Aces High

Chapters

Change
Honor
Revolution
Knee Deep
A Shot In The Dark - Ditch

Change

Aces High

Chapter 1: A Change

“We shall fight in the air, we shall fight on the ground, we shall fight on the seas and oceans,” came the shouted oaths of dozens of ponies.

“We shall fight with great confidence and great strength in the air!” this part eliciting even grander shouts from the pegasi in attendance.

“We shall defend our homes, whatever the cost may be.” As custom, this part of the oath was said more solemnly, in reverence of those who had died for Equestria in the past.

“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on enemy grounds, we shall fight in the fields, and in the hills!” The volume was increasing rapidly in the confined space of the auditorium. Everypony bearing an honest and dedicated heart recalled the last part of the oath with clarity unlike anything before, and their excitement at finally being able to swear to it was plain to hear in the din filling the room.

“We shall never surrender!” came the final part of the oath, with an earsplitting roar issuing forth from every pony’s mouth.

The echo died out shortly after, leading to an unbearable silence in the room. Everypony stood tensely, unspeaking, simply staring at the pony on the single stage of the auditorium. The pony standing on the stage was everypony’s friend, their confidant, their mentor. Most importantly, he was their drill sergeant, Blindside.

Blindside stood unflinching throughout the entire oath, glowering at every single recruit. He had conditioned them, trained them, fully preparing them by giving them the knowledge and expertise it would take to fulfill their roles. In a short three months, this pony had turned even the laziest and least disciplined, the most out of shape and weakest among them, into the soldiers they were now. Sure, some of them had slipped through the cracks and dropped out of the program, unable to handle the stress of being yelled at, working tirelessly on obstacle courses, and being abused both physically and verbally.

Now, though, they were here at the final phase of development. All were ready, physically and mentally. This oath was all that had stood between these recruits and being full members of the Equestrian Royal Army. The road had been grueling, it always was with each new group, but the results could not be questioned in regards to success.

Still, he stood facing the anxious audience before him, glaring at them all. Maintaining the harsh stare, he began to smile. To an onlooker, the appearance was terrifying, an angry looking pony suddenly beaming widely. A few ponies wondered what malicious intent their sergeant harbored for them now, once they finally seemed free.

But Blindside’s expression softened as the troops began to visibly fidget, and through the devilish grin, laughter emerged, breaking the silence. At the unexpected noise, everypony loosened their joints and hard stares, instantly relieved. “Welcome to the Equestrian Royal Army fillies and colts. Your work has finally paid off.”

The young ponies all began to file out of the auditorium, all eager to celebrate their success, and all even more eager to find out their new roles the next morning. With that in mind, Blindside was surprised to find one pony unmoving. A particular cyan pony with a rainbow colored mane.

**********

I stayed in the room as everypony else began clearing out, soon to be celebrating their achievement back at the barracks. Still, I stood transfixed, pondering what had brought me to the point I was at now. Why had I given up on my Wonderbolt dream for this? And why, instead, had I joined the Royal Army?

The thought was stupid I told myself, shaking my head slowly as I directed my gaze towards the ground. Kind of late to turn around now, I’ve graduated after all. The dream of being in the Wonderbolts had been a foalish dream, immature and self-centered. Now, older, I understood that there was far more to my life than coveting ponies with the profession of being glorified showoffs. When the revelation had stricken me, I felt an unrelenting guilt at having wasted my talents for so many years. I set off almost immediately from Ponyville, flying straight to Canterlot as quickly as I could.

I barely said a word of farewell to all of my friends in Ponyville before leaving to sign up with the Equestrian Royal Army. I regretted not even having a decent chat with each before I left, and I truly wished I could have had some kind of keepsake, or at least guidance from each. I still maintained hope -and expectations- of being placed the Air Corps, since my skills would fit in perfectly there.

Honestly, I had expected a bare minimum of special treatment for being a hero already. However, the ‘special treatment’ I was faced with wasn’t quite what my expectations led me to envision. Being the ‘Big Hero of Equestria’ already - to put it in Blindside’s words - made me a target for everypony. Blindside had yelled louder, pushed me harder, and gave me the most menial tasks. Seriously, I almost lost it after the third ‘dust the hoof-lockers with those pretty feathered wings of yours’. I had lost it when one of the other recruits joked that all I was good for was relieving everypony else with a cool breeze every so often.

“PFC Rainbow! What are you doing standing here still!?” Blindside shouted as much as asked. The harshness of his voice was amplified by the echo of the now empty auditorium, startling me out of the self imposed revere. “Wha- what?” I began to say, but I quickly recovered. “I was just thinking about, you know what’s next.” I was lying right through my teeth, but a little white lie didn’t hurt anypony, and it was a reasonable enough excuse given the circumstances. “I would suggest you go join your squad in their celebration. Now I’m going to give you ten seconds before I buck your flank out of this room myself!”

In retrospect, the move to join the Royal Army had mostly been spurred on by my guilt at the time, and I could have simply tried to help out in Ponyville more. You know, at least performing the job of keeping the skies clear more dutifully that I normally had. But nopony ever said that Rainbow Dash was a disloyal pony, and I refused to leave the boot camp once I had signed on.

**********

True to a similar promise I made to Twilight years ago, I was out of the auditorium in ten seconds flat. I still hated being called ‘PFC Rainbow’, even though it was mostly my superiors saying it. Nevertheless, I preferred ‘Private Rainbow Dash’, or at the least ‘Private RD’. Anything but PFC Rainbow. The name just didn’t sound like it gave me the respect I deserved. I immediately took back the thought, considering it as wrong for the first time. “I don’t deserve anything yet. I have to prove myself to these ponies, and not by showing off.” I pondered aloud as I trotted back to the barracks for the last time.

Everypony else was enjoying themselves in the barracks, somepony having snuck in a bottle of champagne. ‘Several’, I thought as a cork flashed before my eyes as it was popped off of a bottle. Despite the turmoil that had dominated my mind just moments ago, I could feel my spirits being lifted immediately by the forty-nine other ponies of the training squad.

“Hey Dash, loosen up a bit, you look tense,” said an aqua colored pegasus pony off to my side. I had been surprised the day I had learned that the very same mare’s name was Marble. Honestly, despite the bag of spilled marbles as a cutie mark, I’m still amazed at how prophetic many pony’s names seemed to be. Regardless, there still stood the fact that marbles weren’t very… cool first off. The second reason to be surprised, directed more to the cutie mark, unless you have magical marbles, they’ll all fall through the clouds in Cloudsdale anyhow.

“Come on, we brought a whole case of champagne.” Marble revealed. As if in response, another cork rocketed through the air, narrowly avoiding the peak of my mane. “Sorry Rainbow Dash!” came a shout from somewhere in the crowd, followed by a giggle. Somehow, somepony was already drunk and firing off the champagne bottles for fun.

Off to the side, I could see a red plastic cup -classiness being of low concern- float up to eye level.

“And this one is for you, Dashie.”

A light grey unicorn with an odd red mane trotted up with a smirk, levitating the drink as he went. I let out a mental groan at the sight of the unicorn. Ugh… Firecracker.

Really, Firecracker was a generally good and trustworthy pony, if a bit odd. However, his one fatal flaw was a habit of hitting on every mare he met. To make matters worse, he hardly ever means it, and despite the fact that he often winds up with a black eye from a swift hoof to the face, he continues to do it for some unknown, though probably immature reason. With that in mind, I gave him a scalding glare as he insisted on speaking to me at the moment.

“Oh, the sweet smell of freedom!” he said, lifting his head up and deeply inhaling through his nostrils. “Yeah, well the only thing I smell is a burnt fuse. A dud.” I responded snidely. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to bring him down a peg.

“Oh, harsh Dashie. Really, that one just hurts my feelings it does.” he said mockingly, crossing his hoof over his heart. Firecracker, true to his name, had plans to join the demolition squad of the Engineering Corps.

“Really, try having a drink, lighten up a bit. This is our time to celebrate after all, seeing as how we’re all getting transferred to new squads tomorrow. Oh, and speaking of celebrating, how about joining me in my bunk tonight, I hear your barn door swings both w-” was all he managed to get out. I slapped both the cups out of the bastard’s levitation field, managing to splash champagne all over him. Comically, one of the cups remained hanging on his horn.

Nopony really noticed, or at least they didn’t care since they all knew Firecracker’s reputation. “Really now, that’s just a waste of good champagne Dashie. See you tonight then?” the pony teased. I stomped away, fuming at the buck’s relentless lecherousness. For good measure, I made several rude gestures at Firecracker while I walked away to other parts of the party. If anything, it was still impressive to pull off the motions, considering the lack of fingers.

Really, I had only managed to make a hoof-ful of new friends since joining the camp, and I attempted to mingle with the crowd until I could find them. Luckily, all four -yes, only four- of my friends were already together and chatting. I could see Marble, my only pegasus friend at the camp, bringing the other three drinks, using her wings as trays for the cups. The other three, two Earth ponies and a unicorn were named Ditch, Baluchi, and Cherry ‘Cherrynobyl’ Tresses respectively. I took a moment to observe these ponies whom I considered my friends.

Ditch was a large dirt colored Earth pony, even bigger than Big Macintosh from back in Ponyville. As the name implied, Ditch and his family dug… well… ditches. In particular, his family had been the gravediggers of a little town outside of Fillydelphia for twelve generations, since roughly the time Nightmare Moon tried to overthrow Celestia. Fillydelphia only had space for families that reserved spots for their dead, and the town Ditch came from had sprung up from the surrounding graveyards. His former profession had left him with a cutie mark of a skull with two crossed shovels behind it, and the strength befitting of a pony who hauled around dead ponies, tombstones, and piles of dirt for a living.

Ditch was an ideal soldier; he was strong, followed orders, and a crack shot with the specially modified Earth pony guns. And, to round it all off, he was rather nice to other ponies. More than likely, he was going to end up like the other grunts that would be on the front lines were a war break out, though his shooting skills had a chance of leading him to becoming a sharpshooter.

Baluchi was a stone grey Earth pony with a slightly smaller than average build. It would be wise not to underestimate him though, as he could match any other pony in a fight, having higher hoof-to-hoof combat skills than anyone in the squad, or even any of the other squads training at the time. Ditch and Baluchi connected well with each other in matters of digging, Ditch for obvious reasons, while Baluchi had operated heavy construction machinery in Manehattan. His cutie mark happened to be a bulldozer, which he informed us was one of his favorite pieces of machinery.

Baluchi also had a peculiar trait in that his mane and tail were the exact same color as the rest of his coat. With popular opinion being that his mane looked awkward when it was long; Baluchi usually had it shaved down to the same length as his coat, similar to warrior ponies of the past. However, that peculiar trait would likely help him when he was reassigned tomorrow, since it aided him in blending in with urban environments. More than likely, due to his high hoof-to-hoof combat marks and stealth capabilities, he would be reassigned to a scouting or infiltration squad.

Cherry was perhaps the most interesting of my new friends. On the outside, she was a hot pink colored unicorn, with a cherry red mane giving her the name. Her cutie mark also appeared to appropriately be a cherry at first glance. However, once somepony looked a little closer, they could see that the ‘stem’ of the cherry was actually a burning fuse, making her cutie mark a cherry bomb. While Firecracker had gotten his bursting firecracker cutie mark from pranking his neighbors, Cherry had gotten hers from finding a box of dynamite and accidentally setting it off. Accident. Right. Not surprisingly, she was also somewhat of a pyromaniac.

The other important difference between Firecracker and Cherry Tresses, aside from their cutie marks, was their respective expertise in explosive devices. Firecracker knew what went into explosives, how to make them bigger or smaller, and the most effective ways to use them, which is particularly useful when going into demolition. However, Firecracker was terrible at using his magic for such a purpose, and could barely ignite a small fire.

Cherry on the other hand, just loved to see things go boom for the most part, and she was quite adept at using her magic to create the biggest explosion possible. Now, that’s not to say that Cherry was careless or without restraint, because that was hardly the case. She simply preferred to work… unhindered by the potential for collateral damage. With her given talents, Cherry would probably end up assigned to demolition or ordinance. Also to be noted, she had a quick temper, a ‘short fuse’, if you will.

Marble got along with me the best, unsurprisingly. She seemed almost too nice to ever become a soldier pony; she was always bright and cheerful, supportive of the other ponies around her. It wasn’t until the drill sergeant would give her an order, or the squad was doing mock fights that Marble’s skills really shone.

As soon as she is called upon to lead, or ordered to do something by a superior, she gets deadly serious, immediately taking command of a group of ponies around her and instilling courage and discipline in them. A natural leader, many ponies had overheard Blindside say to his superiors when they observed the squad during the mock fights. Whenever the squad was split into teams, whichever side had Marble was almost guaranteed to win, and do so decisively.

When asked how she was so good at leading the other ponies, she never gave a satisfactory answer. Well, it may have been satisfactory if it wasn’t always the same thing; just “I was the leader for my marble team back at Cloudsdale.” she would say. Marbles in Cloudsdale still didn’t make sense to me. Either way, Marble was certainly slated to go down the path of an officer, perhaps someday becoming a drill sergeant herself.

While these four new friends could never replace the five I had left behind in Ponyville, they had certainly made life more tolerable for me during the past three months of boot camp. It was suddenly overwhelmingly saddening to think that we would probably all go our separate ways the very next day.

“Hey Rainbow Dash,” Marble said happily. “Have you finally managed to relax a little yet? You did stick around after the oath for a while didn’t you?” she asked, sounding concerned. “Yeah, I was doing fine until that jerk Firecracker made a pass at me.” Marble and Cherry both rolled their eyes at that, and Baluchi snickered a little, but Ditch gave him a light slap to the back of the head.

“Man, I want to just go up and kick him right in the face. Just once. Could I get in trouble for only doing it once?” I inquired. I was dead serious. Really, I would feel a lot better. “Just don’t let Blindside see you do it and you’re fine,” Cherry said. “I’ve done it plenty of times. He just doesn’t let up” she added.

“Yeah, you’ve ‘done it to him’ alright. Seriously, you’re as loud as those explosi-” Baluchi managed to get out before Ditch slapped him in the back of the head again, this time more forcefully. “Watch it big guy. I might start slapping back.” Baluchi threatened, only half seriously.

In response, as soon as Baluchi turned away, Ditch wrapped him up and sat right on top of him, using his much larger size to crush the smaller pony to the floor. Baluchi squirmed and protested underneath the larger pony, only making Ditch laugh more. “I think I must have stepped on something on the way in ladies. I just can’t see what it is, but its making an awful racket.” the big pony rumbled as Baluchi began to wiggle his way out. All of them were laughing at Baluchi, even Cherry, whose embarrassment was overcome for the moment.

Baluchi managed to extract himself after a few more moments. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up big guy. We’ll see who’s laughing when they have an ‘accident’ in the middle of the night.” Baluchi said with a huff.

The festivities died a few hours later as Blindside declared lights out, and until the next day, we were obligated, not to mention terrified, of not doing what he ordered.

**********

Despite the fact that it was the dead of night, and everypony else was asleep, I found myself unable to keep my eyes shut, and my brain off.

I shuffled my wings around a bit underneath me, making them more comfortable to lie on as I rolled over to stare up at the ceiling. Sterile grey stone was all that greeted my gaze; aside from a small chip in the rock where a unicorn from the previous training group had been startled enough to leap high in the air and crash into the roof. I made the chip my focal point for the time being. There was nothing truly interesting about the chip, it was just there. It was just something different to see in the dead of night.

Slowly, I forced myself to realize what had been troubling me since finishing the oath. “This is all useless.” I whispered aloud. A noise to my side drew my attention. Hoping I hadn’t awoken anypony while questioning the air, I glanced over, only to see Baluchi gingerly maneuvering Ditch’s hoof in to bowl of water. I rolled my eyes at the sight. Yeah, that’s an accident alright, warm water while you’re sleeping. I allowed myself to slip back into my thoughts.

How could I see my new future any other way? Equestria hadn’t been at war for a long time. The last armed conflict was when Nightmare Moon took over Princess Luna over a thousand years ago. When Nightmare Moon took over Luna, she both recruited and indoctrinated parts of the pony population into her army, aiding in the coup to try and take over control of the powers of her sister, Princess Celestia.

While Nightmare Moon hadn’t had the strength to take Celestia’s powers by herself, she did have impossibly strong indoctrination abilities, allowing her to drag thousands of Equestria’s citizens into armed conflict against Celestia. That conflict had been the most bloody ever seen in Equestrian history. The war to end all wars, the scholars says. Not that wars were very frequent before then either, but they did occur.

So why did Equestria even have a standing military that was not only paid and armed, but allowed to research newer and more effective weapons and armor?

Sure, when Spike had his little phase as a full grown dragon, the Wonderbolts couldn’t do anything to stop him, but Rarity had managed to bring Spike back to normal all by herself. While that particular example may not apply to all dragons, it was still a testament to the fact that a single pony could stop a dragon, and one as powerful as Celestia or Luna could probably do so even easier. Heck, even Fluttershy had managed to stop a dragon.

Discord truly hadn’t been a threat to life either, since he didn’t want to physically harm anypony, all he wanted was to screw up the way things were. That might be terrible and all too, but then again, the Elements of Harmony had stopped him easily as well.

Then the Changelings struck during the royal wedding. Nothing else had come as close to full blown war in the centuries since Nightmare Moon was banished as the Changeling’s assault on Canterlot. Truly, it had been by sheer luck that Chrysalis and her lackeys had been stopped. It wouldn’t be a stretch in logic to conclude that the continuation of the Royal Army could be seen as a response to the Changeling threat.

Again though, the point must be made that they had still been stopped, and the Changelings were in no condition to attack again anytime soon after their losses at Canterlot. Not to mention that every city under Equestrian rule was having their security upgraded with a Changeling detection spell developed by Twilight herself.

So really, why did Equestria continue to raise its military strength if all of it is unnecessary? Did the Princesses know something we didn’t? And if they did, why wouldn’t they tell everypony, or at least Twilight and the rest of us? Things just weren’t making much sense.

I sighed and rolled over once more, proceeding to beat my head into the pillow several times, trying to physically shake my thoughts away, and perhaps tire myself at the same time so I could finally drift off to sleep. With a final smack, I rolled onto my back again to stare once more at the chip in the ceiling.

There was nothing to worry about.

Was there?

**********

And here it was. The moment everypony had been waiting for, even beyond the oath of the previous day. Months of tireless training and preparation, aches and pains, grueling day to day tasks, heartbreak for those who didn’t have what it takes. And now the time had finally arrived. Assignment day.

A single burlap sack sat on the stage next to the podium. So deceptively simple it seemed. But inside that bag lay the most important news of many ponies’ lives’ up to this point. Blindside stood at the podium, as he was responsible for personally giving out the decisions handed down by the powers that be in the military structure of Equestria.

“Okay everypony. Settle down. It’s time to start reading these damn things.” he began. While Blindside went to open the sack, the five friends huddled together, wishing each other the best results possible, and readying to say farewell when the time came.

Blindside finally got the first stack of letters out. “Oh, the hotshot himself gets to go first.” Blindside said as he opened the first envelope. “Firecracker, Engineering Corps. No surprise there.” Blindside stated. “I swear on Celestia herself, if something you have a hoof in building falls apart with me in it, or blows up with me in,” he paused. “I will haunt your ass until you’re dead yourself.” he threatened.

Firecracker quickly trotted up to the podium to receive his official papers, winking at Cherry on his way back into the crowd. Cherry blushed as he trotted by and gave her a swat on the flank with his tail. “And you want to be in engineering with him Cherry?” I inquired, somewhat incredulously.

“I wouldn’t-” Cherry began before being cut off. “Mister Trotski. Looks like you get to go with the Medical Corps. As for you, you damn well better patch me up when one of the new guys inevitably shoots me.” Blindside threatened once more.

I directed my attention to Cherry again. “I… wouldn’t exactly… oppose it.” Cherry managed weakly before turning back to the stage. If Cherry could stand Firecracker, then more power to the mare, it might just do him some good to finally have a mare who actually likes him.

Several more ponies were called up before Blindside announced any of my friends. “Miss Cherry Tresses. Ordinance Division. Try not to hurt anypony little filly. I’ve seen the shit you can pull off, and frankly it scares me.” Despite just admitting something he was afraid of, Blindside still managed to shout it in the gruff drill sergeant voice of his. Cherry trotted up to the stage and levitated the letter to her, carrying it back down.

“No such luck for you I suppose, Cherry.” Baluchi whispered as she trotted back down. “Pfff. As if. Firecracker would be the lucky one to get Cherry to go with him.” I contributed, as much to encourage Cherry as to insult Firecracker.

“PFC Rainbow, cut the chatter!” Blindside shouted out. “Now, back to what I was saying… Baluchi! Special Operations for you. Good luck private, with any luck, the officers will give you a day around the other operatives before bending you over the barrel themselves.” As Blindside shouted, Baluchi wiped the smirk off his face and trotted up.

Baluchi had a blank expression on his face as he trotted back, clenching the orders in his mouth. “Well shit, I didn’t think you had it in ya’ to make Spec Ops.” I said flatly, sounding surprised for the first time that day.

Recon was one thing, but Spec Ops was another thing entirely. A lot of ponies couldn’t handle the additional training in Spec Ops, with those that couldn’t usually being sent home as changed individuals… or in a body bag. Those that could handle it also emerged changed, but typically as unstoppable killing machines instead of whimpering shadows of the former pony. “Yeah, I thought they’d put me in the Recon Division, but this…” Baluchi said once he had taken the envelope out of his mouth. There was a hint of terror in his voice at the prospect of joining the Special Operations Group.

A few more ponies were called up before anypony important (at least to me) was called up. “Ditch!” Blindside shout the name like the morning roll call. “Yes sir!?” Ditch shouted back, immediately at attention. “Now that’s the spirit. Sniper Division. You make me proud to be an Earth pony you do.” Blindside said with the closest thing to respect any of the recruits had heard.

Ditch proudly trotted onto the stage to receive his envelope. Several ponies high-hoofed him on the way back down, knowing he had earned his place. “Of all the ponies called up today, that role made the most sense.” Marble said, speaking for the first time to any of the returning ponies. “Why thank you Marble. I worked real hard to make it. I’m sure you’ll get something good too.” Ditch said with a smile.

“Sugar Bloom. R&D. You get to work on making me some armor that’ll stop an Ursa Major.” Blindside said to a bright looking young mare with a seafoam coat and platinum mane. Sugar Bloom had the best bet of anypony in the training squad of making it into R&D. She was probably the brightest pony I had met, not counting Twilight Sparkle that is.

Time dragged on until only two ponies hadn’t gotten their orders: Marble, and myself. “Marble. Looks like you’re headed to Officer Training. You’re a damn good tactician, and you keep cool at all times. I respect that.” Blindside said with respect that was surprising, but entirely deserved. Marble was the best leader in the squad after all. She flew up onto the stage, but at Blindside’s ‘instruction’, simply trotted back down to the crowd.

“And now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for…” Blindside said mockingly. “The one, the only, Rainbow Dash.” Blindside finished as he tore open the envelope. A puzzled expression struck his face as he looked upon the orders sent for me.

“Alright, assignment day is over everypony. Rainbow Dash, meet me in my office.”

**********

I was terrified. Blindside led me back to his office after dismissing the rest of the squad to retrieve their belongings from the barracks. He had kept a close eye on me, making sure I wasn’t caught up in the crowd. I wasn’t so concerned about Blindside dismissing everypony else back to the barracks. What did concern me was that Blindside hadn’t wanted anypony around to hear what he had to say, indicating that he wasn’t about to tease me in any manner.

Now, I was opposite from him at the desk in the closet sized room he called his office as he talked on the phone with somepony. I sat there, and I was terrified.

“…there’s no way this is right. I have the envelope right here, and I’m reading it right now but... I haven’t seen anything that could indicate she’s prepared for… But she can’t possibly… There’s no way she could be assigned to…. Yes sir. I understand sir. I’ll tell her now.”

Blindside hung up the phone and turned to speak to me. He looked like he’d been… well… blindsided. “The hoof-lockers are going to miss those pretty wings of yours Rainbow Dash.” he said, unable to stop teasing me, even to the end. He was decidedly less gruff and snide than usual, but still not quite respectful.

There was a silence between the both of us as Blindside still looked like he was trying to adjust to what he had been told. An awkward moment passed… and another… and another, until it became unbearable.

“What the hell is going on right now Blindside? Why won’t you tell me what I’ve been assigned to?!” I both shouted and asked. I quickly stopped myself before saying anything else, knowing that if Blindside hadn’t been taken aback at the moment that I wouldn’t have gotten out of the office without a few hoof shaped bruises. Blindside suddenly broke out of his trance, the shouting being enough to get his attention.

“Congratulations Rainbow Dash. You’ve either got some friends in high places that are breaking the rules right now, or the observers saw something in you that I didn’t.” Blindside said before another momentary pause, seeming to digest the words he was about to say.

“You’ve been selected to be on the personal guard of the Princesses.”

Honor

Aces High

Chapter 2: Honor

Shocked didn't describe how I was feeling as I left Blindside's office. I had been asked -no, ordered- to head to the palace to join up with the Princesses' personal guard. Me! I don't even have any real combat experience!

One thing was sure; I was going to have plenty of questions for Celestia if this wasn't some elaborate goof up. I was going to seek answers to my most pressing concerns. First; why me? 'What do you expect me to do as a guard, I don't know if I can protect myself properly, let alone another pony! Especially the Princesses!' I might say to them. Then, maybe I could get some answers for my previous night's concerns. Why is there even a Royal Army at this point?

These were problems that I could deal with later, my first priority being to actually make it to the castle at all. I wasn't making it easy on myself given my current state of confusion. I barely remembered my lonely walk down the hallway leading back into the barracks. When I arrived, I saw that many ponies were either in the process of packing, or had already finished, and were lingering to say goodbye to the friends. I suppose I had to face that fact now too.

Ditch and Marble had already finished packing, the former assisting another pony in packing his saddlebags, and the latter chatting to Cherry as the pink pony packed up her belongings. Baluchi seemed to be packing slowly and despondently compared to everypony else though. Poor buck, he must be taking the Spec Ops deal hard. I trotted over to see if anything I could say might help.

"Hey Baluchi. You seem a little... slow," way to go, just make him feel better alright. "It's not like you. Got anything you need to get off your chest?" I inquired, somewhat awkwardly. 'You've got your own problems too Dash, don't try and play it off and make this conversation weird.' I told myself. Baluchi looked up at me, startled out of his dazed concentration at the sound of my voice.

"Can't be anything as bad as what you've gotten saddled with. Not if Blindside looked at you the way he did." he responded. There was some truth in the grey pony's words. "Pfff... Me? Nah. I'll tell you guys all about it later. Before we- Before we go." I choked on the last part a bit, still not ready to abandon my new friends already. Baluchi let out a sigh. "Alright then..."

"It's my brother. That's what's got me worried." Baluchi revealed. "When he signed up for the Royal Army, he was placed into Spec Ops too. He... He didn't come out the same pony. Not quite right in the head. Something got to him. Bad." Baluchi explained.

"When the Army discharged him, and he came back... He told us things at first. About the brutal training, the things they made him do... the torture. He was one of the ones that couldn't handle it. Now, he doesn't speak about it at all." Baluchi elaborated. "I mean, the things they did to him... Doesn't make any sense. Not to me. We haven't been at war for centuries," I took note of this, glad I wasn't the only one with doubts in the military. "I'm just worried I'll end up like him. Dash, he's been in a mental ward for three damn years. He's so drugged up that he hardly knows who he is anymore. That's all really." Baluchi concluded.

Wow. Baluchi had really opened up his heart to me.

"Hey," I started, putting my hoof on his shoulder. "You're going to be fine. You're the toughest one in this squad, the best prepared out of all of us. You can handle it. No sweat. You're probably twice the pony you brother is." I told him empathetically. My words quelled my own stormy thoughts, applying the words to myself. Baluchi sighed heavily again. "I hope so..." he said, straightening up as he did so, and looking up at me in the eyes.

"Thanks Dash." he said before wrapping me up in a tight hug. I returned the gesture, somewhat alleviating my own fears. Once I began to feel better myself, I released Baluchi from the embrace, locking eyes with him again. "You're going to be fine." I reassured him one last time. Baluchi nodded at me, and then off to the side, signaling that I should go talk with the others too.

Talking to Baluchi had made me feel better about my own problems I realized. What did I have to complain about? I was going to live a comparatively comfy life in the castle after all, what should I be complaining about. Everypony else was going somewhere else for more training, or being deployed to some backwater town. Not that Ponyville was a backwater town. Really, I should be considering myself lucky for being able to go to the castle instead. Worst case scenario, some bureaucrat can't find the bathroom and tries to file a complaint with Celestia or Luna.

I strolled over to Marble and Cherry Tresses, neither of whom seemed to be having the same issues as Baluchi over their new assignments. In fact, Marble was chatting endlessly about how wonderful an opportunity it would be to become a true officer rather than 'those pretend roles' we played during the mock fights. "It's all I've ever wanted to be!" I heard her exclaim. Right. Chalk that one up as a surprise.

For her part, Cherry was doing a good job of packing silently, nodding every so often as Marble babbled on and on. Cherry's saddlebags looked full enough to imply that she was done packing away her belongings. "...Honestly, I knew I was doing good as a squad leader during the fights, but not this good! Oh joy! Now I won't be put in some little backwater like the regular soldiers -not that there's a problem with that- but oh, I get to stay in Canterlot, and.."

Marble trailed off, and I stumbled over my own hooves while walking over to the pair as Cherry levitated out a... stick of dynamite? "Shit, is that a-" I began before being cut off abruptly. "Shhh..." Cherry whispered harshly, hiding the dynamite in her saddlebag swiftly. "Yes, and you don't want to know what I had to do to smuggle it in with me." Cherry gingerly whispered to us. "Don't worry, its harmless now. I've diluted the chemicals so that it can't explode." Cherry said reassuringly. "Well what the hell do you still have it for then?!" I whispered angrily. I didn't like unnecessary fright, despite my past thrill seeking ways.

"Just a keepsake from home. You know."

No, I didn't know. I had left before my friends in Ponyville could give me anything to remember them by. That thought drilled into my brain for a moment, more guilt crushing into me.

"Yes, well, glad we don't have to deal with that anymore. Heh... heh heh." Marble chuckled nervously. As far as she was concerned 'diluted' might mean 'I put even more powerful explosives into it,' and 'can't explode' only meant 'unwilling to explode'.

"Anyhow," Marble said, facing me in order to change the subject. "It looks like your chat with Baluchi did him some good." she said, pointing over at him. Back at his cot, Baluchi worked industriously at packing his belongings with a look of determination. Yes, I had sparked a fire in him after all it seemed. I should be careful 'sparking fires' while that dynamite is still around, I thought sarcastically.

"Yeah," I paused, considering my words. "Spec Ops is nasty business. He seemed like he needed it."

Just as much as I had.

It only sounded worse after what Baluchi had confided in me about his brother. And more importantly; his doubts.

Marble nodded empathetically, leaning closer to me as she did so. "I've heard about some of the things they do to the ponies in training." she whispered into my ear. Continuing, Marble cupped her hooves around her mouth to ensure I was the only who would hear what she had to say. "Word is, they attack you in your cot one night, drug you, and take you away to an interrogation room where you're blindfolded." she paused for a breath.

"Then, they start to interrogate you, torture you, to see if you'll break, and give up vital information. False information that the officers assigned to the pony just before they're abducted." Marble paused once more, this time her already worried face took on an even more grim expression. "Worst part is, from what I hear, the interrogator is typically a member of your training squad with a voice filter on so you can't identify them during interrogation."

Well, figure the other members had to be trained in interrogation somehow. Really, they were just killing two birds with one stone this way. Nevertheless, I began to feel even worse for Baluchi, knowing he would probably be abducted in a similar fashion. I really didn't have anything worth complaining about anymore.

I stood there in silence for a few moments, the news being a bit much to consider right then. Torture, insanity... body bags. All seemed terrifyingly close to Baluchi's once shining future. Too close for me to not be concerned for the young buck's health. I shook my head, trying to clear the negative thoughts away.

I turned to face Marble, who had been waiting patiently for me to finish assessing the situation. "Well, Baluchi has his work cut out for him," I stated bluntly. "But he's a tough one he is, he'll take it all if he has to. What about you? How you feeling about you new official assignment?" I asked mainly to return the other pegasus to a more happy state of mind. Cherry moved away to check in with Ditch, having heard enough of this particular conversation already. "Oh, its going to be wonderful Rainbow Dash, I'll be able to.."

I listened to Marble, thought not very tentatively. My own thoughts still burned about my -no, all of our futures. I didn't know how well I would adjust to my role, feeling I was undeserving of it. But I'd be damned if I didn't try and make it all work out in the end.

**********

I wasn't sure I was really ready for this. My normally strong will shuddered under the brunt force of losing my new friends already. Damn I needed to stop that. Self pity didn't help anyone, and it's not like I was the only one leaving, we were all being separated.

Still, we welcomed each other's presence, even if it was for the last time. Just a circle of my little ponies, standing at the gate to our home of the past few months... Okay, so Ditch wasn't little at all, but I liked to think of us all like that.

"Well, looks like the gig's up everypony." Baluchi stated, his appearance of determination not quite gone yet. "Eeyup." Ditch said solemnly. A lot like Big Macintosh indeed. Once again, I was hammered with the fact that we might never see each other again. Wetness began to ring my eyes.

Crying bad. Gifts good. Time to get on that.

"Hey, yeah. I've got some stuff for you all." I managed to get out, a bit of a crack in my voice at first. Gently, I reached into my left saddle bag and pulled out a bundle of circular objects. Dream catchers, I had heard Zecora call them before. Well, whatever they were, they seemed to be memorable enough for me to make a few while I was at the camp. But they were no ordinary dream catchers. They were dream catchers made from me.

Over the months I had gathered the fallen multicolored strands of my mane and wound them together like string. I had gone to another unicorn in the squad (since getting Cherry Tresses to do it would ruin the surprise) in order to get them properly wound together, and then tied off into the circular shape they were in. On top of that, I had the circles enchanted to hold up to abuse better, and to become more rigid. I had taken a few more strands of hair for each and spider-webbed them across the circles, tying off a molted feather in the middle of each one. The end result; four multicolored 'dream catchers' to hang over a bunk.

Everypony else in the circle looked confused at the sight of the dream catchers, needing a little bit of explanation to understand just what they were for. "Supposed to be good luck or something like that. Catch 'demons' before they can enter your dreams and all that." I said weakly. I never really bought into all that paranormal mumbo jumbo Zecora had tried to explain to me, but it was a nice sentiment.

Regardless of their remaining confusion, everypony took one of the dream catchers. If anything, they could still be admired in an artistic aspect since they were still quite a sight to see. "Say, thanks Rainbow Dash. I'll put this right above my bunk at the Sharpshooter's Academy." Ditch said with a smile. The rest of them echoed the sentiment, putting a nice smile on my face.

Well shit. There go the dams.

My tears finally came gushing out, unable to hold them back any longer. The others gathered as close to me as the confined spaces would allow, concerned for me now. But these tears were brought on by joy, not by the heart-wrenching sadness of only a few moments past. "I'm fine," I assured my four friends. "I'm just- I'm just happy that I get to spend a few more minutes with you guys." I managed to squeak out before collapsing on Marble, who was the nearest to me at the time.

Quite quickly, that was not the case, as the other three collapsed in on us in a piled on group hug. Laughter erupted from my muzzle, the happiness finally truly winning out over the sadness. Looking up at her, Marble was experiencing the same feelings, the wetness of tears being relieved by laughter. Soon enough, we were all one big pile of sobbing, laughing, silly ponies.

It was a good day after all. A good day for friends.

***********

I managed to saunter out of the basic training academy still feeling giggly at everything. Every other one of my friends had been greeted by official military chauffeurs when they stepped outside. I had been left to find my own way to the Castle, which honestly wasn't too hard with its towering spires creating simple visual landmarks. Surely, the personal guard had more important things to do than pick up new recruits after all. Namely, you know, protecting the Princesses. Left to my own devices, I wandered around outside in a somewhat dysfunctional manner.

Mustering my concentration, I focused my attention on flagging down one of the numerous chariots filling the streets and skies. I really didn't feel like I was in any condition to be flying or walking to the castle at the moment, so taking a sky chariot was probably the next best thing. After a few attempts, and proceeding failures to acquire a ride, one pegasus finally noticed my frantic hoof waving and dove down to greet me.

The pegasus that pulled up had an off white, leaning more towards yellow, coat coloration, and had a glossy (clearly gelled back) baby blue mane. He gently glided down the last bit, landing as gracefully as a pony possibly could with a giant wagon attached to their hind half.

"Well hello there young lady. Looking for a ride, right?" the stallion queried in a distinctly Manehattanite accent. "Rates are the fairest around Canter- hey!" the driver exclaimed suddenly. From the direction he was looking, he had just noticed my wings. "Now what kinda nonsense you tryin' to pull here, just yankin' my chain, huh?" the driver asked, annoyed. "I don't tolerate anypony fakin' me out!" the driver said as he began to take off again.

"Hey, hold on a second!" I shouted at him as he began to leave. The pegasus turned back for a moment, if only to shout some obscenity at me as he left, but immediately saw my red-eyed and pleading expression. Visibly sighing, the pegasus wheeled back around to land back in front of me, looking like he already regretted his decision.

Thankfully, the pegasus really did land in front of me again, instead of just giving me a false hope. "Okay kid, what's the problem. What could possibly drive any seemingly healthy pegasus to take a sky chariot if you ain't Celestia herself?" the driver asked curiously. "Runnin' away from mommy and daddy, wanna' see the 'real world' on your own as a free spirit?" the driver continued sarcastically. He probably thought I was just some rich pony rebelling and running away from her parents.

"Cause I can tell ya', it's probably just as boring as..." he trailed off, finally noting my saddlebags were of the military issued variety. At that, he raised an eyebrow at me. "Fresh outta' training kid?" he asked after a momentary pause. I nodded slowly in response. "I just don't really feel like I should be flying right now, that's all..." I explained to him. The driver then took on a vaguely sympathetic look. "Alright kid, climb on aboard. I'll getcha' wherever you need to go." he said, nodding towards the chariot behind him. The fact had also probably occurred to him by that point that he would still be making money even if he was flying a pegasus instead of a unicorn or earth pony.

As I stepped onto the chariot though, the driver stopped me once more. "Hey wait, you ain't drunk, are ya'?" he asked, concerned. "I don't want you throwin' up on anypony..." the driver continued until he saw me shake my head vigorously in response. "Okay, just had ta' check, you know? That's the only time I hear anypony sayin' they ain't fit to be goin' nowhere." he explained. "I'm not drunk," I assured him. "Just tired."

"Hey, fair enough kid." the driver began as he took off. "Oh hey, by the way, name's DeLain. Tell your friends about me, I do special flights too. Stretch chariots are all the rage right now." the driver included as he took off. I breathed a sigh of relief as I began to move. "I just need to get to the Castle for right now." I said, pointing in the direction of the nearest spire. "Whoah. That ain't somethin' I see every day. Don't get to fly to the castle often, usually need special clearance to get in. What, gettin' put in at security?" DeLain inquired. "Something like that." I said hesitantly. I showed him the signed portion of my orders, allowing me into the castle, making sure to keep the specifics of the orders covered up. "Well no shit. Ain't that a sight to see." DeLain said in surprise.

Circling back around, we began to set off towards the castle proper. I was growing somewhat anxious at the prospect of finally making it to the castle. I was still wrestling with the thought of being put into such an important position as protection detail for one, if not both of the Princesses. On the thought of both of the Princesses, I hadn't seen Luna for a long time, not since the day the Changelings had attacked four years ago. At least Celestia made public appearances at regular intervals, not to mention personal visits with Twilight throughout the rest of her tenure in Ponyville.

Twilight had decided to stick around in Ponyville even past her allotted time to discover the importance of Friendship, much to the delight of everypony in town, myself included. It had admittedly taken a while to get to like Twilight, with her books, and seclusion in the library. Honestly, I had needed to find reasons to go to the library and visit Twilight once we all had discovered the special bond between ourselves. I had hated books, and I had hated the awkwardness and downright un-coolness with which Twilight presented herself, though not the pony herself.

All of that had changed with time of course, mainly due to a particular accident which had left me unable to fly for some time. I had been resilient at first, unwilling to partake in the activity of 'pleasure reading', as Twilight had called it. Reading things for school had been bad enough, but the idea that there were ponies that read because they enjoyed it was... mind boggling, to say the least.

And then, I found Daring Do.

In my absolute boredom at being shut in at the hospital, I had relented eventually, and actually cracked the cover of one of the books that had been left by Twilight. That point was when the magic of reading began for me. It was like, a movie, but playing inside your head instead, and you could picture everything however you wanted. Daring Do herself, she was a lot like me (okay, maybe not quite as cool) and she went on adventures all over Equestria to find relics and treasure, fighting villains, traps, and her own inner conflicts.

It was just so awesome. I couldn't help but keep reading, and, well one thing led to another and, you know... I read all the books. That, was when I had my epiphany about Twilight. She had an intelligence, and a vision which allowed her to view everything in a different light, change it in her head and play out the results. Come to think of it, that was probably why Twilight was so good at magic, both casting and creating. Twilight did what I had thought impossible before... and became cool. That, was when I really wanted to be friends with Twilight past the whole 'Elements of Harmony' thing.

With reading, came my own increased thought process, the imagination I had always had, but never used. Life changed dramatically for me after that point, and all because of the purple pony I had dismissed with a wave of my hoof at first. It was fair to say that it was due to Twilight that I found myself in my current place, that it was because I had truly sat down to see the bigger picture of my life, and that I was wasting my life away chasing a dream. That forced me to grab for something closer, something tangible, attainable. And so I had signed up for the Royal Army, trying to do something more for the country I had done so little for up to that point in my life and how I was... how I was...

How I was so scatterbrained. How had I gotten to Twilight and the revolution of my life from having not seen Luna in a while? Honestly, I seemed almost as bad as Ditzy Doo right then. Not that she was... "Hey. Hey, you okay?" came the voice of my driver. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Just... thinking, that's all." I said, shaking away the cloud of concentration that had been building in my head. "Heh, I'll bet. With a job like yours, I might be thinkin' hard too." DeLain commented. "Anyhow, we're almost here."

I turned my gaze upwards... and up, and up, all the way to the clouds. The highest spire in the castle seemed larger than life, despite the fact that I'd seen it plenty of times before during my other brief stays at the castle. Before I had known it, we were at the castle, my own thoughts eating away the minutes it had taken to fly here. DeLain began to swoop down towards the gates, closing in on the guards stationed there. Flying directly into the castle airspace was essentially a death sentence, the sharpshooters in the spire just waiting to take a shot anypony foolish enough to fly in.

Not that you would be shot immediately, it would be just plain terrible if a young pegasus or unicorn colt or filly floated in harmlessly. A 'greeting party' would be dispatched from the courtyard to halt anypony flying nearby in order to turn them aside and warn them not to attempt it again. I paused for a moment, considering that Ditch could one day be one of the ponies stationed inside the spire, waiting patiently to shoot down an oncoming threat. I hoped that Ditch's skills would never be needed, he was a nice pony, and it was hard to imagine him having to shoot anypony else.

Landing, we rolled up to the gate, where Royal Guards stood before us. The middle guard, a unicorn, was clearly the commanding officer due to the extra decorations and non-standard coloration of his armor. Rather than the plain golden armor, the officer had platinum armor with filigree inlaid with amethyst, several more exotic inscriptions indicating the armor was magically enchanted. The normal golden open faced helmet with the blue plume was also replaced by an enchanted platinum helmet with more arcane inscriptions and magical sight sapphires over the eye sockets of the enclosed helmet, with a regal purple plume complimenting the amethyst inlay of the body armor. The officer also levitated two wicked looking spears, likely also enchanted, at his sides. A fearsome looking anti-material rifle, in two pieces, the barrel on one flank, the body on the other, rested in slots of the armor.

All in all, the pony was terrifyingly well armed and armored, another testament to the efforts placed in improvement of the military. Slowly, DeLain trotted up until we were both about fifteen feet away from the guard, where we stopped. The guard's eyes focused on us, not that I could see them, but I could feel the scrutinizing glare emanating off of the pony. "Who goes there?" the officer rumbled from inside his magical armor. I gulped, suddenly unsure if I really wanted to be at the castle after all.

"Got a pony what says she should be here." DeLain responded for me, seemingly unfazed by the terrifying guard before him. "Show me." the guard pony rumbled back. I quickly pulled out my orders, unsure if I should step out, or have DeLain bring me up to the pony, though getting closer to the Pony of Death strained my courage. He was on our side right? Wait, we don't have sides... I needn't have worried about anything though, as the guard pony levitated my orders out of my muzzle the moment he saw the documents.

The guard's sapphire eyes and horn lit up as he looked over the document, probably using his magic to see any trace signs of forgery, magical or otherwise. Seemingly satisfied, he magically folded the orders back up and sent them floating back to my saddlebags, placing them inside before I even moved to open them for him. "Rainbow Dash, is it? Everything appears to check out. You may proceed inside the gates to scanning." the guard confirmed as the regal metal gates opened from inside behind him, stepping aside to let DeLain pass as they did so.

Scanning? That was new since the last time I had been to the castle, though that had been a long time admittedly. The death dealer pony at the gates was new, too. The Princesses had been beefing up the castle's protection since I had been here apparently. 'But why was that even necessary?' I asked myself. Patience, I told myself. I was almost in the presence the two most informed ponies in Equestria. My questions could wait until then.

Inside the gates, more guard ponies, thankfully of the standard variety, stood at attention, while a bored looking unicorn in a far more scholarly outfit awaited us. The unicorn addressed us as we approached. "Alright, step out of the chariot and remove all saddlebags, jewelry, or loose articles of clothing, and will the driver please unhitch himself from the chariot and follow the same instructions." the unicorn instructed us in a bored tone. Clearly this speech gets old, but must be repeated every time since neither I nor DeLain had any jewelry or clothing on. I carefully let go of my saddlebags, pulling my orders out again just in case they were needed.

Slowly, the unicorn went over my saddlebags, scanning it with his magic and pulling out a few miscellaneous items to observe them closer, and tidily packing them back in before performing the same process on DeLain's bags as well. Surprisingly, the unicorn also scanned the chariot itself, and then each of us individually. The magic of the unicorn passing over me felt... wrong, not like it was evil, but the magic felt like it made my innards tingle with energy. DeLain was a bit more vocal about the sense of wrongness from the magic.

"Whoah, whoah, whoah. Hey! What is this?" DeLain demanded from the unicorn. "Calm down sir, it's simply a precaution to detect any dangerous or illegal substances either stored in your body or influencing you. We don't want anything to go wrong inside the castle." the unicorn explained in the same bored drone as before. Luckily, DeLain didn't press further, the answer seeming to satisfy him, though he did mutter under his breath for the rest of the process.

When the unicorn finished with his detection spells, he signaled that we could put our saddlebags back on and get back onto the chariot. He dismissed my attempts to hand him my orders for observation as well. "Everything checks out with your orders already, otherwise Lieutenant Gravesend wouldn't have let you through the gates in the first place." he told me. The officer's name was Gravesend? As if he needed anything else to add to his intimidating influence, now I found out his name practically spoke of death.

While the unicorn seemed to be in no particular rush, he urged us to continue into the courtyard at our 'earliest convenience', which DeLain took to mean right now. Quite reasonable though, as DeLain had other things to do with his day than being scanned and ushered about.

Luckily, the courtyard remained the same majestic area of tranquility it had been for centuries. A marble fountain featuring an exceptionally benevolent looking Celestia dominated the center of the courtyard. Double deep rows of benches stood to the left and right of the fountain, enough seating for about fifty ponies in all, perfect for any diplomatic party at the castle. A small bungalow stood behind each set of benches, providing restroom services for the guests. Meticulously trimmed grass ringed the entire area, with several flowering bushes providing an elegant scent to the air.

The courtyard was one of my favorite parts of the castle, though this was apparently as far as DeLain was willing to go in. "Okay miss. This is where I drop you off. I got more ponies to deliver and a party to escort later." he told me. I complied, stepping out of the chariot and onto the soft earth below. DeLain took out a small device which he used to determine the cost of the trip. "Okay, looks like your total is... thirty seven bits." he told me.

My eyes widened a bit at the figure. Thirty seven bits! That was highway robbery! I rolled my eyes, but took out my bit pouch. "Well okay then... how about twenty five bits for one of 'Equetria's Finest'." DeLain bargained, clearly having caught me rolling my eyes. While still seemingly high, I took the significantly lower offer and dropped a twenty five bit piece into his waiting hoof. DeLain quickly put the money in his own bit pouch and stuck his forehoof out towards me. "Pleasure doing business with ya'." he said as I took his hoof and shook it.

As he turned to leave, he looked back over his shoulder. "Remember to tell your friends about me! Fairest rates around!" he shouted at me as an afterthought. I shook my head, chuckling at the pegasus' continued advertisement. For some odd reason, I felt that this wouldn't be the last time I saw DeLain, though the odds of finding the same sky chariot driver without intentionally searching seemed entirely unlikely.

I was still considering the thought when I heard a familiar voice cry out. "Rainbow Dash? What are you doing here?" the voice asked confused. Before I even turned around, I was overcome with joy. When I did turn, I found Twilight Sparkle standing just off to the side of the fountain, surprise plain on her face. In this case, it was a happy surprise for the both of us.

Twilight quickly beamed at me, a pleasant grin full of mirth, and proceeded to teleport directly in front of me. No sooner had the purple pony materialized than she wrapped me up in a hug, which I returned gratefully. "Rainbow, I'm so happy to see you!" she said, crying into my mane. I had returned the embrace by this point, my own surprise fading enough for me to react. "You barely said goodbye to all of us before you left, I was worried we had done something wrong." Twilight said before pushing herself back a leg's length away, but keeping her hooves on my shoulders. "We didn't, did we?" she asked, concerned.

"No way!" I responded quickly, not wanting any of my friends to think they had done anything wrong to me. "I just... I just needed to do something important. I needed to make up for all the time I've wasted. All these years that I've let go by without pulling my own weight in the world." I explained, concern on my face this time. "I hope you can all take me back after I left you all without explaining where I was going or what I was doing..." I said solemnly.

"Of course Rainbow, don't be a silly pony." Twilight said empathetically. "We couldn't dream of not having you back in the folds of our friendship." she continued. I smiled again, hugging her once more for good measure. Twilight happily returned the hug. Her eyes lit up suddenly as she pushed herself back again. "Come on, the others will want to see you too!" she said gleefully, nearly galloping off to tell the 'others' I was here. "Wait, who do you mean by 'others'?" I asked. Apparently it was my time to be confused. "Everypony else! The whole gang's here!" Twilight said excitedly, barely stopping her run to explain. Clearly it was also my turn to have my eyes light up.

I was feeling better.

Yeah, a lot better.

Good enough to fly.

**********

And fly I did. Twilight had galloped far ahead, but with my aerial speed, I managed to catch up to her easily. Noticing my efforts, Twilight slowed to a walk, allowing us to chat more as we continued down the hallway that had stretched out beyond the fountain.

"So, what have all of you been up to while I was gone?" I queried. "Oh, not much." Twilight responded. I gave her a skeptical look, knowing all of my friends far too well. Twilight relented to the look and gathered her thoughts to explain the last three month's worth of events. "Well, I'm not really lying, nothing too exciting has happened in Ponyville." she began. "For starters, Applejack managed to win first prize in all events at the Equestrian Rodeo this year." she explained.

I had heard about that, though all I had heard from the others in the squad was that somepony had won first prize in every event, though who the winner was had never been elaborated upon. I was happy that the stubborn pony whom a shared the occasional rivalry with had managed to accomplish such an amazing feat since I had left Ponyville. Applejack worked hard at being the best worker at Sweet Apple Acres, and this proved that not only was she the best back home, but in the entire country.

"Rarity was contacted by Photofinish to create several dresses for her models. Rarity was kinda upset that she didn't get to be one of the models herself, but she still fainted at the idea that she would be able to show off her dressmaking skills on the big stage for once." Twilight continued.

Very Rarity indeed. I didn't enjoy when Rarity fretted over me for being so unladylike when I 'could be the one of the most darling ponies in Ponyville' if I simply let her perform her twisted dress experiments on me. Rarity did win points in my book for being one of the most single-mindedly obsessive ponies in Equestria when she attempted to reach a goal. Even if said 'goal' was to get me to go to the spa for a hooficure and massage.

"Pinkie Pie has officially taken over Sugarcube Corner since the Cakes decided to move back to Manehattan. Pinkie has been baking with a fury since then to get all the orders covered each day." Twilight paused. "But somehow she finds the time each day to throw parties for everypony's birthdays and still hang out with us." she added.

Good old Pinkie Pie. She always knew how to brighten somepony's day, and she was the most fun loving pony of all of my close friends. Pinkie was just so random that I could always have fun with her, and she was a master prankster, even better than I was. Now though, I found that many pranks just weren't worth the time, that I should have been doing something more important with my time than trying to find a little amusement in others.

"And lastly, Fluttershy single hoofedly stared down a flock of cockatrices that were terrorizing the town. Then she managed to get them to turn everything they had turned to stone back to the way they were before." Twilight concluded.

Fluttershy. I knew her since I was a little filly back in Cloudsdale, but she kept finding ways to surprise me. From dragons, to cockatrices, to mean minotaurs, Fluttershy stopped them all in her own special way of handling things. Which typically meant by handling the situation with either extreme politeness, or with absolute terror. Kind of odd how such a scardy-pony could pull stuff like that off.

I stopped abruptly in the hallway, Twilight reacting in kind a moment later, turning to face me, concern again splayed on her face. "What, is something wrong?" she asked, worried. I resumed my walk, answering as I went. "No, not at all. It's just that you never said what you did for all that time." I answered. "Oh!" Twilight exclaimed, and then chuckled. "Well, I just did the same thing I always do. I wrote reports, yelled at Spike, and read a few dumb books." she told me. Clearly Twilight was willing to downplay anything exciting that she had done, and for her sake, I was willing to allow her to do so.

"So," Twilight said, pausing in the hallway, forcing me to turn and face her this time. "What about you, what kind of exciting things have you been up to?" she asked with a giggle. I bid her to keep walking down the hallway alongside me. Would this hallway just end already, I could have just skipped this part entirely then. At least for a little while.

Seeing that Twilight had no intentions of stopping anytime soon, I forced myself to get my story out. "Well, I've been here in Canterlot," I began, somewhat hesitantly. "At the ERA training grounds." I finished, waiting for the expected response. What I got was completely different. I had expected something bordering surprise, or admiration, anger even. But Twilight responded far differently.

Once again, the purple unicorn stopped in the corridor to give me a worried expression, this time mixed more with sadness. "Oh Rainbow Dash... what have you gotten yourself into...? Twilight asked solemnly. "I suppose you're here to see the Princesses, aren't you. We'd better turn around now and get you to them..." she said in a barely audible whisper, head somewhat lowered as she turned to go back the way we came from.

No. Not right now. "Friends come first."

At my insistence that we go to my other friends first, Twilight immediately rebounded to the happiness she had felt when she saw me in the courtyard. With my request, Twilight knew that I bore no ill will to her, or any of my other friends. Instead, she turned back to me, and began to race down the corridor at full speed, using her teleportation abilities to blink further and further away. I smiled grandly, glad to know that I was truly around my friends again. And if it was a race Twilight wanted, it was a race she would get. I stabilized myself firmly on the ground, ready to launch forward in the air. And launch I did.

Twilight was far ahead of me, I couldn't even see her anymore. But I knew I could catch her. I felt the air around me shifting as my form cut through the stillness, creating an artificial breeze behind me, and warping the air in front of me. Picking up speed, I cruised by countless doors, lucky that none had opened up and put a swift stop to my race. I began to spot Twilight far down the corridor, knowing I would catch her soon. But the purple pony certainly wasn't trying to make it easy, pouring her concentration into one blinking teleportation spell after another, and I could see the neon purple flashes as she popped in and out of existence. Keeping my head lowered, I pushed my wings to propel me to even greater speeds.

Unfortunately for Twilight, she seemed to think I could possibly have gotten lost in the straight approach of the hallway, and stopped suddenly and turned to head back and find me, only to see a rainbow colored blur rush by her head, ruffling her mane and tail as the displaced air struck her. I turned and slowed in order to see her laughing at having thought she could possibly beat me. I stopped, landing back on the floor as Twilight concentrated one last time to teleport herself right next to me.

"Good thing you stopped Rainbow, they're only three more doors down." Twilight informed me. Happily, I trotted beside her again as we reached the door. "Let me go in first, they'll get more of a shock that way." Twilight said, some deviousness in her voice.

She opened the door and walked in. I could hear my other friends greeting her as she came back from what I assume had just been a pleasant walk around the castle. I could also hear her informing them that she had found a special guest as she wandered about the castle. I could hear distinctly then who was asking what.

"Well who've ya' got for us Twi'? I could hear Applejack say in her peculiar accent.

"Yeah, who is it Twilight? Are you sure we can't throw a surprise party for them?" Pinkie asked excitedly.

"Darling, you leave us on such short notice for these sorts of special events. I haven't even got the time to spruce up the place, maybe put on a nice dress, touch up my makeup..." Rarity scolded, before being distracted by what she could do to make a better appearance.

"Um... it's not someone we don't know, is it?" I could barely hear Fluttershy whisper.

"Oh, I dunno. I think she'll just have to come in herself." Twilight said mischievously.

I took that as my cue to come on in, and as I did, I was happy to hear the chorus of surprised greetings.

"Rainbow Dash?" came the surprised queries from everypony else in the room.

Yes, it was good to have friends.

**********

I passed by several hours listening to my friends regale me with their far more extensive versions of what Twilight had told me of each of them in the corridor. In return, I told all of them the reasons for me leaving Ponyville on such short notice, assuring each and every one of them that nopony had done something to make me leave.

"Well shucks, if I had known you were in Canterlot while I was at the rodeo I would have came ta' check up on ya'." Applejack told me. "Giving up your own dreams for the good of everyone is very noble and generous of you Rainbow Dash." Rarity praised, lauding me for my will to put myself forward in the world. Pinkie Pie just eyeballed me closely a few times and then asked, "Are you sure you're the real Rainbow Dash?" she asked suspiciously, and I simply assured her I was the same Rainbow Dash, which sated her suspicions and cause her to resume her normal and cheery attitude. Fluttershy remained silent, not asking a single question of me, but sat there happily once I hold told her that there was nothing she had done to make me leave. Apparently, Fluttershy had been under the unreasonable assumption that I had left because of something she had done to make me mad, though I had no clue what the kind pegasus could possibly have done to make me leave.

After my own queries about them, it turned out that Celestia had called all of them to the castle as well. A reason was given for each of their individual presences. Applejack to help plant some new apple trees in the garden with her expertise, Fluttershy to help the groundskeeper in handling some of the newborn animals of the gardens, while Pinkie Pie was to train the castle's newer bakers so that the full time ones could keep up their work, and lastly, Rarity was simply given a setup in the castle to create her new dresses for Photofinish. Twilight was of course supposed to follow her friends to see if she could learn anything new about friendship. Admittedly, I was somewhat suspicious as to the fact that all of us just so happened to be gathered together in the castle at the same time.

I wanted so very badly to spend the rest of the day, and even well into the night in that room with my friends, sharing in their jokes and laughter. I wanted so very badly to be back in Ponyville, in Twilight's library, with these same ponies. I wanted so very badly to be somewhere I belonged, and that I truly felt that sentiment.

Instead, I had to finish revealing my circumstances to my friends.

"So I told all of you already why I'm here. In Canterlot. But... not why I'm here in the castle." I began, unwilling to finish my words. But they needed to be said. "When I was assigned after graduation from the training grounds, I was supposed to... I- I'm... supposed to be part of the personal guard for the Princesses." I spat out with difficulty.

Silence reigned in the room for several moments. "Wow Rainbow." came the silence breaking words. Twilight was responsible for those words. "I figured you were here to at least visit the Princesses, but... to actually be part of their personal guard... and I thought that the castle guards were important." she continued. "But congratulations. I'm sure you earned it." she concluded with a smile. I nodded at the words, but failed to find any truth in them.

"Really, I probably ought to go see the Princesses right now..." I said with my face to the floor. "But I've been too happy here with you all to let it end..." I trailed off, but with a smile on my face. "It's okay sugarcube, we know you've got an important job to do here now. You can run along now, we'll still be here when you get back." Applejack assured me. The others all echoed the sentiment in their own words. "Go ahead Rainbow. The raising of the moon has already happened, but Luna should still be standing vigil in the spire. Let her know you're here." Twilight said, encouraging me to visit the Princess.

I looked at my friends one last time at the threshold of the door. They all smiled and waved me off. I didn't want to go. What if I never saw them again? What if I have to stay here forever, and I can't leave for Ponyville? No. That couldn't happen. If anything, they would come see me. They were my friends after all.

And with that, I flew off down the corridor again to pay Luna a visit.

**********

Here I stood, outside of the ritual chamber where the sun and moon were raised and set without fail each day.

I noted as I had approached the base of the tower that all of the guards, had changed to Luna's night guards, even the scholarly unicorn pony that had been responsible for scanning me had been replaced with an equally bored looking scholarly unicorn, though this one had robes that blended more with the dark of night. The guards at the base of the tower had stopped me for my papers as expected, and I had been prepared enough to have them out as I approached. Shortly, I had been sent on my way.

The spire had filled me with awe and wonder as I walked the path to the ritual chamber at the summit. Murals and sculptures of grand proportions adorned the wide walls surrounding the vast spiral staircase leading to the top. Several times I forced myself to stop gawking in amazement at the artwork around the building and I made my way forward. Eventually, artwork gave way to arcane relics of ages past, both functional and non-functional. The might of the Equestrian empire (and we truly were an empire, we simply did not call ourselves such) could be seen through centuries of relics from even before the time of Nightmare Moon. Eventually the relics transformed into levels upon levels of texts, both ancient and new in a grand library meant to store the history, magical practices, cultures, and just about everything else imaginable in Equestria in text format. The last few floors only had sparse furnishing, until even that ceased, leaving barren and empty rooms in the vast amounts of space in the behemoth tower.

And then, before I had even fully overcome my astonishment at the sights I had seen on the way to the top, I was there. The path to the ritual chamber on the final floor housed towering statues of past heroes of Equestria, which seemed ready to simply burst to life and spring into action against any would be interlopers. If the inanimate statues weren't enough to intimidate away those that shouldn't be here, the heavily armed guards that flanked said statues all the way down the hall should. The guards all stood at perfect attention, near embodiments of the statues they stood near, as if proximity alone were enough to force them into motionlessness. Not a one moved as I walked towards the doors of the ritual chamber, until I reached the doors themselves, which were opened wordlessly by the two unicorns standing before them.

Inside the chamber was a comparably small room, with a large bed dominating the right wall of the circular chamber, and an engraved obsidian table on the left side, with several comfy looking chairs around it. A recent painting of both of the Princesses together adorned the wall above the table, while the bed had a thin violet veil surrounding the mattress with its own matching sheets.

None of these things drew my attention as much as the seemingly glowing figure standing on the balcony at the far end of the room. A majestic midnight blue coat encompassed the figure, as a ghostly flowing mane and tail shifted about like the gently moving night sky. From behind, I could see a horn which tapered to a sharpened point. The figure flexed her massive wings, settling them closer around her body, as if she were cold. Truly, Princess Luna was breathtaking.

"WE CAN SENSE YOUR PRESENCE, RAINBOW DASH." the Princess boomed. I shrank back at the imposing voice, feeling smaller at its power. The Night Princess turned to regard me, and I lowered myself to the floor in as graceful a bow as I could attempt in my awe. "Please, rise." a much gentler and embarrassed voice said. I glanced back up at Luna, who had stepped closer to me, and greatly lowered the volume of her voice.

I rose quickly, almost knocking myself off balance in my swiftness. I stood, listening tentatively to Luna once I had composed myself. "Please, do come in." she welcomed. As I entered, the door swung silently shut behind me. "Please join me on the balcony, I do find the night so beautiful." Luna requested. I took a step forward, and looked down as I stepped on the elegant rug I hadn't noticed in my earlier observations of the room. Continuing, I followed the Princess out to the balcony, where she was already lost gazing in the stars once more. I stood behind the much taller and regal pony in silence.

"I already know why you're here Rainbow Dash." the Princess said softly, not breaking away from the night sky. "My sister made it a goal of hers to bring you here, to keep you safe, as well as your other friends. Only you six can activate the Elements of Harmony, which may end up being our most potent weapon." the Princess stated, and then fell silent again. I was confused, safe from what? And what could we possibly need the Elements for again? I only voiced my concern over our safety a moment later. "What could we possibly have to be afraid of in Canterlot?" I queried. Luna shifted her gaze down to me then, her eyes boring into my own. "The danger does not come from Equestria, young Rainbow Dash. It is from... elsewhere." she warned.

"You know of the gryphons, yes?" she asked. I nodded in acknowledgment. "And of the minotaurs as well, correct?" she continued. I only vaguely knew of the minotaurs, my only real experience with them having been from Iron Will back in Ponyville. Nevertheless, I nodded once more. The Princess sighed heavily, and then returned to gazing at the sky. "Me and my sister both have limited powers of clairvoyance." she stated. "We have both seen into the future. A very specific part of the future, as it were. And we are... afraid." the Princess said, softening her voice at the last bit. I was suddenly filled with overwhelming dread. What could possibly cause both Princesses, let alone one Princess, to be afraid?

Luna noticed my internal struggle. "In a short time, there will be an attack. This is what we have seen in our shared vision." she revealed. "In a mock fight between the gryphons and a regiment of the Air Corps." she continued. "Only... this won't be a mock fight. And only one side will be aware of that fact." Luna's voice darkened at this. "And ours will not be the one." she concluded.

My jaw dropped. There was going to be bloodshed between ponies and... well... anything for the first time in centuries. But why? I attempted to articulate my confusion in some sort of comprehensible manner, but simply came out as "What... why?"

Luna sighed once more, facing my still shocked form. "You know of Gilda. This is a fact. You also know that she stormed out of Ponyville, having been offended at her treatment by the ponies of Ponyville." the Princess stated, all truths. "What you may not know, is that Gilda is the daughter of one of the High Gryphon Council's members." the Princess told me. "When she arrived back home, she went directly to her father, and told him of what happened in Ponyville. Not only that, but she fabricated and overstated what had happened in your little town." the Princess continued. "Later, her father had convinced the rest of the Council to demand reparations for what they called 'mistreatment of an ambassador'. Politely, my sister and I refused, knowing the truth of the matter." Luna concluded.

Noting my still perplexed expression, Luna added one final, resounding note to her point. "To the High Gryphon Council, this was taken as an act of aggression." she paused for a moment, and began again, sounding even more depressed. "In about fifteen minutes, the mock fight is to take place. The battle is supposed to be held above Ponyville."

"Tomorrow morning, as my sister raises the Sun, Ponyville will no longer exist."

The last words struck me like a freight train. Ponyville... wouldn't... exist? The simple words refused to register in my brain for a moment, and then I was struck with a fury like none I had ever felt before. "But we know about this right now, we can still warn them, get everypony out of Ponyville! There's still time!" I started to say frantically. "No there is not." Luna stated calmly. "Remember that I asked you of the minotaurs? They too took offense at one of their 'ambassadors' being kicked out of Ponyville disgracefully, demanding similar reparations, which we also refused." Luna continued. "The minotaurs and gryphons have already allied with each other, and the minotaurs have Ponyville surrounded on the ground, while the gryphons will fight ineffective air forces above the town."

"They. Are. All. Doomed." Luna said slowly, and painfully. My jaw struck the floor again. Luna was on the verge of tears, sounding desperate. "There is nothing I can do. Celestia has already told every officer in the area not to take any orders from me without her explicit permission. Anything I tell them, they just ignore." she continued, this time actually losing any semblance of control, the tears flowing freely. I felt even more disheartened seeing the tears flow from such a powerful being that was truly powerless to do anything.

But then my rage boiled over. Celestia knew.

And she wasn't doing a damned thing.

"Where is your sister?" I asked, sounding deadly calm. Luna looked to me, tears still in her eyes. "She sulks in her chambers, locked away, preparing to observe the battle from afar." Luna told me. "You cannot stop her. She has seen your coming in her vision as I have. She will have prepared." Luna warned. "That won't stop me." I told her. My eyes burned with a fire that I could have sworn was visible to any onlooker.

With that, I flew straight off of the balcony to confront Celestia.

**********

I pushed myself, trying to be faster than I ever had been. Not that I could reach that goal with the relatively short flight to the opposite end of the castle where Celestia's personal chambers lay. There were only ten minutes until the utter destruction of Ponyville, precious time that I realized I had wasted as I gawked at the stupid art and petty writings inhabiting the spire. Deep down, I knew that my confidence in being able to change what was about to occur was false, and that Luna was right. There's nothing I could do. But I wasn't about to spend two seconds to acknowledge that as the truth.

The much smaller spire of Celestia's abode, twin to her sister's own spire, towered before me as I flew closer and closer. I intended to land directly on the balcony of the highest level, and intervene from there. But I slammed the brakes as hard as I could, when a glint of starlight revealed a spark of mystical energy protecting the balcony from intrusion. A gift from Luna, I thought, as much as she could do for me given the circumstances. I gave silent thanks to the one Princess who was willing to do something.

With the warning in mind, I shifted direction, straightening downwards, blasting myself towards the doors. The guards who saw me offered no resistance, instead opening the doors for me as I made my way through them. I could not stop to gawk at Celestia's own impressive personal collection of artifacts, tapestries, and other such distractions. Only seven minutes left now, and I had to navigate with care since I was moving about the much more confined space of the spiral staircase, rather than the outdoors which I had just come from.

Precious seconds ticked away, and while the flight to the top was still extensive, I appreciated that I was traversing the smaller of the spires. Seconds turned to minutes as I managed to reach the last level of the tower, its own statues dwarfed by those in the other tower, but they stood just as imposingly. Not that I took the time to recognize that at this time. The two lone guards stood at the doors to Celestia's inner chamber, blocking my path. It felt as if she was mocking me, placing almost nothing in the way of resistance all throughout the tower, and only now leaving two lone guards in my way.

"Halt, the Princess is not to be disturbed at this time!" the guard on the left informed me. "Turn away now, and we will not be forced to move you aside by other means!" the right one commanded with authority. In a synchronized fashion, both lowered their spears to further dissuade me from continuing on my chosen path. Not that it helped them any as I kicked up the speed, smacking each of them straightly in the forehead with my forehooves.

Continuing with my momentum, I pushed against the doors, being aided by the masses of the two guards impacting against them. With some slight resistance, the doors flew open... only for me to be greeted with a net in the face. The doors had been booby trapped with a net launcher, the resistance being the effort it had taken to set off the launcher. My momentum still managed to carry me into the room several feet.

And there she stood, in all of her radiant beauty. Whereas Luna embodied the midnight beauty of the heavenly bodies, Celestia embodied that of the glorious daylight. Her coat shone with the glow of the sun, though on a far more tolerable scale than that of the sun itself. The majestic Princess's mane and tail emitted the light of a true rainbow, not the simple chromatic colors of my own 'rainbow' mane, looking nearly immaterial. Celestia's horn tapered to a point just as Luna's did, though were she to spread her wings, she would dwarf Luna's span, being the more physically mature of the two.

But the regal beauty of the Princess was marred with the utter disappointment splayed across her face. I had fulfilled the vision she had foreseen, though she had hoped I could have strayed from the path of her vision. Instead, all played out as she had foreseen, and I had barreled straight into her chambers heedlessly, and directly into the net that awaited me. She simply stared at me with her disappointment as I struggled against the thick, binding ropes.

"I had hoped this would have turned out differently, and not as I had envisioned it." the Princess said softly, in that oh-so elegant voice of hers, the smooth voice of a mother it seemed to many. She shook her head, the heavenly mane shifting in a non-existent breeze. "I wished that everything had simply been a misdirection of my own powers, that I was merely seeing things as I had feared they would work out, warping it all with my mind's silent concerns." she told me. "But I see now that Equestria is only moments away from entering another bloody chapter of its history."

I struggled against the net, almost out of it as I felt the bindings loosen and pull away, a brilliant shining glow surrounding the ropes. Celestia was indeed untangling me, but then I felt as any movements I attempted to make slowed, until I couldn't move at all. Now, I was held as an unmoving captive of the Princess, being floated towards her as if I were a simple object she wished to have. "While I can make you more comfortable outside of the net, I'm afraid I can't simply allow you to roam free, young Rainbow Dash." the Princess said, sounding disappointed in me once more.

"Why!?" I growled in my fury. "Why- how can you let this happen?! You! The Princess!" I exclaimed. Celestia looked hurt, as she deserved to feel, and I could see now that a pool of water had been formed in the center of the chamber. Within the water, I could see several pegasi forming ranks in the air, the night time fog obscuring specific colors and details of the ponies in the sky. It was about to begin, I could tell.

Celestia sighed, a heavy, sorrowful sigh. "This has to be done to seal the fate of Equestria, Rainbow Dash. We need to be the victims." the Princess explained. "We need to be the good guys in this conflict. The ponies of Equestria need to know that we weren't the aggressors, that we're simply defending ourselves." she continued. Celestia suddenly turned to face the scrying pool, telekinetically dragging me through the air with her. A burst of light, a pinprick in the darkness, sudden confusion among the ranks of the pegasi, several more pinpricks of light in the night.

It had begun.

With that, the Princess stood silently, holding me aloft beside her as she watched the beginning of an extermination of one of her towns. Something she had knowingly done nothing to stop. I looked on in horror as dead and dying pegasi rained from the skies, the living ones flying about in confusion. At the same time, I saw light take shape on the ground, as flames sprung to life in the village itself. The minotaurs had arrived, and they were setting the town ablaze with torches while eliminating any sort of ground resistance from the townsponies.

I was horrified into silence as my home of the past several years caught fire, and its inhabitants slain. All for the perceived aggression from those living in the small town. I turned my head, the only free part of my body, to face Celestia, my mouth agape as tears streamed down my face. I wanted to ask her... something. I couldn't even compile my thoughts to protest what was occurring anymore.

What I saw of Celestia though was a grimacing face, full of the same pain and sorrow that I was feeling, willing itself not to cry. "We need a reason-" she said to me, choking in a heart wrenching sound. The regal Princess now seemed like a pitiful shadow of her former self, of the perfection I had witnessed mere moments ago. "We need a reason to fight this." she concluded.

"And now... we have one."

Revolution

Aces High

Chapter 3: Revolution

Damn it!

Damn it all but she was right!

I hated myself for it, but I forced myself to admit it; Celestia was right. She had done nothing to prevent the utter destruction of Ponyville, to stop it from being razed to the ground, but she was right. Equestria needed a cause against the gryphons and the minotaurs, something personal to drive the ponies of Equestria to war with their enemies rather than backing down and giving reparations. The downside was, that in order to ignite the inferno of hatred against our enemies, we needed to be the victims, not the antagonists.

Luna knew this just as well as her sister, but she had wanted to prevent Ponyville from being destroyed, and to defend it instead. But she could do nothing against her sister's wishes. Celestia knew that a martyr would bring an outpouring of support from all of her subjects, from Stalliongrad, to Fillydelphia, even in the more aristocratic minded Canterlot itself. Donations, supplies, volunteers for the Royal Army, all would be coming forthwith as news broke of Ponyville's sudden and unprovoked destruction. From the smoldering ashes of burning Ponyville would rise the new fires of industrious ponies all over the country.

Damn it, Celestia was right!

While I could never fully forgive her for allowing my home to be destroyed, I could tolerate the tactical advantage that letting the enemies strike the first blow would afford us. I would remain loyal to the throne, if only because Equestria needed me now more than ever, and I was unwilling to allow further losses to slide by so easily.

However, there was one thing that I could not forgive her for; she had forced me to watch. Celestia had allowed her scrying pool to remain open throughout the defilement of Ponyville, both of us watching as its citizens were butchered by minotaur and gryphon alike. It was all to teach me a lesson, I assumed, that the gryphons and minotaurs were more than willing, perhaps eager even to spill pony blood for their nations. As we watched in disgust and horror, tears continued to roll down my already soaked cheeks, and the first few beginning to make their appearance on Celestia's.

In the end, as the scene continued to play itself out in the pool, Celestia's magic broke mercifully, dropping me to the floor in a sobbing heap. A tear for each pony I knew that had surely died in the tragedy, either due to the blaze engulfing the town, or to an enemy's lethal blows. I threw in more for the pegasi that were falling from the skies, their mock small arms being useless against the real ones being wielded by the gryphons and minotaurs.

In the end, it was Celestia who came to me, and laid down beside me, cradling me as a mother would. She cried silent tears of her own into my mane, trying to be strong enough for the both of us as I laid my head against her breast as the well of my tears dried up. I was sitting there pathetically, still whispering 'Why?'

Why was it that we could both sit there and simply do nothing when there was still plenty to be done?

Instead, I was met with silence as Celestia sat there, her once unmarred and seemingly meticulously groomed fur being disheveled as I buried my face in it. She listened to every question painfully, knowing full well that I was silently accusing her for everything that was unfolding around me. Considering her voluntary inaction, she asked herself if it had all truly been worth it to bring any of her subjects to such grief, and all for a tactical advantage. Five more similar ponies waited for her to break the news to them as well, blindsiding them in the process. Each would react with tears and grief just as I had, one of the victims of her news being her most favorite subject in all of Equestria, her most faithful student.

But for right now, all Celestia had to be worried about was to remain a pillar of stability for the pony who was already unleashing her sorrow before her.

**********

I awoke the next morning still in Celestia's chambers, my face nuzzled against her body. Apparently she had waited to whole night out, having told the guards that entered once they had awoken not to be worried, even raising the Sun without ascending the Grand Spire. Throughout that time, she remained unmoving, simply holding me there. In fact, that was the way I had awoken, Celestia's forelegs still wrapped around me, the Princess herself meditating there with her eyes closed.

My first movements alerted her that I was awake, her eyes shooting open and directing themselves to regard me. I got a hoof under myself to stand, Celestia releasing me from her grasp, only to have to dart back out and catch me before I collapsed again. While the presence of the Princess had eventually become comforting, the same could not be said for the stone floors that I had lain on throughout the night, leaving my body stiff and refusing to move.

"Thanks." I said dully, managing to rise under my own power this time. As I stretched out my limbs and wings, the Princess got to her hooves as well, not facing the same trouble I had. Both of us stood there, the Princess staring at me, whereas I shied away from looking at her, only shooting her a glance. "So what do we do now?" I questioned, my back still turned to Celestia.

"Now? We tell your friends what has befallen Ponyville. Then Canterlot, and all of Equestria. Even now, some neighboring towns have probably seen the plumes of smoke rising from Ponyville, and will be concerned, though hopefully none have attempted to get close to the ruins." Celestia explained to me. "But first, your friends, they are- were, inhabitants of the town after all." the Princess said, pausing afterwords though. "I would ask that you not tell them that we knew of the attack prior to it's occurrence. I would not wish to lose the only good thing to have come from such a loss." she requested of me before walking over and placing a hoof on my shoulder.

"I know that you probably harbor a great deal of contempt for me right now Rainbow Dash, and I am deserving of it. I alone am responsible for the tragedy that occurred last night." Celestia said empathetically. I shot a dagger glare at her, but I could not maintain the stare for long as I saw the pain and sorrow etched across the Princess' face. The look was almost an apology unto itself, but then the words that I had silently and unconsciously awaited came. "Most of all, I'm sorry that you- that anypony had to witness what should have been my and Luna's burden alone. I don't expect forgiveness to come easy, not so soon, but it is my wish that you can some day find some solace in what I've done."

That was the last straw.

I whipped my head around, my mane a whirlwind of color, and gave Celestia a hard glare. Then, I sighed and let my head hang limply towards the floor. I struggled to find the right words for how I felt right then. "I... understand why you did what you did Princess. Even now I agree that it was the right thing to have done. I just- I just wish there had been another way." I said solemnly. A hoof pushed my chin up, forcing me to face Celestia once more. She wore a grin on her muzzle, some slight moisture ringing those regal eyes of hers. "Thank you Rainbow Dash..." she said, the last words dying in a whisper as she blinked the tears away.

Now that the two of us were in about as good as mood as we were likely going to be in for a long while, we proceeded out of Celestia's chambers. I apologized to the two guards ponies awkwardly as we passed the doors, both simply nodding sternly at me in acceptance. Briefly, I was concerned about my appearance after having flown, cried, and tumbled all last evening. Noting my own inspections of my coat and mane, Celestia raised her horn slightly, a small glow emanating from the tip. A soothing golden glow encompassed me, cleaning my coat of blemishes while flattening it, and readjusting my mane to its normal style before it faded away like its presence had never been known. Majestic as always, Celestia had needed no such touch ups, her coat immaculate as always and her ghostly mane never remaining still for long to begin with.

As we passed through halls of the smaller spire at a far more leisurely pace than I had last evening, I noticed the adornments of the walls. Several paintings were affixed to the stone walls, portraying various ponies in a number of poses. Most were unicorns, though there were some earth ponies, and even a few pegasi. Among the other differences based mainly on the pony involved, one thing struck me as interesting. Each painting was in various stages of weathering, some being truly ancient, while others seemed newer, while still maintaining a sense of age.

As I followed the paintings, each one in better condition that the last, my face screwed up at the final painting, this one actually having been of Twilight Sparkle. The painting featured a younger Twilight, though only from a few years ago, maybe from the time just before she came to Ponyville. In the painting, a booked was splayed out before the purple pony, with several stacks of what I presumed were books she had already finished reading, though instead of focusing her attention on the book, Twilight was instead looking of the direction of what was surely the painter. A smile befitting of her twinkling eyes adorned her face, looking absolutely pleased. I was already forming conclusions of what each painting signified, though with the best pony to question standing right beside, I felt I could ask aloud to confirm or deny my suspicions.

"Hey Princess," I said, looking up to the taller pony, who had at that point stopped and moved beside me. "Who are all these ponies? And why is Twilight up there?" I inquired. The Princess turned and bade me to continue walking with her. "Those," she began, "are all the ponies whom I've ever taken under my wing for personal tutelage." she told me, confirming what I had already thought of.

"For millennia, since even before my sister was banished, I have been training exceptional ponies in the art of magic. Some of the unicorns, such as Twilight Sparkle, have had enough raw potential for magic that they have impressed me. Though as I'm sure you've noticed, not all of my students were unicorns. The pegasi and earth ponies, along with a few of the less magic oriented unicorns, were ponies who I deemed capable of wielding a piece of the Elements of Harmony. Its usually several generations before I can gather all six bearers of the Elements, such as you and your friends, but I like to keep any that I find safe as a precaution." Celestia continued, only stopping for the momentary breath.

So all of those ponies, and there had been dozens, had shown the same potential, if not more than my closest friends, or even me? It suddenly struck me how monumentally old Celestia and her sister must be for her to have been instructing the bright young minds of ponies for that long. That thought led me to wonder if Celestia hadn't been in the same position she currently was several times before, of the suffering that she had seen in her subjects as victims of war in the past. Perhaps it had been her experience in those types of situations that led her to choose this particular course of action to save herself from witnessing the pain of as many ponies as she had seen in past wars?

For her part, Celestia had remained silent, allowing me to stew in the pool of my own thoughts as we continued, reaching the next set of spiraling stairs. I had seen Twilight smile with the same glee of the painting just the previous day as she had greeted me in the courtyard. How would she handle the news of Ponyville's destruction? Her few years may not equal the time that I or the others had been living in Ponyville, but in that almost brief period, a lifetime of experiences had occurred compared to her time spent in Canterlot. And what if Twilight learned that it had been her very mentor, her idol who had stood aside and let her memories be laid to waste by foreign interlopers? I wished suddenly that I had simply stayed with my friends last night, that I could have avoided the horrendous knowledge that I now housed in my skull.

My jumble of thoughts drove more questions into my skull, and not enough answers were present. The question I did ask aloud was not the one I had expected though. "Princess, do you think we can win this? If the gryphons and minotaurs are really serious about this, do you think we can actually defeat them?" I had asked before I realized it. The Princess remained silent, though from shock at the question, or actually measuring the odds of success, I could not tell.

"Yes. I have a firm confidence that we can beat our opponents back out of Equestria." Celestia said carefully. "I've kept our military investments and advancements of the past several years secret so that only the highest members of our government truly know. The truth is, we've seen the signs of trouble since Gilda first riled up the High Gryphon Council four years ago." the Princess revealed. "Relations had been improving recently, and I was hoping that all my fears of attack had been unfounded. But then the gryphons, who at that point had recruited the minotaurs, began asking for reparations, which was something that I wasn't willing to comply with." she continued.

"Now, I believe that we have have, at the very least, enough military power to drive the gryphons and minotaurs back. In fact, one might say that we have a military might that exceeds even our combined enemies." Celestia concluded, the words inspiring some semblance of confidence in me after having witnessed the previous night's seemingly unstoppable enemies. However, Celestia's countenance remained dark, even after assuring me that we could defeat our enemies. Catching my scrutinizing look, she elaborated on the matter.

"My only concern is that the gryphons and minotaurs even chose to attack at all. Even prior to my and my sister's efforts to increase the power of our military, we could probably have beaten our new found foes back. Now, this may simply be me being paranoid, but I feel that the gryphons and minotaurs have some knowledge that we don't that could potentially turn the tides in their favor." the Princess told me.

Okay, some of my confidence evaporated at this.

"But I would say that the answer to your question is still yes. We can stop the gryphons and minotaurs. And I intend to tell all of the citizens of Equestria the same thing." Celestia added to allay any newly forming fears. If she was willing to tell me that she thought we could win this 'war', then she would surely tell all the ponies in Equestria the same thing. I was beginning to feel that this wasn't such a back and forth thing anymore, that I could really trust in Celestia as she assured me the Equestria would be the victors.

I felt some vengeful pleasure at the thought that the gryphons and minotaurs would pay for what they had done to my home. A little pony in my head told me that we should beat them back and then wreck a few towns in their lands, to show them how if felt! I quickly silenced the bloodthirsty pony in my head who was demanding a swift and gruesome form of retribution. It was one thing for us to crush their armies and make them (ironically) pay reparations, but it was another thing entirely for us to attack what would most likely be defenseless territories at that point.

Our extended conversation had eaten away at the time it had taken to reach the ground floor of the tower, and I had to quickly shield my eyes from the unexpected sunlight that dazzled me as the guards opened to doors for us. Just as Celestia promised to the ponies of Equestria each day, the sun shone brightly towards the earth, caressing those it touched with its warmth. My surprise at being blinded by the light of the Sun was replaced by a sense of calm as I recognized that some form of my life remained stable, that the glowing ball of fire still swung high in the sky every day.

'Glowing ball of fire... every day', I suddenly thought. The gryphons and minotaurs shared the same heavenly bodies as the rest of the world. It dawned on me, no pun intended, that regardless of how this war went, Celestia and Luna would survive everything, unless the gryphons and minotaurs were willing to risk eliminating the catalysts of their own sunny days and cool nights. Even in the time before the Princesses, the ponies whose secrets were lost to the ages had been forced to utilize powerful magic to raise the Sun and Moon each day.

Maybe all the time spent stuck indoors during training had been bad for me after all. The Sun seemed to make me think better.

It was due to the sunlight that I could see all the carefree guards inhabiting the castle. Well, as carefree as being castle guards allowed them to be. None of them seemed to be aware of what had happened in the night of the previous day. If only I could say the same about myself. No, instead, here I was, off to inform my friends of the fate that had befallen Ponyville. How does one share that kind of information? 'Hey guys, got some bad news. Gryphons and minotaurs kinda burned down Ponyville. Bummer, huh?'

No, I didn't look forward to what I would have to do in the next hour. Maybe I could get out of it though? I wasn't supposed to know about this yet either, was I? 'Of course I would.' I told myself. 'Kinda comes with being on the personal guard of the Princess you spent all night with last night.' I scolded. This wasn't an enviable job in the slightest, but it had to be done.

It was all I could do to keep my head high just as Celestia was doing, trying to prove to everypony that nothing was wrong in the slightest. We passed by the fountain of the larger than life Celestia, this time a few of the castle servants on break were relaxing there, enjoying the splendid weather reading or just chatting. All of them gave Celestia a wave or short verbal greeting, Celestia responding to each with a gracious nod. Where would they all be when the new came through the grapevine that Equestria was under attack? Perhaps in a hallway, moving about their tasks, perhaps asleep in their quarters, perhaps still sitting here in the tranquil courtyard. How would the Pony of Death, Gravesend react inside of his suit of armor?

I shut my eyes tightly, driving my thoughts to what lay in front of me at the current moment. My friends would need me in due time, and I needed myself to be there for them too. Me and Celestia proceeded down the endless corridor, far more endless than it had seemed yesterday now that silence formed a buffer between me and the nearest pony. We had talked about all that either of us had been willing to talk about at the time, which was for the best perhaps. Maybe then I wouldn't bring up any more sensitive topics or personal questions. Yes, shutting up was certainly for the best.

After an eternity of walking (seriously, could they be any more out of the way?), we reached the current quarters of my friends. I could hear the shuffling of hooves, and the muffled voices of ponies conversing in the room already. I took a deep breath to steady myself, and raised my hoof up to knock. Instead, Celestia held hers up, pushing my own hoof down. "I'll handle the explanation. You just be there for them." she told me. Raising her hoof again, Celestia knocked in a short succession of three hoof taps. I steadied myself again, keeping a straight face. All was supposed to well, I didn't know anything yet, just be as shocked as the others.

I heard muffled voice before Twilight opened the door, her eyes gleaming as she saw the two ponies she was greeting. "Princess! We're so happy to see you!" Twilight said enthusiastically as the others echoed her joy. "You too Rainbow Dash." she included, slightly less enthusiastically. Twilight made a sweeping gesture with her hoof, indicating we should enter. I complied, following Celestia as she entered first, Twilight giving me a barely restrained giggle at the thought of Celestia visiting her.

As I walked in behind the Princess, I saw that everypony was gathered together at the prospect of seeing Celestia. While this was hardly the first time she had been with my friends, in fact, many of us had the privilege of saying that we saw the Princess fairly frequently, each visit was still a treat. As such, this visit promised just that. That was what my friends had wanted to believe, anyhow.

Once we were all in the recreation area of the large room, the Princess bade my friends to take a seat on one of the several couches about the room before she began. A dark expression was cast over Celestia's face as she began.

"Girls, I have some bad news..."

**********

Stunned silence and pained expressions filled the room as Celestia finished explaining what had happened to Ponyville during the night.

"Ponyville... was attacked last night." she began. "The minotaurs and gryphons have allied with one another against us for various political reasons, and made Ponyville a target for their forces during what should have been a mock fight between the gryphons and a detachment of our Air Corps." she continued, pausing at this point. "I'm sorry, but Ponyville was completely destroyed in the assault."

That was when the weird looks and silence had begun.

Pinkie Pie was the first to speak up, but as she ran a hoof through her mane, the hair deflated, reminiscent of her 'Pinkamena' episode several years ago. "But... what about Sugarcube corner?" she asked Celestia. The Princess simply shook her head slowly in response. "I had orders to finish..." Pinkie said with a sniffle. "and Featherweight's birthday was coming up..." the pink pony continued. "At least the Cakes weren't around still." she finished, looking to the floor as her tears began to fall.

At the normally delightful pony's innocent questions, and her following tears, the rest of my friends all lost control of themselves, breaking down in various degrees themselves.

"But... all my dresses.. heh, Photofinish wanted more. I was working on those though..." Rarity mumbled to nopony in particular, covering up for her shock by displacing her thoughts. "Sweetie Belle!" she said with a harsh whisper, the realization cutting through the haze of her thoughts as her eyes went wide. "No no no no no, not Sweetie Belle!" she began to say frantically, pacing about the room as she did so. "I- I'll take her place, just let Sweetie Belle back into the world!" Rarity pleaded in the direction of the sky.

Applejack stood still, her eyes beginning to water as she processed what she had just heard. Then, her primary concern was revealed."Princess, what about Sweet Apple Acres? Mah farm, mah family?" she begged of Celestia. "From the last information I've gathered, Sweet Apple Acres still stands. It is far enough from both the town itself, and the path the minotaurs took on the ground to remain unscathed." the Princess told Applejack. Relief flooded Applejack's face, and her tears were now primarily of joy that it seemed her family was spared, though she got serious a second later. "Any stray survivors from Ponyville would probably have gone to Sweet Apple Acres. We need to get them some kind of help Princess." Applejack urged.

Of all the ponies present in the room, Fluttershy looked the most devastated. The kind pony couldn't comprehend such senseless violence, taking on a scared expression and backing away from the Princess, as if putting distance between herself and the source of the news would prevent it from ever reaching her. Instead, she simply fell on her rump, back up against the wall, her own tears beginning to make themselves known. Celestia turned to face the poor yellow pegasus, and if her expression could get even more grim, it did so then.

"Fluttershy..." the Princess began, softly, as if to stop herself from damaging the cowering pony more. Celestia heaved a great sigh, regretting what she had to tell Fluttershy even more than the destruction of Ponyville. "Your cottage... it was the first target struck by the minotaurs as they followed the path to Ponyville." Celestia said gingerly. Fluttershy bit her lower lip, her watery eyes seeming to almost burst from the pressure. "But Angel bunny... and the other critters... they were all in the cottage too. They got out, didn't they?" Fluttershy whimpered. Celestia shook her head, causing Fluttershy's expression to change drastically. This was news to me as well, having probably happened as I was on the way up Celestia's spire.

Fluttershy took on a perturbed expression at first. "No... not Angel and the others... they didn't do anything." she began, her expression quickly shifting to that of outrage. "How- how dare they!? How could they kill all the ponies in Ponyville and the innocent woodland creatures!? How could they, what gives them the right!?" she screamed, only adding to the already high tensions in the room as every head turned to the normally reserved pony. Fluttershy gave a quick grunt born of utter frustration, attempting to fly off and visit her own personal wrath upon the minotaurs and gryphons. I quickly blocked her path at the threshold of the door, not wanting her to recklessly charge in only to get herself killed. I couldn't stand to lose one of my best friends on top of those already lost in Ponyville.

"Let... me... go!" Fluttershy screamed, struggling to get past me in order to mete out her punishment. It pained me to see the normally quiet pony enraged as she was, but I wouldn't let her by, and I was certainly the stronger of the two of us. Training had made sure of that. As her struggles proved futile, Fluttershy ended her rage by collapsing on the floor in a sobbing heap, similar to my own actions last night. I picked up the prone form of my friend, carrying her back over to the others who were concerned for her well being after witnessing the rampage.

Twilight took Fluttershy from me, cradling her as Celestia had done for me as I released my own grief the previous evening. Twilight was the only one that hadn't spoken her mind so far at the destruction of Ponyville, and it didn't seem like she was going to at first. "What about Spike?" she asked, surprisingly unworried about the loss of her impressive collection of books. "I've heard nothing from him, and none of my information leads me to believe he made it out." Celestia told her. Twilight looked even more crestfallen once that news hit her, but she handled the news far better than the others, barely shedding a tear.

"Now, I'm afraid I have to inform the rest of Equestria. I wish I could have come bearing some type of good news, rather than this, but you all deserved to know first." Celestia informed the group gathered before her. As the Princess turned to leave, I made to follow her, but paused for one last comment. "I'll be back." I promised all of my friends, and I did intend to keep my promise. But for now, I had to fulfill what little I knew of my job by escorting Celestia.

In their own grief, none of my friends had noticed that I had not even shed a tear for the loss of Ponyville. No, I was out of tears for Ponyville at the moment; it was time to get to work.

Just as I turned to leave once more, I heard a startled gasp from Celestia in the hallway. Quickly, I leapt to the aid of our ruler, uncertain as to what could possibly have gotten through the castle to surprise Celestia so. I was expecting some type of intruder or evil magics attempting to harm the Princess, ready to use my limited experience to fight to the death if I had to. My fears turned out to be unfounded, as when I made it into the hallway Celestia was simply levitating a rolled up parchment before her.

A message from Spike, my mind interposed, and I sincerely hoped that was the case.

Cautiously, I approached. "What is it Celestia?" I inquired, unsure of what the parchment might hold. In response, the Princess unfurled the parchment, scanning its contents quickly. "Back in the room. Some information has come to light." she commanded. I complied, opening the door again for Celestia to walk in first. I quickly followed behind her, checking my back as we went to make sure we weren't being followed, paranoia getting the better of me.

"Twilight, I have a message from Spike." Celestia informed her student, catching the attention of all in attendance. "Really? He's okay? What does it say?" Twilight quickly requested. Celestia levitated the letter over to Twilight allowing her to take control of it and read from the letter aloud.

"Spike here. Still alive. At Sweet Apple Acres, Ponyville attacked if you don't already know. Dragon scales good against fire after all." Twilight read. "Other survivors here, Apple family doing what they can to help out those with injuries. Sweetie Belle made it, but hurt bad. Scootaloo dead." Twilight paused, wincing at the loss of one of the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders', who had all gotten their cutie marks by now. "Big Macintosh keeping guard right now, lets us know if anything is coming. Safe to correspond for now, don't send help yet, gryphons and minotaurs might spot the apple trees and try to take over farm." she concluded.

After allowing a moment of silence to make sure Twilight was finished reading, Applejack began speaking excitedly. "Well this is great news!" she started. From the sound of it, several ponies had managed to make it out of Ponyville alive, if somewhat worse for wear. Looking over at Rarity, Applejack continued. "Your sister made it out Rarity!" Applejack said enthusiastically. Rarity grinned at Applejack, though her makeup had smeared a trail on her face from her tears. "Yes, yes she did." she said quietly.

"Well we have to write back, get some more information if we can. Spike, take a-" Twilight began, stopping when she realized her assistant was the very one she was attempting to write to. Instead, she quickly located a quill and parchment of her own, setting to writing as soon as she could. When she was finished, she blew on the ink, trying to dry it faster. Ever the traditionalist, Twilight always wrote her letters with a quill and ink, rather than a simple pen or pencil. Trying to make sure she hadn't missed anything important, Twilight read the letter aloud first.

"Spike, we're all happy to hear that you're alive." she began. "How many survivors are there at Sweet Apple Acres, and how many are wounded? Also, what is the state of medical supplies and food? When do you think you can move to the nearest settlement? Signed, Twilight Sparkle." she concluded, then scribbling something else at the bottom. "P.S.- Keep up correspondence if possible, your information can help us." she added. Celestia nodded in consent, levitating the rolled up parchment to herself and concentrating as she relayed the letter to Spike.

Several tense minutes passed, the silence only broken by the occasional sniffle from Fluttershy. I was beginning to worry that our timing had been inconvenient, and that the materializing letter had alerted some type of enemy. My fears were alleviated as a new letter popped into existence above Celestia's horn, the alicorn quickly levitating the newest arrival down to Twilight. The parchment unraveled as Twilight began to read aloud again.

"Yeah, I'm happy about it too. Thirteen ponies made it out, not counting me, Big Mac, Granny Smith, and Apple Bloom. Six injured, mostly burns, only one severe case. Sweetie Belle shot with a through and through in both hind legs." Twilight read, wincing at Sweetie Belle's condition. Somehow, despite her injuries, Sweetie Belle had managed to drag herself to Sweet Apple Acres, perhaps aided by magic. "Plenty of food," she continued. "Granny Smith's apple balm is helping those with burns, but we're running low on anything to turn into bandages. As for movement, those that can't walk under their own power can be placed in a cart for Big Mac to pull, but we should spend a little longer letting the burns heal a little before transporting anypony." Spike cautioned.

"We got lucky. Sugarcube Corner exploded for some reason, looked like fireworks to me. Killed several minotaurs surrounding the building with torches and blew a few gryphons out of the sky." Spike added. Surely the fireworks had been Pinkie Pie's doing, keeping a store of them all over the building. I silently thanked the party pony for her antics. "Been thinking about heading into Everfree to stay at Zecora's, she can help with the injuries. Trees obscure the gryphon's view, minotaurs are good with mazes though, so we'd have to get out without any of them seeing us. That's all. Signed, Spike the Dragon." Twilight concluded. "P.S.- Tell the Princess not to be startled if she gets a message during the night, that's the best time for movement." she added.

"Sounds like Spike has everything well in hoof- er, hand." I said to everypony. "Going to Zecora's is probably the best idea right now, if anypony can help, she can." I added, the others nodding in agreement. "Well," the Princess began. "Now that we have an idea of what things are like, I can begin to make plans." said, turning to leave again. "Now, I really can't delay this any longer. Shortly, I'll call a press conference to announce the attack on Ponyville. Equestria must know what has happened." the Princess concluded.

As Celestia began to leave, I followed, not looking back this time, knowing that my friends we doing better now that a correspondence had been established with Spike. Soon enough, Equestria would know what has happened, and hopefully ponies everywhere reacted as Celestia had planned, readying themselves to strike back at the aggressors.

Now all that remained to be done was to wait.

And watch.

**********

Celestia's press release had been short and to the point. A few of the most pressing questions were taken and answered during the brief media attention, though further prodding for details were met with silence.

Once Celestia had alerted a few of her personal aides of the need to contact the media, she had gone to the official media room of the castle. The media room held a reasonably sized stage, and was meant to only house a couple dozen reporters at most, though once they began to arrive, much space was being taken up by ponies using recording equipment. I had taken the space immediately behind Celestia, two far more experienced bodyguards of hers covering each side. I had chosen my placement both out of my lack of expertise, and due to a desire to stay out of the spotlight in the event some news pony recognized me.

Glancing over the Princess' shoulder, I thought I could make out a total of five camera crews with an equal number of live reporters. I couldn't be sure though as Celestia's billowing tail obscured most of my view. I concerned myself with the backstage portion of the room, watching as an assistant gave all of the camera crews a count down to start filming.

Five... four... three.. two...

One.

"Hello, Equestrians." Celestia said smoothly as the cameras began to roll. "I hope that all of you have been enjoying your day so far." she continued happily. I could almost feel the false smile Celestia gave the cameras, even with my back turned. "Unfortunately, I have some pressing news for everypony who is listening on radio, or watching this live broadcast." the Princess said, her tone growing dark.

"As of late last night, Equestria is at war." Celestia said, pausing to allow everypony to react and let the news sink in. "Ponyville was the target of a joint attack between the gryphons and minotaurs. The mock aerial battle that was being held above quickly turned into a quite real battle, one that our unarmed pegasi could not react to with any semblance of effectiveness." the Princess explained, her tone turning to that of disapproval.

"No chance was given for surrender, the gryphons and their minotaur allies showing blatant disregard for pony life as they burned Ponyville to the ground, nor have we been contacted by the gryphon High Council or minotaur Protectorate. As of this point, the attack seems to have been unprovoked by the ponies of Ponyville, and no reason has been given by the gryphons or minotaurs, not that anything could possibly excuse such barbarism. There are no known survivors." Celestia paused for dramatic effect. The last part had been a lie, but it would be far more inspirational to reveal that there had indeed been a few surviving inhabitants of Ponyville, especially if they were to give testimony of the merciless actions of the gryphons and minotaurs.

"Very little is known about the threat that this invading force poses, but we will operate under the assumption that our enemies will treat every settlement they encounter with the same disregard for life as Ponyville. To that effect, I request that nopony approach any stray minotaurs or gryphons, and for those living nearby to migrate to the refugee camps that we will be setting up shortly outside Canterlot." the Princess advised. "That is all. I will take further questions should there be anypony here with a concern." Celestia said, speaking to the numerous journalists behind the broadcasting cameras.

"Yes, I have a question Princess." said a light green unicorn pony who was floating a notepad in front of herself. All cameras focused on the pony asking the question. "What will happen to any minotaurs or gryphons currently living in Equestria?" the reporter asked, the cameras quickly darting back to Celestia as she prepared to answer.

"The gryphons and minotaurs who currently live in Equestria are not considered to be part of this heinous attack, though they will be detained in living areas that we will establish. This is not meant to be punishment or imprisonment. Rather, it is for their own protection, should anypony wish to do harm to them otherwise." Celestia assured her listeners and viewers.

"Detainees will be allowed to bring many of their personal belongings with them, though large items may be required to stay behind. Businesses operated by gryphons of minotaurs shall be handed down to the highest ranking pony employee, the profits being handled by same pony, hopefully for the benefit of the business. Businesses run solely by gryphons or minotaurs will be handled by a government handler. Any businesses that offer services that only a gryphon or minotaur can perform will have all of its transactions frozen until this conflict is resolved." the Princess continued, trying to handle the broad set of circumstances with fairness.

"The current gryphon and minotaur ambassadors on the other hand will be held as prisoners under the assumption that they were aware of the impending conflict. However, it seems that any remaining ambassadors have had their government willingly abandon them in Equestria, and as such some lenience shall be given." Celestia explained, her tone moving from harshness to sympathy as she hit each point. "I would ask that gryphons and minotaurs not involved in their homeland's government comply with authorities. We only wish to prevent any harm from coming to you from any potentially overzealous ponies." she requested. "I also expect that the pony citizens of Equestria will treat any innocent gryphons and minotaurs with fairness. Discrimination is hardly something that I wish to fall upon the shoulders of the gryphon and minotaur inhabitants of Equestria. Failure to comply will end with the offending pony in jail." Celestia warned.

Throughout the explanation of what would happen to gryphon and minotaur citizens, ponies frantically scribbled their own notes and subsequent questions that led off of the first one. One pony, this one a pegasus with a bright yellow coat and contrasting platinum mane and tail, stood out to Celestia as she pointed into the crowd. Stepping forward, the pegasus began her question nervously. "What kind of support is expected of the citizens of Equestrian in response to this attack?" she asked.

"We hold nopony to any expectations. Military applications, information, monetary donations. All would be greatly appreciated, but the government is quite in control at the moment, and the military can very well make do with what they currently have. Our resources are available for those who require aid, and we will do our best to make everypony as safe and comfortable as possible during wartime." Celestia told the reporter. I wondered just how well the government must be doing to not come out and ask for any assistance its citizens would offer.

Amid the sea of waving ponies, Celestia pointed to another reporter with a ruddy brown coat, his short black mane concealed by a stereotypical newspony's fedora. "Yes, you. With the hat." Celestia said as she pointed out the pony she was referring to. The pony cleared his throat, preparing for his question.

"How prepared is Equestria for a war, assuming that the our opponents intend to carry this all the way through?" the pony asked. Celestia paused, pretending to weigh her information against the question, though I already knew what the answer was having asked the very same question myself. "The Equestrian military is more than prepared for any type of fight our opponents may offer up. We host only the best and most disciplined ponies of the military in our training camps, and they instill those virtues into the ponies they instruct. I have absolute confidence in our abilities to protect our borders now that we have a defined threat, and that retribution will be swift for those responsible for damaging our nation." Celestia said with determination.

Celestia glared at each camera, a merciless gaze that sought to both entrap and enrapture the eyes and ears of everypony who was watching. They needed to know that the Princess meant everything she had said.

"We. Will. Win."

**********

Through the press release, I had finally met a few of the other members of Celestia's personal guard, though I thought that it was odd that they had been absent from her presence for so long. Coincidentally, the two ponies that had been at Celestia's sides were twin unicorn ponies. Schism and Rift Walk were their names, though it would seem that those were not their real names, that every member of the personal guard had a code name. Was that why Gravesend was named that way? To indicate a higher rank than that of a officer of the castle guard?

Schism was the mare of the pair, and she had a pale silver mane that seemed to compliment her dark jade coat and lavender eyes. She had a cutie mark that looked like a melted candle, though no flame was apparent. At my request, she had explained that her specialty in magic was an ability to essentially dissolve a substance by breaking its molecules away from each other. To prove the point, she asked to borrow a single bit.

As the coin was consumed by an intense glow, I shielded my eyes from the brightness. Upon looking at the single bit I had given to Schism moments ago, I was struck by the fact that it was in several smaller pieces. It appeared that the spell struck with precision, allowing all the elements to remain in equal parts, simply separated from each other, with that being why there seemed to be several smaller bits. "Watch this." Schism told me then, a smirk on her face. Another intense glow overtook the pieces, though I refused to shield my eyes this time. When her work was done, Schism showed me that all of the pieces had become whole again.

"It's more difficult, putting things back together. Also there seems to be some boundary that prevents me from putting two foreign objects together, though I can put the same object together again in a different way." Schism explained, flipping the bit back into my shocked grasp. "So I can break down that bit like you saw, and put it back together again in a different shape, but I can't form it with another broken down bit. Same thing goes for objects that haven't been broken down." she continued. That was a pretty amazing talent when I thought about it, the things such a skill could be applied to. I wonder, was difficulty affected by scale too? I asked this question aloud, receiving an answer to my question and more.

"Yeah, aside from a minimum effort for even the smallest thing, the size of what I'm trying to dissolve or put back together makes a difference. It uh- It even works on ponies. That's why I have the job I have. I'm a very talented weapon at best." Schism told me, sounding somewhat disappointed at the reasoning for her employment. The prospect scared me some, the idea that somepony could silently dissolve my body not sitting well with my mind. I stopped my thoughts for a moment, an idea striking me that I had to share.

"Say Schism, d'ya think that the reverse could be done with ponies like you did with the bit? You know, rebuild them?" I asked. A spark of light seemed to strike the guard pony's eyes. "Well I- I never even thought to use my spell like that. I mean, I'd need pretty much everything there, but... flesh wounds or cuts and scrapes, heck, maybe even internal injuries could be fixed. I can move a little bit of the excess from the body to replace little parts that are gone..." she trailed off, quickly giving me a toothy grin.

"Hey, thanks Rainbow Dash. You just gave me an idea of how I could help better around here. Medical ponies might need more help around here with a war just on the horizon." she said gratefully. "Heh, sure. No problem, just glad to help out, y'know." I responded, a little nervously despite the fact that I had just done something good. It would be a good time to visit Schism's sibling now I thought, especially if I was supposed to be working with both of them in the future.

Now, on the opposite end of the spectrum of the twins was Rift Walk. Obviously, the two had similar physical features, mane and tail colors, coat, eye color, along with a little patch of lighter fur just beneath the neck of each twin. While Schism had seemed friendly enough, Rift Walk appeared entirely different... until you saw his eyes that is. A stern expression adorned his face at most times, but one look at his darting eyes showed a pony that was full of life and always observing his surroundings. Something to do with his special talent I assumed.

I took a glance at Celestia, who was gathered among the crowd of reporters answering more mundane questions than the ones she had been presented with during the public announcement. The standard castle guards stood at her sides after the Princess had deemed it acceptable for her body guards to mingle elsewhere.

Clearly the reporters hadn't quite adjusted to the idea that we were at war yet, preferring to remain in the comfortable territory of their familiar questions.

As I directed my gaze back to where Rift Walk had been standing watch, I immediately realized he was no longer there. No sooner had I recognized that fact than I felt a poke at my flank. "Boo." somepony said behind me as I spun quickly to react to the touch. I had turned too quickly while I was startled and nearly fell on my rump in the process, but merely teetered, attempting to maintain my balance. Facing my antagonist, I found Rift Walk standing there with a bemused expression on his face.

"Couldn't help myself once I noticed you were staring. Saw you talking to my sister, probably know who I am by now." the pony said quickly, his eyes still darting to someplace else every few seconds. Then he focused his eyes on me, and I could have sworn I felt myself being drawn into a void as I matched his gaze. Something was quite unnatural about this pony I decided. "Dunno what you said, but I saw her eyes light up, and she actually smiled. Means you must have done something good. I appreciate that. Sister never has been okay with being a weapon. Thank you." he rapidly shot at me. I think I brushed it off, saying it was no problem, but I hadn't stopped feeling unsettled by Rift Walk's eyes.

I was still confused as to how anypony could possibly have been stealthy enough to not only sneak past me, but right up behind me without notice. As I looked up again to say something, I was startled once more as Rift Walk had made his way over to his sister without me noticing has absence again. Damn that pony was quiet! There had to be some trick to how he could escape so stealthily. What was his cutie mark...?

I felt absolutely silly as both of my questions were answered right before my eyes. Once Rift Walk had finished his short chat with his sister, he blinked out of existence to quietly reappear right in front of me. I took a step back, not expecting the closeness with which Rift Walk appeared, his muzzle barely inches away from mine. "Yes, that was a good thing you did for my sister." he stated flatly, unblinking and unmoving. I hesitated before saying anything else. "So, that's your special talent I assume?"

I cocked my head to the side a bit to get a better glimpse of his cutie mark. I was rewarded with a look at Rift Walk's purple bruise colored magical void cutie mark. I looked about the same as the magical burst of a typical teleportation spell, only frozen in place at the point of transition.

"Yes, I'd say I've grown pretty good at teleportation spells over the years." the dark unicorn said playfully. "I might even hazard the guess that I'm the best in Equestrian history. Soundless, sightless, and instantaneous, I can simply slip in and out of existence." he continued. I should have seen this coming based on the name. Dead giveaway. "It's possible for me to manipulate the teleportation field itself, bringing others with me in the same manner. I can even bend the light typically given off by teleportation to create a temporary cloak of 'invisibility' in the target area."

This last bit was demonstrated as Rift Walk pointed back to his previous place on the stage, blinking away wordlessly. I couldn't see him land, though having been alerted to the area in question, I could barely make out a distortion in the air, again, only because I knew where to look. The twitchy unicorn blinked back in front of me again, at a far more comfortable distance this time, luckily. "Distance is also less of a factor for me, so long as I know where I'm going." he said before teleporting himself to the top of Grand Spire. I knew this was where he had gone because he had dragged me with him!

Admittedly, the view from the top of the tower was breathtaking. I could see the entire vast expanse of Canterlot from the apex point, the sky chariots bustling about the airspace above the city, other ponies trotting along the streets like tiny ants. Life went on, even in the face of the news that had just been relayed to Equestria less than an hour ago, everypony busy being somewhere and doing something. I could make out the Training Grounds in the distance, imagining a line of volunteers forming even now to join the Royal Army. "Sure is a sight to see up here." Rift Walk said, looking more towards the castle than the city.

"Coolest thing I can do with my teleportation is creating an explosion from the remaining forces of the spell, but-" he was cut off momentarily as I was dragged disorientingly back into the media room. The floor rushed to my eyes as I collapsed on the ground, my stomach churning as I was unused to such immediate travel. "That would probably be a bad thing to demonstrate since it hits everything around me as I land." Rift Walk continued, unfazed by his own magic, and unaware of my collapse. "However, I prefer to- oh, not quite ready for the teleportation, were you?"

I rolled my eyes at him, which didn't help with the spinning room. "As I was saying," Rift Walk began again. "I prefer to think of my self simply as transportation for Celestia in the event of an emergency. It's not a glamorous job, admittedly, but I like to think that this is where my particular skill set is appreciated the most." he concluded. I got my hooves under myself and managed to stand again with only a slight churning of my stomach, and I admit that I could go without another teleportation event for a long while.

Now that greetings were done with for both of the twins, (and I already thought I knew which one I liked the most) I felt I needed to learn a bit more about my other co-workers. "So, Rift Walk, how many ponies are there in this 'bodyguard' program?" I inquired. Rift Walk bit his lip and looked up and to the right as he thought. "You makes fourteen- no, Darius is gone... thirteen I believe." he decided after correcting himself. I raised an eyebrow and twirled a forehoof at Rift Walk, urging him to elaborate some more.

Catching the hint, Rift Walk continued. "Well, you've already met my sister and I. There's Mordekai, he's an earth pony. His skill set is fairly straight forward; he's the traditional sharpshooter and scout of the group. Me and Mordekai have a special relationship since I'm typically the one that sends him to the high ground where he can get off a clear shot."

"Blood..." Rift Walk paused for a moment, scoffing at the name. "...has a stupid codename. But he makes up for it by being an amazingly gifted medic. Blood is the leading unicorn in the field of medical magic throughout Equestria, and many of his spells have been focused on mending damage from extreme trauma, such as the kind you find in wounds sustained from battle. I can imagine that his work will save hundreds of lives during the coming conflict."

"As silent as I may be at times, Ashen is our real stealth and infiltration specialist. Any place that she can't fly into like a ghost I teleport her into like a shadow plastered on the wall. In fact, it was at her bidding that I invented the light bending teleportation landing spell. We've been developing a special spell based technology that should allow a limited chameleon effect field to surround the user, also requested by Ashen." Rift Walk told me of the shadow pony. She could be in the same room as us at this very moment, and I wouldn't even know it. I shuddered at the chill that ran up my spine. Rift Walk was very forthcoming about the inner workings of the government R&D team.

"Crawler is our own little tech wizard, and he works his on brand of magic on machines, even without a horn. I've even seen him crack through our toughest Maverick level security systems in thirty-five seconds flat. While he may not be the most physically imposing pony, he's tricky as all hell, and always has some hidden card in up his sleeve. He also has to be the one to make all the wisecracks because he knows we need him." Rift Walk explained, though his tone approached distaste at the last bit.

"As for Gravesend... well..." Rift Walk trailed off a bit as he talked about the Pony of Death himself. "Let's just say that she's our resident bad ass."

Herself, I corrected, though I seemed to vaguely recall the scanner unicorn at the gate referring to Gravesend as a 'he'.

"Essentially, if the Princesses want something done that they don't think any one of us can handle, they send in Gravesend. Her family has had somepony on protection detail for the Princesses for the past five generations. In fact, she's just now officially taking over Darius' role, and he's mighty proud of his daughter's ability to do so. Honestly, she's our Jack of All Trades, and while she may not be better at any one skill than any of us others, aside from killing, she could certainly fulfill any role in our stead." Rift Walk told me of Gravesend.

"Wait, wait wait... how can you tell that she's good at killing?" I asked, confused at how anypony could assuredly be good at that, though the trophy hunter part explained a lot. Rift Walk smirked at me. "Duels." he said. "Here in Canterlot, since we've had no reason to be concerned about a shortage of soldiers, families are allowed to settle feuds with duels between each family's champion. Not to mention she moonlights as a trophy hunter." he continued. "Anyhow, while every family has this opportunity available, usually only the richest and oldest of families rely on duels to settle disputes. Gravesend happens to belong to such a family, and she has been in several duels. Each duel is to the death unless the victor spares the loser." Rift Walk concluded, but then thought to add something else. "Gravesend has never chosen to... invoke this right as victor."

I shuddered at the ruthlessness of Gravesend's actions, and made it a point of mine to never get on her bad side. I also decided right then that Gravesend would be a great ally to seek out if I was ever in trouble.

"Zodiac, Anthem, and Zephyr are zebra triplets that specialize in coordinated attacks. While each of the three is a formidable opponent unto herself, being masters of unarmed and melee combat alike, they are most fearsome when acting in concert. I've seen the three of them take out two training squads of ponies in an exhibition bout of theirs. But the worst part is probably how humble each is about their skills outside of battle. Possibly the nicest bunch of ponies you'll find anywhere." Rift Walk said of the triplets. I found myself doubting the last part, betting Fluttershy outdid them all in kindness. Not that an excess of kindness was necessarily a bad thing.

Zebras? That was a surprise. I knew that the Zebra Republic was under personal protection from Equestria, but as I had seen of Zecora around Ponyville, they still weren't seen in Equestria with any type of commonality. Many ponies held very little suspicion of the zebras themselves, but rather their odd cultural practices. As I had also seen of Zecora, the zebras did indeed have an odd culture, though everything they did was harmless, if a little creepy. In fact, the traditional medicinal and herbal practices of zebras matched up against the pharmaceutical companies based in Equestria, and in combination actually worked better than either by themselves. This aided in eliminating any suspicion in the zebras while not quite outright dispersing it.

"Brayn also has a stupid codename, but he's far less gruff than Blood is. Honestly, for a medical pony, Blood seems pretty unfriendly." Rift Walk added of Blood. "Anyhow, Brayn is our all around tactician/ worrywart. While he isn't such a genius at other matters, Brayn has studied battle history since he was a young colt. Luckily his skills should be able to help us win this thing." Rift Walk stated with confidence. "I might add, he also has a specialty for defensive magic, and quite a variety at that."

"Lastly we come to Perdition." Rift Walk said with a smile. "Perdition is our one and only heavy weapons specialist. Discounting Gravesend that is." he paused, his grin dying away as it had when he brought up Gravesend before. I was getting the feeling that there was a general distaste for Gravesend among the others of the personal guard. "Perdition is one tough mare, but also probably the most fun member of our little group. She has a thing for explosions." he continued. "Heh, I had- have a friend that would probably get along with her pretty well." I said, referring to Cherry Tresses and her own love of explosives.

"Now don't tell anypony else this..." Rift Walk said, leaning close. "...but I kinda have a thing for Perdition. So just in case you... y'know, dig the mares... I got my eye on her. Just sayin'." he told me in a whisper. I chuckled a little, awkwardly. "Don't worry, you won't see any competition from me." I assured Rift Walk, his face showing relief. Honestly, I hadn't really thought about my love life seriously for a long time. When I was younger I had held a few relationships of either gender, though I hadn't been struck by anypony like that for several years.

"So, where are all these other ponies of our 'group'?" I asked of Rift Walk.

"Oh, you know. Around."

**********

I was awoken in the night by a hoof covering my mouth, preventing me from alerting anypony. I tried to scream, but a hissed 'shhhhh' prevented me from emitting any more muffled screams. I immediately thought of what Marble had told me about the Spec Ops abduction squads, and began to fear for my safety. A glow blinked into existence in front of my eyes, dazzling me for a moment. When I could see again, I found Rift Walk was the one holding his hoof over my muzzle... along with nearly a dozen other ponies who had surrounded me. "Get up." Rift Walk urged quietly.

I complied wordlessly as the hoof was removed from my muzzle.

After my talk about the other members of the 'Royal Guard', I was already feeling worn out from the few hours of events I had been through during the day. I had a bit of small talk with Schism and Rift Walk, even a few of the reporters that recognized me asked me some questions about what I was doing at the castle. At Rift Walk and Schism's insistence that it was okay to talk about my new duties, I revealed to the public for the first time what my role at the castle was to be. Many of the reporters had been shocked, some even requesting an interview at a later point. I told them that I would consider it, though I wasn't sure if I actually would since I was trying to be less or a showboat now.

Once the excitement had died down at the media center, I asked Celestia for permission to leave, which she immediately granted. I really wanted to take a nap or something, but I also wanted to check up on my friends to see how they were coping with the loss of Ponyville. I owed them that much, and I had promised after all.

When I arrived to their room, I found that Applejack and Rarity had gone off to see if they could get any help for the ponies at Sweet Apple Acres, despite Spike's warning. Applejack had just seen it as wrong to leave the ponies at her farm in such danger without some type of assistance from her end, while Rarity tagged along since her little sister was one of the injured ponies trapped at the farm.

Fluttershy was sleeping off her grief in her own quarters, with Twilight talking with the recovering Pinkie Pie. When I stopped in, both greeted me warmly, though they looked even more tired than I felt right then. With that in mind, I kept my conversation short, simply letting Twilight know about the ponies I had been told of as Pinkie Pie was lost in a daydream. Twilight had realized she knew of the twins, having seen both of them even before her time in Ponyville, and she had gotten along fairly well with Schism, while Rift Walk had creeped her out. I wasn't too surprised, my own spine tingling whenever he looked at me, even after having spoken with him extensively.

After my sadly brief visit, I decided to take a brief flight to the top of the Grand Spire again to get another look at the view from the top. So peaceful it seemed, even once the news broke. Equestria hardly seemed like it should have been at war, but the truth could not be denied, the minotaurs and gryphons having announced their intent the moment the conflagration that was Ponyville had formed.

My imagination played out the events of Ponyville upon Canterlot to terrifying effect. A blaze formed at the outer edges of the city, spreading inwards in the direction of the castle, flames and minotaur alike driving ponies along like one of Applejack's cattle herds. Gryphons were swooping down and clutching ponies in their talons, only to drop them like rocks onto the hard pavement. Screaming, gyrating rocks. The cobblestones were stained with blood in my twisted version of reality, with no military even presenting itself to even attempt to stop the invaders along their bloody warpath.

I forced myself to look away, shutting my eyes tightly, trying to keep fresh tears away. There was no attack on Canterlot, no matter how real the screams had sounded, no matter how brightly the imaginary fires burned, licking the rooftops of each building before jumping to the next. Opening my eyes, I breathed a sigh of relief as my hallucination faded to nothingness, leaving the true Canterlot for me to bask in the presence of.

Only at that point the only presence I wanted to bask in was that of a few pillows, a mattress, and a warm blanket.

And so I had found my own chambers for the first time, separated from my friends due to my position in the castle's employment. Only, my welcome sleep couldn't last forever, as I was presently awoken by the small gathering of ponies before me.

As I stood, I saw Schism, as well as three identical ponies- no, zebras, as I began to be able to see in the soft glow of Rift Walk's horn. I felt sure now that the gathering before me was all of the ponies in my new squad. Was this to be an initiation of some sort? What, was I going to fight with one of them, just to show how useless I could be? Was I to be presented with some sort of technical challenge, something else for me to prove how limited in value I would be to the squad?

Bitterness overtook my mind as I began to get upset over having been awoken in the dead of night just to be humiliated.

Despite all of this, I followed the group just as had been requested of me. We moved silently, not waking a single soul in the darkness of the night. I realized as I walked that the pony next to me made not a single sound as her hooves struck the floor, that her breath was like the whisper of a ghost. I was so focused on attempting to hear a single sound emitted from the pony that I could have sworn I had gone deaf for my efforts. With the wings, the midnight blue pegasus could only be Ashen, my only fellow pegasus in the squad, though if it weren't for the missing horn, she could almost have passed herself off as the spitting image of a younger Luna. Only, a deathly silent Luna with an electric blue mane and slashed musical note cutie mark.

More than likely, I had only seen Ashen because she wished to make her presence known to me, not out of any sense of supernatural perception that I had. I made the pegasus my focal point as our group continued wordlessly down the corridor that lead to my quarters. Surprisingly, we made a left at the fork that was on the path to my room, heading down a short hallway that ended with a clear glass window which was busy shining beams of moonlight across the floor. I could see Schism and Rift Walk, each with their horn aglow, pressing on particular stones in the wall of an alcove, each stone sinking in before releasing itself again. Once the secretive pattern was finished, part of the wall sunk in, swinging silently open for us.

I stood there as everypony else filed in until my silent 'companion' prodded me to move forward into the chamber as she closed the door behind us. Inside, the was a small pool of bio-luminescence at the center which gave off enough light for the twins to dismiss their own magical lighting. A large desk encircled the pool of light, everypony else taking a seat. I took note of the fact that there were precisely thirteen seats, with the one between Perdition and the pony that I assumed was Gravesend out of her armor, remaining empty. 'My seat', I thought.

The pony in the center, Brayn I assumed, cleared his throat, the sound echoing off of the walls of the chamber. Brayn himself was a rich chocolate brown pony with a slightly graying caramel colored mane. A horrific scar crossed his muzzle, barely having missed his left eye and surely blinding him. Well, he certainly looked the part of the master tactician, appearing to be a grizzled veteran of conflict, though of what conflict I knew not, but that he was also the 'worrywart' of the group surprised me.

"I'm sure you're wondering why you're here, Rainbow Dash." the middle-aged pony began, his voice stern, but tender. "To start off, despite the circumstances under which we greet you, we are not some secret society, let me allay any such fears here and now. Our meeting chamber is simply out of the way of any prying eyes." Brayn continued. "Nor, is this an initiation." he added. "We trust the judgement of the Princesses in their choosing of you to join the Royal Guard."

"To be brief, it was your initiation by the Princesses that forced Darius from his own seat as the protector." Brayn revealed. "It was about time for the old stallion to be moving on anyhow." a gunmetal grey pony with a neon green mane said snidely before he was silenced by a glower from Gravesend. "As our colleague Crawler says," Brayn began again. "Darius was most likely going to be retiring in the near future anyhow, so this was also an opportunity to fill an upcoming vacancy in our membership." Brayn said before pausing again, making sure there were not further outbursts from Crawler.

"To be frank, Darius has left some rather large horseshoes to fill. His own dedication and experience over the decades was an asset to our team." Brayn paused again, taking on a more skeptical look. "To that end, we made sure to be aware of your own experience, both in combat and technical aspects. What we have seen is not... promising." Brayn said, mulling over which word would be best to describe how absolutely pathetic I was. Apparently, 'promising' had won out in his head.

"With this fact in mind, we cannot allow you to partake in any missions from the Princesses. If one of us cannot go, none of us can. We are a team for a reason." Brayn recited. I had remained silent up to that point, but at the mention of 'missions' from the Princess, I was both confused and intrigued. "What do you mean missions?" I intoned to that end. I could see Brayn sigh visibly at my apparent incompetence, though he forced himself to continue anyhow.

"From time to time, the Princesses call upon us for external activities, to leave the Castle and handle matters elsewhere, either within Equestria or without." the leader pony explained. "It is due to the efforts this group that wars have been prevented over the centuries since Luna's banishment. Espionage, false information, misdirection... assassination when necessary. All have been handled by the Royal Guard ever since its formation after Luna's banishment. All to protect Equestria." Brayn further elaborated.

"Now, after all these years, we have failed. Equestria has found itself at war once again, and we must repay our debt of failure by assisting in the resolution of this conflict." Brayn said with grim determination. "Subterfuge, sabotage, ambushes, all that and more must be handled by the Royal Guard, though we will hardly be the only Equestrian forces engaged in such activities. Direct oversight of battles, direct intervention to change the tide of a fight, may also be required. However, we refrain from mass conflicts unless ordered to partake by the Princesses, or until we determine that it would be detrimental to Equestria not to engage." Brayn informed me further.

"It will be through our efforts that Equestria will emerge the victors in this war, though we do not stand alone. The might of the Royal Army backs us, buying us precious time to work. We will honor their sacrifice by pulling through. This is our lot in life, and we are sworn to fulfill it." Brayn concluded. All eyes turned to me as Brayn prepared to give his ultimatum. "Rainbow Dash, now it the time to swear yourself over to the Princesses. There is no oath, it is simply your word, and your faith in us. A token gesture if you will."

"Rainbow Dash, will you swear to defend Equestria and its rulers? Will you lay down your life for their ultimate survival, can you handle orders that may clash with your own opinions in the knowledge that Equestria will benefit in the end? Can you fulfill these requirements?" Brayn asked with finality. I felt a nervous sweat break across my body, and I gulped hard, my throat and mouth suddenly feeling dry. My legs began to feel wobbly, my eyes darted around the room to each member, I felt I was going to faint under the pressure.

But I didn't. I forced myself to breath calmly, collecting my courage. I straightened, standing tall, breathing fresh air into my chest, letting my hesitation fade to nothingness. I faced Brayn, looking him in the eyes, which he returned with an almost surprised gaze.

"I swear I will perform to the best of my ability for the Princesses, for all of Equestria!" I swore with confidence.

Brayn smiled for the first time that night. "Then step forward, into the pool. Let its waters encase your form and make you more than you ever have been. It is in us that you put your faith, that we lead you only to success. It is only with trust in your squad that you can fully function with us. So I ask you now to step forward." Brayn said with strength.

I paused for only a second, just to observe the glowing light of the bio-luminescent pool before me. The waters pulsed with some unknown power, an energy that almost filled the air, promising to make me more as I gazed longer. I stepped forward, gingerly putting my first hoof in, testing the waters. My hoof ground against the crystalline rock that made up the walls of the pool. I brought the other hoof in, concluding that there was no turning back now. I waded deeper into the water, reaching roughly the center before I was pulled under by some unknown force.

I tried to scream under the water, only releasing a great cloud of bubbles. I was pulled far deeper into the pool than I felt there had been room for, and opening my eyes, I saw nothing but the glow of the water. I felt myself running out of air, having expended what was in my lungs with the primal watery scream. Was I going to die now, when Equestria needed me the most, after I had been willing to put my trust, my 'faith' in these strange ponies?

No. Came an eery response inside my head.

You are here to learn, to see what your predecessors have left of themselves in the pool.

An amorphous blob of light detached itself from the pool, forming what vaguely resembled a pony head. I felt my fears being soothed away, feeling the urge to breath again. When I did so, I found that I could inhale the mysterious liquid without any repercussions.

Trust in the past, the voice said again, this time the pony thing's mouth moving with the words.

I was beginning to believe that I could trust in the past, trust in these ponies around me. They had not led me astray after all, they merely nudged me closer to were I needed to be.

'Why am I here?' I intoned in my head, consciously attempting to communicate with the blob.

You know already why you are here. Because Equestria needs you. The voice responded, itself a blending of pony whispers built upon further by each new pony that entered the pool.

You will learn, the voice continued. But you can only become better by applying what you have learned here. What we give you is only the basis of knowledge. You must trust in your allies to teach you themselves.

I could do that. If the pool simply gave me the push required to start the wheels of change in motion, I could keep the efforts going. So long as my team helped me, and I trusted now that they would beyond a reasonable doubt help me, wanting just as much as I did for me to become better.

'Show me.' I told the pool.

And it the pool responded just as I requested.

Threads of memories from all of the past Royal Guard's mind wove themselves through my brain as I was assaulted with a barrage of images and events. These would not last, would not remain. All I would feel is a sense of deja vou, enough to familiarize myself with everything my allies would wish to teach me, to make their work that much easier. I was almost saddened to feel the memories slip away, some of my own being copied over as well for those that entered the pool later. Yes, I would contribute what I could to every initiate willing to dare these waters.

It was then that I felt an infusion of energy, urging me to leave the pool, to fly high in the chamber, and I was compelled to do so. Up and up I swam, using my wings to help mush myself faster. The depths of the pool were belied by the width of the waters, but I only felt more energized for every second I spent reaching the surface again until I finally broke free.

A spray of water launched off of my wings as I finally burst free of the friendly clutch of the waters, sprinkling the ponies around me. I did not simply stop once I was out though, suddenly grateful for the vastness of the chamber as I spun around the room performing aerial maneuvers. My glistening droplet contrail left a sparkling rainbow wherever I passed.

I felt better than I ever had in my life, my own stresses floating away as I was energized with the water's knowledge. A polite cough brought me back to reality as Brayn called for my attention.

"I would like to inform you that you have three months to train starting tomorrow. That is all we can spare." he informed me. "Three months?" I asked, sounding honestly confused as I landed, my expression matching my voice. I gave the ponies gathered before me a toothy grin.

"I only need one."

Knee Deep

Aces High

Chapter 4: Knee Deep

The energy I felt after having dove into the pool in the Royal Guard's secret chamber was invigorating to say the least. It was still the dead of night, but there was no way I could sleep in a state like this. I felt as if I could fly directly into the heart of gryphon territory without stopping and take on any challenge presented to me there.

Was this how the other dozen ponies of the Royal Guard felt at all times? If so, I could see how they were stronger than pretty much any other pony in Equestria. The feeling was like a drug, something to make you unstoppable and at the peak of strength at all times. Then there was that little buzzing feeling in the back of my skull, just waiting for me to access the brief experiences I had been given by the memories of the pool. I could handle anything that they threw at me in their 'training'.

But first I had to make it through the night.

I grunted in frustration as I paced about my personal quarters in the castle. I picked my head up from my angry glare at the floor in order to more properly observe my surroundings. A decent sized bed inhabited the wall directly before the door to this offshoot chamber. It was certainly a welcome change compared to the stiff cots that filled the barracks at the the training grounds, and an even more comfortable sleeping arrangement than the cold stone floor of Celestia's spire. A nightstand stood to the left of the bed, the lamp already on and casting a cozy glow over the room. To the right of bed was a split armoire and dresser, the top half being an area for hanging fancier clothes that ponies would want to keep wrinkle free, the bottom half for storing the more daily clothes that would certainly be folded up.

Aside from those few furnishings, the room was bare except for the pony mannequin where a full suit of guard armor could be placed. I hadn't received any kind of armor yet, though I was new here, and they probably needed to take custom measurements. Granted, neither Schism or Rift Walk had been wearing any armor while guarding Celestia at the press conference, nor had any of other members of the Royal Guard been wearing any armor. The former of the two cases may simply have been that the meeting had been on short notice, and the latter could easily be explained by the fact that it had been the dead of night. Who would wear their armor to sleep?

I stifled a giggle as I thought of Gravesend in her full suit of armor, trying to curl up comfortably in a bed similar to mine. I couldn't help myself though, and a burst of laughter escaped my muzzle as I pictured how it would look mentally. I silenced myself again, hoping I hadn't awoken anypony in the adjacent rooms, despite the thick walls of stone barricading anypony else from whatever sounds I could be making.

I thought of how I could possibly make the room feel a little more homey, its blank stone walls not seeming very inviting to any extent. For that matter, the meager belongings that I had brought with me from basic training could all fit in the night stand's drawer if it weren't for the uniform currently hanging in the armoire. Some of my anxious energy faded as I realized that those little baubles in the drawer and that uniform made up all of my worldly possessions at this point since the gryphons had surely destroyed my cloud home above Ponyville. All my stuff, my pictures, some clothes, my video games, my trophies and medals... it was all gone.

I stomped my hoof on the floor, squashing the thought both physically and mentally. Hundreds of ponies had lost their own belongings, not to mention their lives at Ponyville. The survivors and my friends lost everything they owned in Ponyville too. I was hardly alone in this matter, and quite frankly, I didn't really save many things that might have held sentimental value to me, so I was only missing out on the material belongings themselves. In fact, Twilight and Applejack were the only ponies with anything of their own, and Applejack would probably lose her farm to the invaders in the near future.

Regardless, none of the inhabitants of Ponyville had escaped the utter destruction, having lost friends, family, or at least their belongings. I was one of those lucky few to have not been there at the time. I should be counting my blessings, not lamenting my petty personal belongings. Even if I had lost all I owned, I still kept my most valuable possessions; my friendship, and my life. I wouldn't allow myself to forget that fact since so many didn't keep either.

I shook my head, my mane falling to the other side of my face and covering my right eye. I blew the stray strands away and continued my contemplations of the room. "Honestly, I'm getting more like Derpy every day and..."

And I wasn't going to continue down that mental path I concluded.

Right. So. Mannequins. Those are nice this time of year. Yep, couldn't have picked another topic.

I gave a frustrated groan, chastising myself for wasting all of the time I had to waste like this. Reminding myself of Ponyville and thinking about how mannequins were 'this time of year' wasn't helping me at all. Especially the latter, which made no sense whatsoever.

'Think about the room some more.' I mentally told myself as I squeezed my eyelids shut to shield myself from my scatterbrained antics, as if they were something physical that I could see and subsequently block out. I recalled that I was only in the personal area of the quarters I had been assigned. That left the living area and the bathroom. Actually, thinking of the bathroom, a nice hot shower should calm the nerves some, not to mention I had been sweating profusely in fear as I had walked the halls with the 'Silent Dozen', even more so in their secret chamber. Showing up to my first training session smelling bad would hardly make a good first impression as to the seriousness of my intent to learn.

Getting to the bathroom did require strolling through the living area though, and since I was certainly in no rush, quite the opposite in fact, I decided to study the room that I had ignored as I crashed straight into the bed once I found my residence in the castle. The sofa immediately grabbed my attention this time, being a custom design based off of my coat, and striped with the same colors streaking through my mane. My ears perked up as I saw the couch, my pride being touched by the gesture. A painting of Celestia accompanied by another of Luna, both in all of their glory, hung over the sofa as a reminder of what I was here to do. Both had approving gazes, meant to encourage those looking upon the paintings.

I couldn't help but notice that the two individual paintings were displayed in such a way that the Princesses would have had their backs turned to each other were they to pose as they had in the paintings. That fact struck me as odd, I assumed that the paintings would have been arranged to have the Princesses facing each other, symbolizing the unity of their shared leadership. Instead, they appeared as individual rulers, the at ease expressions belying some sort of distance between the two of them. But I was still putting to much thought into the little things around the room.

Directly before the colorful sofa was a television set, a decent sized flat screen hanging from the wall, perfect for any down time that I might have. While the television set wasn't even close to the best money could buy, it was still above average quality, probably showing all broadcasts in high definition. An equally fancy stereo system was hooked up to the television, a radio option appearing present on it as well. Both had inputs for gaming consoles, probably available at special request. Being employed by the Princesses did seem to have its perks, and we were all ponies after all, we had our own interests outside of being guards, even the members of the highest echelons of power. In fact, there was just such a rumor, one that named Princess Luna as an avid gamer in her downtime...

'Huh, wonder what Celestia does in her downtime?' I thought. 'Then again, she probably doesn't get much, being a ruler and all.' I considered. Couldn't she just hand some of her responsibilities over to Luna though? She could certainly handle at least a few of the things that consumed Celestia's waking hours, even if she had been gone for a thousand years. Or was there still some distrust of Luna's ability to remain in control of herself even after the essence of Nightmare Moon was beaten back? Was there still some remaining piece of that darker side of the Princess after I had defeated her with my friends via the Elements of Harmony?

Yep. I needed that shower. Too much heavy thinking was happening right now for my anxious mind to cope with. I was starting to distress myself with my own thoughts, which didn't help at all.

I turned back to the threshold of my sleeping area, the door to the bathroom being right next to that of the aforementioned room. The bathroom was slightly more cheerful than the rest of the quarters, adorned with a few amenities already, though they were admittedly expected. A mirror doubling as a medicine cabinet, an anti-bacterial soap dispenser next to it for when washing your hands was simply unnecessary, two swiveling brush mounts, one for your teeth, one for your hair. Honestly, unicorns had it easy a lot of the time, brushing one's teeth and hair was easier with magic than with these swiveling contraptions.

One of those wall flower air fresheners was already plugged in and emitting a pleasant lavender smell. From the lack of a cartridge, I assumed it had a magical scent dispenser. Just press a button, and it starts dispersing that scent about the room. Minor necessities were also included, tooth brush, tooth paste, tissues, TP for... ya' know, et cetera, et cetera. Fully stocked, I wouldn't have to 'requisition' fresh supplies for a while.

The shower itself was somewhat interesting in design. Two areas were contained within, split off by an pane of opaque glass so that the inhabitant of the room and any guest could use both facilities at the same time if they wished. One half housed a bath tub where a pony could recline comfortably, while the other was a standing shower with something that looked like a cot for the pony in the shower to lay upon and let the water wash over them. The cot looked like it was made of some sort of waterproof material, and when I pressed my hoof against it, it molded to the shape of my hoof, slowly reforming itself as I released my limb from the pad. I grabbed some of the shampoo and body wash provided by the castle that was hiding in the storage space beneath the sink and mirror, and trotted back to the shower.

As I stared at the standing shower and its comfortable looking cot, I felt the need to relax more than the cot would allow, opting for the tub instead. I wasn't normally the one to go looking for a calming bath, Rarity could claim that honor in my stead. But just this once I figured I'd spoil myself. Upon further inspection, I found the the tub was somewhat deeper than I had thought it was, and a few buttons on the side showed an automated hot tub cycle and scented crystal dispenser.

Oh yes, I was going to spoil myself alright.

I hit the hot tub cycle button and gave it a few minutes to heat up just right. A little countdown timer told me when the water would be ready for me, three minutes at its current rate. I gave a little 'hunh' in surprise at just how sophisticated my bathing options were. 'A few' perks indeed.

Given the short amount of time needed for the tub to heat up, I went back into the living area of my quarters to finish looking around, playing a dangerous game with my wandering thoughts. I figured I would just note the rest of the things in the room, rather than dwell on any single object. Coffee table in front of the couch, a storage rack underneath the television and flanked by the stereos where I could put any DVDs or CD's that I accumulated, a very modern looking computer (though the damn things were difficult to operate if you weren't a unicorn) which occupied the space atop a desk with...

With some sort of wrapped package sitting on top of it.

I walked hesitantly towards the package, seeing that the wrapping paper was of a baby blue color with clouds covering it, reminiscent of a sky. A little purple bow completed the tidily wrapped box, giving me a hint as to whose hoofwork this was. I observed the box with an eyebrow raised in suspicion. I had missed the box yesterday and during my cursory view of the room moments ago. Granted, I had also missed the entire computer and desk at first glance as well, so I had my excuses, even if they were terrible.

A beep startled me out of my concentration on the box, indicating that the bath awaited my presence. Turning back to the package, I shrugged and picked it up by the bow, walking back to the bathroom with my present clenched in my teeth. The box wasn't heavy, and didn't rattle as I gave a light shake, so I was slightly lost as to what the object inside might be. I wasn't concerned right away though, and I set the box behind the control panel of the tub as I stared into the steaming waters before me. Hesitantly, I dipped a hoof in to test the water.

Nice and warm, just the way I wanted it right now.

Satisfied, I set myself up the three steps to get into the tub, and slowly submerged myself in the warmth, though I was tempted to jump right into the water. Making a mess of my bathroom on its first use just wouldn't do though, and as I lowered myself down the matching steps inside of the tub, I was reminded of the glowing pool from just a few scant hours ago. The memories came buzzing back at the edge of my consciousness, and I was unable to grasp at any of them still. This bothered me more as I fully immersed myself up to my neck, so I pressed the whirlpool button on the control panel, and the jets on the sides of the tub sent the water into a gentle swirl. I hit one of the scent crystal buttons at random, and a few amber crystals were ejected from the jets as well, being swept up and almost immediately dissolved in the stream of water.

The soothing aroma of honey filled the tub area, and I breathed in deep to pick up the smell before fully submerging my body in the water, shaking my mane around underneath. I felt the sensation of the cool air being pushed away by the warmth of my aquatic environment, finding myself pleased by the sensation, as if any accumulated grim and worries were washed away at the same time. I then put my head next to one of the jets, allowing it to blow my mane back as if I were gliding through the air and stretching my wings out to complete the feeling.

Keep it simple. Keep it mundane. Find joy in the little things, for they are that which sustains you.

That thought was intoned by a voice far different from my own, and that of the glowing pool. I whipped my head out of the water, spraying the ceiling and walls with some of the water in the process. So much for not making a mess. I shook my head to clear the water from around my eyes, further adding to the water on the walls. I was startled by the voice, and I looked around the bathroom to see if a pony or worse had gotten into my bathroom. Sliding the glass door to the side from the tub, I saw that nopony, or anything else for that matter, was standing in the room.

Feeling cautious I allowed myself to slip back into the water wordlessly. I could very easily have just made up the voice to complete my own thoughts, no big deal. In fact, my thoughts were right, even if I wouldn't have put it quite like that aloud, this may be one of the few times in the future that I would be able to enjoy something like a warm bath. I should find some kind of pleasure in it, the voice was only of my design after all...

Yes, we are in your head. But the others feel us too.

This time I bolted forward in the water, veritably slamming the sliding door open to peek into the bathroom. Great. Now I was hearing voices in my head. Had the anxiety filled events of the past few days really driven me this far? Into total madness?

You are not insane young Rainbow Dash. You simply require help right now. That is our purpose beyond our lives of the past, to help those that would defend Equestria, the voice continued, this time changing from a masculine tone to a more feminine one.

We are meant to help you learn, by absorbing all of our knowledge that may be of assistance to you.

"Wha- what do you mean?" I questioned aloud. The realization dawned on me that these were probably the voices of the ponies whose memories were in the glowing pool I had entered, the very buzzing sensation that had been at the back of my mind since then.

Yes, we are the ones who have guarded Celestia since Luna was banished, though it would seem that the sisters are together once more. It was the first generation of guardians who thought that their successors might be able to draw from their experience to be more effective in their roles, the voice explained.

"Well, what does that mean?" I asked as my muzzle contorted in confusion. "I certainly can't do any of the things that others in the Royal Guard can do." I said to the air as I tried to roll my eyes back and stare at my brain to tell it to shut up. The feminine voice chuckled in response.

No being has ever had the power to convey the true experiences of even a single memory into a pony, the voice told me. Instead, we simply let the memories of each Guardian pass through your mind. This allows you to learn the things that they knew with greater ease than you would be able to otherwise, expediting the process of your training immensely, the voice concluded.

So this buzzing in my skull was supposed to help make me a match for the other ponies on the Royal Guard? I could see how all of them had managed to fill me with awe in their simple presence. Each had experienced this same feat of magical influence and learned from the memories. But wouldn't that mean that all of them should have almost the exact same skill sets and expertise?

No. Every single pony learns their abilities differently based on what they are naturally good at, excelling in particular subjects. Gravesend wishes to be the best at everything, but doing so leaves her with a lack of focus, so that while she may have many skills she can perform well, she has mastered none, the voice chimed in again. We can already sense that there are certain skills that you will be able to perform almost masterfully in, though only you can find out for yourself.

Well, there are a great deal of ponies who don't have a drive to be the best at anything, why not simply expose every military recruit to the pool and raise an army of super soldiers. Once again, I needn't ask the question aloud, since the voices produced answers immediately.

There is a certain quality of ponies, a dedication, which is required for a pony to be influenced by the pool at all. Many ponies cannot fulfill this quality, and thus far Celestia has been the only pony who can see this dedication in anypony. That is why it is only when she wishes a change to occur in the Royal Guard that anything happens.

And I had this dedication. "Loyalty." I muttered silently.

Yes, Rainbow Dash, and you are the first bearer of the Element of Loyalty to be placed on the Royal Guard. As much as Celestia may wish to protect you in the event that the Elements of Harmony are needed, you are a vital asset to Equestria. You are exceptional in all of the ponies to come before the pool in the past. You have the greatest ability to learn from us, and may surpass the even the greatest of your predecessors.

I took a few moments to process what the voice was telling me. My pride swelled as the words played exactly to my weakness of praise. I could be the best? Like nopony ever was? I certainly hoped I wasn't insane, and that the voices were real. Maybe now, I could actually make a difference in Equestria with the opportunity before me.

Our time is short Rainbow Dash. We can only directly connect to our hosts when they need us the most, and only for a short time even then, the voice told me. Everything is up to you now. Only your willingness to learn, combined with your loyalty can allow you to draw upon our strength. We hope that you do what is best for Equestria with the talent you display.

Questions still burned within my mind. "Tell me how! I need to make a difference now that I know I can actually help!" I begged of the voice, splashing the steamy water around me as I threw my hooves down.

Nothing but silence and the return of the tingling in my brain responded.

I sighed as even more was thrown at me to consider. This bath wasn't proving to be helpful at all. Just as I had begun to unwind some, the voices cropped up to throw a wrench in my emotional recovery. Sighing at the situation again, I plopped down in the water, barely leaving my eyes above the water as I blew air from my nostrils to produce bubbles of frustration. If the voices were supposed to make life easier, they weren't doing a very good job of it.

My ears perked up and I lifted my muzzle back out of the water as I recalled that I still had yet to open the package on the panel beside me. Looking towards it, I could see that the wrapping paper was soggy from my splashing and whipping around in the water. Hopefully whatever was inside was protected by the box itself. Searching for a distraction, I eagerly tore into the wrapping paper and lifted the lid off of the box.

Inside, I found a letter and a picture frame that was facing down underneath of the letter. Drying my hooves and muzzle on the towel I had placed on the rack behind me, I picked up the letter first.

Dear Rainbow Dash,

I was so happy when I saw you in the castle earlier, and so relieved that you weren't upset at any of us! We missed you so much while you were gone, but we didn't know where to look first after you ran off, and after checking a few obvious places, like Cloudsdale or the hospital, we gave up. Oh, I'm so sorry that we ever gave up on you! We should have known you had your reasons for leaving and respected them. You're a grown mare too, and you can handle yourself just fine, probably better than any of us at this point, though AJ might disagree at that.

Really, I just wanted to say sorry, for all of us, sorry that we ever doubted you. I know you said you had accepted us all back, but as usual, I have a nagging feeling like I haven't done enough, so I decided to get something for you. I realize that you didn't really bring much with you, and since you said you'd be here in the castle, I figured you might need some kind of decoration until Celestia can get somepony to move all of your belongings into the castle. I thought hard about what to get you, and nostalgia won out, so I teleported all the way back to Ponyville and back just to get this to you. I hope you get this, I had to ask one of the castle servants to deliver this since I didn't know where your room was.

Your (hopefully) best friend,

Twilight Sparkle

Intrigued by the letter, which was clearly written before the destruction of Ponyville, probably as I went to chase down Celestia, I placed it to the side to pick up the picture frame. The frame itself was a simple wooden design, custom painted to match my mane, just like the couch, and while the paint job made me smirk some, the picture itself was what truly made me beam with joy, and a single tear to fall down to the water below me.

When I flipped the frame over, I saw that the picture was the very same one that had been on my nightstand in my cloud home above Ponyville, the one of the six of us from almost five years ago, smiling together on a bright and glorious Summer day. It seemed almost a life time ago, and I had grown immensely since then, mentally and emotionally, and just a little physically. We had been carefree back then, none of this war nonsense, Gilda hadn't even shown up in Ponyville at that point.

I hugged the picture frame to my chest, holding it close the wet fur above my heart.

Enjoy the little things...echoed the words of the voices in my head.

Friends.

It was good to have friends.

**********

Despite the odds, after finishing my bath-turned-thought-session, I dropped onto my bed and actually managed to fall asleep. I decided to give sleep another chance since the odds of being awoken again were slim, and I felt a sufficient combination of calm and tiredness take over my mind. But not before I placed the picture of me and all my friends underneath the lamp on my nightstand, pushing my alarm clock aside. I gave the picture one last glance, a smile etched on my lips before I let the darkness of my slumber overtake my mind.

When I awoke, it was to the soft glow of my alarm clock... which read 11 o'clock in the morning! One advantage (or in this case, disadvantage) of being in a room without windows, is the fact that the sun doesn't shine through your eye lids and wake you up. But I mean, come on! I'm supposed to be out training right now, trying to make myself better! And nopony bothered to come and wake me up. I slapped myself in the back of my head for not thinking of setting the alarm on the clock itself. Now I had to rush and...

I heard a loud knock from the direction of the entrance to my quarters.

Well shit. Now I'm in trouble.

I leapt from my bed, nearly knocking my bedroom door off of its hinges in the process as I dashed to greet whoever it was knocking on my door. On my way out, I hit the lights to both my bedroom, and the living room, whose switch was in the same spot on the other side of the wall. Before I even hit the latter though, there was already a comfortable light about the living room since it had the only windows in my new 'home', each of the two flanking a side of the television set. As the soft lights hummed on in both rooms, I was already at my front door, not even stopping to look through the peephole at who it might have been knocking.

As I yanked the door open, I could feel the glowering expression on Gravesend's muzzle... at least I assumed that she was glowering at me. It was impossible to tell through her platinum armor. I stopped my motion entirely as I realized that it was the Pony of Death herself, my face stricken with terror at what kind of impending torture I was going to endure. I was locked in that pose of pulling the door open, staring wide eyed at Gravesend for about two awkward seconds before making a sound. "Yeah?" I managed to squeak out, finding that it was probably offensive to simply stand there staring at the terrifying pony, who I might add was still carrying around her wicked spears, even inside the castle.

"You need to get ready."

I stood there after hearing what she told me for a few seconds, still holding the door open, and of course I couldn't help but ask the most irrelevant question possible at the moment. "How do you do that thing with your voice?" I asked, of course voicing the stupidest question I had managed to come up with for days. Gravesend stared at me for a moment before rumbling back a response.

"Voice filter. You don't think I actually sound like this, do you-?" she began, cutting off mid sentence and reaching up behind her head. Lifting a hoof to each side of her helmet, Gravesend switched four clips, each of the four clicking as she did so. I could hear a magical hiss as she pulled the two halves of her helmet apart, removing the headgear in the process. "-Because I don't." came a surprisingly soft and elegant voice as the helmet was removed fully.

Now that I could see Gravesend in better lighting, I noticed that she could actually be considered a rather pretty pony. Femme fatale, I suddenly thought, pleasing to the eye, belying the lethal potential in the pony. A short, pale, jasmine yellow mane complimented her turquoise coat and lime green eyes quite nicely. Gravesend also couldn't have been too many years older than me, everything about her spoke of vigor and liveliness, and... and just wow. Here I was feeling... what? Attracted? To the same pony who I thought was full of murder and death just moments ago.

As I sat there in astonishment of myself, Gravesend pushed right past me as if I was a cardboard cutout. "Hope you don't mind if I come in. I haven't seen these chambers before." she said, seemingly disregarding the rules of what most ponies would consider the privacy of the own home. I was further astonished by Gravesend's brazen self-admittance into my quarters, as if I should have been surprised at this point. I slowly closed my door and turned to find Gravesend looking at me contemplatively.

"You sure don't have much around here. Looks like its all stuff the Princess provided. Custom sofa is a nice touch though. Plan on moving some more of your stuff here in the future?" she queried. "I... can't. I'm from Ponyville." I stammered out in response to my lack of furniture or decorative objects. "Oh." Gravesend said, only sounding somewhat apologetic. "Sorry about that. Tough break. At least the Princess wanted you here just before the attack, right?" she continued, only slight curiosity in her tone. I nodded and mumbled, giving some pretense of a true response. I felt I should bring our conversation back on topic.

"Yeah... sorry about being late for training." I apologized, hanging my head down, feeling ashamed that I had already let down my squad. "Hey, no big deal. We all train together at the same time, so we don't start until all of us are there. Unless somepony has already said they can't show up. That does mean that we work the same amount of time every session, no matter how late or early we have to be up until to complete it." Gravesend explained, her voice still nearly free of inflection. "Actually, since we have to train you, there are special circumstances until you're ready to work with the team." she continued.

"The others are all in session right now, but I've been given special leave. I get to be the only one to train you for now since I can cover all of the subjects the others want to teach you. This way I can help you get an understanding of everything and the others can give you further specifics into each subject. So for the next three weeks, I'm yours. The others that can teach you something have you for the last week of this 'one month plan' of yours." Gravesend concluded.

Oh great, so I have the Pretty Pony of Death as my private tutor whenever I'm ready to train.

"By the way, since I want to make the most of these three weeks, I'm going to be staying with you until we're finished."

Oh double fuck.

"I'll bring over some of my stuff seeing as how you have so much space."

And now I have the Roommate of Death.

**********

Turns out, 'some of my stuff' really means damn near everything worth bringing to Gravesend. By the time we were finished, really the only things left in Gravesend's room were the things we couldn't easily fit out the door or just plain didn't matter. With that in mind, I inherited many temporary belongings, which of course I was 'required' to make a list of, which I fondly entitled...

Gravesend's Shit

*One (1) Xbuck Gaming console

*Thirty-nine (39) Xbuck Games

*Two (2) Lazybuck Reclining chairs (one to take the place of my desk chair, the other to sit beside the sofa)

*One (1) Macintosh Laptop (note to self, Apple family's technology firm investments paid off well, buy stocks)

*Six (6) Issues of GameEquine

*One (1) iStem MP3 Player (STOCKS!)

*One (1) iStem Dock (refer to above note)

*Four (4) Stephano Neigher Vampire/Werepony novels (burn if possible, I have better taste in books than that)

*One (1) Pony Armor Mannequin

*One (1) Mini-fridge

*Entire Weapons Cabinet (the amount of deadly weapons this mare owns disturbs me)

*Family Photos

*Mister Blanket (grown mare with a 'blanky', don't ask me)

*Other random crap that everypony needs.

Of all the things that Gravesend brought with her, only the Xbuck was something that I thought I might use, and Gravesend seemed to be alright with sharing since she brought two controllers with her. Hopefully we wouldn't be playing anything to competitive since her magic would give her an advantage over my hoof movements. As much money as the gaming industry had invested in trying to come up with a controller for everypony, there still didn't seem to be a simple way to level the playing field between unicorns and hoof-bound players.

One of the things I had noticed about Gravesend in my limited personal time with her was that she acted kind of... weird around ponies when she wasn't tasked with something. When she was at the gate as I first entered the castle, and at the gathering during the night, Gravesend was all business, grim faced with a goal in mind. But now, she acted almost juvenile despite the fact that she was older than me. She was kind of lazy, pretty sarcastic, and didn't really think about what consequences her actions or words might have. Actually, that sounded a lot like I... was. Before I grew out of it.

Now I can't say that I'm some kind of upstanding pony that goes out of my way to help others or anything, but when I ran away from Ponyville, I came to realize that I needed to just do more. Gravesend was perfectly willing to do her job, and do it quite well I might add, but outside of that, she had no motivation to do anything but what she wanted to do. I could relate, but I chose to spend more of my free time being productive than lazing around like I had in the old days. Gravesend didn't seem to have had this epiphany yet.

But overall, that was entirely irrelevant. I still needed to begin my training if I planned to live up to my self imposed goal.

As I huffed from lugging the last Lazybuck chair over to the side of my sofa, I waved Gravesend over. "So we- I, should probably start training in a little while. Don't want to fall behind." I told her. Gravesend simply shrugged inside of her armor, though I could see on her face how apathetic she was about my training. What, did she not like me? Is that why she wasn't rushing to get me ready, to be an asset to the team?

If that was the case, then she just got knocked back down to Death Pony level of friendship. Or maybe Gravesend just didn't really care about the war? She had been on the job far longer than me, so she probably knew just how strong Equestria's military might really was. Were we really so powerful that the destruction of one of our decent sized holdings unfazed Gravesend entirely?

"Look, really its up to you when and for how long we train. I understand that you're not really good at anything other than being fast right now, so my expectations are a little low." Gravesend told me, not even bothering to look me in they eyes, like I was little more than a nuisance. I was somewhat mad at her for that. I knew that I wasn't a very good anything really, but Gravesend had to know that going into the pool opened up numerous paths for advancement.

"Well, now seems like a good time to me. Basic hoof-to-hoof combat." I said through narrowed eyes, still annoyed at Gravesend. Once more, she gave a shrug. "Sure. Let me just go take off my armor and we can head out to the castle gym." she said disinterestedly before trotting off to my bedroom. Yes, my bedroom, because it wasn't enough that I had to share the 'house' with her, I also had to sleep in the same damn bed. Good thing there was plenty of space on the mattress.

A few moments later, Gravesend walked out of the room without her armor, but levitating a notepad and pencil. I could see now that Gravesend's cutie mark was of a quill that seemed to ooze crimson. My expression screwed up as I tried to figure out how that cutie mark made sense. "It because I 'spell out a pony's death' and send the letter to the Reaper Pony." Gravesend enlightened after I was already behind her back, like she had read my mind. That or my expression gave it away entirely.

"Its pretty symbolic, but it only made sense after I accidentally killed my best friend as a filly to get it. What a way to find out, right?"

And all of a sudden, the 'elephant' in the room went from Ponyville to Gravesend killing her friend as a filly.

I quickly trotted over to Gravesend's side to keep up, her eyes keeping straight forward. "I- I wasn't going to ask about that at all." I stuttered out in response looking straight at Gravesend to try and prove it with my expression, though she still wasn't looking at me. A second or two after I finished, Gravesend regarded me with a skeptical glance, returning her gaze to the path before us a moment later. "Oh really now... Would have popped up in conversation at some point anyhow, figured I would explain it then." she paused. "So what were you going to ask me then?" she added.

I searched my mind for some kind of reasonable question, and stumbled upon a rather simple, but perfectly logical one. "I was going to ask about your mane. Why do you keep it so short?" I asked, giving a mental sigh as I barely managed to recover from the unexpected question. In response, Gravesend gave a little chuckle. "Clearly you've never worn metal armor before. While the enchantments on the armor keeps everything at a comfortable temperature, with a full mane, I wouldn't be able to breathe with it pressed against my muzzle the entire time. That and its just one less thing to worry about." she explained to me.

Really, I should have expected that. A fully enclosed suit of armor probably wouldn't be very comfortable for me, not that pegasi every wore anything but light armor anyhow since they couldn't fly very well otherwise. Really, pegasi would probably get the short end of the stick during this war. We were better flyers than the gryphons, but our traditional aerial rivals were frankly stronger and tougher than pegasi. Only the biggest of us could even use the full sized guns that the earth ponies and unicorns could use since our bones couldn't handle the kick as well they could. As creatures of the sky, being light was a good thing, so pegasus bone density was lower than that of either of our earth-bound siblings.

With that in mind, pegasi had to use underpowered guns and rely on our ability to shoot while flying, or get in close for melee attacks with traditional weapons. All the while, gryphons would be using their fully powered weapons to try and knock us out of the sky while the minotaurs would (hopefully) be occupied by ground forces. In order to make the most out of the Air Corps, the Princesses would have to find a way to mass produce guns enchanted for reduced kick, that way pegasi could use guns that would be able to rival the gryphon's.

What would probably make the Air Corps truly carry their own weight were the bombers, quick, precise ponies who would carry the creations of the Ordinance Division ponies through the sky to strategically target clusters of enemies or areas of interest. Bombers walked the razor's edge of safety, being unarmored to remain as quick as possible while carrying and explosive that would surely kill them and many surrounding ponies if the bomb were to go off in their grasp. This made them prime targets for any gryphon or minotaur sharpshooters, since taking out bombers would be made a priority. Luckily, the gryphon's territory lacked most of the materials to create similar weapons, and there were fewer gryphons with the technical aptitude to create bombs.

Sometimes war chariots would accompany bombers, utilizing the same magic that the sky chariots of Canterlot made use of in order for a pegasus pull gunners along as escorts. Gunners could either be ponies with their traditional shoulder mounted guns, or in the case of a heavily armed war chariot, each side of the chariot could have turrets placed on swivel mounts for even more destruction. Schematics for flying contraptions operated by ponies had been presented to the military for years, but implementation was slow since many pegasi felt that their individuality would be impacted by increased use of machines for aerial operations. But would that prove detrimental now that war was finally upon Equestria?

Once again, my inner thoughts chewed through the time it took for me to move from place to place as I unconsciously followed Gravesend to the gym, only becoming aware of the fact as I walked face first into the closed half of the double doors. Gravesend had been holding the other door open for me to follow, and immediately let out a burst of laughter as I rebounded to awareness and rubbed my muzzle. I silently cursed closed doors everywhere.

"You okay there Dashie?" Gravesend asked, a giggle still in her voice. Instead of picking up on the kindness of the gesture, I honed in on the fact that she had called me 'Dashie'. She wasn't supposed to call me that. 'Nopony but my friends were supposed to call me that. And you aren't my friend.' I thought venomously. I raised my eyebrows at just how much I overreacted to a simple name, surprising myself.

Sure, I wasn't exactly friends with Gravesend, not yet anyhow. I did think she needed to be a little more in tune with possible reactions and consequences of the things she said or did. But I didn't hate her.

"Yeah, yeah. Kind of got lost in thought." I said, looking away in embarrassment, both at my reaction, and the actual event of running into the door, rubbing my muzzle a little more as I walked through the threshold.

When Gravesend told me we were going to the 'gym', I expected a big room full of training machines and free weights. Instead, the empty room before us seemed like little more than a large sparring room with a padded mat covering the floor. The walls were covered in racks filled up by training weapons of every variety. Wooden swords, spears, clubs, hammers, mock firearms, padded hoof covers, everything. Of course, I had asked for hoof-to-hoof combat training after all, what else could I expect.

Stopping in the middle of the sparring mat, Gravesend turned to face me and then swooped her hoof in the direction of the rack covered wall. "Here it is. Our training gym." she said fondly. I looked at her in confusion once again. If this was the training gym, where were the others of the squad? I voiced my thoughts to Gravesend. "They're outside training. We try to limit indoor training to once a week so we can expose ourselves to a variety of conditions to be working in. That and we typically only spar in here, and quite frankly, we know who is best at what by now." she explained.

"So its just us then?" I asked. Gravesend nodded in acknowledgement. I sighed, but sat down on my flank and began stretching in preparation for the impending terror I would face. As I leaned back to the floor, spreading my wings, I continued to flex my limbs to allow better blood flow and to loosen the muscles. As I did so, Gravesend walked up and stood over me, a look of concern in her expression. "Ummm... you okay down there?" she asked a little hesitantly. "Yeah, just fine here." I responded as I swung my lower body up and stretching my back.

"Well, what are you doing then?" Gravesend inquired as she observed me. "Stretching. What does it look like I'm doing?" I asked, somewhat annoyed that she wouldn't let me finish my routine. "It looks like you're copulating with the floor." she retorted with a chuckle. I stood back up and looked as Gravesend skeptically. "Are you telling me that none of you stretch before you train?" I asked, surprised.

"Eh. The others might, but I don't really pay attention to them before we get to work. More interested in actually getting down to business than any calisthenics." Gravesend responded matter-of-factly. "But by all means, go ahead and finish up." she continued. "You'll need all the help you can get." she finished with a cocky grin. I was over my head in pretty much every metaphorical sense of the word, by I was determined to give Gravesend a show since she was so damned confident in herself.

I gave each wing another few rotations, checking my body over for signs of... well, anything that could be a problem. Satisfied, I looked back to Gravesend, who was waiting patiently, the look of skepticism and the slight grin eternally etched into her expression. "So, how's this supposed to work? You do a couple things and I try to replicate that, or what?" I asked of my 'instructor'. "Oh no, you don't get off that easily..." Gravesend said with a smirk as she levitated a set of padded hoof covers for each of us.

"Now, I'm going to use my magic to shield both of us against blows, though the padding should typically dissipates anything that could actually cause any pain, even without the barrier. I'm going to give you a few free shots just to see how well you do. Everything goes down on the notepad after that." Gravesend explained as I slipped the covers onto each hoof. When I was finished, I could see and feel a dull pinkish glow overtake my body, a matching shield covering my sparring partner as well. "So, just... land a few hits on you?" I asked as I walked right up to Gravesend. She responded with a nod.

With no clear idea of how to actually begin, I took on a loose stance like the one taught in basic training. I was a little hesitant to actually lay a hoof on Gravesend despite the shield. Noting my hesitation, she looked at me disappointedly. "Come on. Just hit me already." Gravesend said impatiently. Attempting to bring myself to actually hit her, I tried to recall the malice I felt towards her just moments ago. Narrowing my eyes with a small ember of hatred ignited in me, I was more than happy to oblige Gravesend.

I started with a simple combination of jabs with my forehooves, a left-right pairing followed by an uppercut and finished with a heavy haymaker. I wasn't nearly as good as Baluchi was at this, as the grey pony would have been rolling around to flank his opponent or reposition himself, slipping in jabs just where the blows would hurt the most. Even with my lack of finesse though, the punches would have done some damage to my target without the padding and the shield. As it was, Gravesend's body simply reacted as if I had simply pushed her head around in the direction of my force.

I landed a few quick slaps with my forehooves to disorient my 'punching bag' before pressing one hoof atop the other and raising them both in the air, only to quickly drive them both back down onto Gravesend's forehead in Ditch's 'patented' Lights Out hoof slam. Gravesend's head was forced slightly to the floor as I drove my weight down with the blow, though the shield clearly mitigated much of the movement. As a finishing blow, I quickly turned and bucked Gravesend in the breast as Applejack would have done to one of the trees in her orchard. I felt Gravesend lift off the ground a few inches satisfyingly.

Feeling that I had performed adequately for the moment, I turned back around to face my tutor. Gravesend was looking at me with a slightly more interested look in her eyes. "Not bad Dashie." she said smiling, as I took note of the name again, being sure I would use it as fodder to fuel my blows again. "Looks like your time in training paid of some. I liked that bit where you smacked me over the head, except for one part. What do you call it?" Gravesend expressed with interest.

"You mean this?" I asked as I demonstrated the slap to the Lights Out maneuver again. Gravesend nodded, though she stopped me just after I finished. "There's only one problem with what you did to line that up. The slaps don't guarantee disorientation, you need something heavier. Try it using one leg to smash me with the knee before bashing me in the head again. Go ahead, I still have plenty of shield strength." she encouraged. With nothing better to do I complied.

As I went through the maneuver once more, I used the knee of my left foreleg to drive into the side of Gravesend's head, following up with Lights Out and the bucking kick again, stopping once again when I was finished. The way Gravesend had advised me did feel like I got more power out of the blows than with the slaps, and she expressed her own approval to me with another grin. "Good! Now hit me again, try and change it up some." she said enthusiastically. I looked at Gravesend incredulously, wondering just how much I could gain from hitting her again and again when I could accomplish the same with a simple punching bag.

"Come on, we've only got all day to do this."

Well fine then, if Gravesend wanted some more, she could have more. I struck out with my left hoof, my intentions full well being to punch Gravesend directly in the muzzle... only for my hoof to find nothing but empty air, and my target several inches to my right. I narrowed my eyes and attempted to slap Gravesend my right hoof, only to repeat results as she shifted her head back a few inches to avoid my oncoming blow. "Having trouble Dashie? I just want you to hit me, it can't be that hard." Gravesend mocked.

I let loose a flurry of blows, lashing out with both forehooves and attempting to connect, both in alternating patterns, and in various restrained attacks as I prepared myself for momentary retaliation. I was never assaulted myself, though neither was I successful in landing a blow against Gravesend, causing me to become more and more frustrated with my results. I panted with increased efforts as Gravesend began to back pedal, matching my forward momentum and dodging each attack I sent her way. Sweat began to collect on my brow, and I grunted in frustration. "Don't get mad Dashie, get glad, I haven't even hit you back yet." Gravesend teased as my fruitless efforts continued.

I began to weave my body, attempting to confuse my target as I laid down one useless attack after another. I was getting angrier and angrier, beginning to see just how I was supposed to benefit from this. Gravesend wasn't going to make it easy for me at all. And then, something clicked...

As I made another pass at Gravesend, finding only air as she dove to the side, the buzzing in the back of my skull became more prominent. A vision of some sort overtook my sight as Gravesend pranced backwards and away from me. As though I were outside of my body, I saw myself come in at Gravesend again, feinting with my right hoof and driving her head back and leaving her off balance as my left swiped at her forelegs, snatching her hooves from under her and leaving her on the padded floor. As suddenly as it came, the vision was gone. I smirked with a knowing grin, sure that the memories were finally kicking in.

I drove myself forward at Gravesend, throwing my right hoof at her face and halting the flow of the movement suddenly as her head pulled back, dragging my left hoof across her forelegs. Surprise struck Gravesend's face as she fell gracefully into a roll rather than landing sprawled across the mat. Okay, so the vision wasn't quite accurate, but I had actually managed to hit her! That was achievement enough for me.

"And where'd that one come from Dashie?" Gravesend asked, genuinely surprised at my first successful attack. "Oh, you know, I just thought it was time to stop pulling punches and actually hit you." I said, teasing her for a change. "Uh huh." Gravesend responded skeptically. "Well lets see you do it again then."

More than happy to.

I found that as I attacked Gravesend again, there was a flow in her movements, that she moving in almost the same pattern for everything I threw at her. Determined to land another blow, I changed up the direction of my hoof in mid strike, impacting with Gravesend's jaw as she moved directly into my swing. Again, I soaked up the surprise on Gravesend's muzzle as if it were praise unto itself.

I learned not to be so smug moments later as Gravesend adapted to my own tactics as well, mixing her own movements up as she began to feint forwards at me, stopping before laying a hoof on me, but driving me into my own defensive posture. Each time I flinched in response to one of Gravesend's feints, she smirked just as I had when I finally hit her.

And then the first hit came.

As I gave another false swipe, hoping to catch Gravesend moving directly into the path of my hoof again, she quickly turned the tables on me by ducking under both of my swinging hooves and giving me a quick tap underneath of my chin. I could barely perceive that Gravesend had touched me through the padding and the shield, and I may very well have been unable to if it weren't for the fact that I saw it myself. 'Gotcha', her eyes seemed to say as she drew back into a slightly more offensive posture.

When I came in again, I found both of my hooves diverted to the side as both of Gravesend's drove them away just before they each smacked me in an ear. Once again, I could hardly discern the slaps, though this one could have been felt even if I wasn't looking, and the slight ringing gave away the fact I had been hit as well. Up to this point, I hadn't needed to defend myself, but now that the feints were coming less frequently and I was feeling more and more taps light up my head, chest, and legs... I wished that the buzzing could tell me how to solve that problem.

Just like that though, I felt myself leaving my body again as time slowed down again. I could see Gravesend's hoof sailing through the air, looking like she wasn't restraining herself nearly as much as before. I watched as I dove towards the blow, using my own hooves and body to grapple Gravesend's stretching limb. I watched in astonishment as I yanked hard on her leg, flipping her over in the air to smack into the mat with a resounding thud. Then, I felt myself drawn in once more.

Now that I had something seemingly effective to replicate, I simply needed to wait for an opening that would allow me to 'turn the tables' on Gravesend, both figuratively and literally in this case. She didn't seem to want to make this new maneuver easy for me to perform, however, and she wasn't so brazen as to continuously throw simple punches at me all the time. Sweeping and distracting blows were her attack of choice at the moment, and I was beginning to relent as the small pinprick attacks drew my attention from a swooping hoof that would smack my skull shortly after. I needed to expedite this some.

As I caught Gravesend in the middle of a high arcing swing, I smacked away the distracting blow, and took a risk by diving in. I grabbed at the high-flying hoof, dragging it down over one shoulder as I rammed into Gravesend with the other. With her leg entrapped, I gave a heave, driving Gravesend off her hooves and into the air. At the peak of her flight, I gave a tug to bring her form crashing onto the mat, using her momentum to my advantage and increasing the impact force. The thud that I heard was even more satisfying than I envisioned it would be.

As I stood triumphantly over her prone form, Gravesend let loose a burst of mirthful laughter. I couldn't help but begin to laugh about it myself. What I had just done seemed pretty... epic. I took a far more experienced hoof-to-hoof combatant, and completely laid her out on the floor. Damn those memories had come in useful after all. Ever the sportsmare, I stuck my hoof out to Gravesend to aid her in standing once more. She accepted the hoof in a friendly manner, and stood before me once more.

"Okay. I'll admit it. That was entirely unexpected." Gravesend said happily. "I take it the memories have started to kick in?" she asked curiously. "Yeah, they really helped me out." I replied cheerfully. "I probably still wouldn't have hit you without them to guide me." I admitted. Gravesend nodded knowingly. "Yeah, I could hardly touch my dad when I got in, and I already had a lot of combat experience when I started. The memories definitely make an impact." Gravesend admitted in turn. "But come on, I should still have some power left for the shields. Lets finish up."

I was happy to keep going, and I was actually beginning to feel I like I could become friends with this pony. Eagerly, we both took up our stances again. As I came in, Gravesend seemed to be moving slower, like she wanted to be hit. Now, granted, we had both been at it for a good hour by now, and I was feeling immensely tired myself, but I still needed to burn through the adrenaline rush I gained from my small victory. I found myself connecting more and more, even catching my sparring partner in another Lights Out routine. I felt like I was becoming something of an even match for Gravesend, though she was surely allowing me to feel like I had accomplished a lot since this was my first exercise, and encouragement was always helpful.

"Okay, we should probably tone it down some. I've had to expend a lot of energy keeping these shields up for this long." Gravesend told me.

But I didn't hear her. I was busy wailing away still.

I struck her a few more times, and she retaliated in kinds. "Yeah, pretty soon I'm going to have to let this go." she said wearily.

I didn't notice how tired she sounded. I was in my own land of a hoof filled blizzard.

At that point, Gravesend had had enough. "Okay, lets stop it now. I'm pretty tired and- hey!" Gravesend continued angrily.

I wasn't even paying attention. I was too caught up in my adrenaline and... a new memory that tried to show itself. Something to finish up, that was what Gravesend wanted, didn't she? I watched as the memory showed me what to do.

I didn't even notice that something was wrong as I whipped my hind legs around, smashing them into Gravesend's skull, dragging the rest of my body along as I hooked a leg around her neck. As my mass flew around Gravesend, my hoof also smashed into her skull, driving it with me. Now in my control, I followed my momentum and carried Gravesend's head straight into the floor as I felt the shield evaporate under the impact.

As I let go and fully composed myself after the landing, I turned to look upon Gravesend. That was when I first noticed something was wrong. Gravesend was trying to prop herself up on her forelegs, crimson matching the 'ink' of her quill cutie mark oozing from her mouth and one nostril. It was then that I realized I could have just injured one of my own squad mates, one of the ones I was supposed to work with and protect. It was only through her efforts to help me that I had inadvertently hurt her.

After dabbing her lip and seeing the blood on her hoof, Gravesend stood with an unexpected swiftness. Before I knew it, she was barreling into my chest, and dragging me along for the ride. I barely recognized the fact that I was being rushed along on a pony's shoulder before I collided harshly with the wall, splintering some of the wooden training weapons and the racks holding them. The pain of the impact brought reality crashing into me, the wall seeming to be the very same force. I looked down at Gravesend, who at that point was suspending me by the throat with her right foreleg pressed tightly against my windpipe.

I could see fury and murder in her eyes. Bloodlust. A sending for the grave.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!? Did you just want some way to say you were better than me?! Because you aren't better than me! You're only alive right now because I allow it! Don't you dare to use a killing blow in sparring! You haven't killed somepony because of your naivety!" Gravesend raged.

I was beyond terror as I saw the Pony of Death come to life before me. My mind raced about, trying in vain to solve nothing in particular. What happened to the whole 'life flashing before your eyes' thing before you died? Instead, I hung there on the wall wondering just what the hell was going on at that moment.

I felt the pressure removed from my throat suddenly, sending me to the floor coughing as Gravesend let me down. When I looked up, I saw Gravesend was clutching her eyes tightly closed, her forelegs to her skull as the blood from her wounds trickled from her nostrils and mouth. Pain was very clearly etched across her features, but all I could think of was that I might have just trampled all over a budding friendship and almost killed somepony in the process.

"I think I have a concussion..." Gravesend mumbled, her eyes still shut in pain. "You could use the first aid training though. You can't be in good shape either after I sent you into the wall."

To be honest, I had not noticed the pain throughout my body until then, and when it struck me, it was all I could do not to fall to the mat entirely and cry out. I didn't feel like anything was broken, but something was sprained in my back, and I could feel the nasty bruise forming on my neck from Gravesend's leg, not to mention the other smaller bruises all of the jolting around had caused in the collision. Wobbly, I got to my hooves, trying to fight through the pain in my back.

I stood next to Gravesend, putting a hoof on her shoulder for support. "I'm... sorry..." I managed to sputter out from my bruised throat, each word hurting me to say both physically and emotionally. "We should probably head back to my place and rest for a while." I suggested.

Gravesend cracked her eyes open... her pretty, bright, lime hued eyes, and nodded slightly. The movement only caused renewed pain, and she clenched her eyes tight again, clutching her skull once more.

In the end, we were two battered and weary ponies, leaning on each other to leave the gym and make our way slowly back to my quarters.

It was then that I realized I was knee deep in this shit. This whole war, the Royal Guard, Ponyville...

All of it.

And all I wanted right now was to make it back to my room with a friend.

**********

The walk back to my quarters was grueling with nothing to think about to distract me this time. Gravesend could walk better than I could, though she was dizzy, and my back was killing me, leaving me to guide her as I leaned on her for support. Truth be told, we weren't in very good shape right then, and I wasn't too confident in the basic medical training I had been given at the training grounds. Sprains, sure. I could deal with sprains and bruises, they weren't too bad. But concussions were a different story entirely, and that was surely what Gravesend had.

All the symptoms fit, the sensitivity to light was surely what caused her to close her eyes, a headache could possibly be present, and the dizziness paired with generally reduced motor skills gave it away. Even if we got back to my 'apartment', I couldn't really treat Gravesend, and she certainly was in no condition to be trying to instruct me in how to heal her.

I wracked my brain for what to do. I didn't know if there was a medical station in the castle complex, and if there was just where it might have been. Where should I go, who should I see what should I d-

Oh. There was a medical pony in the squad.

I mentally slapped myself in place of the physical thing, which was just too much for me to handle at the moment. We had a medical pony in our squad, duh! Why had I taken so long trying to think of some sort of solution when I could just rely on my squad like I'm supposed to and call on Blood for his medical expertise? But... how could I contact him? The others were surely training still while me and Gravesend crawled back to take a rest already.

I decided to hold off on that particular question as we meandered down this hallway or another to get back to the relative safety of my quarters. The walking was probably bad for Gravesend, and she seemed to be deteriorating as we went, so I tried to pick up some of the slack and carry more of my own weight, fighting through the pain it caused. Grudgingly, I thought of how this was entirely my fault, how if I had simply listened to Gravesend when she had told me to stop then we wouldn't be in such a bad state.

Instead, I found myself and another pony dragging ourselves along into my bedroom as I tried to place Gravesend onto the mattress comfortably. I dimmed the lights to cause her less pain as I inquired about where to find Blood. "Hnngh... open area left of gate... all there practicing... bastard's probably sitting there smugly while the others spar." Gravesend whispered to me through the haze obscuring her consciousness. She was in and out of it at this point, perhaps pointing to some more serious injury than just a concussion, and certainly something I couldn't deal with. Had I really hit her that hard with the final blow? I mean, with the mat, and the padding and the remaining shield...

I had still hurt Gravesend, and bad if she was like this. I made a conscious decision that I hated and 'killing blows' that the memories might try to teach me, though I couldn't deny their effectiveness. I hit the lights on my way out of the bedroom to let Gravesend rest easier in the darkness. I slowly made my way to the bathroom, reasoning with myself that I had to spend at least a few minutes in the freezer setting I had discovered of the shower in my earlier inspection. That would prove useful in reducing the effects of my sprain, if only temporarily so that between that and some minor painkillers I could actually make it to Blood without stopping to recover.

As I hit the button outside of the standing shower, a freezing mist began to spray from the dual shower heads. I stepped in and closed the door, laying down on the cot after I did so. This wasn't simply water being sprayed, water would have frozen at this temperature I realized as my teeth chattered from the chilling numbness that began to overtake my body after a few minutes. The good news was, the numbing sensation stopped me from feeling the pain of my back, and the liquid seemed almost willing to shed itself from my coat, eliminating the need for me to towel it off.

Once I felt that the effects of the freezing would last long enough for me to make it to the front gates and back, I rose shakily from the cot, and opened the door to hit the button again so I could turn off the mist. Shaking my freezing body once more to repel any stray droplets, I walked over to the medical cabinet and scanned its contents for some minor painkillers. Just the simple non-prescription kind should do it, as risking something stronger was something I was unwilling to do. Popping open the lid with somewhat less shaky hooves, I tossed a couple pills into my mouth, washing them down with a mouthful of water from the faucet. Combined with the freezing shower, I wouldn't be able to feel my back pain for another half an hour or so, which should be plenty of time for me to make it to the front gates if I recalled the path correctly.

I checked on Gravesend again to make sure she wasn't drowning in a pool or her own blood or some other such horror before I left, giving her a quick promise that I would be back as soon as possible with Blood. There was no acknowledgment from her, which both worried me and gave me some hope. Worry, that I had gotten no response, but hopeful that that was a sign she was sleeping and recovering right now. Brooking no more delays, I hurried to the front door, feeling no pain from my own injuries as I made my way there.

I made sure to run swiftly down the hall to make the best time, unsure of how wise it would be to fly when I was this frigid. As before, no deep thoughts came to me as I rushed to find Blood, leaving me to simply focus on the task at hand without the welcome distraction of my mind-works. I avoided any errant ponies the attempted to greet me, servant or otherwise, with a quick wave of a hoof as I traveled onward, nearly crashing into opening doors thrice. Yes, flying would have been a poor choice. Eventually I burst into the light of the courtyard, my heart soaring that I was closing in on the rest of my squad and Blood in particular.

I took a sharp left just before the area where I had been scanned by the unicorn scribe two days ago, seeing the self same unicorn standing at the gates, just as bored looking as before. I passed beyond the Grand Spire, its day guards only sparing me a passing glance as I rushed by them. I spent no time regarding them as continued at my breakneck pace. As I broke past the obscuring sight of the spire, I spied a ring of ponies in the distance. Being as good an indicator as any other that I was in the correct place, I put my head down and continued to run forward at the crowd.

I only looked up when I heard the clopping of hooves together, and a few cheers from the gathered crowd. Apparently whenever the Royal Guard was training, anypony was allowed to watch the spectacle, and the circle of ponies showed their approval for whatever was going on right then. I proceeded to shove my way through the crowd politely, trying to make out exactly what was going on in the circle. I heard a few mutterings of protest, but upon seeing who was barging past them, many ponies changed their mumbles to wonder if I 'Was that the new one' or 'Where's she been?' in a far more polite manner.

As I finally weaved my way through the last of the crowd of ponies, I had to stop myself just for a moment to observe the current training session. Several magically created obstacles dominated what actually turned out to be a pit, where several of the ponies of the Royal Guard were diving into cover on their half of the course. It appeared that each pony had been divided into two teams: Mordekai, Ashen, Schism, Rift Walk, and Crawler on one team, the triplets, Brayn, and Perdition on the other. Blood, it appeared, was on the far side of the pit in an observation box overlooking the events below.

Each pony had a matching colored vest and headset on; either red or blue, each determining the team the wearer was on. On top of that, each pony appeared to have various personal additions to the outfit. Mordekai had a mock high powered rifle rigged on his shoulder, along with a pair of aviator sunglasses that seemed entirely appropriate for a sniper pony. In this particular case I discovered that the mock rifle fired off paintballs after witnessing one impact against a shield placed around Perdition. In response, the heavy weapons pony, who was wearing some contraption I couldn't identify on her vest, lobbed a mock grenade at her attacker from one of the barrels of the device. Well, that answered one question.

Mordekai quickly leapt down from the top of the block of stony material her had been standing on in order to observe the 'battlefield' around him. The 'grenade' exploded where the sniper pony had been standing a moment ago, splattering everywhere over the top of the block with red paint and barely catching the end of his tail on his way down. Stomping her hoof in protest of her failure, Perdition trotted over to the choke point between the block Mordekai had been standing on and another block. There, she dug a small hole and proceeded to produce a device with a blinking red light from her saddlebags, placing the device into the hole and covering it again so that the light could barely be seen. A mine, I suspected the object was. I also inferred that the blinking light indicated which team the mine belonged to, exploding with a corresponding color when the vest of an opposing team member crossed into its area of effect.

Satisfied with her hoofwork, Perdition turned back the way she came from and spoke into her headset, motioning with a hoof for somepony to come closer. In response, Brayn and the triplets came out from behind similar blocks across the way from the one Perdition had placed her mine at. The triplets took up defensive positions around Brayn, presumably because he was the one that could provide them with shielding, and because he was the 'brain' of the operation as their tactical leader. I noticed then that all of the members of the red team had little balls chained around their vests, though I could not fathom why. With Perdition as the cautious lead of the group, the red team moved in through the choke point and into blue team territory.

What I saw of the blue team however was tricky. Four winding rows deeper than the red team was at that moment, I saw Crawler and Rift Walk. Crawler deployed a pair of small devices onto the ground, shielded by the walls of another choke point that the red team would have to walk through to finish exploring the blue team's territory. Once the two objects were down, I saw a mechanical shifting of parts occur as both devices unfolded into an upright position. 'Turrets,' I chuckled as I saw what Crawler was trying to do, which was to force the red team to walk into a point of ambush where to two miniature weapons could wreak havoc with their own small paint guns.

Quickly after allowing Crawler to set up his devious turrets, Rift Walk teleported the two of them to a meeting point all the way at the far end of the blue base where a wall of supplies and weapons stood ready for the ponies to use them. There, Schism, Mordekai, and Ashen stood waiting for them, and after a quick discussion with Mordekai appearing to be the tactician of this group, Rift Walk teleported himself and the other four ponies to the mouth of the red base. There, Mordekai was further teleported onto the top of one of the blocks of the red team choke point, where he dropped to the ground and set up the bi-pod on his shoulder mounted rifle, giving himself extra stability. Crawler produced two more turrets from his restocked saddlebags, giving them to Ashen, who in turn took off from the ground, flying low over the bluish stone walls of her base to avoid being spotted. While her own stealthy capabilities and coat color helped her become nearly invisible against the walls, when she hit something on her vest, Ashen just... vanished.

We've been developing a special spell based technology that should allow a limited chameleon effect field to surround the user, I suddenly recalled Rift Walk had told me. I felt that what I was seeing, or rather, what I wasn't seeing, was the result of that work.

Back at the entrance to the red base, Crawler looked at the small monitor of a device worn on his leg, and proceeded to walk carelessly directly into the red base choke point, and nonchalantly kick the mine that I didn't even know was there directly into the wall. Also to my astonishment, the mine didn't react at the physical contact, or at Crawler's approach to the explosive device, where he proceeded to dismantle the mine in mere seconds. The tech wizard then seemed to scoff at the parts and pieces in his hooves before tossing them to the ground to be recovered later. Walking behind the walls of the choke point, Crawler retrieved a laptop from his saddlebags, his hooves flying deftly over the computer's keyboard as he went to work.

As I saw Crawler speak into his headset, I saw a sudden jerking movement from one of the zebra triplets, who began to move in a full circle. What I didn't realize right then was that Crawler had hacked into the radio frequency of the red team, and began broadcasting himself under a filter effect. However, he only targeted one pony at a time in order to maximize the confusion among the red team's ranks.

Now was the perfect time to strike for the blue, while the confusion was still present among their opponents. But they already knew that.

As Perdition continued cautiously forward, shielded by Brayn's magic, she fell under assault by the turrets as she rounded the corner. Brayn quickly focused his attention of Perdition's shield, turning around from their flank where one of the zebra triplets was watching as well. Once she heard the turrets firing, Schism went over to the mine at the choke point of blue base and activated it with her magic, containing the actual paint blast inside of a shield she had placed around the mine, though leaving the explosive sound unaltered.

At the sound of the blast, Brayn and the zebra triplets turned towards the explosion, with Brayn throwing shields up around the zebras, unfortunately leaving himself vulnerable. With this fact apparent as the shield faded from Brayn, Ashen made her presence known. Unnoticed by all of the ponies (and zebras) around her, Ashen had silently and stealthily made her way to just a few feet away from the center of the five ponies, where she proceeded to drop her two turrets on the ground, making themselves visible as they left her grasp. Soon, those turrets opened fire on Brayn, hitting him a few times and forcing him to drop his shield on Perdition and moving it over to himself, leaving her vulnerable.

Taking this opening to act, Mordekai fired a precision shot from his rifle, drilling a paint ball into the back of Perdition's head and splattering her mane and coat with rich blue paint. I felt like I could almost see him mouth 'Boom. Headshot.' from his perch. Accepting that the blow would have been fatal in a true fire fight, Perdition dropped to the ground 'dead'.

Rift Walk must have been perched on the top of the block next to the red team in his light-bent teleportation spell, because all of a sudden he flew into the air, landing directly on top of Brayn, knocking the shielded pony to the ground and disrupting all of the shields in his surprise. Once the shields were down, Ashen materialized behind of of the triplets and dragged a hoof cover across the zebra's neck, leaving a blue trail. In another instant, all of the blue balls around another triplet's neck exploded, covering the mare in blue paint as Schism walked out from behind a corner, her horn aglow. Mordekai took out the last zebra triplet with a second shot from his rifle taking the mare directly over her heart, splattering blue to confirm the kill. I could picture Rift Walk smiling as he gave a small poke to Brayn's forehead with his paint marked hoof, leaving a little blue dot.

Five 'kills' in less than five seconds.

"Blue Team wins!" came a triumphant shout from the loud speakers around the pit.

All of the ponies in the crowd around me erupted into cheers and hoof clops for the winning team, whose members all bowed with the exception of Ashen, who stood there wordlessly.And I was supposed to be an asset to those ponies!? I couldn't even dream to be a valued member of this squad with coordination like that. All of these events occurred in under three minutes. Three minutes I realized that Gravesend could be in trouble!

Pushing my way through the crowd again, I tried to get to the opposite side of the pit where Blood was. Oh this would have been so much easier if I felt I could fly right now... but at least this time the ponies were willing to part without to much fuss since they weren't missing out on the show below. Instead, the ten ponies of the two teams talked amongst each other about the results of the bout. My concerns had nothing to do with their conversation though, as I forced my way through the sea of ponies milling about in order to reach Blood.

As I slammed the door open, I found an olive colored stallion with a black mane reclining comfortably in a chair, and despite his seeming at ease in his position, there was a scowl etched across his features. The frown only deepened as he reacted to my presence. "What the hell- oh. It's you. Gravesend is supposed to be keeping your fresh hide busy and we're in the middle of practice, so what do you want?" Blood asked gruffly, not at all changing his tone once he recognized me.

"Gravesend-" I began, but flinched as I underestimated just how long the chilling and painkillers would last, my back pain coming back with a vengeance. Noticing my jerkiness, Blood's horn began to glow as I felt his magic scanning my body for injuries. Luckily, this kind of scanning didn't feel vile like the one I had been subjected to as I entered the castle grounds. Blood grunted as his magic diagnosed all of my injuries, from the small bruises, to the large one on my neck, and my sprained back. Wordlessly, Blood began his work of curing my wounds with his magic, mumbling to me as he did so.

"What, Gravesend whoop your ass and you come crying to the medic to tell me 'Oh, she was so mean to me, how ever will I survive?', cause I don't have any patience for whining from the ponies I treat. I fix em' up, but I don't have to like it." he mocked as I felt all of my aches and pains vanish in the glow of his horn. I shook my head vigorously in response, my mane flying everywhere. "No, but Gravesend needs help, and bad!" I warned Blood. For all of his supposed dislike of everypony, Blood bolted up right quick at the possibility of an injured pony that could use his help.

"Show me."

And so I did as I ran back to my quarters with the medical pony in tow. I really wanted to fly to Gravesend as quickly as possible to make sure she was alright, but leaving Blood in my dust wouldn't help anypony at all since I still couldn't help her if I tried. Ponies parted immediately as they saw a pony from the Royal Guard rushing through their midst, and anypony who didn't move aside quickly enough was pushed away rudely by Blood's magic. He was certainly ready to help if he could, his grim faced expression overtaking the perpetual scowl.

Back inside of the castle proper, we encountered no resistance from any of the castle servants, who all moved aside readily as they saw the two Royal Guards running towards some unknown objective in the castle. "What's wrong with her?" Blood huffed in questioning as we raced through the halls, clearly in need of some more cardio work, and less time spent in the chair 'in case' somepony got hurt, which could happen with all of the physical action occurring during training sessions. "I think she has a concussion, she hit the mat pretty hard and she's showing all the signs I was told about in basic training." I told him, far less troubled by the running. For good measure, I listed all of symptom that had cropped up. Blood bobbed his head in response, or at least I thought it was in response, since it could have just been the effort he was putting into running. Really, I was probably moving slower because of him.

Within short order, we ran through the door that I hadn't bothered to close, slowing our pace as we did so as running was unnecessary with our goal just through the nearest threshold. The lights remained off in my room, indicating that Gravesend had yet to awaken. As we entered, I kept the light on the dimmest setting and hit the switch, though Gravesend still cringed away from the light, even in her unconscious state. Her mouth and nose had stopped bleeding, though some dried blood stained the sheets where her head rested. Blood closed in on her with a determined expression, whistling as he noted the physical signs.

"Nice to see somepony put you on bed rest for a change." Blood said, his patient unresponsive. That seemed to worry him more, and he immediately set forth scanning Gravesend's body, noting nothing until the glow reached her skull. "Well, I'd say your prognosis is right, looks like a concus- well holy shit!" Blood cut off in surprise. "What, what is it?" I asked worriedly. Gravesend looked up at me with concern for the first time. "Our patient here has some intracranial hemorrhaging which is building up in an epidermal hematoma. Its a good thing you got me here when you did, in about twenty minutes she's probably start to suffer permanent damage." Blood told me. I looked at him in confusion, not quite understanding exactly what he said. Noting my confused expression, Blood elaborated.

"Her damn brain is bleeding into the area between the brain and the skull, that's the intracranial hemorrhage. The pool of blood between the skull and brain itself is called an epidermal hematoma. If that happens for too long, the brain gets compressed within the skull, which can lead to a herniation of the brain. Imagine your brain popping out of your eyes sockets." Blood explained with graphic detail. I doubted that anypony's brain could actually pop out of their eye sockets as they would probably be dead before it got that serious, but the point was made; Gravesend was lucky to have a medical professional present.

"Now, like I said, we caught this with enough time to prevent any brain damage beyond the hemorrhage itself. But we're going to need to relieve the pressure before that becomes a possibility. I can stop any further bleeding, but it's not good to leave that blood built up in her skull, so we're going to need to drain it here." Blood told me. I gulped at the thought of opening up Gravesend's skull right here in my apartment, but it needed to be done to save her life.

"Alright. What do we need?"

Blood smirked at me, surprised I would be willing to assist him. "You sure you want to do this, kid? It's not going to be pretty, so you won't be able to help if you're squeamish." he told me. I nodded my head to assure him that I was willing to go all the way through with this. "Well okay then. All we're going to need is a bucket of some sort, or to move her to the bathroom. But limiting her movement is for the best, so try and find a container of some sort." Blood advised me as I nodded in acknowledgement.

I doubted that I had been provided a bucket, so I scanned the bathroom for something that would do the trick. Pill bottles, soaps and shampoos, extra toiletries, medicine of all sorts... but nothing bigger than a pill bottle to collect any fluid. But if it took getting blood all over my floor to save a life, I'd get over it. I almost went back to Blood empty hoofed, but my eyes settled upon my small trash can as I turned to leave. I quickly grabbed the cylindrical trash can and a fresh towel, just in case some blood spilled out. I returned to Blood with both objects in hoof after I dropped the remains of my gift wrapped box onto the floor.

"Alright, not a bucket, but it'll do, and good thinking for the towel." Blood praised. "Now, what I'm going to do is use my magic to cut away the skin, fur, and hair to get to where the blood is pooled. That wound will be cauterized as I cut it, so there shouldn't be any blood until I actually get through the skull." he explained, looking me in the eyes reassuringly. "All I need you to do is to hold her head over the trash can while I work since we went through all the trouble to not get any blood on the floor." he told me. I gulped, hesitant now that I was actually faced with needing to participate. "Don't worry, we can do this. It just helps if I don't have to do this alone." Blood said smoothly.

And with that, I forced myself to overcome my hesitation and helped reposition Gravesend so that her head would be over the trash can on the floor. With one final check that I was still with him, Blood began his operation.

As Blood's horn glowed, a beam of magic struck out at Gravesend's coat in a circular pattern, burning its was through the fur, flesh, and bone. I could smell the seared fur and the meat beneath it, the stench almost making me wretch almost as I considered the same thing happening to me; only I was awake as it happened. I managed to keep myself composed and steady though as Blood continued his work. The smell of burning bone was just wrong to me, though it was nothing compared to the popping sound as the last of the skull was cut through and extracted with the medical pony's magic. Even as the cut was completed, blood flowed around the piece of detached bone, and removing the blockage only allowed the blood to pass unhindered.

Truthfully, I was too horrified by witnessing the blood clear from the hole in Gravesend's skull, allowing me to see the gray matter beneath, in order to let of her head, or move at all for that matter. Gently, Blood twisted her head some to let all of the loose blood out. I could hardly believe what I was watching happen right before my eyes, another pony's skull cut open and their lifeblood spilling forth.

Once everything appeared to be drained, Blood took the piece of skull, flesh, and fur, placing it back in the vacant space of Gravesend's head. To my amazement, Blood used his magic to knit the bone and flesh back together, even regrowing the hair. When his work was done, it appeared as if nothing had ever happened, no scar, not missing fur, not a single sign. I sighed as Blood took Gravesend's head from my own grasp and maneuvered her back onto the bed fully. I stared into the trash can to see just how much blood had come out of the wound, surprised when it appeared that the amount of the crimson fluid inside of it could have indeed fit in one of the larger pill bottles contained within the medical cabinet. Much to my relief, Blood instructed me to take our makeshift bucket and dispose of the contents before anything began to dry.

Once I had disposed of the bodily fluids in the toilet (because I sure as hay wasn't going to bathe where somepony's blood had been), I went out to the living room where Blood already awaited me, the lights in my bedroom switched off. I sat down on my couch silently, Blood following suit. Both of us sat there awkwardly for a few moments digesting what we had just done. I broke the tense atmosphere by getting out the question on my mind.

"Is she going to be alright?" I asked, fervently hoping I hadn't wasted too much time with the freezing mist and observation of the training match. "Yes, she was quite lucky that the hemorrhage had been a slow bleed. It gave her the extra time for you to find me and perform the operation. In another hour the damage could have been permanent." Blood said flatly, and then turned to me with an inquisitive expression. "Just what the hell happened to her? I know that you, a wet behind the ears newbie fresh out of training camp couldn't have done this." he asked.

I sighed, afraid of recount the story, though I knew it should be told, if only to teach myself a lesson. "We were... sparring. About an hour or so. Gravesend... she just wanted to see what I could do at first, and then she put me through the motions of training, basic attacks, hitting a moving target, defensive stuff.." I paused here, knowing this would be the hardest part to tell. "She wanted to stop, said that an hour of prolonged shielding was wearing her magic down. But I wasn't listening. I-" I choked at this, but forced myself to continue.

"I was caught up in the moment, in the memories. I kept hitting her, and hitting her, the shield getting weaker and weaker. The memories... they showed me something, some kind of special move. I bucked her in the head and wrapped my self around, punching her and driving her head into the floor. The kick was what broke her shield finally, and the punch did... this." I told Blood with shame, but I endeavored to add the last part. "When she got up, she was full of fury. She rammed me up against the wall, that was how I got hurt. Eventually she calmed down, told me never to use a 'killing blow', whatever that's supposed to mean to you all." I concluded.

Blood remained silent as I recounted my short tale, nodding as I got to the last bit about killing blows. Blood pondered what I told him for a moment, then spoke up. "And... the memories. They showed you a killing blow during your fist session?" he asked curiously. I nodded in confirmation, not understanding the significance of that fact. Catching on to the fact that I was unaware of the seriousness of the matter, Blood told me more, evoking a history lesson in the process.

"Killing blows... they were created by the first generation of Guardians. Nightmare Moon had driven Celestia and her defenders to extreme measures since she could empower her indoctrinated horde to live through far more punishment than ponies should be able to endure. In order to kill those few ponies empowered by Nightmare Moon herself, the killing blows were developed, a flurry of attacks meant to ensure a kill." Blood paused for a deep breath, not intending to stop explaining soon.

"This knowledge of killing blows was kept secret after the war to protect innocent ponies, and as a failsafe in the even Nightmare Moon made her way back to Equestria. Sure, somepony could develop the same or new killing blows if they wanted, but the Guardians only discovered the most effective ways through killing dozens, if not hundreds of ponies during the war. Nopony could get away with that many murders, even if they could bear to commit such an atrocity to begin with." he continued.

"To that end, only those exposed to the memories of the Waters of Equestria, the same pool you went into, could learn of the killing blows. Therefore, only the successor members of the Guardians, ourselves included, know of these techniques. These memories are supposed to be revealed in time, not shortly after one had absorbed the memories, making this instance very unique. This may be a foreboding portent of what is to come in the future, or of your own abilities if the memories chose to reveal this information so early on in your training." Blood concluded with a resounding final note.

I sat there, awestruck. Once again, some sign pointed to me being some kind of 'super pony', even among the Royal Guard. I was told once by the memories themselves, and now by another member of the very same Royal Guard, that I could perform feats beyond the norm. What was this all supposed to mean to me? Blood interrupted my thoughts before I could delve deeper into them.

"Killing blow techniques, as the name implies, are very dangerous. You have learned now why we never use killing blows during sparring sessions. Gravesend herself learned this same reasoning as a younger mare when she killed Quora several years ago." Blood said, and I felt like he was scolding me for my unintended actions. But now I had a new interest to pick up on.

"Wait, who was Quora?" I intoned. It was Blood's turn to sigh this time, turning away. "Quora was... Gravesend's mother." he told me reluctantly.

Wait, so Gravesend's parents had both been guardians? Now that was a freak thing, I could understand somepony from each generation of the family being a Guardian, but three members of the same family? That was just... unexpected. But now I could understand the anguish that had filled Gravesend's eyes as she raged at me for having used a killing blow during a sparring session.

I reminded her of herself.

Blood interrupted my train of thought again. "Now, Gravesend still has a grade three concussion, I've healed the physical matters, but the cognitive disturbances might remain for a little while. The hematoma also shouldn't have any impact on her, and nothing should be wrong with the patch job I did on the piece of skull. Nevertheless, I prescribe bed rest, or at least minimal physical activity as everything settles back into the norm." Blood advised.

"Good luck for the next few weeks. You're going to need it now that Gravesend has a reason to make your life difficult, and don't you dare think that I'll be taking it easy on you either. You're going to learn everything I can cram into your skull while I have you. Maybe your brain will pop out of your skull." Blood threatened, his voice becoming gruff once more. I was startled at the sudden shift in mood and nearly fell out of my seat as Blood's vehemence was directed at me once more. Noticing my reaction, Blood laughed evilly as he walked out of the door, politely closing it behind him.

I wasn't quite sure what to think about Blood. He was certainly unforgiving most of the time, but I had seen him at his best, as he worked to save a life, and I knew that he was entirely dedicated to helping ponies, even if it was his on special brand of 'help' that he provided. I was more interested right now of what I had learned of Gravesend's past. How had her mother's untimely demise impacted the budding Guardian, particularly when Gravesend was at such a young age? I turned my attention to the pony that I was lying on my bed, even now snoring in a soft manner that I found kind of... cute.

Despite the obvious differences in the pony that I was, and my age, I felt that right now I was Gravesend's Quora.

My useless questions, born out of my own 'curiosity', if that was what I wanted to call my insensitive interest, were of no use at the moment. Right now, I just needed to make sure that this pony was alive and well.

To make sure that my friend, was alive and well.

A Shot In The Dark - Ditch

Aces High

Chapter 5: A Shot in the Dark

It was a few hours before Gravesend awoke from her period of unconsciousness again. I can assume that the length of time she spent knocked out wasn't aided by Blood's anesthetic spell. At least I assumed he had used one, I wasn't actually in the room when he cast it since I was getting the trash can. I really hoped that he hadn't operated on Gravesend like that with the possibility of her waking up in the middle of having her skull cut apart, because there wasn't a single scenario I played out in my head that ended with a pleasant response.

Not that any of that mattered now though, seeing as how it was all said and done, and now Gravesend was waking up, sounding perfectly healthy as she called out to me. "What am I doing on the bed?" she asked of me. Well, shouted at me really since I was still sitting on the couch. While I waited to see how long Gravesend would take to wake up again, I had turned on the television with nothing better to do, considering I couldn't really train without her, and that even if I wanted to, Blood had explicitly said to only perform limited physical activity. Even without that warning though, I figured it would be best to give the injured pony time to rest and heal her battered mind.

While I thought about what exactly to tell her, and what to leave out, considering I had learned some more personal information about my roommate than she might want me to know, I heard a thump come from the room. I bolted over to my room at the sound, worried that Gravesend might have just hurt herself even more. Instead, as I came in and turned on the light, I couldn't help but burst into laughter as I saw Gravesend upside down on the floor entangled in the sheets of the bed, her legs flailing wildly in a fruitless attempt to remove the trappings from her body. "Oh, you'll be laughing when I run you into the ground throughout the rest of your training..." she mumbled in response to my amusement at her dilemma.

Waving off her threat, I walked over and began to unravel the sheets from around her since she couldn't seem to handle their removal by herself. Disorientation was one of the typical consequences of a concussion, so Gravesend falling out of the bed and her ensuing inability to remove the sheets she had wrapped about herself in her sleep made sense. Still, the logic of the situation didn't deduct from the hilarity of the results, and I continued to let out a few giggles as Gravesend looked at me helplessly. That couldn't have been easy for her since she was used to handling her own problems.

After being fully extricated from the sheets that had been holding her hostage, I helped Gravesend up when her first attempt at getting on her own hooves only resulted in her immediate collapse back onto the floor. After she was up, Gravesend took a few wobbly steps around the room with my assistance before declaring that she didn't require any more help. When she was done assuring herself that she could remain standing for the moment, she faced me, an inquisitive look on her face. "So what was I doing on the bed like that? We didn't... you know, did we?" she asked, looking somewhat worried about what my response would be.

Right. Concussion. That has the small side effect of amnesia.

In response, I simply took a small step back, raising an eyebrow and looking at her before bursting into laughter once more. Gravesend took on an annoyed expression as I laughed at her for the second time in only a couple of minutes. "I'll take that as a no then." she said without humor before walking into the living room, reacting barely noticeably to the brighter light that the windows offered. It was getting late, only about three hours before Luna would call the moon to us without fail, but the sun still offered enough light to be brighter than the dimmed lights of my bedroom. I figured I had been holding the details of what had happened over the past few hours over Gravesend's head long enough and decided to explain it all.

"So, what's the last thing you remember?" I asked Gravesend, causing her to turn and regard me, opening her mouth to respond, and then quickly closing it again. A perplexed expression played itself across her features as she tried, with effort, to recall the last thing she had been aware of. "Back in the gym, we were training, and we were about to finish when... when... when I woke up here and fell on the floor." she began hesitantly, only to break into a distasteful tone as she couldn't recall exactly what had happened.

I nodded in agreement, though I was somewhat surprised that she couldn't recall her outburst at my actions. Should I really tell her that part? She was enraged when the event had actually happened to her, but now I would have to tell her that it was because of the fact that I had almost killed her that she couldn't remember anything past our training. What if she get even more angry at me because of that? What if-?

I let the thought trail off. I had to tell her, not just because it was the right thing to do, but also because we had to trust each other if we were going to be in the same squad, and concealing the truth now would only make it worse when some mention of it was inevitably thrown into conversation. To that end, I made up my mind during the single second that it took all of these considerations to process through my brain. I tried to take on a friendly tone, perhaps to mitigate any forthcoming anger at the details that Gravesend was now missing out on.

"So, we did finish training, it was a good session, but... It was really the way that it ended that wasn't so good." I said, trying to sound positive as Gravesend stared at me with skepticism. "I um, kind of got out of control, I mean I was already in fighting mode, and the memories were persistent, and I was-" I continued to explain, though I was cut off as Gravesend rolled her eyes at me. "Get on with it!" she said forcefully, tilting over, off balance from the force of her own words. I blushed a little as I realized I had been beating around the bush, still trying not to tell Gravesend every little detail.

"Well, let's just say that I may have used a killing blow technique on you by accident since I was caught up in the whole fight thing." I told her sheepishly. I shied away some, only squinting at Gravesend as I prepared for her rage to be taken out on my form physically. Instead, it seemed I was cringing away from nothing as I cracked an eye open after a few seconds of not experiencing any physical trauma. Gravesend stood there, silently, looking as if she was struggling with her own thoughts, not a hint of malice on her face. I could tell that she was reliving her own experiences with using a killing blow, only that time the technique had performed to its name and ended a pony's life. Her own mother's life in particular.

Because of the fact that I could see the pain of her memories on her face, I continued my explanation to Gravesend in an attempt to shift her thoughts away to current matters. "So, yeah, I kicked you in the face and threw you on the floor, which made you throw me against the wall and yell at me," I explained, almost casually so as to finish the story as quickly as possible. "After that, both of us were pretty messed up, so we hobbled back here, and you fell unconscious, so I went and got Blood. Long story short, you had a concussion and 'intracranial' something or another and blood was building up, so we had to drill a hole into your skull to drain it out, but Blood patched you up pretty good after that and we let you sleep it off." I continued, giving Gravesend an awkward smile at the end of my explanation.

The turquoise pony did seem to be overwhelmed by my elaboration, leading her thoughts elsewhere, and allowing me to give myself a small grin of success. Gravesend was silent for a moment a she considered the events she had forgotten, her eyes rolling to either side of head as she weighed the authenticity of what I told her. "Yep." she concluded suddenly. "Sounds pretty believable to me. In fact, I should probably be angry with you right now, but you did end up saving my life." she told me casually. "But don't you dare think that gives you any bonus points with me considering that it was because of your reckless actions that I almost died in the first place." she warned me threateningly.

I had to admit, there was no way around owning up to that fact; I had almost killed her and I was damn lucky that I hadn't caused even more damage while I was... what? In a trance, or whatever the state I was in should have been called?

I looked at the ground, feeling a mixture of shame and embarrassment now that the victim of my attack was confronting me, only sparing a glance or two as I was scolded. When I did glance at her though, Gravesend's expression wasn't that of anger, or disappointment, or contempt, or... any other emotion I imagined would be present. Instead, she looked at me with something approaching disbelief, though not the kind of shocked disbelief that you can see on many ponies muzzles when they are told something horrific, such as the destruction of Ponyville. Rather, Gravesend's look of disbelief was akin to skepticism, perhaps a hint of disgust as well.

"Really? You're going to get all shy now? Come on, I'm not dead, now am I?" Gravesend expressed to me. She certainly wasn't willing to let me wallow any more than I already was. "Last I checked, you're still stuck with me for the next three weeks, and I'm not going to train any sniveling filly that won't get over their mistakes." she told me sternly. I looked towards her, more motivated now that Gravesend had in essence told me to knock of the cringing, only to let concern take over once more and Gravesend wobbled again, nearly falling down once more.

Despite her protests assuring me that she was fine, I directed her to the couch and forced her to lie down. It seemed that that was as far as I was going to get her though, as once she was settled comfortably she waved me away with the hoof. Gravesend shook her head with mild annoyance at the circumstances forced upon her by her condition. Surely this wasn't something that the Pony of Death was used to dealing with.

Weakness, was not a virtue to her.

"You know, you really should relax some. If today's training session was any indication, you work yourself pretty hard all the time. Not to mention, you know, doctor's orders after all." I told Gravesend, attempting to persuade her to limit herself from any further injury, which simply caused her to protest more. "Pfff. Hardly, today was nothing! If I hadn't been running the shields on both of us for that long-" she began to boast with a tone of confidence which began to turn to offense at the perceived underestimation of her endurance. She cut herself off suddenly, inhaling deeply through her nostrils and making some odd motions with her hooves as she did so.

Visibly calmer, she continued. "I suppose you're right. If Blood caught me doing to anything to jeopardize his 'care', he'd probably beat me near to death himself and then complain about having to fix me up for that too." Gravesend said with a hint of amusement as she rolled her eyes at the prospect. Even if that line of reasoning opened up more opportunities of violence, I was satisfied that it managed to keep Gravesend off of her hooves for the moment. Gravesend suddenly shifted the conversation drastically. "Hey, this couch is pretty comfortable. Have you even sat on this thing yet?" she asked, looking surprised at her own observation.

'Why yes, I have sat on my own damn couch. But I was a little preoccupied with being worried about the potentially dying pony that had been unconscious on my bed in order to give a-' I stopped myself from retorting so angrily. Yes, the comment was entirely inane and unrelated to anything we had been talking about. Yes, I was also slightly perturbed by the fact that Gravesend seemed so apathetic about the fact that I had almost killed her. Heck, I would have almost taken anger over 'sounds pretty believable to me' given the circumstances.

But I also wasn't going to allow myself back into the hot-headed and snarky rut that I had called my attitude only a few short months ago. Not out loud anyhow. Instead, I appeased the small talk that Gravesend seemed to be searching for.

"Yeah, I have sat on it, it's pretty comfortable." I responded coolly. Calm and collected. Don't get mad at the 'teenager' for being the way she is. In turn, Gravesend yawned in my direction, managing to surprise me once more with her relaxed mannerisms as she reclined further on the couch, propping her forehooves behind her head and closing her eyes before responding verbally. "Yep. S'pretty nice. Been an interesting day today, can't say I've ever come closer to death than this, not even that one time in Stalliongrad..."

I rolled my eyes and began to turn towards the restroom. Hey, nopony could say that they didn't answer the 'call of the wild', and frankly, during all of the day's excitement, I hadn't taken the opportunity to relieve myself. Also, three words: heated toilet seats. Hadn't gotten to try out that little accessory of my accommodations yet either. Perks. Of. The. Job.

But no sooner had I lifted a hoof to make my first step towards my destination than I immediately had to redirect it into a full on face-hoof as I heard one of those soft snores that Gravesend produced when she slept. 'Oh, I'm fine, I'm fine, really, its no big deal. You didn't nearly kill me or anything. My name's Gravesend, I eat nails for breakfast and shit out small decorative steel sculptures for the souvenir shop at the castle!'

Right. That's why you're out cold sleeping on my sofa after a five minute conversation 'tough stuff'. I looked towards the ceiling, mouthing 'Really?' to any divine beings that may have been looking down on me. Perhaps one might take pity and just put me out of my misery right then. I wouldn't have to worry about anything then. No war, no crying friends, no sadness, and at the moment perhaps most importantly of all, no Gravesend.

With no merciful death incoming, I sighed, embracing the cruelty of the fact that the universe wouldn't let me get off that easily. I perked up a bit at the fact that I realized Luna must have been busy with her work, as the Sun was slowly lowering to be replaced by her own luminous celestial body designated as the Moon. The only reason this was of any importance to me at all was the realization that I got to keep my bed to myself for at least one more night. Maybe that was a sign that things would be looking up in the near future?

Or not.

**********

I felt a mild burst of heat flash past my ear, the projectile that I knew caused the heat moving with a quickness that barely allowed me to perceive its sudden arrival and immediate passing.

"Damn it!" I heard a voice shout into my earpiece as I moved my bulk into better cover. Riff. He had just missed a shot that he should have hit since I wasn't even aware of his presence in my haste to avoid being spotted by Wrecks. I checked my rifle to make sure it was properly loaded and the safety was switched off as I considered the fact that the pony who had barely missed me had surely been rushing himself.

Luckily for me that still meant that I was still in the game. I allowed myself a little smile at my good fortune, since I had managed to trace the direction of the shot back to where Riff would most likely be. Out of habit, I tapped the wall I had my back to with my hoof as I rolled to the left side of my cover and into the open. Working quickly, I put my eye to the scope of my rifle, and the comforting black, white, and grey electronic glow greeted my vision. A bright white pony shaped blob stuck out from the side of another concrete slab, one of many on the hilly obstacle course. Narrowing my eyes and smiling once more, I steadied myself and bit down on the trigger of my rifle, which was attached to the bridle I was wearing.

Quicker than the blink of an eye, an even brighter diminutive white blob exploded out of my rifle and struck the warm pony shaped figure that was pressed against the cool concrete block. I watched with satisfaction as I saw the heated pellet impact against Riff's training fatigues. I relived my satisfaction as I heard the familiar voice of Riff cry out in annoyance. "Double damn it!"

I took a moment to hide myself away behind my own concrete slab before I said anything over the radio, though I couldn't help but comment once I checked my surroundings to make sure I was safe. Assured that I could divert my attention for a few seconds, I felt obliged to give a brief assessment of my victim's performance. "You need to slow it down a bit Riff. I didn't even know you were there; I should have been an easy mark for you. And try to be more aware of your cover's effectiveness before hunkering down." my voice rumbled out.

Before any response could be given, I heard a click, and felt a hot splash on the fur covering the back of my skull. Calmly, I reached a hoof around to the back of my head and wiped away some of the warm liquid that soaked the fur there. Pulling the hoof back into eyesight, I saw the soft green glow that lit up the limb and revealed my brown fur. I had taken a moment to praise myself, to try and help a squad member, and in quite an out of character moment, boast. Wrecks had taken the opportunity to sneak up behind me and eliminate his competition.

These hotshot squad members were rubbing off in the worst way.

"Learn to follow your own advice first big guy." Riff retorted across the radio with a short laugh attached to the statement. I silently noted his assessment of my own actions as correct before turning to my 'killer', almost knocking into the barrel of Wrecks' rifle as I did so. Clearly the pony had fired the shot almost at a point blank range, further reinforced by the stern glare I received as I locked eyes with Wrecks himself.

Opposite to his expression, I gave the pony a big grin as I towered above him. "Nice job Wrecks. You took the moment I let my guard down to act and take me down. That's about as smooth as it gets." I complimented. Wrecks scowled at me before turning away to return to the barracks being as Riff and myself had been the last remaining members of the squad in this training bout, uttering a short response as he did so. "Eyes open at all times. Be alert, at all times. Stick to the objective. At. All. Times. There's no time to brag if your target's still alive, Ditch." the sharpshooter muttered coldly as he moved away.

Real serious pony, but he does his job well.

"That's the end of the match, folks." said a female voice over the loudspeakers hidden about the grounds.

Storing Wrecks' words in the back of my mind, I headed back to the barracks as well.

**********

It had only been a few days since graduation, which would normally have barely been enough time for each incoming trainee to get acquainted with their fellow squad members. Typically, the operation was as such when students were rotated out:

The first day was simply the arrival of the incoming trainees, whereupon they would be led to their barracks and allowed to set up their bunks. Luckily, the quarters provided for each soldier were better than the living conditions in basic training. Instead of one bunkhouse containing around fifty ponies, housing was arranged apartment style, with rooms the size of the average Canterlot home set up for six to ten ponies. Furnishings had also been provided for each 'apartment', though such decorations were spartan in design and utility, being provided by the military after all.

Each of the four wings of a housing complex held twelve apartments, and each apartment was assigned to a different training squad with a different instructor, though instructors had their own housing complex that was slightly larger and better furnished than that of their students. While each apartment had modest bathrooms for the inhabitants, the military deigned to use communal showers as a way to save space, so the entire complex had a community bathing facility which the inhabitants were tasked with maintaining themselves.

The second day was a guided tour of the facilities available to the cadets. There were a total of four housing complexes, three for trainees, and one for instructors, allowing for a maximum capacity of roughly two thousand ponies, though there had never been more than thirteen hundred trainees at a single time, which was achieved in the months following the Changeling attack on Canterlot. On average though, less than six hundred trainees, roughly ten percent of the cadets that made it out of basic training each month, inhabited the sharpshooter division training grounds.

Aside from the housing complexes, several other facilities were available to the cadets. There were seven shooting ranges on the training grounds, more than enough for any relatively short range shooting that squads needed to do. Long range shooting was done on outdoors shooting ranges which could vary in range from one thousand feet to two miles in distance, though these were strictly shooting ranges for live ammunition. A smattering of administrative buildings were in the center of the X-shaped path leading to each housing complex, along with a decent medical station. Other than those buildings, there was little of note nearby since the training grounds were on the outskirts of Canterlot to keep the impact of noise from high-powered rifles from bothering residents.

The third day would be the first day of any real activity. The first meeting with your squad's instructor would take place then, and each squad member would officially introduce themselves and give some background information about themselves to everypony else. The instructor would then introduce him/herself to the squad, usually recounting their service history, glorifying the role of being an eagle eye overlooking some backwater town. Perhaps an instructor might have had the good fortune- or misfortune, depending on how you looked at it -to have ventured into the unsettled parts of Equestria on scouting detail and faced down some of the nastier creatures hiding in those lands.

Once pleasantries were handled, the squad might perform a light training activity so their instructor could see each cadet's skills for their own eyes. Everypony could shake off the couple of days of rest between basic training and their advanced training, poke fun at each other as they went through the paces, nothing too strenuous, perhaps the only thing being tested would be the patience of the instructor for some of the hotshots who thought they were a big deal. After all of the minor exercises were finished came the most anticipated part of those initial days of sharpshooter training: visiting the armory.

The armory was indeed an impressive place, I could attest to that personally after having seen it. Wall after wall, row after row of cataloged rotating racks loaded with weapons, from decades old firearms that still proved their reliability, to the most modern and technology laden guns imaginable. Glistening bridles, shining barrels, pristine metal, these were the weapons that each and every pony at the academy would get to test, a prospect which set every pair of eyes twinkling with wonder. If there was one thing the every single sharpshooter at the academy had in common, it was guns, and before the cadets was an arsenal big enough to take over Canterlot itself.

However, those first few days of my stay at the academy didn't quite go that way. These were no normal circumstances that Equestria was facing after all. Instead, the three days of 'warming up' to my surroundings of the next month were jammed into my first true day of training.

When it had been publicly announced that Equestria had come under attack, the typically content machine that was the military kicked into overdrive. The normally lax number of instructors leased by the military was quickly bolstered by veteran graduates, retired service members, and even a few private security contractors with extensive experience in marksman positions jumped at the opportunity to help their homeland. But the Sharpshooter Division was hardly the only part of the military that received an outpouring of support from the expertise of military and paramilitary veterans from all over Equestria. Engineering, Demolition, R&D, Medical, Air Forces, all of them were surely receiving vast amounts of support from the citizens of Equestria, though I could only attest to my own particular branch.

The advantage of having hundreds of experienced ponies helping train up and coming cadets was that the quality of their training would increase due to the pooled knowledge at their hooves. This also meant that the fresh graduates, the ones who had come out of basic training at the same time as my squad, and the next two months worth of cadets would probably become the greatest fighting force Equestria had ever seen. Sticklers for tradition and their tried and true practices, the powers that be in the military would keep basic training at three months of instruction before graduation, so the influx of recruits in response to the war would have to wait to fully impact advanced training divisions for that time.

With basic training beginning at the start of every month though, that meant the comparatively small groups of sharpshooters nominated from those who graduated at the same time as myself and the next two months would have the advantage of being the main focus of the instructors who had been immediately accepted by the military. Without such large groups to instruct, the groups passing though the academy during that time would bear the brunt of the instructor's desire for vengeance through what they taught. The additional time spent with each trainee would also lead to a more thorough 'education' than the larger numbers of their successor groups, very similar to the allure of going to a private school over a public school: with smaller 'class' sizes, the 'professor' can spend more time teach each 'student'.

The objective for the moment was to turn this current group into the newest wave of Equestrian defenders, and to bolster the strength of the ponies already on active duty. It went without question that the military would want to get more troops into active duty to beef up security around any vulnerable cities, and as always, the equation was the same. More soldiers equals more security. As such, the training had been intense from day one. This day- night, rather -was no different, and the sharpshooter squad was being trained in the use of thermal optical attachments and nighttime warfare strategy through a mock soldier on soldier firefight.

Armed with air rifles, the nine ponies of my squad, myself included, fought their way through the dark maze of a training ground/obstacle course that was used by the sharpshooter's division to mimic the different environments that a sniper might face. As such, the surroundings had been varied individually, and intentionally mixed together. Certain areas were adorned with metal scaffolding and thin tin walls, other parts held large concrete slabs, such as the one I had been taking cover behind, while others still were forested areas. Other, smaller areas existed for more specific training exercises, though the entirety of the sharpshooter training grounds, no matter the particular environment, had artificial mounds and valleys interspersed to create strategic locations. Unfortunately, this meant that climbing hills had become routine.

It was on these hills and in these valleys that much of the actual training and combat practices took place outside of the shooting ranges, and, once again, this evening was no different. Each pony had their training fatigues on, a thick durable material making up the outside of the suits, and the inside lined with padding to soften the blows from non-lethal rounds fired from large caliber rifles. Non-lethal rounds were always used when not firing at a designated shooting range, and reckless use of live ammunition was not tolerated. However, non-lethal rubber bullets still hurt to be shot with, and even through the padding, bruises sometimes formed.

Tonight though, the armor was an unnecessary precaution since the rounds had been soft plastic pellets filled with two small packets of chemicals that would grow hot and glow a florescent green when mixed together. Since we had been training with thermal optics, each pellet had been enchanted by R&D to heat up briefly when fired, the magic enabling the shooter to track the shot as it went, and the chemical reaction of the mixing packets allowing vision from either normal sight, or the thermal sight of the scope. The government seemed to be perfectly willing to spend enormous sums of money to make training soldiers easier, as proven by these enchanted pellets. Time and money had to be spent designing, testing, modifying, and enchanting the rounds to proper specifications, even before mass production began, and this was a practice that had spread to all branches of the military.

While the guided lessons from instructors were important, most of the day was taken up by training with whatever gun the cadet wanted to use at the time, with only one or two guided lessons taking place during active hours. Trainees had full access to the armory and shooting ranges of the academy, along with a nearly limitless supply of ammunition or weapon modifications available to choose from. The indoor ranges were open at all hours of the day, while the outdoor ones and the obstacle course were closed at night unless training exercises such as the one I had just completed were taking place. The golden rule of the academy was to always have options available. After all, the lessons of instructors could only do so much with the time they had to improve their cadets. It was up to each individual pony to hone their skills on their own time to become the best they could be.

Of course though, everything was not golden at this time, and that line of thought led me to recall my own reaction to the declaration of war as I trailed behind Wrecks back to our apartment. The gryphons and minotaurs attacking. The destruction of Ponyville. I still can't quite put a name to all of the emotions that I felt. Shock, at the fact that Equestria was under attack. Sorrow for the ponies who died, and the families that were left behind to hear the news. Disappointment... that both my talents would surely be called upon for whatever was to come.

'I'll mark my targets, and bury them too.' I thought morbidly as my hooves crushed the leaves on the floor of the 'forested' section to dust.

It even hurt me some when I recalled the fact that Rainbow Dash was from Ponyville, though only Marble and myself had asked about where she was from. She had to feel even worse about the destruction of her home, and even if she had been around, I would never be able to truly sympathize with her loss. My home had the calm of the grave about it, both figuratively and literally, and the majority of the small number of ponies who deigned to live there had probably never even heard of Ponyville before the attack.

My train of thought was interrupted by the greeting of a particularly unique member of my squad.

Now, let me start off by saying that i have no problems with my squad. In fact, we're the best of the best; the most accurate shooters from our respective squads, not that it was very difficult to get into the sharpshooter division. At least it hadn't been very difficult for me. This also made us the best shooters out of all the other ponies in the academy at the moment, but back to my point.

We're one motley crew of ponies to be perfectly honest. The nine of us really didn't have anything in common with each other aside from being the placed in the same apartment. We probably wouldn't really have associated with one another, and we certainly wouldn't have hung out together of our own free will. Given the circumstance though, other options weren't exactly available, and I found my squad to be perfectly suitable myself. But everypony certainly was interesting, and I just loved to hear about what people did before they got where they were now.

Now Riff, that was the pony that was hailing me at the moment, I liked him. He was pretty easy going, he wasn't too concerned with what other ponies though about him unless it was something good. I didn't really take after that whole vanity aspect of his mannerisms, but I could appreciate that he was relatively laid back, if a little foul mouthed. But right now, he was looking at me with a smug grin on his face.

"Looks like someone got it good." he commented as he observed my body for the telling glow of the chemically enhanced pellets. "Ooooh, looks like Wrecks got you good." he said as he found the glowing mark on the back of my head. "That one probably hurt." he said, bobbing his head understandingly. "Not that bad really. It's more the chemical burns than anything else." I retorted. The chemicals didn't actually burn my coat or the flesh beneath it, but the agents used to heat the chemicals up and create the glow left an irritating prickling sensation as a reminder that you got hit.

Riff was the guitarist from some, big heavy metal band I'd never hear of called 'Iron Mareden', but that wasn't really my kind of music, a little too loud, a little too intense for me. I was confused as to what exactly he was doing in the military when he had been successful in his musical career. So naturally I asked him on my first day here. He wasn't exactly forthcoming with the exact reasoning, but he at least obliged me with an answer when I asked him to explain.

"Got kicked out of the band. Dad kicked me out of the house. Mom supported him, said I 'needed to make something of my life', as if I wasn't doing something with my time already. Didn't feel like going homeless and I heard that the military paid well and gave you three square meals a day, along with a bed to sleep in. Never expected to be in a war, but I can't exactly turn back now. Government doesn't like deserters, and this isn't really the best time to pull off that kind of stunt." he had told me. Well, I told him that I never expected to be in a war either. Heck, non of us probably ever had a reasonable expectation to be involved in an actual armed conflict.

I also felt that it was crucial to tell him that I was happy he had decided to join the military, though he kind of laughed at me the first time I told him that. "Yeah, well, I didn't really have very good prospects when I chose to join. I was either here, or a prison cell. Hey, rack up enough misdemeanors, and eventually somepony'll want to put you away for a while." he explained to me sarcastically. "Figured this way I'd at least get paid while I did my time. That, and I didn't really want to get put in the 'slammer', if you know what I'm sayin'."

I didn't know what he was saying, so naturally I asked about that too. He told me, 'Everypony gets desperate eventually, some ponies more than others. Let's just say I didn't want to get too 'friendly' with my cell mate.'

I still didn't really understand what he meant at the time, but I told him I was still glad that he was here, and he sort of sighed and laughed while shaking his head at me. "You know, you're alright... uh... hey, what was your name again?" he asked me. Bear in mind, that had been the first day, so I hadn't really expected him to already be acquainted with me. I told him my name was Ditch, and he kind of nodded at me and waved his hoof in approval. Anyhow, I probably like him the most out of all of my new squad members, not that I had any problems with the others, don't get me wrong, but I liked him the most. Ironically, he also happened to be the worst shot among us 'best shooters.' That's enough about him though.

"Wrecks got me alright; I got careless when I thought it was safe to help you out some." I told him flatly, my voice rumbling out of my chest. Riff chuckled at the fact that my good intentions had caused me to lose another training bout. "Hey, listen, I know that I'm hardly the most serious pony around here, and I'm definitely the laziest... but listen to me for a second here." Riff said, suddenly growing serious.

"I've only known you for a couple days now, but my gut says you're a good pony, and the fact that you try to help everyone you take down during the training bouts gives it away too. I don't know why you would ever choose to become a soldier like you are since you might have to hurt somepony," he said with the closest thing to concern I had seen in his expression over the past three days. "And I don't know if you really have it in you to hurt somepony. I really don't. So, I'm just warning you, that you need to prepare yourself for just such an event. We're at war, and there are some folks out there that are perfectly willing to hurt you, hell, some of them are downright fuckin' eager to." he continued grimly.

"I just want you to know, when we get out of here, I've got your back. We both know this squad is going to stick together once we graduate, and we both know that we're going to be deployed to fight these bastards back. I'm perfectly ready to exact some righteous vengeance and splatter some gryphon or minotaur's brains on the ground." Riff told me almost viciously, softening a moment after he just described himself coldly ending a life. "But I don't know if you can do that. And I want you to know that I've got your back if you can't do it, and if you can't bite the bit, I'll do it for you." he told me solidly. He meant those words.

I was taken aback by the oath. I knew that I was having an inner conflict over the possibility of shooting anything living, even an enemy. I'd been around enough dead ponies that I wasn't quite sure I was up to the thought of killing, and I had never expected to ever have to face that personal fear since war hadn't been on the horizon at the time of my enlistment in the Royal Army. And now camaraderie was winning out again as a pony that hadn't express any drive or eagerness in any aspect of his admittedly short military career pledged his personal aid to me.

I didn't really have any words for Riff right then, I had simply wanted to get back to the apartment so that I could wash the chemicals off my neck and get ready to sleep. To that effect, I kind of looked at the pony in front of me awkwardly and rubbed my forehead nervously. "Okay." I squeaked out in response. Yes, even big ponies such as myself can 'squeak' under pressure, and yes, it is rather comical.

Riff smirked and patted my shoulder with his hoof, sealing his deal. "Now, I've got to go get this uniform washed before that little paint ball you tagged me with stains it. I'll probably head over to the indoor shooting range after that and test out a few of the guns that I liked from the armory. Feel free to join me if you want." he told me before giving me a mock salute and pushing past me to attend to his uniform.

'What an odd pony.' I thought as he walked away. I liked him the most.

That same could not be said about the next pony to interrupt me along my path to by bunk.

A mare walked right up to me as I was working my way over to the aforementioned bunk to stow away my gear in the hooflocker at the end of it so that I could get this glowing stuff out of my mane before it dried and caked in the hair there. She had an ear to ear closed mouth smile as wide as the Moon that was even now hanging in he sky. The smile made her already exotic features appear even more intriguing, and it certainly made her seem far more friendly than the only other mare that I had become acquainted with over the past few days; Captain Eva. I wasn't comforted at all by this fact though, since something was just off about this mare.

But that was Simone after all.

I shot her a fake smile back as I sidestepped around her, far more intent on removing my bulky training vest at the moment. I noted as I placed the garb in the hooflocker at the end of my bed, and Simone stood by me silently, that she had a familiar green splatter mark in the fur around her neck whose faint glow was already fading away. I more than likely had a similar looking green splat on the back of my head, though it was probably a bit more spread out since the shot came from close range. Presumably, she was going to follow me to the washing basin and attempt to converse with me as I rinsed away the spent chemicals in my fur.

This was Simone after all.

Simone hailed from some little town at the Southeastern border of Equestria, skirting the forests of the Zebra Republic. A little town where the cows were more like citizens than the farm hands they were around here, and the zebra and pony bloodlines intermingled. Surely that zebra blood played a part in giving Simone her exotic features, a more angular muzzle, sharper corners to her eyes, and while it might have just been a trick of the light, there did seem to be streaks of lighter coloring in her coat. I thought it was might strange, this little town she was from, not that I have much room to talk considering my hometown grew up out of the need for burial grounds outside of the city limits of Fillydelphia.

Once my vest had been stuffed into the box that held all of my other personal possessions, and my air rifle was securely stored in the weapons locker next to my bed, I turned around, only to find Simone standing almost oppressively close to me, still beaming her smile. I have her about as charming a smile as I could manage in the face of such flagrant invasion of my personal space. As I tried to step around her to make my way to the washing basin, she moved aside to let me pass, much to my relief, only to rejoin me at my left a moment later.

"So, I saw you did pretty well again. Second place as usual." she told me happily. Yes, 'as usual', as in the third time in as many matches. I nodded uncomfortably in affirmation of the statement. Simone was nice and all, but something about her all-too-friendly manner creeped me out, and she seemed to have a bit of a problem with recognizing the personal space that everypony else respected. The others in the squad talked about her having some kind of mental complex that made her want to be nice and friendly with everypony, but not in the good way. It was like she did it out of desperation, because she needed it like a drug fiend needs a fix. However, I found it just plain rude to talk about a pony like that behind her back.

"Eeyup. Got distracted, let Wrecks sneak up on me for an easy win." I told her without looking directly at her. I may not be some kind of fancy psychologist or anything, but to me, in the case that Simone did have some sort of complex that made her need attention, then it made sense to me that if I didn't feed the addiction, she would get over it. But that path of reasoning didn't mean that I had to be cruel to the mare. I could still speak to her, she was a member of a squad after all, and I needed to interact with her, but I wouldn't go out of my way to shower her with affections or anything of that nature.

"Oh, well don't feel too bad, jerk got me too." she said with a bit of a pout and distaste. "Things were looking up, too!" she continued. "I had already taken Bucker and Temple out of the game, and I had even spotted the nasty unicorn himself, but he was ready for somepony to trot up behind him and he had booby trapped the little approach down to his little nook. Ooh, I knew I should have just shot him when I saw him, that's what we're supposed to do, but I couldn't help but try to see the look on his face when I snuck right up behind him." she elaborated on her failure. "Captain's probably going to give us both flak when she shows up for lights out. We've got to stay focused on the task at hand rather than our own preferences." I responded blandly, somewhat telling myself through the small talk to hurry up and make it to the washing basin.

I found that I still had to concur: something wasn't quite right with Simone's head. For now though, it was just sort of weird for those around her, she was not danger to herself or others, probably far from it in fact. Well... okay, all of us were dangerous to others, but that was our job, we were sharpshooters, but for now our only targets were the minotaur and gryphon invaders. Besides, this was why the Royal Army employed mental health experts and gave each enlisted pony a full psych workup before even allowing them into basic training, they wouldn't allow a danger to society have access to not only the dangerous weapons available to us, but also the training to use them.

These considerations, however, were low on the chain of priorities, and the goop really was starting to dry in my mane, so that took precedent. Simone continued following me to the basin like a lost puppy, still cheerful, still smiling like she constantly had a bad joke on her mind that she wanted to share, and still babbling her happy smalltalk. "So, what do you think of those air rifles we got to use tonight? Pretty neat, huh? Thermal optics, chemical rounds, imagine the things you could do with one of those if it were a real weapon!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, they'll probably have something like that for us by the time we make it to the battlefield. In fact, this is probably prototype testing we're performing right now, it's not like the military to waste the opportunity to gather data about their new 'toys'." I told Simone. For the life of me, I just couldn't recall the name of that odd little town she was from... not that it really mattered; she had ended up in Canterlot anyhow. Simone told us in great detail about how she 'ventured out from her hometown seeking something new and exciting.'

Now I'm hardly qualified to go around being judgmental about what exactly is is ponies find 'new and exciting' considering I buried dead ponies for a living and enjoyed it. But, I hardly considered anything about the flower shop she ended up working at exciting, even if she had eventually become the owner and operator of said flower shop. It had been through her 'hard work, dedication, and sympathetic nature' that she had become the proprietor of her own flower shop, at least, that's how it came about according to her. Quite frankly, I wasn't going to argue with a pony over what they enjoyed doing, so more power to the mare if she could make a living out of it.

The fact that she also happened to be the primary supplier of flowers my family put on the graves of the ponies we buried had luckily managed to elude her though. If Simone knew that my family was one that supplied her with a lot of good business, then I would never hear then end of it from her.

Fortunately, Simone was content to stand there patiently and quietly, grin still plastered on her face as I removed the nearly dried glowing chemicals from my coat and mane. The stuff wasn't too hard to get out, but since I couldn't see exactly where I was hit, I wasn't sure if I had actually gotten it all out, so I continued to run my head under the faucet of the basin. "You know, I could help you with that. You're missing a lot of it." Simone told me. Reluctantly, I agreed, humoring the mare and allowing her to guide my head under the spray of the water.

Strangely enough, Simone seemed to work with practiced hooves as she went about her work, not something I expected of a flower store worker. What, had she been a hairdresser too? I intoned that question aloud, seeing as how I had nothing better to do at the moment, and that Simone would appreciate the small talk. "Why yes I was, I'm glad you noticed," she said with enthusiasm. "And let me tell you, it's a lot easier to work with ponies than it is with zebras. Their manes are a lot stiffer, and they tend to wear their manes in peculiar styles compared to Equestrians. Something about traditional fashion or some kind of nonsense like that, but I got pretty got at putting up with it since there were a lot of zebras back home." she continued.

What I expected to only take a minute or two ended up taking several since Simone continued on about some minute differences between zebra manes and pony manes. Then of course once the goop was out of my mane, she scrutinized the results and decided that while she was at it she should grab some shampoo and conditioner and give me a full workup. I agreed, though I was admittedly tempted to just dry my hair and leave while Simone was busy gathering her supplies, but the little pony in my head said that that would just be a mean spirited thing to do. Whatever you say little pony, whatever you say.

Eventually Simone returned with all that she needed and finished what she had started, babbling on about one irrelevant thing or another as I essentially went through the whole 'smile and nod' routine in response. When she was satisfied that my mane was now twice as nice as it was before she started, she let me up from the basin. I thanked her and gave another cheesy, cheerful grin, and swept my leg out towards the basin, indicating that it was available for her use at the moment. In response, Simone gave me the pretense of a curtsy, though the real thing was quite impossible to perform without a gown or dress of some sort. Once she had passed fully behind my back and out of sight as I walked back towards my bunk, I dropped the facade a little.

I couldn't say I didn't like the mare; she had done nothing to me, unlike Baluchi and his final prank. But there was just something... unsettling about Simone that I couldn't quite place.

All of which didn't really matter to me as I slinked my way over to my bed without further incident. Both beds to either side of mine had their lights out, the one to my right being Riff's, and he was out washing his uniform, while the one on my left belonged to Temple, who was already asleep.

Temple didn't really stand out to particularly from the other members of the squad, though I had to say that his descent into the military had been the most extreme change of occupation compared to the other ponies I had met in the military. Turns out, Temple used to be a neurosurgeon before he was part of the Sharpshooter Division. He didn't really like to talk about why exactly he had become a soldier other than to say that his medical practice had been ruined by malpractice claims stemming from his assistant surgeon's ineptitude. This, 'ineptitude', as Temple put it, had led to several ponies being left dead or in a vegetative state shortly after recovery, and that this new profession was really one of the only worthwhile things he could do with his time at this point.

To put it as he had, his parents were also religious whack-jobs, and had named him after the building of the same name. It seemed that both of them were in mental institutes currently due to their deranged psyches. Doomsday predictions, hallucinations, supposedly had contact with an otherworldly being that threatened the balance of life on this planet in general, the whole nine yards of insanity. Temple even says they had a name for this being, Kazin... Kerazine... some crazy name that began with a 'K' he said since he couldn't remember and didn't really want to remember their ramblings. On a side note, Temple likes to think that the name was simply a premonition of his future occupation, though that could very well have just been wishful thinking on his part.

I remember telling myself that that was quite a far way to fall from a respected surgeon to an grunt in the Royal Army. I respected Temple's choice of employment though, since this was a fresh, if lower paying way for him to help out Equestrians. I did think that it might be difficult for Temple to kill when his former career had revolved around saving lives, but he didn't seem to have any of the reservations that I had. It was fair to say though that I had seen far more death than he had, and I didn't exactly like to see ponies dying, even if it supplied me with my living.

I shook away the thoughts of ponies and gryphons and minotaurs dying, though I realized I would have to face that prospect soon enough once I was sent to the front lines, there was no way around being involved in this war at this point.

But for now, I could occupy myself with other things. This particular evening, reading. I tucked myself in my bunk, the length of the frame barely containing my bulk, and pulled out my trusted and worn copy of "The Adventures of Buck Finn" and set to rereading it one more time.

Oh, Buck Finn. You're so lucky you don't have to be alive in this era.

**********

Okay, we were officially the worst ponies in all of Equestria.

That was my assessment on Gravesend and myself at the moment. Currently, Gravesend had reclined her Lazybuck fully, but instead of sitting in the chair as a normal pony would, she was lying upside down in and aptly lazy manner and was stretched out across the the hoofrest area, her head hanging over the edge in the same upside down position. In her hooves she held an Xbuck controller, using her magic to keep the device firmly in her grasp while she hoof operated it, unlike many unicorns. Granted, she had only promised to do so because we were currently competing against one another in a match of Maretal Kombat. ((Honestly, that one was just terrible and I have no shame whatsoever.))

We could have been doing something productive, I could have been learning to do something, or improving on what I already knew. Instead, we sat here and played video games, and when I voiced my concerns to Gravesend, she had a rather simple answer for me. "Hand-eye coordination, reflexes, strategy building, what part of this isn't training?" she had responded, and I was entirely guilty of being perfectly willing to suspend my disbelief if that meant that I got to have some leisure time.

Now, to be fair, Gravesend was supposed to be on bed rest, so any physical activity was off the table. Even then though, there was still plenty that we could have been doing that didn't have anything to do with getting too roughed up. Gravesend was supposed to be showing me all the ropes after all, and that included the development of things such as basic hacking skill, which Crawler would improve upon whenever I got around to being his student of the day. In fact, I would have been better off working on that since I was terrible with computers, but... it had been months since I had really taken time off to relax, and it's not as if Equestria needed my skills right away, and this was incredibly therapeutic since it took my mind off of the war and Ponyville's destruction, which I desperately needed to forget for at least a short time.

Okay, so that was all a terrible excuse, we've been at this for three days straight. We'd be kidding ourselves if both of us used Gravesend's concussion as an excuse to do nothing after today. Fortunately, the only exciting news to us in the form of Twilight Sparkle on the second day of our goofing off.

A knock had interrupted the conversation between Gravesend and myself about the merits of and Xbuck over a Ponystation, and vice versa as we continually competed with each other in-game. I was surprised by the noise since the only interruptions we had received thus had had come from Blood, who was checking in on his patient, or from one of the castle servants bringing us food. Considering that the syrupy remains of several waffles sat on the cleared plate atop the computer desk of my apartment, and I hadn't ordered any more food. I knew Gravesend certainly hadn't, she had some sort of peculiar body image concern that most ponies left behind in the teens, despite being in just as good shape as I was, and I knew I had the body of a professional athlete. Regardless, Gravesend had been feeling guilty enough for indulging in the waffles, so it was highly unlikely that food was of concern at the moment.

So who could it have been?

I was surprised to find Twilight looking at me with a tired smile when I opened the door, a rolled up parchment hovering above her horn. "Hey," she said in an a voice that matched her tired appearance, sounding like the past few days hadn't been kind to her. "Mind if I come in? I've got something to show you." she inquired. My eyes lit up at the request since I had never found the proper opportunity to thank Twilight for the picture, along with giving her a reasonable scolding since she could have very well died had she stayed in Ponyville just a little longer. The attack had begun less than an hour after I ran off to Princess Luna, and it had been during that time that Twilight had gone back to Ponyville for the photograph from my cloud home.

"Yeah, come right on-" I managed to say for a shout from Gravesend interrupted me mid sentence. "Hey Rainbow Dash, who is it?" she asked before continuing. "By the way, I'm still counting this as a win since you gave me the tactical advantage by leaving the match unpaused!" she informed me as she mercilessly assaulted my defenseless avatar. "Oh, I'm sorry Rainbow Dash, I didn't think you'd have any company over, or even if you be here... I can leave if-" Twilight began in an embarrassed tone before I cut her off. "No, no, it's fine, come in." the, turning to shout back at Gravesend "And I thought you'd play fair and wait patiently!"

"War ain't fair, kid!"

I was a little embarrassed myself as Twilight walked in since Gravesend was sitting in her ridiculous manner in the Lazybuck. "Oh hey, it's you." she said with surprise to twilight as she took a pause from pummeling my character to death. "Whoah, headrush..." Gravesend said as she fought to remain balance when she rapidly put her controller down and stood up, forcing the blood in her head to disperse to the rest of her body. "Been a few years since you've graced us with a stay here 'teacher's per'." she said playfully as she regained her composure.

Twilight looked at Gravesend awkwardly. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't have the pleasure of remember you." she said nervously as she stared at the turquoise pony in search of some form of recognition. "Oh, well, I suppose that's because you've never really seen me. But you know me. Platinum armor, big gun, spears, sound like a stallion from the voice filter." Gravesend responded casually. The thought had never occurred to me that Twilight might know many, if not all of the Guardians, considering she been Celestia's personal student for nearly a decade.

"Oooh, you... Gravesend right?" Twilight asked in an 'old-friend-you-hadn't-seen-in-years' manner as she recognized the description and received a nod from the pony in question. "Sorry again, I can't really say that we've had a chance to speak together, even after all the years I've spent here at the castle." Twilight said apologetically. Gravesend nodded understandingly at Twilight's statement. "Well, I don't talk unnecessarily while I'm on duty, and I always have my armor on while I'm on duty. You've probably seen me out of it before in passing, but I don't... exactly... mingle with the rest of the crowd here at the castle." she explained to Twilight.

"Well, it's good to see you're alive and well anyhow." Twilight said happily. "Yeah, well, you're friend here gave me a run for my money and nearly killed me. No exaggeration." Gravesend retorted. Oh boy, here it comes. "You almost killed one of the Guardians, one of Princess Luna and Princess Celestia's personal guards? How?" Twilight turned and asked of me, sounding entirely astonished at the news. "Yeah, well, it's not quite that simple."

Yes it is. you kicked me in the head, punched me into the floor, drilled a hole into my skull, and left me with a concussion. See how easy that was to explain?"

I shot Gravesend a silencing glare, which she responded to by giving me a rebellious 'you can't tell me what to do' look. That look could only have been made better if the mare had been sticking her tongue out too, but that would have been way too adorable... and there I was thinking of Gravesend as 'cute', or 'adorable', when in actuality she was a hardass killing machine. "Like I said, it's a bit more complicated than that. Now what did you have to show me?" I asked after breaking away from the silent confrontation.

Right... well," twilight began, trying to break herself from the distraction that the spectacle between Gravesend and I had caused. "Spike has sent us a new letter." she informed me as the parchment above her horn unfurled to allow her to read it aloud.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

"Sorry if I'm waking you up right now, but I figured I'd update you on what's happening around Ponyville, and it's safest for me to send these letters at dark since the patrols don't roam around here then. So, first off, we gained two more survivors from Ponyville, putting us at fifteen unless our critical burn victim doesn't make it. He looks pretty bad... Anyhow, we're holding up for now, but the first aid kit that one of our new additions dragged in is running dangerously low on medicine and bandages, and we can't make it to the hospital to scavenge any supplies since a group of minotaurs decided to leave that building standing and make it their base of operations." Twilight paused to let me consider the conditions that the group of survivors were, well... surviving in before continuing her reading.

"I've been thinking about running over to Zecora's for some medical supplies, but I'm afraid that if Sweet Apple Acres were attacked while I was gone that Big Macintosh wouldn't be able to hold off long enough for everypony to escape. Applebloom is the only other one out here that knows how to get to Zecora's, but she a little too small to carry very much in her saddlebags, and a cart would be too heavy if it was fully laden. Seems kind of funny to me since she's older than I am, but I am a dragon after all. Anyhow, I also thought that it might be a good idea to just move everypony to Zecora's hut, but while she probably has enough medicine, I don't think she'll have enough food for all of us, not to mention that moving twenty ponies isn't very inconspicuous, and the gryphon sentries that patrol the sky at night would notice."

"On that note, the gryphons and minotaurs seem oddly content to leave us alone, but I think they only know that the farm is here, not any survivors, so they're taking their time in setting up the ruins of Ponyville as a rallying point for both armies. That's what I assume they're doing anyhow since more and more armed gryphons and minotaurs show up each day. The most amazing thing happened last night though."

In the dead of night, and Ursa Major and an Ursa Minor (friends of ours?) went crashing through Ponyville, tearing up all the tents and killing a bunch of the unaware gryphons and minotaurs. I couldn't tell for sure how many the bears got before they were put down since I didn't want to get too close, but I think that they got about two hundred minotaurs and a few dozen gryphons (though I was trying to judge based on the amount of feathers fluttering to the ground as they were swatted out of the sky). That was all they managed to get before the armies could properly retaliate, but that still leaves several thousand more gryphons and minotaurs camped here. Quick note, Fluttershy didn't have a hoof in this did she? It seems like she's the only one who could get animals to go berserk like that."

"Okay, I've probably taken up too much of your time by getting you to read all this, and Applebloom is telling me there something I need to see. I just felt that I should let everypony know what the situation was like around here and that we're all alive for now. That's all though, Applebloom really wants my attention."

"Signed,

Spike the Dragon"

Twilight was silent for a few moments after concluding the letter as she rolled the parchment back up, only speaking once she was finished. "Celestia show me the letter this morning, and I immediately wrote Spike back, but I don't expect a response any time soon unless something big happens. Otherwise, Spike will probably want to gather some more information before he sends anything else." the purple pony told both of us. Gravesend was listening, but I knew that this was primarily for my benefit since Gravesend didn't have any stakes in Ponyville, and Celestia had already analyzed the letter for any tactical details. There was nothing for her bodyguard to be worried about.

I took a several seconds to digest the news. "Thousands of them..." I mumbled under my breath, lost in thought as I gave the floor a hard stare, as if it would give me some kind of answer. "Suppose they're serious then." Gravesend said, speaking for the first time since Twilight had begun reading the letter. "Good news is, they're slow. If they really wanted to capitalize on their blitz, then they should have moved on to a different town already instead of trying to establish a camp. That can be handled by relatively few soldiers, so all they're doing is burning their supplies right now as they wait." she told us encouragingly.

"Unless there's some sort of ulterior motive behind delaying a full invasion." Twilight said unhappily, as if she expected the worst already. Gravesend analyzed the information that we had in her head, trying to come up with some kind of explanation for the actions, or rather, inaction of the interlopers. "Well, both nations are to our west, so they can't try and close in on us from both sides, not unless the zebras are in league with them, but Celestia would know if the zebras intended to betray us, and our sources amid their government can attest to that." Gravesend said, her eyes flitting around the room as she continued to think.

"A consolidated full frontal attack would just be poor military strategy, we're way too prepared for something like that to work, and unless they drafted a large number of soldiers preemptively, they simply don't have the numbers for something like that. Think about it, Equestria is home to nearly twenty-one million ponies, while the gryphon and minotaur territories only have five million and four million inhabitants respectively. We put out about seventy thousand soldiers annually, and the enlistment rate is bound to shoot up since war is upon us. Sure, there are several strategic resource locations that are close to the western border, so capturing those might be on the agenda, but raw resources alone won't win a war, and we have our own stockpiles of just about everything we could possibly need." Gravesend continued in her assessment.

"We certainly have a technological advantage due to the resources I just told you about, not to mention the money and minds that have been put to work for advancement of military technology in recent years. In regards to their own technology, our enemies are behind, though they have some interesting equipment of their own. The minotaurs have their massive battle tanks, and they can use larger weapons than any non-unicorn pony, but with the anti-material weapons we have combined with our bombers, tanks are out of the way. The size of the minotaur's weapons don't really count for anything when we simply have more guns on our size; though their heavy body armor means that a lot of our lower caliber weapons will be less effective. Unless the minotaurs plan to debut some new kind of technology that we haven't thought of, then they won't have the advantage." Gravesend explained further.

"Gryphons, for all of their skill in the sky, aren't as skilled as our own pegasi, and they're even more behind technology wise than the minotaurs. They don't even have numbers on their side since there are about as many pegasi living in Equestria as there are total gryphons in their own lands, though I have to burst your bubble Rainbow Dash and say that a gryphon is worth more in a firefight than a pegasus. The fact that they can use higher powered guns without being thrown off-course, and the extra strength that allows them to fly with heavier armor helps, but they don't have the sky chariots like we do, and those can easily take dozens of gryphons out of the sky with a well coordinated driver and weapons team." Gravesend concluded with a confused expression on her muzzle.

"The more I think about it, nothing adds up in this war. We have the numbers, we have the technology, we have the resources, and we're on our own turf." Gravesend added before shaking her head. "As unsettling as it may be to consider, I think your friend is right Rainbow Dash. I can't think of any logical reason why the gryphons and minotaurs would possibly think they can win this. Something's up." Gravesend confirmed.

I sighed as Gravesend's assessment and subsequent support of Twilight's statement drove the point home. Sure, it didn't make sense, but wasn't that a good thing? Wasn't the fact that the gryphons and minotaurs clearly didn't know what they were up against a good thing? I may not have the same tactical training or thinking as Gravesend, or the bright and overly analytic mind of Twilight, but in this case I felt that fact was an advantage. It gave me room for hope, and a lot of it, based on what I had just heard Gravesend explain. But my hope couldn't help but be diminished by their insistence that something was up, something was wrong, and that they didn't know what it was.

"Well, while we might not know what's going on precisely, we do know that the odds are in our favor. I like to believe in probability, and right now, we're ahead by a lot, so hopefully we can work this out without too much damage being done." Twilight said, bringing her own opinion to bear on the matter. I felt sorry for my friend, sorry that she still had even the smallest bit of hope that there was a way for this to be 'worked out' that didn't involve the massacring of one side or another. I felt sick suddenly at the word 'massacre'. Hundreds of ponies had died in Ponyville, 'massacred'. Now, vengeful ponies were lining up to return the favor in an all out war.

How far would we push, if everything went as expected? Would our enemies surrender, or would we have to drive them all the way back into their own territories? What then, do we take our vengeance on their at that point defenseless populations, to teach them a lesson? If so, what would that lesson be, what would our cowed opponents be forced to believe they were getting out of this? Don't fuck with us, we're bigger than you? I had no answers of my own, and I had no desire to heart he one from come from either of the ponies in the room, since I felt the two would have differing opinions on the matter.

I stood wordlessly between the two of them, lost in my own thoughts before anypony said anything that grabbed my attention. "Oh, hey, my head feels kind of funny, I think I'm going to go lie down for a little while. Hey Rainbow Dash, why don't you have a little chat with uh... Twilight here." Gravesend said, looking right at me as she said so. Twilight clearly missed the hint, but I could tell that Gravesend knew I needed some time to think, perhaps some time to talk with an old friend.

An uncomfortable silence followed the sound of my bedroom door closing, Gravesend deigning to give us some more privacy. Wordlessly, I waved my hoof towards he couch, and Twilight's expression warmed at the offer. I took a seat as well, and the awkwardness took hold once more, but this time, I found I could combat the silence.

"You almost died, you know." I told Twilight, clearly startling her with my conversational topic. "Well, I mean... I never even..." Twilight sputtered, trying to find the right words to respond with. I simply shook my head and chuckled at the tongue tied mare. "But you didn't." I said, forcing Twilight to stop frantically searching for something to say. "And I'm happy that you didn't. Past the whole... stupid, 'Elements of Harmony' thing. We're friends you know?" I told her supportively. The words did seem to have a calming effect on the unicorn, and she leaned back fully against the cushions of the sofa, tilting her head to stare at the ceiling before she sighed, sounding almost relieved.

"You know, I hadn't even thought about that. I mean, I didn't know at the time that Ponyville was about to be... removed." she said, choosing to use a relatively non-violent term, perhaps saving herself from feeling more emotional at the moment. "I suppose... if I had decided to take a break for just a little while, visit a few ponies before teleporting back to Canterlot, I would have been caught up in that whole mess. I mean I could have gotten out just fine-" she said quickly, trying to abolish any concerns I had that she really could have died. But I didn't feel any better about the fact, and she only helped my case with her next statement.

"But I couldn't have left if I wanted to. Ponyville was my home, even more so than Canterlot. I made my first real friends on my own there, I lived there, I built up ties with all the ponies there. I was an essential cog in the community at times. There's no way I could have lived with myself if I had teleported myself out of Ponyville without helping any of the ponies trapped in there. I mean, I'm not really a fighter, and there's not really much I could have done against gun toting gryphons and minotaurs even if I wanted to, but I could have helped some escape. Maybe I should have been there, then maybe I could have saved some lives, even if it cost me my own..." Twilight trailed off sadly. Despite her pained expression, my friend refused to let any more tears fall for her home-no-more. I allowed a pregnant pause to follow.

"I would have done the same, you know. I don't think I could have just flown away from Ponyville without any second thoughts, without helping anypony."

A lie. Well, maybe not. I didn't rightfully know if I could have forced myself to stay and help the ponies of Ponyville despite the risks. I liked to think I had become a better me in these past few months, but I didn't think I would ever be able to match the selflessness of any of my friends. Selflessness wasn't acquired, it wasn't something that could be gained by simply being nice, and loving, and caring, it was something ingrained in each individual, whether they wanted it or not. Violent criminals had risked their lives while imprisoned to help prison guards under attack by other inmates, while a regular community service volunteer and disaster relief worker might not.

It all comes down to the moment when something is actively happening, no matter how much you think about the even in question. That prisoner might not normally give the guard the basic respect that a life deserves, but in that moment, he realizes he wouldn't be able to live without a heavy conscience if he didn't help right then. The relief worker might be able to convince himself that if something akin to that situation were to occur then he would logically rush to help. But maybe when faced with the actual circumstances, he gets afraid, he knows that he could get hurt, heck, he could even get killed, there was no way he could do anything to help the guard, even though he wanted to!

Ponyville was that situation for me, and I couldn't even convince myself after the fact that I would have gone in heroically and saved as many ponies possible as I fought off hordes of minotaurs, even to my valiant demise. How better would I have fared if I had faced such circumstances? That wasn't even a question of self sacrifice; that was making a request to face the primal fear of the end of your life! But it wasn't really, was it? It was the same thing, and I knew better, I just wouldn't admit it to myself. What a Guardian I was turning out to be, huh? What if the time came that I had to choose between Celestia or Luna, and my own life, could I possibly make that choice?

None of these fears would help Twilight though. She needed to know that I had her back on this, that even if she hadn't done what she considered the 'right thing', that under the same circumstances I would have helped too, even if I had to lie to her to make her feel that way. So with that in mind, I lied. I lied and I knew it. Gravesend would probably have known it too, but Twilight, even after knowing me for so many years, she was too innocent to think that I would have lied to her about such an important decision as this. The lie gave me a nasty feeling in my gut, but the knowledge that I was helping my friend out overwhelmed my discomfort.

"Thanks Rainbow." Twilight said with sincerity as she turned her head away from the ceiling to look me in the eyes. I could see a little spark in her eyes, a small hint that some of her faith in the goodness of the world had been restored. I liked that glimmer, it made me feel good, like maybe I had done right by lying after all, and perhaps it was just a little white lie, insignificant in the end of all things.

I felt some small talk was called for at this point, the conversation having elicited some hard thinking on my part already. "So, how've you been? I'd be lying if I said you don't look a little... off your game." I asked of Twilight. My friend returned her gaze to the ceiling as she gathered her thoughts about events since I had last seen her. "Well, Fluttershy was a mess for a while after your last visit. She's such a kind soul that she just can't understand the violence that happened in Ponyville, but, she's starting to cope finally." Twilight told me of the shy pegasus I had grown up with.

"Applejack and Rarity fumed for a while after Princess Celestia told them that it wasn't safe to send a rescue party to Sweet Apple Acres just yet, even if it was both of their families and the survivors. She can't possibly go too much longer without sending help though, can she? Not after we learned that there are more survivors making their way to Sweet Apple Acres, or at least those two that made it already." Twilight reasoned with herself before making it back on topic. "Anyhow, both of them have kind of been going through the back channels to see if anypony is willing to go out there against Celestia's will and at least bring supplies if they can't rescue the ponies trapped there." Twilight continued. "Pinkie Pie is, well... sort of warming back up to her normal self. Her mane has managed to come back to its normal fluffy style, and she's starting to crack jokes every now and again, but it's been slow." she concluded.

Twilight didn't sound like she was going to say anything past that, so I nudged her, forcing her to face me again. "Right... me." she said solemnly. "As usual, I haven't really helped anything at all. I've tried to see what I can do to help out, but... my skills aren't exactly needed right now. Nopony wants a bookworm when all they want to do is cry." Twilight told me dishearteningly. Well that's no good. Some appreciation was clearly needed at the moment.

"Hey, cheer up," I told her. "I'm sure you can do plenty to help out around here, you can do more than read books, I've seen it." I encouraged. "Like Winter Wrap Up, how about that? Without you, we would have kept being late with cleaning up Winter, as usual. Instead, you took charge and made us work together, and for the first time in a long time we actually managed to finish everything on schedule." I elaborated. "And what about that time on the train, when we were transporting the Cakes'... whatever Pinkie Pie kept calling that masterpiece. I mean, even though I took a chunk out of it myself, you called me on it. You sleuth you." I told Twilight, not backing down in the slightest. In fact, I was just getting warmed up.

"Or how about Trixie, or me and AJ competing like mad mares during the Iron Pony competition? Maybe Nightmare Night, when you reintroduced Luna to the rest of Equestria? Come on, you even got me to like reading, and I thought that was impossible at the time. Face it Twilight, you solve problems, and right now, Equestria has a lot of problems in its hooves. We need somepony like you to help keep the country together while the rest of us keep it from falling." I told my friend, starting to grow enthusiastic with how well I seemed to be making my point. Twilight on the other hand seemed less thrilled, and had an expression of mixed feelings.

"You're right Rainbow, I do solve problems." Twilight said with courage once I was finished with my tirade. But as quickly as the courage came, it was gone. "Unfortunately, I also cause just as many. Think about it. That week that I went crazy and cast the 'want it need it' spell on Smartypants? The way I constantly antagonize Spike? And my start to Winter Wrap Up didn't go so well either. I mean, sure, I don't have nearly as many major disasters anymore, but I'm such a klutz that if I tried to help with anything important I'd just ruin it. And that, is something that Equestria doesn't need." Twilight said, her head and ears drooping at her self imposed demoralization.

Well shit, I didn't help anything at all. Think fast.

I leaned over and took hold of Twilight's shoulders, locking eyes with her. "And that's what makes you a pony, just like the rest of us. All of us make mistakes; all of us have our bad days and our low times. We laugh, we cry, we make fun of each other, we date, we get married, we make little baby ponies, we tell stories, we grow old together, and we die together. That's just something that every pony has had to deal with, and that's what we call life. Ponies have been following that trend for thousands of years, and we're not going to stop any time soon, least of all now. The things you think you've messed up, you'll remember those things years from now, maybe when you're old and dying, and you know what? You'll laugh. You'll laugh, because despite everything that you've ever done, and everything you've ever messed up at, you're still alive right now. That's what matters Twilight, nothing else." ((Inspirational speeches +1))

As if there hadn't been enough of it yet that day, Twilight sat in stunned silence, mulling over my words. I gave her a light shake, jarring her out of her thoughts. "You got that Twilight? That's all that matters." I reinforced, trying to mentally force those words into my friend's head. "That's all that matters..." Twilight whispered in acknowledgement, unblinking. Before I could react, Twilight had grabbed me up in a big hug, where she seemed to try and squeeze the life out of me. It was killer on my wings, but I let her hug me tightly, and I returned the embrace with a softer touch. Eventually Twilight's grasp loosened some, allowing me to shuffle my wings around some so that I wasn't as uncomfortable. "Thank you Rainbow Dash..."

I almost cried when Twilight said that. She just sounded so sad, but I knew that what I told her had helped immensely. In fact, I might have helped myself some by trying to inspire Twilight, and thereby creating an impromptu speech. I couldn't help but play it off casually, some deep seated part of me just found it too humorous to resist. "Feel better now?" I asked empathetically. "Yes. Yes I do." Twilight responded far more calmly than she sounded moments ago. "That's good and all, but, can we kind of hurry this along, you're crushing my wings some." I said somewhat playfully. I wasn't lying about that. My wings were starting to hurt from Twilight's legs being wrapped around them so tightly.

Twilight quickly released me, looking at me sheepishly. "Sorry, I... got a little grabby there didn't I." she apologized. "I'll be okay, I was a little more worried about you after all. I haven't been your friend this long for you to get depressed now of all times." I informed her. Without warning, Twilight went from calm to rushed in an instant, standing quickly from the couch, while I followed suit, surprised by Twilight's sudden burst of movement.

"Whoah there, what's the problem Twilight?" I asked, intoning my concern. "I'm running late!" Twilight said without hesitation as she bolted for the door. "Princess Luna wants to see me, and I only meant to stop by for a little while, and now I've got to hurry so I don't keep her waiting." Twilight explained to me as she fumbled nervously with the door handle until she simply used her magic to resolve the issue. "So, I'll see you around Rainbow, but I have to dash for now." ((See what I did there? This is what makes me a terrible person.))

"Um... seeya then Twilight. Check by once in a while, won't you? I can't ensure that I'll be able to get out much while I've got Gravesend here." I asked of Twilight as I bid her farewell. "Sure thing." Twilight said without turning back around to say so, leaving me in the doorway as she ran. Twilight turned to face me again once she was several yards down the hall, staring at me as if she were questioning her actions. Without warning, the purple unicorn teleported herself just in front of me, and planted a swift kiss on my cheek, the kind of peck a pony gets on their first date. Twilight's cheeks flushed immediately after she drew back, and I was too stunned to react before she teleported herself back down the hall and continued her run.

I stood at the threshold as a a minute went by, and then another. Gravesend finally broke me from my shocked reverie. "Is it safe to come out now?" she shouted to me from the bedroom. "Were you listening to our conversation?!" I responded angrily. "Oh loosen up, I didn't actually listen. I just wanted to know when your friend was gone so I could get back to kicking your ass, that's all." Gravesend explained. And you know what?

That's exactly what she did when we started the match back up.

**********

All of that excitement had been yesterday though. Now I sat here, controller in my hooves as Gravesend beat me for... what, the sixth time in a row? The mare was as dangerous in a game as she was in real life, which disturbed me since she had a penchant for finishing me off by ripping out my spine. While I couldn't confirm them, I had my fears that Gravesend could probably perform that maneuver on a live pony as well if she chose to use her magic to help her. I had no desire to witness such a spectacle.

As I waited for the next match to load, my thoughts were drawn back to the previous day's events. Twilight's little peck on the cheek and her subsequent embarrassment and retreat burned its way to the foremost of my thoughts. I liked Twilight, but only as a friend. That was what I was trying to do when I helped her yesterday, I was being a friend. Now though, I had concerns that she felt a greater connection that friendship towards me, and if so, I'd hate to break her heart by rejecting her. The mare had been through more than enough heartache recently, I didn't deserve to add to those hardships.

But what could I do?

I've been in relationships before, sure, several in fact. None of those had been either lasting or successful, however, since all of those times had been when I was younger and more prone to change my preferences at a passing breeze. No, my love life had been decidedly barren since I felt that I had more important problems to worry about, namely the very issue of dedication that held me back from a meaningful relationship. Loyalty came easy to me, if I set myself to achieve a goal, I would do it, but it was that elusive initial pledge of devotion that I had trouble with. Even now, after I thought I had finally managed to find myself, I didn't really feel up to the task of finding a partner, especially now that I was going to be involved in this was.

Distractions, distractions! Always there seemed to be something to draw my mind into the cloister of my thoughts, even more so lately it seemed. Invariably, unless I was working intently on something at the moment, one thought or another would crop up, and while it felt like I kept choosing hard topics of thinking, I knew that the majority of my thoughts were entirely inane and useless. No great mysteries of life that I felt needed answers, no impossible philosophical questions to be repeated for ages to come. Silly thinks like, 'I wonder what a manticore would taste like?' or 'Why is Blueblood a prince if neither Celestia nor Luna had children?'

Okay, so the last one was reasonable, the jerk had no right to be in such a high place as 'Prince'.

There I go again. Doctors say that this type of constant thinking is perfectly natural for pegasi, that pretty much everything about pegasi mental processes and physiology is faster than the other pony species. That's also why we tend to have shorter natural life spans than other ponies. On average, pegasi lived to about eighty years old, ninety if they're lucky, anything past that is considered ancient. Fun fact, the oldest pegasus on record lived to be one hundred and twelve years old, though that's only about as old as Earth ponies get to, averaging somewhere between one hundred and ten and one hundred and twenty-five years old. As usual, unicorns have the advantage, typically making it to at least one hundred and fifty before kicking the bucket, and some have lived well past that estimate, such as Star Swirl the Bearded who managed to live to two hundred and fifty.

Kind of fits in with the hypothesis that unicorns have some dragon blood in them from way back in history, which is what gives them their magic and... and that's it! I need a distraction from my distractions!

"Gravesend, please, teach me something!" I begged of the oddly reclined mare, grabbing her attention with my request. In response, Gravesend lifted an eyebrow at me. "What's gotten in you? You're the one that encouraged the little 'vacation' we're on right now." the mare retorted, continuing to pummel my avatar as I put my controller down. "Seriously? It's been three days since you got the concussion, you're fine to at least do a little walking around, and we don't have to do something that involves me punching you in the head." I told Gravesend angrily. This drew her attention even more. "Well, look who grew some balls from be kicking your ass in a game." Gravesend said sarcastically. "Alright, what do you want to work on hotshot?"

I recalled what I had thought about hacking earlier, that that particular skill would be pretty difficult for me to learn, and I figured that would be a good place to start, intoning the suggestion to Gravesend for approval. "Yeah, no, let's not." she said after a moment's hesitation. "What?" I asked, confused. "Aren't you the one who said we'd do whatever I wanted to learn?" I questioned accusingly. "Hmmm, yeah, well, it might sound cheesy, but you should believe me when I say that it physically hurts to think too hard, and computers require a lot of thinking. Concussion, tough luck. We can do it next week though, assuming you don't grievously wound me between now and then." Gravesend responded.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, so much for getting to choose 'whatever I want to learn'." I scoffed. "Well, so much for not getting a cranial hemorrhage and concussion from a sparring session." Gravesend fired back without hesitation.

Okay, I totally deserved that.

Come on, thrust me, this'll be fun." Gravesend encouraged me. I was actually inclined to believe the mare as she led me out of my room and through the maze of hallways, based on the enthusiasm with which Gravesend had said the words. Still, she hadn't told me just what we were getting into, so I was wary as to what this fun might entail. Perhaps she was going to have a revenge of some sort. That would be fun.

For her.

**********

I take back any doubts I had earlier, this was definitely fun.

It turns out that Gravesend's alternative offering happened to be basic medical training, just in case I managed to hurt her again. See, the reason that this was fun was because we got to make use of these weird gel models which were molded to match the shape of a pony. Presently, Gravesend was demonstrating different types of traumatic wounds and their effects on the body. The fun part was that we got to causethose traumatic injuries, slice, stab, slash, and crush the models to our heart's content in order to create the wounds. The models made use of synthetic blood and bones to make the models more realistic; in fact, there was a show that used the same type of models in tests to pit the different types of warriors throughout Equestrian history against one another. The side effect of this was that blood would spray, skulls would shatter, and 'brains' would be turned to mush, just as they would in real life.

It was actually kind of disturbing just how much fun I was having mutilating the models, and I slowed my pace as I realized that the model could have been a real pony had I turned out to become some sort of sadistic murderer. The most disturbing part had come as I was in the middle of causing some damage to one of the models, and the memories that had been oddly silent over the past few days came buzzing back.

I had flashes of the memories, crushing, stabbing cutting. War, assassination, self defense. Training, and cold blooded murder. Subconsciously, my brain was trying to learn from these memories by reenacting the actions of the very ponies whose knowledge I drew from, to improve me. I stopped the instant the memories began to materialize, terrified of what I could do to Gravesend now that we had weapons that we were using to cause the wounds I was supposed to learn from. I didn't want to learn out of desperation if I hurt Gravesend even more than before, I didn't want anything to do with any weapons at the moment.

When I stopped actively poking holes in a pony model's gut, Gravesend commented on why I had stopped. I didn't hold back from revealing why I had stopped, that the memories were back, and I didn't want to risk hurting her, or possibly this time around, her hurting me. "Uh, yeah, good idea. I don't know what you could do with a weapon, so, let's leave the violence to me for now." she had said warily to me. I was more than happy to oblige, and we were currently resuming lessons.

"Now, I don't know as much of that fancy medical shit as Blood," Gravesend said before telekinetically jabbing one of her spears into a gel model's body. "So instead of 'laceration', or whatever this type of wound this is supposed to be called, I tend to just cal this wound 'big fucking hole in your chest'. Symptoms include death." Gravesend said as she casually ripped the barbed spear head back out, leaving a gaping hole where a pony's heart should be located. Noticing the missing organ, Gravesend looked around, confused until I pointed a hoof at her spear. I had to stifle a giggle as she found the synthetic tissue stuck to the tip of her weapon. How morbid of me.

"Assuming that the wound doesn't go this deep, or his a less critical area, there are a few treatment methods that I like to refer to as the 'Triple M Factor'. First 'M'; mercy. Treatment is a bullet to the head or a snap of the neck, preferably only if you're sure the pony will die before help arrives and you would like to spare them a few minutes, or even a few seconds of untold agony. Use with discretion, others won't take too kindly to a pony who kills somepony that could have been saved if you were a little more prudent." Gravesend told me. "I also feel that this would be an appropriate time to mention that all Guardians receive an explosive implant in our head that is triggered by dead. So, in such an event, please refrain from standing next to or even near my corpse unless you would like to die in the explosion as well and set off a chain reaction, or so that you don't get covered in flying gobs of me." Gravesend warned.

I looked at Gravesend with horror as I imagined the pony before me suddenly exploding, showering me with gore. In the midst of my mental terror, a giggle and smirk from the pony in question tore me from my imagination's work. "Sorry, I just couldn't help myself. We don't actually get explosive implants, we keel over nice and quiet like, same as everypony else." Gravesend said dismissively in response to my glare. "Moving on then...

"Second 'M'; medicine. Obviously, this one will vary from case to case depending on severity. Sometimes a bandage or two will do it, maybe a few pain killers, even a nice cold glass of 'quit your bitching' works wonders every now and then. On the battlefield, there are going to be some pretty gruesome wounds, and since we aren't training you to be like Blood, you probably won't be able to help, so a wound like this one is best handled by either 'M' one, or 'M' three, which I'll get to in a moment. I'm not trying to teach you surgery, there are some ponies beyond your skills, but we like to think 'positive' around here, so let's change the variables a little."

Gravesend walked to the back of the pony model and carefully scrutinized both hind legs before shrugging and casually snapping one leg bone in half with a brutal kick, and severing an artificial artery in the other one before turning to me again. "Both of these are fairly common injuries both on and off of the battlefield, so you probably already know how to treat them, however, I'm supposed to cover all the bases for posterity. So, for this cut, which could be sustained from any number of sources, sword, knife, bullet, what you should do is create a tourniquet to slow blood flow by placing it above the affected area. The tourniquet itself doesn't have to be pretty, just tight enough to stop the bleeding, but try to be clean and conservative with as you bandage the wound itself, disinfect the wound if you have to, but remember that you could need your supplies elsewhere, so don't be too liberal." she told me of the wounds, and then proceeded to show her own treatment.

Gravesend levitated over a nylon strap and a roll of bandages before applying pressure by tightening the strap around the leg, just above the cut. Once the 'artery' was shut and the synthetic blood stopped flowing, she took the roll of bandages wrapped the material around the wound itself, just as instructed, wrapping it only a few times to conserve her bandages. After poking and prodding the leg a few times to make sure the bleeding wouldn't begin anew, Gravesend gave a satisfied wave of her hoof, indicating that I should look up her work. "So that's how it's done." she told me.

"Now, as for this broken leg, a simple splint should do, unless you have a nasty compound fracture so that the bone pops right out of your skin. Trust me, I've seen it, and it's not very pretty, but since this one is a complete, closed fracture, treatment should be simple." Gravesend told me. "So, first thing you're going to want to do is give your patient some ibuprofen or something to shut them up, that or a gag, because broken bones don't typically feel very good, and they'll probably be screaming. That's a good way to be found by enemies if you're trying to be silent, and it's really damn annoying to hear anymore than a few times. The second thing you should do is immobilize the limb so that your patient won't flail about and cause even more damage." Gravesend explained as she levitated a few more objects into view.

A splint and some medical tape, as well as the same roll of bandages from before floated towards Gravesend, who promptly moved the splint down to the model's leg. There, the splint was gingerly slipped onto the leg, the foam padding of the splint engulfing the part of the limb it covered. "So this is the fun part, if you've got a moment, you get to pop this sucker back into place so the bone can heal properly." Gravesend said as she wiggled the splint covered leg around to try and position the bone correctly back together. Once she was satisfied with the placement, she floated the medical tape over and wrapped a portion of the leg in the tape to keep it relatively immobilized. Standing from the kneeling position she had taken to better see her work, Gravesend dusted off the non-existent mess on her forehooves. "And magically we have a wonderful splint job by yours truly. Time for the compound fracture, because we have nothing better to do with our time."

Gravesend strolled to the front of the gel model, pretending to whistling inconspicuously as she levitated over a metal pipe and bashed one of the forelegs in just the right way to make the fractured part of the bone pop out of the 'skin' of her victim-to-be-patient. "Oh dear, how unlucky a pony you are, wandering into all of the accidents. You appear to have suffered from a compound fracture and now part of your skeleton has decided to pay a visit to the world outside of your body! And for bonus points, the fracture is also... ummm... what does Blood call it?" Gravesend said in feigned sympathy before she pondered her question aloud. A book levitated off of the table behind me and into the waiting grasp of my 'instructor'.

Gravesend quickly shifted through page after page before finding the table of contents and the page was looking for before she gave a little 'aha!' and slammed the book shut again. "A comminuted fracture. Means that the bone is now in more pieces than it should be essentially. So, my little med student, this is a fun version of the run-of-the-mill fracture, and as you can see, it's a little more complicated than before. But that's not something for you to worry about as much as the surgeon who'd fix this poor bastard up. Onto the treatment."

"So," Gravesend said as she levitated her materials back over, along with a flask of water. "First things first, take some water, though alcohol works better since it's an anti-septic, and wash out the wound and the surrounding area so that you reduce the chance for an infection to set in." Gravesend instructed, going through the motions herself and washing the synthetic blood, and perhaps a bit of shattered bone or two onto the once sterile floor. Now the floor was a mixing pool for the blood and fake brain matter that was seeping towards the center of the room where a drain collected the spilled liquids.

The sterile white hospital-esque room we were in had been prepared specifically for medical training from these basics, all the way to full surgical training for the in-castle medical staff. Chances were that this very room could be converted to be used as an actual medical facility since the cabinets that covered the walls held every that a doctor or surgeon could need, syringes, assorted surgical tools, over-the-counter medicine, a locked cabinet with prescription medication, even a small blood testing lab in an adjoining room. For now though, we had booked the room, and were using it for the very training purposes it was provided for.

"If you happen to use non-medical alcohol to clean the wound, don't be tempted to give your patient a few sips to dull the pain, since the painkillers you should probably have given them won't work in combination with the alcohol. The next step is very similar to the first step of the last fracture, but this time you should split the splint length-wise and only put the two pieces perpendicular to whatever direction the fracture is facing. While the pain from a little bit of pressure by pushing the splint against a closed fracture isn't too bad, comparatively, it's hell for an open fracture, so all you're doing is keeping the limb immobilized. You're not going to try and set the bone, just wrap the open area lightly in bandages to block any particulate matter and try to control blood flow and catch the loose blood. This kind of fracture is something for the real doctors to handle in a surgical room." Gravesend told me, following her own instructions to the letter, putting the splint on and securing it with tape towards the far ends of the splint, rather than at the fracture itself.

Gravesend stepped away to admire her work, finding it up to snuff. "And that's how it's done. No need for applause, I only do what I can... well okay maybe a little bit." she said cockily. I snickered at Gravesend's self appraisal and constant sarcasm. "Okay, master of medicine..." I said, playing along with my companion's confidence. "What could 'M' three be that might possibly be better than the miracle you just performed?" I asked in a perfectly snarky voice. I didn't expect expect Gravesend to play off of my own sarcasm so well.

"What is 'M' three, you ask?" Gravesend responded melodramatically. "Why, 'M' three is only the one thing that could outdo even my medical aptitude. 'M' three, is magic." Gravesend said with a flair. We both had a good laugh when she was finished being entirely too dramatic about this final method of treatment. Somehow, Gravesend managed to strike a fine balance between amusing me, annoying me, and making me fear for her or my safety, and right now, amusement was winning out. "Okay, that's enough of that, down to business." Gravesend said once her giggles were relatively removed.

"Really though, magic wins out every time in treatment capabilities unless your patient is already too far gone to save. Now, since you can't perform magic yourself like a unicorn, you get the pleasure of using the wonderful prepared magic of potions." Gravesend informed me. "Now, unfortunately, potions don't work on dummies, so I'll need a volunteer..." Gravesend said maliciously, which filled me with dread at what she could possibly mean. "Yeah, heh heh, not sure where you're going to find one of those around here." I said nervously, my eyes darting to the door which Gravesend now blocked. "Ahhh, well, I've already been kicked in the head, so I'm afraid I'm not up to the task myself. But hey, you look healthy enough." she told me, taking on an evil grin before she hit me with a translucent green blast from her horn.

I immediately collapsed to the floor, losing control of my major muscles, though luckily the anesthetic spell allowed me to keep some minor control, such as my bowels, which allowed me to keep some of my dignity. Otherwise, mostly only the muscles related to life function remained active, allowing me to breathe, my heart to beat, and my eyes to look around with terror. Was this the revenge that I had feared earlier, only to dismiss as an impossibility? Was she going to kill me, right here in the room where lives should be saved?

No, there was no way she could do that. Aside from the fact that we were both registered for this room at the same time, there were some brilliant minds in the castle, there was no way for Gravesend to get away with murdering me, and she knew it, so long as this wasn't a suicidal vendetta killing. Even though I reasoned through logic that I would be fine, all I could feel was a pulse-pounding terror. Gravesend seemed to read my mind though, which hardly set me at ease at all.

"Oh relax, I'm not going to hurt you. Well, actually I am, but you're going to be fine after that, I promise, just try to remain calm." she said with a sincerity that I found all too believable. There was no sarcasm or malice present, in fact, quite the opposite. Gravesend sounded afraid herself, which was something that I was sure she wasn't accustomed to, and I was hardly expecting such an emotion from the incarnation of badassery that was my roommate either. Still, she kept walking slowly towards me, levitating one of her spears towards herself as she did so, pausing once she stood over me. "Come on now, if I really wanted to hurt you, I would have let you feel everything still, even if you couldn't move." she said, trying to reinforce her previous statement of not really wanting to hurt me further. I hadn't noticed my lack of sensation, but at the mention of my physical feelings, I realized that she was right, and I couldn't feel a thing.

"So, here's how it's going to work. You sit still on the floor... check. I grab this spear and poke a tiny little hole in your side..." Gravesend said as she followed through with her words, jabbing me lightly in my side. My eyelids widened and my heart raced faster in terror as I watched the tip of the spear enter my flesh despite the fact that I couldn't feel a thing, and watched as the blood began to flow when the spear was retracted. "Check." Gravesend said in conformation of her previous statement. "And now you sit there thinking, 'Gravesend, you twisted, sadistic, evil fucking bitch, what the hell is wrong with you?', at least, that's probably what you're thinking, because that's what I was thinking when Blood did this to me, oh, nine years ago. By the way, don't worry, I can fix you right up, and even if I can't, you only need one kidney to survive." Gravesend rambled almost absentmindedly as she opened one of the cabinets and rummaged through the contents.

"Bonus points, my parents were both there for it, and they actually encouraged Blood to cast the anesthetic spell so that it would immobilize me, but dull the pain, and despite his protests, he followed through with it. In fact, that spear I so gently poked you with was the exact same one that I was not so gently stabbed with. It was my father's before he 'retired' so that room could be made for you. The other one was my... mother's." Gravesend said, stumbling over the last sentence. Even in my fear, I could still feel some sympathy for the mare as I listened to the brutality of her introduction to the magical aspect of medicine.

My eyes were trained on Gravesend as she continued to search through the cabinet, only glancing away to sneak a peak at the hole in my stomach that was slowly but surely trickling blood out of the wound. I felt that this was the revenge part of my treatment, the three shelves of the cabinet couldn't possibly have taken this long to look through, and I found it hard to believe that Gravesend could possibly have planned so poorly as to not have a stock of whatever she was looking for readily available. To my relief, Gravesend only prolonged my anxiety for a few seconds more before she yanked a small clear bottle filled with a bluish liquid from the cabinet and shut the doors, locking them again with her key and walking mack over to me.

"Behold the product of years of combined magical and scientific experimentation: the healing potion. Don't mind that fact that those 'years of research' were about three centuries ago, the doctors who make use of them still hail it as a miracle of modern science despite the fact that we have proof that potions were used hundreds of year before that and they simply rediscovered the recipe. But don't tell any of them I said that, it ruffles their feathers, so to say, even if they aren't pegasi." Gravesend rambled, which simply annoyed me more since the cure to my ailment was hovering a few feet away from me. I tried to manipulate my eyelids in such a manner that I could express my displeasure to Gravesend, which was difficult since my eyebrows had been immobilized. Fortunately, she stopped her ranting about 'tightwad doctors who act like they're higher than the Princesses themselves' as she noticed my eye movements.

"Hmmm. I suppose that you want this now, don't you?" Gravesend asked innocently, "I don't know if you've earned it yet, maybe you need to sit here for a little while longer and think about what you've done? I'm not sure, what do you think brain?" she pondered aloud and rolled her eyes up as she pretended to stare at her brain, just to torture me a little longer. Gravesend spent a few tense seconds- tense for me -mumbling a few sounds and statements of consideration to herself, 'hmmm', 'maybe', or 'good point' being the most as she messed with my head a little more before coming to a conclusion.

"Well, my brain says you need to sit there for a little longer, but my conscience is a kinder soul and told my brain to, and I quote, 'Shut the hell up and give the girl the damn potion'. Fortunately for you, I'm more inclined to go with my conscience over my brain since I'm more compassionate than my parents were. They let me sit there on the floor for a little longer, telling me 'This is what war is like, nopony cares, nopony listens, least of all your enemies'. I didn't like that one bit, so I'm going to give you this potion now, and take off the anesthetic spell." Gravesend said as she tilted my limp head up and poured the potion down my throat. I could still taste, and to my displeasure, the potion had the taste of what I imagined sweaty socks tasted like. Once she was finished, I stared at my wound, which immediately closed, leaving only the blood that had already made it out of my body as a sign that there had ever been anything there.

As she went back to the table behind me, Gravesend muttered 'click' and I immediately felt control of my body returning to me. I tried to move a leg, but apparently it would take some time for the anesthetic effect to actually wear off since the leg barely nudged, despite my best effort. In short order, Gravesend had returned with the same flask of water from earlier, and a rag, proceeding to pour some water over the bloodstained area of my fur, taking the rag and wiping away the drying crimson fluid. A sniffle and the sight of a falling tear drew my attention away from the stream of red water that washed away from me, and towards the pony kneeling over me.

"I'm sorry Dashie. I don't know why I did this, I knew better." Gravesend apologized, keeping an even tone despite the couple of tears that squeezed from her eyes. "I thought that maybe my parents were doing right by trying to teach me something from this... torture. That maybe I was just too weak to take anything away from it, and maybe somepony else would have responded better. You've already shown promise, I thought maybe that meant you would be the one to learn from this, that life is cruel, and we're on our own... I couldn't. I cried, and my dad just laughed. 'Do you think someone who really wanted to hurt you would care? If you cry, all you do is empower your enemy.' he told me." Gravesend said, lost in her memories.

"He said, 'I don't want to hurt you. I want you to learn. I've tried to tell you before that your opponents don't care, but you didn't listen, so now I'm showing you.'" Gravesend quoted her father. "I didn't get it then. My father wasn't like that all the time. Sure, neither of my parents were excessively touchy, or caring, but they weren't cruel. I realize now that this job took something away from both of my parents, something I'm scared as hell to lose. They lost their conscience. That's how loyal they were to Equestria, to the Princess, they were willing to torture their own daughter to teach me a lesson. They didn't care. Nopony, cares. That's what I learned from my parents that day." Gravesend told me depressingly.

If I wasn't sad before, now I was. Gravesend wanted to help, she knew better than to do this to me, but she went ahead anyhow in case she was wrong. She said her parents weren't monsters, but to me they were, regardless of what she thought of them, scum of nearly the highest caliber. I was overcome with emotion at the moment, anger at Gravesend's parents. Fear, of death. Sadness, at lost innocence. Gravesend was becoming more and more pitiful as I tore away layers of her life history, I was beginning to understand just why she acted the way she did, like more of a teenager than a grown mare. The normally cheesy excuse of 'my parents didn't love me enough' was sounding more plausible as I sat with a pony whose parents essentially tortured her to prove a point.

"Brayn and Blood have both been here long enough that they're starting to get like that themselves. Blood has always been a bastard, but he cares about ponies, it's was makes him a good doctor. This war is probably going to test him, to break him or force him to rise above. It's probably already too late for Brayn, he's the tactician and leader. He's the one that has to decide what 'acceptable sacrifices' are during missions. It's a conflict he has to deal with due to his role, and unless he gives up his place, I feel that he's beyond saving." Gravesend expressed about the two senior members of the Guardians. I could feel full sensation returning to my body, but at the moment, all I was concerned about was my mouth.

"You're... still alive right now though."

Gravesend stopped washing away the blood on my fur for a moment, and looked at me, perplexed. "Despite... everything that you've ever done... and everything that you've ever messed up..."

Hopefully this speech worked twice...

"You're still alive right now. That's all that matters."

I might make a miracle worker out of myself yet.

Gravesend, looked at me for a second, still confused. "That's the exact same thing you told Twilight." she said quietly. I laughed softly, but it was a real laugh, one full of mirth, that kind bottom of your stomach laugh that you get that makes you feel good in your soul. "So you were eavesdropping you little liar, you." I said, though there was no accusation in the words, nor malice. Just a hearty chuckle that was building up in me. As full laughter began to take hold of me and I forgot all my sadness, and anger, and fear, Gravesend smiled at me and let a little school-filly giggle escape her muzzle.

But laughter, as they say, is the best medicine, and it's virulent in its spread. Before long, I was sitting there on the floor, laughing like a moron at the fact that somepony had lied to me, and you know what? I didn't care. I was sprawled on the floor, laughing like a madmare with my still non quite functional limbs flailing about as I tried to cover my mouth and stifle the laughter some, but my own silliness combined with the numbness caused me to be entirely uncoordinated. When that began, Gravesend never stood a chance as she buckled over in laughter at seeing me waving my legs everywhere uselessly, just before she collapsed to the floor too.

It was just one of those things that you find funny, even if it was the stupidest thing in the world, something that should have only been funny for two seconds at most, and you just couldn't stop yourself from finding funny minutes later. All of us have experienced it, even if we're to embarrassed to admit it, or unwilling to say just what it was, but it's impossible to live life without a moment like that. Something like you're watching the news one day, and it's one of those in-between segment kind things where they show the anchors getting ready to do their reports, and one of the anchors is applying her make up when she sneezes and powder just flies everywhere, and you laugh like it's the end of the world and you have nothing better to do with your time. One of those moments.

Well, at least, that's how this felt, Gravesend rolling on the floor and laughing, me trying to do just about anything coordinated really, laughing at each other as we did so. If somepony walked in and saw us, they'd probably stare at the two idiots rolling around on the floor before calling security and checking if there were any escapees from the nearest looney bin. This felt like bonding, and it was completely moronic. This mare held me against my will, stabbed me, lorded the power to heal me just over my head, and proceeded to tell me a sob story to make up for all that, and as cliched as it may sound, it was working. At the slightest wisecrack that I made, we were rolling around like we'd been friends for years.

And I was entirely okay with that.

**********

I was not okay with this.

Captain Eva had indeed taken her anger out on me for losing the competition due to my helpful nature. I didn't help myself by telling her that Wrecks could still have won the match even if I had remained silent and alert. I was simply trying to get facts straight with everypony, and to give Wrecks credit where credit was due, but Captain Eva didn't take it that way. She took it as back talk.

The other golden rule of the Sharpshooter Division, the whole military structure in fact, was that the only thing back talk earned you was a punishment. In this case, my punishment was rather unique and unexpected. Instead of having to clean the community showers by myself, or perform hundreds of pushups, or some other tiring or repetitive task, I was simply placed differently during our next training match. In this case, I was placed with the worst ranked ponies in my squad, which currently meant Eclair and Bucker. The only problem with this punishment though, was that to me, this wasn't punishment.

The intent behind ranking each squad member was to encourage growth and competition between the ponies in the squad. This was because, as a whole, ponies that made it into the Sharpshooter Division tended to get a big head, and inflated ego. Due to that fact, everypony always wanted to be the highest ranked, to be better than the rest of their squad, to show that they really were the hotshots that they felt they were. Therefore, placing me on a team with the lowest ranked ponies of the squad should have been insulting, degrading even.

It wasn't.

"You want to help your squad get better? Fine. You're grouped with Eclair and Bucker until my next rankings go out. Then, you can be grouped with the two lowest ranked members from that list, and you know what? When the list after that comes out, you can go ahead and join the two lowest ranked members from that list. I'll let you know when to stop." Captain Eva instructed me, perfectly calm when she spoke. One major difference between Blindside and Eva was that Eva never exploded like Blindside had if anypony was out of order. She never sounded angry, or disappointed, or even happy. She was completely calm and carried little inflection in her voice.

I was okay with all of that.

What I wasn't okay with was our current situation in the training match. It was a three on three on three competition, the primary objective being to take out each other team so that yours came out on top, with secondary objectives that varied for each team. One team might be tasked with holding a certain strategic point for an unspecified amount of time, another might have a 'VIP' that had to be protected at all costs, while yet another might have a requirement of a certain number of confirmed kills. If a team failed their secondary objective, they were immediately disqualified, upping the ante since each team was told their secondary objective in private, though sometimes it was possible to tell what a team's objective was by their actions and reactions.

Right now, my team's objective was to not run out of ammunition, while starting off with a smaller reserve of rubber bullets. The only thing that had worked to our advantage was that we had been allowed to select whatever weapon we wished to use for the match. In this case, I had chosen a Colt M4 Commando, causing my teammates and the pony heading the armory requisitions to look at me funny. There was a perfectly good reason behind my choice though. I'm a really good shot.

I feel some elaboration is in order. The confusion resulted from the fact the the Commando was a carbine, a relatively short-barreled version of the M16A2. This results in several changes, including change in muzzle flash, projectile velocity, and power, all of these being reduced in the case of the Commando vs. the M16. However, this was an advantage for my particular team.

Part of the reason why Eclair and Bucker were the lowest ranked members of my squad was their accuracy, sixth and seventh respectively. I, on the other hoof, was ranked second, with Wrecks being the only pony more accurate than I was on the shooting range, though we were very neck and neck each time our skills were measured. This impacted my choice in two ways: the magnification of the scope I was using could be smaller than the magnification my teammates needed, and with combined with my natural ability, I could switch between targets quickly. Sure, I couldn't shoot as far, but that still played into my plans of simply being a distraction. The fact that the Commando has a very noticeable muzzle flash, and the fact that I would being moving around a lot to get closer meant that I would become an irresistible target for the opposing teams.

I was very confident in my ability to find cover, even if my size worked against me. So, with the our opponents distracted by trying to hit me, Eclair and Bucker would be able to spend more time getting a clear shot on them, while I would (hopefully) make it out untagged. One final advantage was, being an assault rifle, the Commando had larger magazines, so I would be afforded more shots than either of my teammates, a very precious detail considering the diminished reserves we would already be starting with. My one true disadvantage in this case, projectile velocity, still didn't matter too much, as a bullet will still fly faster than my target can react to consistently.

But despite all my planning, my tactics, and my clear explanation to my teammates, we weren't winning. We were, in fact, losing.

Bucker, easily the most sarcastic pony that I had met in my life, made even better by the fact that he was form Stalliongrad, was the first victim claimed in the match. We had only been in the match for about seven or eight minutes, and we were already down a member. I had watched from my cover as Bucker popped his head up and honed in on Temple, who was occupied with trying to get a better view of me in my hiding place. As Bucker rushed his shot with his eagerness, he missed, and instead of immediately ducking back into his own cover, he slammed back the bolt action on his rifle, ejecting the spent blank propulsion cartridge, and cycling another rubber round into the chamber. To my dismay though, I noted during Bucker's rush that Wrecks, who was on Temple's team, had shifted his aim from me to my then distracted teammate, and drilled a shot into the left eye socket of Bucker's protective goggles.

The blast knocked Bucker off his hooves as he clutched at his more than likely now bruised eye socket, the rifle he had been levitating clattering to the ground. "Private Bucker... escort yourself off the field, and leave your weapon there for your teammates." came Captain Eva's voice over both the loudspeakers, and our headsets. Bucker got to his hooves slowly, taking off his goggles and allowing me to see the bruise that was even now swelling up around his the eye he had been shot in. His protection had done its job though, and he was just a short visit to the infirmary away from being back in shape. Despite the fact that I was glad Bucker was unharmed, I was silently annoyed at why he hadn't taken cover following his missed shot since he chose a bolt action over a semi automatic rifle, and more upset over the fact that he had put us at an early disadvantage.

I could use the rifle that Bucker had been ordered to leave behind after he dropped it, but it would take a couple minutes to get it attached to my saddle since he was a unicorn and had no need of the saddles that Earth ponies had to make use of. Those minutes would be precious, but my saddle allowed for two weapons, and this was an opportunity to bring long range warfare into the mix, combined with my smaller weapon. The weight would be irrelevant, dragging pony corpses in their caskets, along with their tombstones conditioned me for heavy labor, and the extra few pound of the rifle would be nothing, even when added to the even bulkier training fatigues and protective gear I wore today.

The time it took me to get the rifle functional could prove to be a boon though, giving Eclair and myself time to let our opponents whittle each other away. Being a batter tactician than Bucker, Eclair noticed this opportunity and asked what I wanted to do over our personal headset frequency, indicating the rifle as he spoke. "It's you or me Ditch, and I've already got a rifle. You can do more with it, I'll cover you if any try to advance while you get the sucker attached." he told me. I nodded in confirmation and readied to sprint to the adjacent wall that Bucker and Eclair had taken cover behind.

I probably liked Eclair the second most out of the members in my squad. He was relatively well meaning, just trying to make his way through training without causing too much of a stir. This goal was proving problematic for the stallion for a few reasons. First and foremost; he was pink, no matter how much he denied the fact, claiming that he was just 'lightish red', he was in fact pink, even more pink than Cherry Tresses was, and in such a way that he nearly glowed the color. A couple of the others in the squad decided to single Eclair out for being such a feminine color, faithfully giving him the pet name 'Clair', which he hates for it being a 'filly's name'.

Eclair really didn't help himself out very much by actually being rather effeminate in his manners, enjoying things traditionally deigned to be pastimes for mares. Baking, grooming, gossip, a few not-so-hidden copies of Seventeen, the typical fare for a teenage mare really. For this, Eclair was singled out, not aggressively, just some jokes and pokes at his masculinity since intolerance of ponies in the military based on their preferences was... well... not tolerated, and a quick way to be discharged. The Royal Army wanted cooperative forces that had a tolerance for every creed of pony that could show up in training, it was something they were dead set on after years of protests and clashes over homosexuality and ethnic tension centuries ago.

That time period was rather peculiar, since such protests had been almost nonexistent before a spike in activity that led to the first mandated rules of equality being formed. For hundreds of years before those centuries dead protests, nopony cared about gender roles, or where a pony was from, or what their sexual preference happened to be. Inexplicably, a conflict arose on those topics of pony behavior out of nowhere, leading Celestia to intervene and put an end to the few short years of discrimination and segregation that had popped up in towns supporting the protests. That was nearly three hundred years ago, and luckily the outburst only managed to hold its steam for six years, even before Celestia brought her hoof down on the matter, though it never should have arisen in the first place.

Anyhow, such were the rules of the army; equality for all.

The second issue that Eclair faced was a rather general and unavoidable one. A combination of regular klutziness interspersed with sleep walking events proved rather humorous for the squad, and Eclair couldn't even do anything about this particular problem. Three days ago, the very night that I had failed to perform to expectations and was put on this team, Eclair had stumbled out of his bunk and jumped upon Wrecks in his unconscious stroll. If his ensuing scream of 'Mom, I'm scared!' didn't wake everypony in the apartment, Wrecks' immediate angry shouts of protest did.

"You damned daft fool, what in the hell are you doing? Get off me!" Wrecks had shouted as Eclair refused to detach himself from the startled stallion. As the light from each uninvolved pony's bedside lamp lit up the room, Riff was the first to laugh at the sight of Eclair grappling Wrecks as he attempted to force Eclair off as the pony repeated his statement of 'I'm scared'. "I do not care if you're scared ya' girly oaf, get off!" Gravesend answered as he finally managed to distance himself from the whimpering pony, falling off of his bed in the process. While everypony else was laughing, neither Wrecks or Eclair found the situation funny.

I myself only found it amusing for a moment, cracking a small grin, but I felt that after Wrecks had fallen down that the spectacle had reached an end. Walking over to his bunk, I offered Wrecks a hoof to help the shaken pony off the floor as he grumbled about being 'woken up in the dead of night by a simpering foal'. I calmly looked over at Eclair, who was curled up in a ball on Wrecks' bed, eyes shut tightly as if he were experiencing a bad dream. "Go back to your bed Eclair." I told the huddled form of the pony on the bed. I felt bad for trying to make him move since he was clearly experiencing a a terrible nightmare which caused his sleep walking episode, but he didn't budge at my words.

"I'm not going to sleep until you get back in your bed." I added, still calm, but slightly more forceful with my words. Eclair suddenly stopped shivering, and turned his head towards me, eyes still closed. "Dad?" he asked fearfully. "Dad the monsters are going to get me." he continued timidly, resuming his shaking. I sighed, feeling that this wasn't going to be easy to deal with. "No, they aren't going to get you... son. We'll protect you, right guys?" I said, surveying the rest of the apartment and emphasizing that they should back me up in my claim.

There were a few halfhearted murmurs of support from everypony else as they realized that this wasn't as funny as it had been starting off. Wrecks stubbornly refused to say anything, grumbling to himself until I nudged him with my hoof, glaring at him until he rolled his eyes and spoke up. "Fine, I'll help the sissy half-lass if his 'big bad monsters' come after him, but only if her doesn't jump on me in the dead of night again." Wrecks compromised. I took a look back at Eclair, who stopped shivering once more. "Go back to bed." I told him gently. This time, he responded, and head back to his bunk. Since then, we hadn't had any more disturbances, but just under a month remained to see if it would remain that way.

To think that I would occupy my thoughts with that particular memory as I added Bucker's dropped rifle to my saddle might have seemed preposterous at any other time, but at the moment, it was the only thought that occurred to me as I worked with practiced hooves. Eclair remained true to his word, peeking over his cover to see if any of the other teams were advancing every ten seconds or so, changing the rhythm of his movements intermittently to throw off anypony that might have been trying to anticipate his movements. The effort paid off, as twice rubber bullets flashed past where his head would have been had he kept his pace even. Once I was armed with both weapons, I gave Eclair one of the two extra clips of ammunition for the rifle that Bucker had left behind, as I noticed that his weapon of choice used the same caliber of bullet. Eclair indicated that team two, which included Temple, Wrecks, and Simone was on the move and headed towards the slab of uneven cover about forty-five yards from my three o'clock.

"On three..." I whispered to Eclair, intending to dive out of my cover and surprise the three cautious ponies who were trying to cross into safer territory. Eclair gave me the go ahead, signaling that the three were still moving and hadn't noticed him, declaring that Wrecks and Temple were checking behind them as Simone led them, far too focused on reaching the relative safety of the rocky outcropping she was aiming for to notice my companion popping his head up.

I tapped my hoof against our own protective slab of rock, keeping in time with my count.

"One..."

Eclair tensed up, checking the breech of his own bolt action rifle, ejecting a spent casing. I was glad he had checked, such an error could have proved costly.

"Two..."

The ejected casing bounced off ground near my hindlegs, causing me to flinch at the noise. I hoped we hadn't just alerted anypony.

"Three!"

I jumped out of my concealment, performing what Riff liked to refer to as a 'dolphin dive'. I meant to fire at Wrecks and take him out, as Eclair had agreed to take Temple out since both had their backs turned to us, but I changed my target in mid air. I realized in an instant that Simone was acting to nervously about getting to cover, and her teammates were too paranoid about checking their rear. I made a split second decision to fire on Simone instead, hoping that my assumption would prove right, and that I wasn't just wasting an opportunity to take out a greater threat...

Four shots rang out, one louder than the others as I bit down on my bridle trigger, three rapid reports of thunder following as my Commando spat out an equal number of rubber bullets at my target, the louder explosion coming from Eclair's much larger rifle.

All four shots were true, two of my shots connecting with Simone's Kevlar breastplate, the third one smashing into her armored neck while Eclair's shot hit Temple squarely in the ball joint of his left hindleg, not considered a confirmed kill, but protocol dictated that he was immobilized by the wound.

I allowed my momentum to carry me to a far smaller outcropping of rock which didn't cover me fully, but only left non-vital targets open to retaliation. While I might have been exposed, and my coat clashed with the sand colored rock I was hiding behind, Eclair was fully sheltered behind his cover by the time I checked on him. Expecting the worst, I waited for Wrecks to take his shot at my exposed flank and immobilize me at least.

But the shot never came.

In fact, the next sound I heard beyond the fading echo of our gunshots was the voice of Captain Eva over our headsets and the loudspeaker. "Team two, your VIP has been killed in action. Report back your apartment, or the infirmary if you think a few bruises are going to ruin your day." she instructed the trio coldly. I was interrupted once more by way of the private radio channel on my headset. "I'll be damned if you manage to pull this off Ditch. Maybe this punishment will actually pay off for me." Captain Eva told me. I held back from commenting on the fact that I hadn't really done much, and all it took was cooperation, but it was a comment like that which had earned me the 'punishment' I was enduring right now. The next step probably would be pushups and cleaning the community showers.

Despite our success, Eclair and I weren't in the clear yet. We were still outnumbered and down on ammunition, and Captain Eva hadn't told anypony to leave their weapons for us this time, not to mention the fact that our position was now compromised due to the sound of our gunfire. On the otherwise silent course, tracking the sound of a shot would be easy, easy enough that the remaining team could be upon us in mere minutes. "We need to move. Fast." I told Eclair over our radio, to which he nodded eagerly.

On the remaining team were Riff, Traynor, and Lou Tenant. I had already stopped to consider what effect Riff would have on their tactics, but established quickly that while I liked him, he had a lot to work on tactically, and while he could be a good shot on the firing range, he wasn't as good as the rest of us when it came to firing on a moving target, which is what I intended to be. Both Traynor and Lou would be assets to their team though, both had come from the same squad in basic training where they had traded spots for the best shooter the entire way through their stay on the Training Grounds. At the moment though, Lou was ranked number three, and Traynor was ranked number five. The funny thing was, outside of their skill with firearms, the two were completely different.

Lou was what one could consider a 'leader', certainly somepony to naturally look up to since he had the most worldly knowledge in the squad since he was an unusual forty-three years old at the time of enlistment, which was almost twice the average enlistment age. I myself was twenty-five when I enlisted, but I got to spend a wonderful birthday with Marble, Rainbow Dash, Cherry Tresses, and Baluchi, feeling spoiled by a cake that Rainbow Dash had managed to get to us from her friend in Ponyville. Pinkie Pie, I think her name was?

Anyhow, Lou always had something to say, typically attempting to be constructive, but he wasn't always gentle about it. In some ways, he was a lot like Blindside, he was helping us, but he wasn't afraid to get nasty with anypony in order to do so. This quality is probably what led him down his previous line of work as a landlord, and as a building manager, he had to deal with all of the problems his tenants had. Manehatten isn't necessarily known for its courteous ponies, and Lou told us of a few of the 'issues' he had to resolve in his tenure as the hired building manager for a slumlord in the seedy side of the city.

Given the circumstances, Lou had the be the muscle against some particularly rowdy tenants. Several different conflicts with the same knife wielding maniac trying to break down his ex-marefriend's door, an alcoholic pegasus who would accidentally land on the balcony of the wrong apartment about twice a week, a hoarder with an odd infatuation with rolls of toilet paper that refused to move out when evicted, even a pair of gun-toting gangsters who were about to perform a hit on a prostitute that was keeping a little too much of her earnings. Stuff that ranged from weird, to humorous, to downright sick in some cases. It was that very sickness of life in the slums of Manehatten that Lou couldn't stand anymore, causing him to flee to the nearest recruitment center to be shipped off to the comparatively posh life of a cadet in Canterlot.

Lou had lived an interesting life so far, but it seemed like he had been trying to tone it down before this war broke out. Of course, this gave Lou plenty of fodder for jokes along the lines of 'Time to serve these fools an eviction notice carved in a bullet. Read this fine print you bastards!', which happened to be his personal favorite so far. I wasn't sure if letting him handle this as if the gryphons and minotaurs were out-of-line tenants would be a good thing or not. Only time would tell.

Now, for all the 'rough-and-tumble' tough guy aspects and leadership capabilities that Lou had, Traynor was quiet, kind, and... honestly a little on the slow side. Traynor was good with a gun, but I question whichever pony thought it would be a good idea to allow him near such dangerous weapons in the first place. Luckily, while he was gullible and didn't know a whole lot of the 'book smarts' that many ponies learned as they went through school, Traynor ate up knowledge about guns like it was second nature. I expect that if he makes it through this war unscathed, a career involving guns would be promising for the youngest pony in the squad.

Lou seemed to have taken Traynor under his proverbial wing, trying to teach him about life in general. Traynor was, in fact, the only pony that Lou seemed to soften up for, acting as a father figure. It seemed like a rather strong bond to have developed over the past few months, but stranger things had happened between ponies before, and this wasn't a harmful relationship for either pony involved. Perhaps Lou was just regretting not having any children of his own yet?

Regardless, what this meant was that Lou and Traynor were fairly in synch with each other, having grown used to being in the same squad during their time together, which would probably bring me and Eclair nothing but trouble if we wanted to win this match. As much as I regretted saying something about the pony that I was beginning to consider my friend, Riff was the chink in their armor, the weak link, so taking out either Lou of Traynor would force the 'survivors' to work together, and far less efficiently than if Riff were eliminated first. With a strategy in mind, I let Eclair in on my plan to 'divide and conquer' our opponents, picking off just one of two primary targets.

We moved cautiously as we maneuvered from one slab of rock in the artificial ravine that Temple, Wrecks, and Simone had come by, unsure of what we might have been walking into. There were a total of four caves in the ravine, with one that had an opening to an overhang that a sniper could perch from in nearly impenetrable cover, while another had a path leading to the ridges above the ravine that a whole team could camp at. The caves were a popular place to order a team to protect for the entire match though, and checking them would probably be for the best.

Eclair volunteered to walk in front so that he would go down first, saying that he thought we could actually win if I was the last 'alive' instead of him. I hardly wanted to be seen that way, my father taught me when I was young that humility was a priceless quality, and trying to show off because you the best didn't stack up to remaining silent and being the best. I found when I began to work in the family business that corpses didn't need to be impressed by anypony, that the living were hardly worthy of the attention of the dead. Because of this, I didn't want excessive praise or glory, all I required to feel satisfied was the knowledge that I had done a job well.

Other ponies needed to put value on each other though, beyond the value of being who they were. Everypony always wanted to be number one, to be the best in the world, to make themselves so well known that they were untouchable in their grandeur. Well, I felt I certainly wasn't that special, and luckily I hadn't done anything impressive enough to get too important, but even this token gesture of Eclair essentially making me an unspoken VIP made me uncomfortable. What could I say though, 'No, I'll walk in front, you can handle this by yourself even if I'm not around to help'? Eclair would argue quite the opposite were I to say something like that. Being important just... wasn't something I was used to.

So I let Eclair do as he pleased, which did involve him walking in front of me to catch any errant bullets seeking me out. Our path led us to the first cave, which was devoid of any sign of ponies inhabiting it at the moment. The second cave, the one with the overlook, proved to be just as deserted, though we took a careful approach from the hardest angle to shoot from while on the overhang, which proved to be a wasted effort as we discovered not a single soul. The third cave proved more promising as we approached.

Sounds carried very well in the caves, echoing off walls for hundreds of feet beyond where they originated. Such was the case when we stopped by the entrance to the third cave, as pony voices were carried out of the hole in the sheer face of the ravine. Peering inside, I could see that at the point where the natural light from outside of the cave ended, and the artificial light of several glow sticks jammed into crevices in the rock walls began, there was an alcove the perfect size for a pony to hide in. A new plan budded in my mind, which I shared with Eclair.

Moments later, I was hiding in the alcove as Eclair stood in the dead center of the passageway that led deeper into the cave. He looked at me and tapped his hoof against the floor once.

'You ready?'

In response, I tapped the floor twice.

'Your move.'

I could barely make out Eclair's determined nod in the dull glow of they dying glow sticks before he let out a loud whoop and fired a shout down the tunnel. Eclair slammed back the bolt action on his rifle to reload, standing still for a second as the previously relaxed voices became shouts of confusion. Eclair began to slowly back up, trying to make sure that at least one pony saw him and alerted the others before he booked it out of the cave. I couldn't tell who saw Eclair first, because soon all three ponies came around the bend and began firing at him, though as luck would have it, by that point Eclair was only a few feet from the end of the tunnel. I heard a yelp as a round bounced off of his flank, be he avoided the worst of it, making it out otherwise untouched.

Now, the last part of this plan was a little shaky. I was running under the assumption that after having been cooped up in a cave and doing nothing for nearly half an hour had made this trio restless and that they might give limited chase to Eclair. If that didn't work, then I would have to think up some new plan, and the only recourse after that seemed to be an all out attack, and given the fairly defensible positions deeper in the caves, that wouldn't end well. The gunfire stopped, the echoes dying out before I heard the the clop of hooves as the trio walked closer to the exit, exhibiting caution since only one pony had been seen, and they knew that at least one more pony was out there.

"I think he's gone." I heard Traynor whisper. "We should head back, we've got the advantage in-" Lou began to advise before Riff cut him off. "Screw that, we've been waiting here for way too long." Riff stated loudly, not at all trying to conceal himself. "Look, I know I hit a pony, so as long as he plays along with this little honor system of ours, he should be laying on the ground out there, or trying to drag himself away. Now I know we can at least check outside for a few seconds, Eva probably won't be too bothered by that." Riff explained to his teammates. "You're little 'sitting and hiding' works for a while, but somepony has to finish this, and it might as well be us. We outnumber them, and one is disabled. If they got away, we can head back in there and wait it out." Riff said with a note of finality.

Silence reigned as Riff's echo died out. "Ummm... Lou? He kinda has a point. I'm getting tired of hiding here, even if it is safer." Traynor said tentatively, unsure of the wisdom of going against his 'mentor'. Lou gave a low growl, indicating his displeasure with his teammate's choices. "Fine, we pop out, then we pop back in, got it?" Lou asked threateningly.

They needn't have worried.

The moment that all three ponies were past me, I pressed myself as close as I could to the wall and banged the opposite side of the alcove with my hoof, causing the trio to jerk backwards at the same moment Eclair received my signal and toss a rock into the passage just in front of the group. At the second unexpected noise, the group turned towards the entrance of the tunnel, distracting them so i could step out of the alcove and bring my Commando to bear. I bit down on the trigger of my bridle as quickly as I could, sending six shots of semi-automatic fire into the crowd before me.

When the echoes of my gunfire died out, Riff looked up at me from the floor he immediately dropped to as he felt the thud of two rubber bullets hitting his protective Kevlar vest. "Damn that was dirty Ditch. You were there the whole time?" he asked me as Lou rose to his hooves, grumbling about how 'and that's why everypony should always listen to me, but noooo, we'd rather take the exciting path'. Traynor just stood up and shook off the shot he took to the back of the head without complaint.

"Well I'll be... looks like we've got an upset in the making here." came the voice of Captain Eva one more time over our headsets, and apparently from a loudspeaker somewhere further down the tunnel. "Riff, Traynor, and Lou. You've all been killed. Ditch, Eclair, and Bucker win this round. Back to the apartment everypony, I'll have a new list of rankings up for you by the time you arrive." Eva said, leaving us all to our own devices as we sorted ourselves out.

"Yeah, take that! Who's pink now, huh? Who's pink now?" Eclair shouted enthusiastically over the general radio. "Can it Clair, you're making my head hurt." Wrecks chimed in. But Eclair wasn't going to be knocked down this time. "You know why your head hurts? It's cause you can't comprehend how this light red pony kicked your-"

I shut off the general radio, just as Wrecks probably had immediately after making his comment to Eclair.

Now was that time I mentioned where I could feel good about a job well done. I had managed to carry my team to victory despite our limitations, and I felt that I had at least managed to make Eclair a better soldier than he was before the match. Bucker may not have been around to learn from this experience, but he probably would be for the next training match if Eva planned to continue my punishment as she said, and you know what?

I was entirely okay with that.

"Private Ditch, meet me in my office after you've replaced your gear at the apartment." came an order from Captain Eva over my private headset channel. "Yes ma'am, quick as I can ma'am." I responded.

Just as I promised Captain Eva over the radio, I put some extra hustle in my jog back to the apartment complex.

**********

When I got back to the apartment, everypony congratulated me on my surprise win, giving me a pat on the back, or a supportive comment, something along those lines.

Everypony except Wrecks.

Instead, he sat in his bed, fuming, giving everypony who met his gaze a look of hatred. I stopped by his bunk, unfazed by the scalding stare he gave me. "Hey, good job Wrecks, you did what you could for your team." I told him, trying to remain cheery sounding. Wrecks didn't say anything back, just sat there and gazed at me as if he could kill me with his eyes alone. I just didn't understand him.

That was just one boring pony.

See, most ponies have a story to tell, even if they don't know it. It might be something they think of as plain, or standard, something that wouldn't be of interest to everypony else if they shared it, but it wasn't true. There was something about every individual that made them unique, something that made them interesting, whether it was something they had done, or something they had seen, some dream of theirs they wished to fulfill. Just.. something to make them really stand out from the next pony in line.

But not Wrecks.

I found it almost impossible to convince myself of this fact, but there was no way I could work it out in my head, there was just nothing interesting about Wrecks. Not a single thing. Before joining the Royal Army, Wrecks had been a crane operator at a waste disposal site in Phillydelphia, the very city that I grew up not so very far away from in my own little graveyard town. His mother died in childbirth, his father was an alcoholic that was crushed to death in the very waste disposal site that he worked at before leaving. Foster care had been rather dull, he went through his entire life in the same home, surrounded by several siblings and the kindhearted but overworked mare who took care of them all.

When he grew of age to leave the system, he stepped out of his foster home, small suitcase of personal belongings in tow, and immediately walked over to the waste disposal site his father had died at. Once outside of the reeking landfill, he stood there and watched the towering crane as it hoisted tons of garbage and refuse high into the air, dropping all of the trash into the magically powered separation system that weeded out recyclable materials from biodegradable matter. The forepony of the whole operation happened to be just outside the gate as well, taking a smoking break.

Upon seeing the barely of age unicorn standing outside of the gates of the reeking landfill, dressed in tidy clothes and rolling a small suitcase along with him, the forepony asked what the lad was doing there. Wrecks told him his relatively bleak and uninteresting life story, the only part that piqued the forepony's interest being the part about the colt's father, recalling the very stallion who had died when he was still just one of the workers, and not the head of the operation. The forepony proceeded to ask if the young unicorn happened to be looking for a job, to which Wrecks simply said maybe.

"He told me, 'Well, if you find yourself in the neighborhood at eight o'clock sharp, and the gate happens to be open, and you manage to get lost somewhere on the East side of the landfill, feel free to knock on one of the doors of the office building. Somepony will let you know where to go'." Wrecks told us of the forepony's less than subtle suggestion. Wrecks told him thanks, and to have a nice day, and wandered a few blocks away to a seedy little apartment complex, a lot like the one Lou had been working at before coming here, and paid for an apartment with some of the money he had saved up over the years. His walls were whitewashed, there was no furniture except for a cot, and the room smelled vaguely of mold. Wrecks left his suitcase by the cot, and climbed up on the bed, proceeding to stare at the ceiling until sleep took him into its comforting grasp.

The next day, Wrecks happened to be in the same neighborhood as the waste disposal site at precisely seven thirty. The gate leading into the facility just so happened to be open. He happened to be lost on the East side of the landfill, and he just so happened to knock on the door to the forepony's office at precisely eight o'clock. When the door opened, the foreman looked at him knowingly, not at all surprised that the colt had shown up after all. Wrecks was shown to a locker where he could store his tidy clothes, and was given a uniform and hardhat to put on.

When his tidy clothes had been neatly stored away in his rusty old dented locker, Wrecks came back to the forepony, who showed the colt around the site. He led the young unicorn up the steps to the crane, and showed him how to operate it, Wrecks' mind gobbling up every detail, every button, every lever, every switch, where every single paint chip and coffee stain was inside the enclosed compartment of the crane's control booth.

That had been thirteen years ago, and Wrecks still worked at that same exact waste disposal facility, with the same exact forepony, in the same exact crane. In school, he had been smart, but not too smart. He had never played any sports, he had never played an instrument. He had never held a relationship with anypony, and he was only marginally friendly with his peers. He had never gone into detention, he had never been told to finish his homework, he had never been told it was bed time.

Wrecks told us all of this in excruciating detail when his time had come to share about himself, and I spared myself the small details of his dull life as I recalled what he had told us. Wrecks, was boring.

He was utterly, and completely, boring.

For twenty-nine years of his life, from the very moment he was born, he had been boring.

Yes, Wrecks was an anomaly by being so utterly boring, something that typically would interest me in its uniqueness. But it was by his very nature, that I found him boring. He had a story, one unlike and I had ever heard, or had ever imagined, but through the entire length of him telling us all the miniscule details of his life, I wanted him to stop. It would be easy to say that my own life was boring, and quite frankly, it was if all I said was that I carried around dead ponies and their tombstones, and buried them, but that was ignoring all of the intricacies of what I was tasked with. I had at least some part in every integral process, embalming, inscription of the tombstone, really I could go on further, but my point has been made. What I did was extraordinary, not in a sense that nopony else could do what I do, but in a literal sense of the word, that my job was beyond ordinary, it was hardly mundane.

But even as Wrecks went over every minute detail of his job, and his day, and his life, it still seemed boring, when that was what should have made him extraordinary. I was completely and irrevocably baffled by how a pony could be so extraordinary, and yet so boring at the same time, but the proof sat before me, trying to burn me to death with his eyes. I settled on the fact that Wrecks didn't feel like talking right now, no matter how nice I was being to him, so I made for the hooflocker at the end of my bed and busied myself with stowing away all of my gear.

Then, I left the apartment, heading off to the administrative buildings to meet Captain Eva in her office.

**********

A few minutes later, I found myself sitting in a surprisingly comfy chair in Eva's office. Captain Eva herself was a shockingly orange unicorn with a charcoal colored mane and tail, and she was prone to chewing on her lower lip while she concentrated intently on something. I only knew that she did this because she had been staring at her computer monitor since I sat down in the chair I was still waiting patiently in.

When I had arrived at the door with Eva's nameplate on it, I knocked politely, my instructor answering the door personally and bade me to take a seat in the chair in the corner. Afterwords, Eva returned to her computer and continued to click and type away at whatever she was working on, so I observed the furnishings of the office.

In one corner, there was a bookshelf filled with military guides and manuals, some based on strategy, some based on history, and more still that I couldn't make out the fine print of on the spines. In another corner, there was a stereotypical office water jug, you know the kind with the warm and cold nozzles, but you only use the cold one because you're afraid of what the 'warm' nozzle might do. Another bookshelf was situated across from the previous one, though there were a variety of photographs and knick knacks adorning the shelves of this particular one. Medals, commendations, slips of certification, all of these were on one shelf, orderly and precise, very much like a veteran military officer had set it up.

The shelves above and below that one had a personal touch to each. The upper shelf was home home to several picture frames with old and slightly faded photos of what appeared to be a younger Eva, and what I assumed to be her husband and children, two twin fillies that looked to be about the age I was when I got my cutie mark, and a baby colt who was still of nursing age. On the lower shelf, there were three pictures that looked far newer with no fading at all. There was a picture of one of the two twins and who I assumed was her husband in a hospital, the mare holding the newborn foal that she had most likely given birth to only moments before the snapshot. There was a picture of an unhappy looking teenage colt, the same one from the faded picture on the shelf above based on the similar colors, not to mention the two smiling twins that were squeezing the colt in a big hug, probably the cause of his unhappiness.

The final picture was a match to one of the pictures from the top shelf, a family gathering looking photo with all of the ponies sitting on different levels of a picnic table, some on the bench, some on the tabletop itself. It appeared that the photo was taken in the exact same place, underneath of an ancient oak tree which looked unchanged in both pictures. Everypony was striking the same pose they held in the original photo, with the only difference being that one of the twins was holding a filly the same age as the colt had been in the original. For some reason, the matching photos and smiling faces tickled me on the inside, and made me realize that these instructors, and drill sergeants, and any officer in the military really, they were all normal ponies like the rest of us when the uniform came off. They had families, friends, children, everything that the average pony had.

My thoughts were interrupted as Captain Eva spoke for the first time since I sat down. "I expected a lot more excitement out of a hotshot like you Ditch." she said absentmindedly as the clicks and typing continued. "Sorry ma'am, I didn't really think that I should be celebrating the fact that I won a training exercise just because you restricted me some." I said honestly. Eva stopped her typing and clicking for a moment to look up at me, perplexed. "Well, I'm a little surprised that anypony that ended up in the highest ranked squad wouldn't celebrate even the most minor victory." she said before resuming her work. "But that's not really what I was referring to Ditch."

"What?" I asked, as Eva's confusion was passed to me. Now I really had her attention. Eva looked at me even more quizzically than she had a few seconds ago, and slowly rotated her monitor around so I could see it. "Do you know what this is?" she asked flatly. I took a few moments to look at the electronic form Eva had pulled up on her computer. "Well, yes," I said, still confused as I looked upon the document further. "It's a form of recommendation for advancement. Why? Is Wrecks getting promoted?" I asked with full sincerity, utterly unsure of what Eva was trying to show me.

My instructor face-hoofed and rotated the monitor back around to herself, sighing as she did so. "Yes, Wrecks is getting promoted, he's going to be a corporal when he steps out of here." she told me. "Well that's good news, everpony knows its been a long time-" I started to say excitedly before Eva cut me off. "But that's not why you're here Ditch." Eva said before sighing again. "I'm going to take a shot in the dark here and say that you didn't look at the rankings I posted at the apartment, did you?"

"Well, no, I hadn't-"

"Oh go figure!" Eva interrupted me again. "You know, I'd kill to have more ponies like you, ponies that weren't all over trying to be the best sharpshooter in the academy, but with one slight modification." she told me before pausing again. "I would like them, to take the hint, that they're the best one here, so long as they actually are."

Eva clicked a few more times with her mouse, typed a password or two, and then turned the monitor back to me. I immediately perused the document she had opened. It appeared to be the numerical list of rankings that Eva gave us after each training exercise, along with the insignia that indicated our rank. This time, Wrecks would have a nice corporal's insignia next to his name, showing that his work had finally paid off.

Riff was still in ninth place, not too unexpected since it had been his unsound advice that led to my team's victory. Temple also hadn't changed his place, stuck in eight. Bucker's place also remained unchanged in seventh, though he probably would have been dropped to ninth if we hadn't won, bumping Temple and Riff up one place in the process. In the first surprise on the list, both Simone and Traynor had dropped a rank to fifth and sixth respectively, while Eclair had been bumped up two places to fourth. Lou had managed to salvage his rank of third by providing the correct advice to resolve the match, even if his teammates didn't follow his plan.

Then it hit me.

In second place, was not me, but rather, Wrecks, with the nice new second upright arrow that indicated his new rank of corporal. The promotion was expected, however his placement was not. Right next to the number one on the screen, was my name, and the insignia was a triple stacked arrow, rather than a single, or even double arrow. I had completely skipped the step of corporal according to this list. "There has to be a mistake." I told Eva, growing nervous. "Nope. Everything is exactly as I meant to input it."

"Explain." I told my instructor bluntly. Eva laughed to herself. "Now he gets it." she said to nopony in particular. I simply sat there, giving my all to prevent myself from dropping my jaw to the floor as I leaned forward to hear whatever ridiculous explanation Eva was preparing to give me.

"As you know, my rankings are based off of two variables; accuracy, and strategy. Both are necessary to become a successful sniper." Eva began. "Today, you proved to me that you have exceptional skill in both." she told me, as if I should be convinced that easily. "But... Wrecks is more accurate than I am. He always has been." I protested. "Yes, but considering that accuracy takes longer to be improved than strategy, I weigh your tactical decisions more heavily in my ranking process. Wrecks is marginally better than you at flat out shooting, but he has far weaker strategy than you. As I said, this was proven today during your combat exercise." my instructor explained. I sat in the my suddenly uncomfortable chair, mouth agape as I no longer tried to hide my astonishment.

"I'll be blunt. The entire training exercise was meant as punishment for you. That was why I saddled you with two of the worst ranked ponies in the squad, and then threw extra deterrent your way. You were meant to lose that match." Eva started to explain her logic further. "Admittedly, I scoffed at your choice of weapon, a carbine over the long range rifles that your peers used. I didn't expect for you to apply what I would normally consider the disadvantages of a carbine as advantages for your particular match, even more impressive when one of the teammates you were relying on to supplement your strategy was taken out early on."

"I laughed at you before you took a logical look at how your opponents were acting, and adjusting your tactics accordingly, taking out exactly who you needed to. I was somewhat surprised, but I had absolutely no belief that you could actually finish off your opponents, opponents who outnumbered you, had better supplies, and a defensible position." Eva paused, looking at me seriously. "And then you threw me for a loop with your plan to fight in the tunnel. I listened to to that one over the radio, and I laughed again, until you finished a fight before it even began through careful positioning and superior judgement. Then, I was just impressed." she concluded.

Before I could begin my next protest, it was as if Eva had read my mind. "You already know that when you leave here, your squad needs a leader. A pony who can be depended on to make the right choices, even under duress. That pony is you Ditch. You have all the credentials I needed to put on on the fast track to becoming the leader of Alpha Squadron. Your squad. The best of the best out of the all these other cadets."

I understood now. Why Wrecks was angry at me, that is. In his eyes, I took the position that was rightfully his. Heck, I would have offered it to him if I could, but I realized now that the recommendation for advancement had been for me, and mere minutes ago Eva had sent the form to Central Command. I was in the same room as her, and I did nothing to prevent her from sending the recommendation. But I couldn't have known better, could I? Of course I could have known better, the form probably had my name typed all over it, but all I had looked for was the title.

"Also, take a gander at this..." Eva said smugly as she slid a piece of paper my way. I looked at the official title of the document. "Request for reenlistment... into.. active duty. Oh no." I said, the blood draining from my cheeks. It wasn't so much the prospect of what I read, but the extreme improbability that what I read could possibly be true. "Oh yes..." Eva said with a grin. "Go ahead. Finish it."

I gulped before one last word. "Approved."

"That's right. Say hello to the your future battalion commander, you'll be reporting to me a lot more once your month is up here." Eva gloated, taking extreme pleasure in my denial that fate would intertwine us like this.

"See you on the battlefield... Sergeant."