March 2nd

The skies were finally clear. Winter had passed in its entirety, the snow had been removed by both magic and mundane means and a warm spring had begun in earnest. Canterlot was making the most of the season with several dry days at the perfect temperature for everypony. A positive side effect that only pegasi could appreciate was that spring brought more thermal currents into the air, making it a lot easier to simply spread their wings and glide to wherever the winds may take them. For Rainbow Dash, she was simply making the most of them to lazily circle over the city and have a few minutes to herself.

Even she needed the time off right now. Though her family issues had lessened, the increased pressure within the EDF was more than making up for it. Cipher had said that he felt everypony was close to being ready for deployment, which meant training had been intensified again over the last few days. She could understand it though, in a way she was going up against the same scale of threats she had faced back in her younger days, when the Elements of Harmony had been the country's first and last line of defence. If Task Force Harmony had existed during the changeling invasion of the city below her, they probably would have been sent against the bugs in some capacity before it reached Canterlot.

They'd probably be involved in dealing with some of the larger scale monsters too, which still roamed the fringes of Equestria and occasionally moved deeper. Still, she wasn't quite the same mare as she had been back then and these few minutes to simply reflect and relax, high above the troubles of the world, had been needed more than she realised. She knew she wasn't the only one who needed such breaks as well.

After all, she'd got the idea for this from seeing Flash Sentry do it.

Rainbow's wings folded in slightly and she began to drop altitude, skimming a small cloud as she did. Another round of combat analysis was set to start soon and if she timed it right, she could land straight in the training grounds. Her eyes scanned over the city, checking that everything was calm on the ground and in the air. It was mid-morning and the streets were filled with shoppers and tourists, though everywhere Rainbow looked she could tell that everything was going well for everypony. As her gaze moved back to the defence force headquarters though, something new caught her eye. A glint on the roof, something reflecting the rays of Celestia's sun that hadn't been there the last time she'd looked.

Curiosity rose within her and she dropped faster, heading for the launch pad since it was on the same part of the roof. She landed quickly and looked over at the former glimmer, realising now that it was a small shield spell. Sitting in the center of it was Aurora, staring out over the city and onto the grassland that lay to the southwest, the silhouette of Ponyville just visible in the distance. Rainbow stretched her legs slightly as she stepped onto the roof and over to the shield. What little she'd read about this kind of magic, it was safe to make physical contact with the spell. With that knowledge, she gently tapped on the shield, silently thankful not to see her hoof melt or anything. It had the intended effect though as Aurora looked round at her and let his magic fade.

"Hey kid. What're you doing up here?" Rainbow asked as soon as she could step closer.

"Just trying to be alone with my thoughts." He replied simply, though his body language became more relaxed in her presence. She sat down next to him, looking out over the same view, her eyes briefly locking on the spot she knew her home was, just out of sight.

"Yeah, we all need some time like that right now. We're this close to being a full special forces team now, but we can't afford to burn out."

"Easier for you, you get a good word every so often," Aurora replied, his voice colder than she'd ever heard it before. Almost as soon as he'd said it, he tensed up and looked away. The comment hung awkwardly between them for several seconds before he sighed and looked back at his teammate. "Rainbow Dash, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, you can ask me anything." Rainbow replied, shifting in place to get more comfortable. Aurora took a few breaths, as if summoning the courage to get his thoughts out of his head, before looking straight at her.

"Do you think I should be part of Task Force Harmony?"

"...What?" She couldn't think of what else she could say right now. The look in his eye was enough to tell her that he was serious about the question though. There had to be some underlying reason for it, even if he'd been frazzled lately it hadn't seemed enough to warrant such a question being asked. She decided to try and go for the tactful approach. "What's brought this on? You know you can talk to me."

"Well, errm. You, you promise not to talk to anypony else about it?"

"Hey, talking to the Element of Loyalty, remember? You know I wouldn't do anything to hurt my friends." Rainbow told him reassuringly, giving a good-natured nudge with her elbow. Aurora glanced over at her and managed a small chuckle, relaxing slightly.

"Yeah. Yeah that's true," He commented as he lay down, dangling his front hooves over the edge of the rooftop. "Okay, so, the thing is...I, don't know well I'm fitting in, or how the commander thinks of me. I kept track of how many times he gave any of us positive reinforcement over the last week. Even Bulwark was praised twice and he had a really bad patch, yet one pony didn't get so much as a well done. Me."

Rainbow looked down slightly as she thought it over. He had a point, she couldn't remember the last time Cipher had praised the younger unicorn. Well, she could, but he hadn't seemed to have registered it at the time. Beyond that though, even during the screwups the others made Cipher had tried to be reassuring. As for why, she couldn't answer that. If nothing else, she could try and cheer him up while she was here. When he glanced down awaiting a response, she put a wing out and wrapped it round his side.

"That does sound odd, can't deny that. I can tell you though, that there are more ponies on the team that want you here than there are that don't. Water Flare really likes you for starters, sees you as a fun stallion with a good heart. She told me as such and I've no reason to doubt her, she looks up to me with as much reverence as she would Princess Celestia. Bulwark and Flash Sentry, they know a hard worker when they see one and we've all seen you outperforming us in tactics and magic. They've got your back too. Healing Wave, she's told you her thoughts herself. As for me, would I be trying to help you out if I didn't want you hanging around? Cipher's the only pony I can't speak for, but you've got a lot of friends who would want to fight alongside you any day."

Aurora slowly looked down at the wing around him, then back up at Rainbow, his eyes paling and his horn glowing as he felt for authenticity. Rainbow didn't even blink at it anymore, she knew he only needed a second to tell she'd been speaking from the heart. Compared to the drained, worn down look he'd been wearing before, once his magic faded there was a more focused air around him, a picture of determination.

"Thanks, Dash. I appreciate the vote of confidence," He replied simply, though more positively. With that done, he got up and made for the door back inside, his walk quicker than she'd expected. "Alright. Training starts soon, we'd better get moving."

"What're you gonna do?" Rainbow asked as she got up. She'd seen this kind of response enough times to know that something was wrong. Aurora stopped and looked back at her with a grin that he held for a little too long to be natural.

"I've just gonna show Cipher I'm good enough to be here."

Training began in earnest and Aurora found himself pitted against Water Flare again. The last time they had come together, the two of them had managed to keep going in hoof to hoof combat for a good ten minutes before both sides had tired out and a draw had been called. Everypony watching had a sense that there was going to be a clear winner this time though. Compared to his usual defensive, somewhat reluctant fighting style, Aurora was displaying far more aggression than anypony thought possible from the young prince. Cipher watched from the sidelines, pacing and occasionally barking out input. The others watched as well, feeling oddly uneasy at seeing their youngest teammate doing his best to, for lack of a better term, kick the crap out of Flare without remorse.

"Flow! I gave you that nickname because you keep moving, anticipate his movements and use your weight shifts!" Cipher shouted to Flare, silently gauging her reaction to the added pressure. To his silent satisfaction, she was managing to keep her composure in the face of everything being thrown at her, compared to the old Flare who likely would have been overwhelmed quickly in this situation. She was still having a hard time though, constantly stepping back and throwing parries to try and stave off the onslaught.

On the other side, Aurora was silent as he advanced again, using everything he'd learned to press the advantage. His movements were rapid, constantly shifting his position and closing down his opponent, leaving her open to his flurries of punches and body presses, sometimes even spinning round and outright bucking at Flare. Even so, every so often he'd sneak a glance sideways, always looking at Cipher and always getting the same stone-faced expression in response, which only drove him to up to up the ante further. As always, a number of other soldiers had gathered to watch, though many of them also seemed uneasy at what was coming across as less a training duel and more a massive outpouring of pent up frustration.

"What'd you think's wrong?" Flash commented to the others, never taking his eyes off the action, the look in them clearly showing he considered this a class action on how not to fight.

"He's trying too hard," Rainbow answered simply, getting some quizzical looks from the others. "Aurora's trying to prove himself to Cipher, though I'm not sure where he got the idea that this was the right way to do so." Even as she said it, Aurora pushed himself against Flare in an attempt to overbalance her, his horn barely missing her face. Unlike his first time he'd weaponized the appendage though, he had clearly been attempting to stab her.

"Poor kid. I know how that feels." Bulwark commented simply, though he didn't elaborate.

As their attention turned back to the fight, Water Flare finally managed to find an opening, twisting around Aurora's latest attack and bringing her right hoof up to hit him in the stomach before starting to move backward while he recoiled. Even as the blow made him stagger slightly, Aurora kept his focus on Flare and his horn lit up, the white aura appearing around the same leg that had struck him and locking it in place. With Flare stuck in place and fruitlessly attempting to get herself free, he rushed back up and swept her free front leg out from under her. His hoof went to her shoulder and he bore his weight down as his magic faded, leaving him free to slam her into the ground hard enough to wind the mare. With the finishing blow dealt, Aurora straightened up and waited for Cipher's evaluation.

"Aurora! I explicitly said this was a no magic engagement!" Cipher shouted as he stepped onto the field, watching the younger stallion scowl and turn away. "You can't just disregard everything you've been taught out of emotion, an opponent fighting to kill would have torn you apart for that performance! How do you expect to be able to defend anypony like that?"

"Like..." Aurora had his back to Cipher, staying tensed in place. The look on his face had shifted again, making one or two of the watching ponies in front of him take a step back and for Flare to quickly pull herself away. His horn flared to life again as he started to swing around to face his commander, though before he completed the movement there was a flash and he teleported to straight in front of him with a shout. "THIS!"

He used the momentum of the turn to swing his hoof up and before anypony could react, he slugged Cipher square in the left side of his face with all his strength. The blow was hard enough to knock the earth pony clean off his hooves and down to the ground with a crash. For several seconds the only sound in the grounds came from Aurora's panting, then he stopped and froze when he realised that Cipher wasn't getting up, or even moving. Everypony else had had similar reactions, several of them with dropped jaws. Healing Wave was the first to move, running out to check on Cipher, followed closely by the rest of the team.

"Well, didn't see that coming." Wave muttered as she started working. Cipher didn't look too good, still breathing but otherwise unmoving and with quite a bit of blood running from his mouth.

"What ha...Oh. Oh sweet Celestia..." Flare said with shock as she made it over, still getting her breath back as she stared at Aurora in surprise.

"Don't freak out, he's still alive," Wave clarified as she put her magic to work. "He's only been knocked out, might be missing a few teeth though." Even as she said it, Cipher started to stir again, opening his eye slightly and slowly letting his mind catch up with his body over what happened.

Aurora blinked slowly and looked down at his hoof, realising it was shaking slightly. It was only just sinking in, but he had crossed the line. He'd struck a superior in anger, with no justification. The shaking got worse, worry flooding him as he wondered just had badly he was going to be punished for this. Being kicked off the team would probably be getting off lightly, that was all he could think of right now. As he looked up again, Cipher was already getting himself back up into a sitting position, wiping the blood off his face as Wave started to see if he still had all his teeth in. The silence hung between them all, everypony wondering just what was going to happen next.

"Six years in the Royal Guard, sixteen in the EDF, up against the toughest things this world can throw at me. And I get taken down by a colt who got thrown in with the big guns," Cipher said before looking over at Aurora and smiling a genuine, if slightly bloodied, smile. "I'm proud of you."

"S-sir?" Aurora replied, caught off guard. After so much blood, sweat and tears getting here again, the rush of relief that he didn't seem to be in trouble hit him so quickly that he found himself speaking without thinking. "You err, you sure you're still alive, buddy?"

"Thats..." Cipher stared at him for a second before laughing, a genuinely-found-that-funny kind of laugh that made everypony present look at him in a mix of surprise and disbelief. "You butchered the phrasing but, I think I'm going to keep that as my nickname just for that. Glad to see you've still got that soul in you after all, think that's your nickname settled as well."

"So, you're not mad about that hit?" Flash said, asking out loud what everypony had been silently wondering.

"Well, can't say I approve of a low blow like that, but I'm not mad at you. It's kind of my fault in the first place," Cipher waited for Wave to finish her check before standing up, looking at Aurora apologetically. "I thought I needed to press you a little harder than the others, help you catch up, be able to fight like the rest of us. I know it's not so much in your nature and I've seen you only go all out when protecting those you care about, but I thought I could do it. I nearly broke you instead, thinking I couldn't back out once I'd started. A leader shouldn't force his stallions to bend so hard and, for doing that to you, I'm sorry."

"I err, ah," Aurora looked round at the others, gauging their reactions. None of them seemed angry, or even annoyed, at either of them, mostly they were still trying to process this the same as he was. "N-no worries. I'm sorry for...err. Healing Wave? How bad was it?"

"Not as bad as you fear," Wave replied, flashing a reassuring grin. "Sure you probably knocked every filling the boss has loose and could have done a lot more damage had you hit his lower jaw but...It's honestly not serious, but I'd say get a second opinion at the infirmary just to be safe."

"Yeah. Sorry for, all of that." Aurora grinned sheepishly, to which Cipher simply nodded and motioned for everypony to follow him back toward the barracks, looking back at them with a smile.

"Alright everypony, I think you've earned the rest of the day off. Dismissed." He told them before making his own way through the headquarters, headed for the command center. Part way there he saw a silver unicorn mare with a sash on her body. A messenger attached to the Logistics Branch, perfect, they could get what he wanted done while he got checked over. He walked up and placed a hoof on her shoulder, waiting for her to turn and salute him before nodding.

"Relay the following to the generals and the supreme commander please; Assessments complete, Colonel Cipher reports Task Force Harmony ready for deployment."

Author's Note

Sorry if this chapter feels kinda rough, editing was weaker than usual, blame my mood after having birthday plans fall through on the day before it. I'm not excusing my ineptitude, just providing context.