you, what are you doing over there!”