Through Thick and Thin

Chapters

Chapter 1: Golden Age
Chapter 2: Brewing Storm
Chapter 3: Settling In
Chapter 4: At What Cost?

Chapter 1: Golden Age

The early summer evening rested upon Las Pegasus, particularly on a bar situated just on the outskirts of the city itself. The added warmth inside was only another reminder that summer was on its way. The ponies sitting in the garden behind it were a testament to that.

Inside was a different story, though.

“CHEERS!”

The Wonderbolts team said in unison, holding their glasses high. Sitting around the large wooden table in the bar, they all clinked their drinks into the centre of the table and slowly broke off to clink them against each other.

“To another great show!” Spitfire exclaimed, clinking her glass between all of her colleagues.

“Great? It was awesome!” Dash added, taking a few glugs of cider before continuing her sentence. “I never would have guessed I’d be part of a music set four years ago.”

“You never would have guessed you would’ve been a Wonderbolt four years ago either,” Fleetfoot added.

“Well…” Dash shrugged, “It was always on my mind, so…” she was semi-trying to avoid the conversation since even though it was one of the most significant parts of her life, it wasn’t exactly easy for her...

“Aw c’mon,” Bright Skies gave Dash a big pat on the back, having already drunk half her glass… “Dash kills it, it was inevitable she would get in…”

“Hehe…” Dash chuckled, taking another sip.

“Four years, huh?” Misty Fly commented, “Where has that time gone?”

“Four years of the BEST AIRSHOWS EVER!” Bright exclaimed, downing the rest of her glass and banging it down loudly on the table. She looked over her shoulders, brushing her sky blue mane to the side, and tried to catch the attention of the waiter.

Dash chuckled at the sight of the mildly drunk Bright Skies sitting next to her. “Four years ago we barely got a squeak out of you.”

“I think that’s liquid confidence making most of the noise,” Misty chuckled, tilting her glass towards Dash.

“Saying this while we’re still semi-sober; I’m not carrying her this time,” Dash instructed before taking a sip of her cider, causing everypony else to laugh.

“I guess somepony’s gotta do it…” Spitfire spoke reluctantly, taking a small sip of her cider before setting her glass down. “Is birthday boy distracted?” She asked, raising her head a little to look over the top of her colleagues' heads. She looked across the bar floor, her eyes gazing out of large glass doors that led out into the bar garden. Her eyes rested on her teammate of interest, drinking and talking with his fellow male Wonderbolts.

“He sure is…” Surprise answered with a grin, rubbing her hooves together.

Spitfire glanced over at her and raised an eyebrow. “Do I want to know?”

“Let’s just say they’ve got a really strong Surprise Special…” Surprise replied, “...Now with extra rum!”

Spitfire rolled her eyes, “Well, it works I guess…” she pushed her chair back and stood up. “I’ll go get it.”

Dash smirked and glanced over her shoulder out at Soarin, knowing what day it was and what they had planned for him…

Soarin laid back in the chair outside of the bar, gently resting the pint of cider against his lips. The cider had a weird cinnamon-flavoured kick to it. He could’ve sworn he’d tasted something like it before, but he couldn’t quite put his hoof on it. Nevertheless, he wasn’t complaining. It tasted good. And was going down a treat. The low hanging sun beating against his fur almost made him feel sleepy.

“I still reckon whirlwind descent would’ve looked better going into the final chorus,” Fire Streak suggested, mimicking the motions of the manoeuvre with his hooves and gently humming the lyrics.

“Nah, I think we got it right with the fly-by,” his brother Lightning Streakreplied, batting his hoof and glancing over at Soarin. “You agree, Soarin?”

“Yeah…” Soarin said half-heartedly with his eyes closed. The truth was that he wasn’t really paying attention, his mind was preoccupied with...other thoughts…

Lightning chuffed, noticing Soarin wasn’t really paying attention. He rested his glass of cider down on the table, hearing something rustle under his glass. “Hm?” He glanced down to find a newspaper that had been left by the previous occupant.

He rested his glass to the side of it and had a read of the headline. ‘A country divided: tensions high in Griffon Kingdom after Eadric wins majority’. With a sub-heading below it that said ‘War on the horizon?’

“Pfft,” Lightning rolled his eyes, picking up the newspaper. “Do you guys believe any of this bullshit? The medias making it out as if the fifth Equestro-Griffon war is about to start.”

“It’s way over the top, yeah,” Fire agreed, nodding. “The Griffons will sort it out, I’m not getting worked up. Besides, have you read some of the stuff that Eadric fellas been coming out with? He wants to make some sort of neo-Griffon Empire.”

Lightning chuffed, “Yeah, ‘cause that’s gone so well the last time four hundred years ago,” he joked. “That being said, Griffons did seem to vote for him...quite a bit actually…”

“I say we’ve got nothing to worry about,” Soarin added enthusiastically, raising his glass up. “Cheers!”

The three of them clinked the glasses together before they each took a big, long drink.

Fire Streak tapped his glass on the table. “Geez...whatever sweet stuff they put in this cider goes straight through me…” he excused himself, standing up. Lightning and Soarin chuckled as he left to find a bathroom.

Lightning looked back over at Soarin to see that Soarin was still pretty out of it. He didn’t blame him, it was quite a long show. And the reclining chairs the bar had in its garden were comfy.“What’s on your mind, Soarin?” He chimed.

“Oh, ya know, not much…” Soarin replied with a smile, looking towards the glass window. If it weren’t for the reflection of the sun, he would’ve been able to see straight through towards where the rest of his squad were sitting. And more importantly, his mare. He took another sip of cider while trying to concentrate and look through the glass.

“How's the love of your life going?” Lightning asked, picking up on what he was trying to look at.

Soarin chuffed, “That’s actually what’s been on my mind,” he answered, sitting up and looking back at Lightning.

Lightning smirked. “How long have you been with Rainbow Dash now? Four years?”

“Over four years,” Soarin answered. “And honestly...she’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“Even better than me?” Lightning answered sarcastically.

Soarin laughed. “You’ve been a total bro to me my whole career whenever I needed another stallion's input…”

“Well, you kept me in the dark when you first started dating Dash all those years ago…” Lightning teased.

“Oh come on, that was need to know stuff at the time,” Soarin joked back.

“And you thought I didn’t need to know? I’m offended,” Lightning continued the banter.

Soarin smiled, shaking his head. “You’re about to be demoted below Dash on my list, ya know.”

“Hey, bros before hoes, am I right?” The two of them laughed together for a short while as the words rolled off Lightning’s tongue. Lightning let a moment of silence set in before asking again. “So what’s really on your mind? You seem very distant for somepony celebrating their birthday.”

Soarin chuffed, then looked over at Lightning. He glanced over his shoulders, then looked back at Lightning. “Can you keep a secret?”

“Now we’re talking,” Lightning replied, smiling and leaning into the table. “Of course I can.”

“Okay…” Soarin glanced over his shoulders again, confirming there was nopony around to overhear the two of them. “Like I said, I’ve been with Dash for over four years now...and I really love her. And she feels the same way. Sooo…” Soarin reached into his Wonderbolt jacket hung over the back of his seat with his wing and pulled out a small box made out of black velvet.

“I’m going to ask her to marry me.”

Lightning’s eyes went wide, and he just stared at the box as he took in what Soarin said. “Wow...that’s just...amazing…” he looked up at Soarin, “I’m so happy for you.”

Soarin smiled awkwardly and suppressed a blush. Something he’d gotten quite good at through working with his marefriend. Although Dash hadn’t quite got it yet… “Pretty standard,” he flicked open the box with his wingtip. “Dash doesn’t do excessive jewellery, so I thought I best play it safe and stick with the classic.”

Lightning looked at the rings inside Soarin’s box. Two plain gold rings. They looked very...plain. Compared to some of the more extravagant ones Soarin could have bought with his budget. But as Soarin said, that was what he was going for. The sunlight reflecting off them gave them a nice pop.“They look nice,” He answered, looking up at Soarin and smiling. “I think she’ll love them.

“Thanks. I hope so too…” Soarin replied, putting the box away back into his Wonderbolt jacket pocket.

“But real question; can I be your best stallion?”

“You think I’d pick anyone else?” Soarin said with a smile, holding out his hoof.

“I had no doubt, just thought I’d ask,” Lightning replied, returning Soarin’s hoofbump. “But how do you plan on...ya know...doing it?”

“That’s what I’ve been caught up with in my mind…” Soarin reluctantly admitted, looking away and reclining back in his chair. “I think having everypony around will have the best effect, but Dash is quite...reserved with her affection. I think she’d prefer something more private. Now I’m trying to work out how to strike a balance.”

“Hmm…” Lightning rubbed his chin, “That’s very tricky...too tricky in fact. If it were me, I’d stop thinking about it and just go with whatever opportunity presents itself. But good luck with whatever you choose.”

Soarin nodded, “Thanks Lightning,” he looked back over at Lightning Streak. “Enough about me, though, how's your love life going?” He asked with a shit-eating grin, knowing exactly what he was doing.

Lightning cringed slightly, “Soarin…”

“You haven’t even tried yet, have you?”

Lightning shook his head in shame.

Soarin chuffed, “What are you so afraid of? Rejection?”

“A little, but…” he sighed and looked towards the window. Still unable to see through it due to the sun's reflection. “I’ve known her for years, but I don’t think she’s even interested in me.”

“How do you know that? You haven’t even tried to get to know her yourself,” Soarin explained. “She probably finds your experience and the fact that you outrank her intimidating. Dash was starstruck when we first met, so Bright--”

“Shhhh,” Lightning loud-whispered, making a slicing motion across his neck with his hoof. “Don’t say her name, she might hear you.”

“There’s a wall and a lot of noise separating us…” Soarin rolled his eyes, “Anyway, no matter what way you look at it, I think you’re gonna have to be the one that makes the first move.”

“I know, but…” Lightning felt the heat starting to rise in his cheeks, “I-I’m no good with mares, what if I say the wrong thing and mess it up? What if I come across as a creep? We work together, it’ll make things awkward.”

“Well…” Soarin thought hard, trying to think of the best way to answer…

“See, you don’t have any real advice because Rainbow Dash just fell into your lap,” Lightning deduced, then snorted as a thought popped into his head. “In more than one way.”

Soarin couldn’t help but laugh and blush a little at Lightning’s innuendo. “Yeah, I get that me and Rainbow just kinda...happened.” Soarin put it bluntly, “But believe me, it was far from fair winds and no turbulence. I had to do all the hard setup work behind the scenes. You just need to do the same.”

“But how?” Lighting went full circle. “I just don’t get how. I don’t exactly want to walk up to her and go ‘Hey, I like you, will you date me?’ It just seems creepy…”

“Well yeah, don’t do that,” Soarin replied with a smile, “All I’m saying get is get to know her first and do it subtly. For example, we’re here, at a bar,” Soarin motioned one of his forelegs towards the building. “When she goes to get a drink, go with her. Then while you wait for the drinks to be poured, strike up a conversation. Anything, completely random.”

“...That…” As Lightning thought it over in his mind, it sounded very doable. In fact, almost too easy… “I could do that...but…”

“But…?” Soarin repeated, raising an eyebrow.

“Is it really that easy?” Lightning questioned back at Soarin.

Soarin chuckled and shrugged, “All I know is that it’s what I did with Dash and we got on like a house on fire. So it’ll definitely work for you and...ahem, ‘her’ ” Soarin omitted her name like Lightning wanted. “She’s smart, you’re smart, you like similar things, you’ll get along. Trust me.”

Lightning chuffed, “Come on, I’m not that clever…”

“Hey, I think you’re smarter than me,” Soarin stated factually.

“Book smart maybe, but that doesn’t get me anywhere. Your rank proves that.” Lighting explained.

The door from inside the bar suddenly swung open, with Misty Fly standing in the doorway. “Hey Soarin, come quick.”

“Hm?” Soarin raised an eyebrow, “What for?” He asked, standing up.

“Just follow me,” Misty turned around, back into the bar. “And close your eyes.”

Soarin smirked, getting the gist of what was going on. “Guide me in, Lightning,” he asked, covering his eyes with his wings. “And trust me, you’ll do fine. Just go for it.” He finished the conversation they were having just before they got interrupted.

Lightning sighed and smiled. “Thanks, Soarin…” It was nice to hear that somepony had confidence in him. He had got along with Soarin since day one and pretty much considered him his best friend out of all the Wonderbolts. Even with his own brother Fire Streak, he didn’t feel the same connection he had with Soarin.

Lightning guided Soarin through the door and through the bar, making sure he didn’t bump into any chairs or tables. The contained smell of alcohol was enough to tell Soarin he had entered the bar, along with the wooden floorboards under his hooves.

“Okay…” Lightning gave Soarin a little push to get him into place. “Three...two...one…open your eyes.”

Soarin pulled his wings away from his face to see a cake on the table with candles lit on it. Twenty-six of them to be precise. The icing was blue and yellow, like the Wonderbolts theme pattern. Around him was his entire team, all grinning happily at him. And to his right side, he had his mare, Rainbow Dash.

♫Happy Birthday to you!♫
♫Happy Birthday to you!♫
♫Happy Birthday dear Soarin!♫
♫Happy Birthday to you!♫

Soarin couldn’t help but blush as they finished singing and started cheering and clapping. Not helped when Dash followed up with a quick peck on his cheek. “You guys…” Soarin chuckled. “You do this for everypony every year, but it never fails to--”

“LESS-SPEECH-MORE-CAKE-CUTTING!” Surprise quickly passed a knife over to him in her usual crazy manner. A manner which was only encouraged by the several pints of cider she was destined to consume throughout the course of the evening.

Soarin couldn’t help but laugh and just get on with it. He sliced into the cake and cut himself a generous slice. He placed it on a napkin to his side. “Commander has the knife,” he threw it in the air with a spin before catching it by the handle again as it fell back down to him. “Who else wants cake?”

Soarin spent the new few minutes cutting cake for everypony while the bar staff generously bought out some fresh cider for them. Given that they had reserved the place for the occasion, the service was exemplary.

“Heh, twenty-six years old eh Soarin?” Blaze said between chomps. Her hoof was constantly dancing between the cake and her glass of cider she rested on the table she was standing next too, doing battle over and over again in her head. Cake or cider, cake or cider, cake or cider...

“I know, I’m getting old,” Soarin joked, taking a bite of cake, noticing the actual sponge cake had been arranged in the colours of a rainbow. He couldn’t help but think about who thought of that idea...

“Are you sure about that?” Rapidfire joked from his seat to the side of him, raising an eyebrow.

Soarin turned his head towards Rapidfire. “Okay, GRAMPA.” He retorted, earning a few laughs from his fellow Wonderbolts.

“Hey, this grampa could still whoop your ass if he wanted to,” Rapidfire retorted before standing up to go get another cider.

“That’s gonna be Dash’s job tonight,” Blaze replied, smirking. “...If you’re into that, that is…”

Soarin raised an eyebrow, chuffed then shook his head. He turned and looked over at Dash, who smiled but then she noticed something. “Oh, you got a little bit on the tip of your nose.”

“Huh?” Soarin went cross-eyed trying to see the end of his nose.

“Let me get it,” Dash leaned in and gave his nose a quick lick, “There.”

“Why don’t you two just get a room now?” Blaze joked.

“That comes later,” Soarin replied with a smirk, wrapping his wing around Dash and hugging her close. “I’m sure I’ve got some birthday presents I’ve yet to--OW!”

“Shh,” Dash shushed him while jabbing him in the side, a blush slowly creeping onto her face.

Blaze giggled, “You two are so cute it makes me wanna puke more than eating this whole cake by myself would.” She took a bite out of the cake, noticing the colours in the sponge. She held a hoof to her mouth, trying to swallow it through her laughter. The colours had immediately made her think of something funny, making it difficult to swallow.

“Blaze…” Soarin sighed, picking up on her stifled giggling.“Don’t…”

“Are you…” Blaze tried to swallow through giggles, “Are you gonna…”

“Old joke,” Fleetfoot butted in, lifting a glass of cider off the table and holding it up to Blaze.

Blaze quickly nodded and put her cake slice down on the table and replaced it with the glass in her hooves, taking a big swig of it to help clear her throat. “Alright, alright, I won’t finish it…” She conceived, looking back down at the cake. “It’s an amazing cake, though.”

“I know, right?” Soarin replied through a mouthful, swallowing. “We’ve had plenty of decent birthday cakes before, but wow, this one tastes great.”

“I’ll let Pinkie know you loved it when I’m next in Ponyville,” Dash replied with a wink, devouring her own slice of it.

“You planned it?” Soarin asked, turning to Dash.

“Ehh,” Dash shrugged, “Guess I did. ‘Cause I’m such an awesome marefriend,” She answered with an eyebrow wiggle.

“I call BS,” Wave Chill butted in, “Who picked the bar?”

“Well...technically Spitfire…” Misty deduced, turning her head to look at Spitfire sitting at the table. Causing everypony else to do the same thing.

Spitfire held her hoof up as she finished a mouthful of cider. “Don’t drag me into this!” She joked with a smile.

“Don’t worry, I’ll consider it a group effort,” Soarin replied with a wink directed at Spitfire while taking a gulp of cider.

As Rapidfire returned from refilling his cider, he approached his chair. Which now had High Winds sitting on it. He loudly tapped his glass down on the table, interrupting High Winds conversation with Silver Lining. “Oh, sorry Rapid--”

“Don’t sweat it,” Rapidfire cut her off with a smile, winking. He simply took a few steps and started pulling another chair over to suit him.

“Don’t hurt yourself, Gramps,” Fire Streak joked, watching Rapidfire pull his chair up from the other side of the table.

“Yeah, real funny,” Rapidfire replied sarcastically, a smirk forming on his face as he took a seat. He extended his right foreleg onto the table and bent it in a V shape, his hoof pointing towards Fire Streak. “So you wouldn’t be afraid of this frail old stallion beating you in a hoof wrestle would ya, whippersnapper?”

Fire Streak’s eyes widened, and he pulled his head back a little bit. Suddenly feeling like he bit off a bit more than he could chew...and not just from the cake.

“Go, go, go, go, go,” Silver Lining started egging them on, banging the table with his hooves between each word. This caused several others to copy him.

Knowing that he couldn’t turn it down now, Fire Streak quickly chugged down the remaining half-pint or so of cider left in his glass, withholding a gag as he drank a little too fast for his stomachs liking. He slid the empty glass out of the way and leant over the table, meeting Rapidfire’s hoof with his own. “Count us in, birthday boy.”

Soarin smirked and held a hoof just above the table. “Okay. Three, two, one, GO!” He exclaimed and banged his hoof on the table at the same time.

Everypony cheered Fire Streak and Rapidfire on as they pushed against each other. Rapidfire proving that he wasn’t the frail old stallion that his teammates kept joking about. Spitfire smiled from afar, gently sipping her cider and knowing that her team were happy.

The match went on for quite some time, but Fire Streak eventually yielded when his hoof fell to the table with a thud. Cheers echoed throughout the bar as it happened. Luckily there was nopony else for the Wonderbolts to disturb.

“Y-yeah, well...I’m still sore from the show…” Fire Streak made excuses, rubbing his hoof.

“Sure you are, now move,” Wave Chill didn’t buy it for a second, and brushed him with his wing to try and shoo Fire out of the seat. Fire stepped out quickly and was replaced by Wave, who only glared into Rapidfire’s eyes and smiled...except it was a pretty stupid semi-drunk smile. “Let me show you how it’s done,” he jeered, flexing his muscles. He got a few jeers and ooooh’s in return.

“I better get in line,” Soarin joked, stepping to the side of the chair Wave was sitting on. There was already a small bundle around Wave itching to have a turn against Rapidfire when Wave would inevitably lose.

Dash couldn’t help but laugh at the site. This is precisely the kind of banter she’d come to know and love over the years. And she couldn’t help but sense that she would be getting involved soon as well...after a few more ciders that is…

Many hours passed, and the Wonderbolts happily stayed at the bar until closing time. Spitfire knew from experience what it was like trying to hoard several drunk Wonderbolts back home after a night of celebrations. Or in this case, the hotel.

As Spitfire promised, she carried Bright Skies away. Bright Skies slept happily on Spitfire’s back, her legs draped over Spitfire’s side and her chest slowly rising and falling. She looked so peaceful for somepony who was partying only a moment ago. Bright Skies was so small that carrying her on her back was no big deal to Spitfire. Although it did make it a little awkward to open her wings.

To them, they were walking and flying in perfectly straight lines. But in reality, they were all over the street. Of course, nopony seemed to care. Spitfire had learned to mostly ignore it as this point as long as they were going in roughly the right direction. She had only had a couple of ciders herself, so she was still very much aware of what was going on around her.

“Gee I’m so...drunk…” Soarin stated the obvious as he knocked against Dash.

“Don’t pass out on me just yet,” Dash replied, feeling a little buzzed herself. She wrapped a wing around him in a hug and leant in to whisper in his ear, “I haven’t given you your birthday present yet,” she whispered slyly.

Pomf

“Whoa!”

Soarin’s wings suddenly popped open, giving Dash a knock as they did. But she retained her footing and levelled herself out.

“Heh...sorry,” Soarin apologised, blushing. His cheeks were already a little rosy from all the alcohol, but it wasn’t helped by his...other thoughts...it was also an unusually cold nightly breeze. Summer wasn’t quite there in full force yet.

“Yeah…” Blaze suddenly slid between them, “Looks like you’re gonna get to taste the rainbo--”

“BLAZE!”

Blaze couldn’t but burst out in laughter. It took several moments for her to get it out of her system. “Sorry, sorry...just couldn’t go without saying it,” she admitted, laughing again.

Dash’s ears folded back almost naturally and she felt herself blushing. But not from Blaze’s teasing...but more to do with...well...Blaze might actually be right…

Once they arrived at the hotel, they quickly wandered towards the elevator. A member of the hotel's staff had to shush them to make sure they didn’t wake up the other guests.

The elevator was very cramped, but it wasn’t exactly designed to take a dozen Wonderbolts all at once. Any regular group of ponies would have simply taken turns...a group of drunk ponies, however…

As the elevator ascended, Dash felt something on her lower left side. She looked to see Soarin already had his hooves all over her, subtly exploring her toned body...not that she was complaining. All she could do was look him in the eyes and smile, and he did the same.

The elevator dinged as it reached the floor their rooms were located on. Everypony bundled out of the doors as they opened, into the hallway. A sign pointing in the direction of various room numbers was there to greet them, causing everypony to get their keys out to remember their numbers.

“Goodnight guys,” Dash loud-whispered, having identified where her and Soarin's room was. She wrapped a wing around Soarin and tried to pull him in that direction, but Soarin seemed to have other ideas as he walked in the other direction. “No, this way,” Dash corrected him, giving him a tug.

Soarin returned to Dash’s side, trotting along with her, looking a bit confused. “Are you sure?” he murmured.

“I’m pretty sure,” Dash replied with a smirk. She always found Soarin a little funnier when he was drunk...although she was also more easily entertained when she was drunk herself…

She found the room and unlocked the door with the key, letting Soarin go in first. She trotted in after him and looked behind her. A few of her teammates were walking down the corridor to their respective rooms, but Blaze was actually walking past.

Blaze stopped briefly outside Dash’s door to wolf whistle and wink at Dash before continuing on her walk. Dash shook her head before closing the door.

She turned into the room and flicked the light switch on. Soarin had already made his way over to the bed, taking up the very centre of the double bed and spreading himself out.

“Comfy?” Dash chimed, perching on the edge. All she got was a hum in response, which made her giggle a little. “Alright,” she stood up, “Stay here,” she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be right back.” She said, picking up her bag.

Soarin simply hummed in pleasure as he watched Dash trot into the bathroom. As he waited, he assessed the comfort of the bed. It wasn’t a hotel they had stayed in before, and the bed was...actually one of the comfiest he’d stayed in on an away show. It was so good in fact, he could feel himself dozing off…

Meanwhile, Dash slowly opened the bathroom door. “Okay, birthday boy…” she said in a deep voice and trotted out with a little spring in her step. “I hope you’re...ready…” her voice returned to normal as the sound of snoring met her ears. She saw Soarin fast asleep on the bed. “...Seriously?” She spoke to herself with a frown.

She continued walking towards the bed, standing up on it and straddling herself over Soarin. She raised her hoof up slowly…

...and gave Soarin a friendly jab in one of the pressure points on his side.

“BAH!” Soarin shook awake, his eyes shooting open. He breathed rapidly as he took in his surroundings...especially the one standing on top of him. He was particularly interested in the black nightgown Dash was wearing. It was quite see-through, and it made him look down her entire body. “...Is this a dream?” Soarin asked, a blush forming on his face.

“It sure isn’t,” Dash replied, wiggling her eyebrows. “Maybe don’t fall asleep next time and you won’t have to ask,” she suggested, lowering herself.

“I’ll keep that in miiimmpph--” Soarin’s words got cutoff as Dash’s lips met his own. She rested down on top of his body, and he happily took the weight.

Their tongues danced around each other's mouths while Soarin’s hooves explored Dash’s body in the silky smooth getup she was wearing. Her toned figure was always something Soarin didn’t mind having under his hooves, but the silky nightgown only added to the effect.

Their kiss eventually broke apart, giving each other a chance to catch their breath. Soarin gazed into her eyes before looking back down and running a hoof along her body again. “You don’t normally wear sexy clothes. You aren’t going soft, are you, Dashie?” Soarin teased.

“Hey, I just wanted to do something nice for your birthday. There wasn’t much else we could do since it clashed with this show,” Dash replied. “Don’t you dare tell anypony though,” she warned.

“Of course,” Soarin replied winking.

Dash ran a hoof over his chest, playing with his fur. Getting a feel for his breathing rhythm. She rested her hoof on his heart, feeling it beating a mile a minute. She liked it. “I think somepony’s ready,” she stated, raising an eyebrow at Soarin.

“You’re damn right I am,” Soarin replied, furrowing his brow into a more serious look and reaching up to Dash’s shoulders with his forehooves.

“Uh-uh,” Dash brushed his forelegs away, “It’s your birthday; just relax and let me do all the hard work…” She said slyly while brushing a hoof through his mane.

Soarin sighed and smiled, resting his head back into the pillow and closing his eyes. “You’re an angel…”

“Besides, I’m lighter than you. It might make the bed squeak less.”

Soarin couldn’t help but chuckle as she was absolutely right. “And you’re funny too…” he opened his eyes to look up at Dash, getting herself into position. He couldn’t help but think about how lucky he was. Four years with her. And he’d spent pretty much every moment since then with her. Despite his drunken state, he hadn’t forgotten about the rings in his jacket pocket. He loved her. With all his heart. And he was confident she felt the same way. How he would propose was constantly on his mind. But for now, he could think about it later. He just wanted to enjoy this moment...

Author's Note

Well then...I've been looking forward to writing this for a long time. So welcome to the madness! :pinkiecrazy:

As you probably deduced, this story take place roughly 4 years after Wonderbolts Trials and Tribulations. Whilst I will try and follow cannon to a certain degree, please bear in mind that I started writing this whilst season 4 was still airing. So please only consider everything up to the end of season 4 cannon.
(Particularly when it comes to the Griffon lore...thanks Hasbro...)

TBH I really wanted to commission a badass cover art for this story. But the Coronavirus currently doing the rounds around the world has put my job on hold for the time being, so I can't justify the spending at the moment. Hopefully once this all blows over...

...That being said, with my job on hold, I at least have more time to put to writing! :rainbowlaugh:

Thanks for reading! :twilightsmile:

Chapter 2: Brewing Storm

Rainbow Dash hummed a tune to herself as she stared herself down in the mirror. Outside she could hear the faint chants of the Baltimare crowd in the background, but it was heavily drowned out by the sound of the radio. She tended to tune herself out of listening to the radio nowadays, all that was ever on was non-stop news about the political situation in the Griffon Kingdom.

She finished combing her mane then struck a pose, admiring how she looked in the flight suit. She looked herself in the eye, then looked up and down her head. She looked good...but not quite good enough. Her mane was very flat...

“Nah,” she disagreed to herself, shaking her head violently to fluff her mane back up. It was only gonna get that way again from flying anyway. “Do I look good?” She asked openly, turning her head to her teammates behind her, also getting ready in the locker room.

Blaze chuckled as she zipped her flight suit up. “Dash,” she twisted on the bench to face her, “If both of us were gay, you’d be my first pick.”

“Uhh…” Dash raised an eyebrow, “Thanks...I guess?”

“You’d have to fight Soarin for her first,” Misty joked, stuffing her bags into one of the lockers.

“Speaking of Soarin,” High Winds asked in a muffled voice, trotting over to Dash. She took the hair tie out of her mouth. “How’s he feeling? You know, his first show that he’s planned and coordinated and everything…” High Winds asked while tying her mane back in a ponytail.

With High Winds questions, Dash suddenly found all eyes in the mares locker room centred on herself. “Are you trying to hint something at me?” Dash joked with a smile. “For real, though, I haven’t talked to him since we got here.” She admitted, trotting over to her bags and picking them up. “And he hasn’t really spoken that much about it.” She explained, picking her bags up and putting them in whatever locker was free along the wall of lockers running through the back of the locker room.

“Maybe he’s nervous?” Misty suggested, “It’s not every day Spitfire goes on vacation and leaves somepony else to plan and coordinate an entire show.”

“She picked the right time, I hear it’s like a hundred degrees in Irwind in the middle of summer,” Blaze huffed just thinking about the temperature.

“Do you ever go on vacation with your sister?” Bright Skies asked, zipping up the headpiece of her uniform.

“Eh…” Blaze frowned, “We have different ideas. Laying around in the sun ain’t my idea of a vacation. I’d rather go skiing in the Crystal Empire, or something with more...activity.”

Bright Skies shrugged, “Each to their own, I guess,” she deduced. “Anyway, are you...going...to…” Bright trailed off as she realized that Dash had silently left the conversation while they were talking. “...Dash?”

Dash trotted out the mares locker room into an open space that separated the mares and the stallions. With fewer walls in the way, the echoes of the screaming fans were more prominent. Even though she had been doing this for four years now, it still gave her a tingle down her spine when she was reminded how many thousands of ponies were there, looking forward to seeing her. A feeling she once shared when she was younger.

She saw Soarin over in the corner. He had his flight suit on and was ready to go. He appeared to just be going over his notes. He glanced up as he heard somepony walking towards him. Seeing as it was Dash, he shot her a smile then looked back down into his paperwork.

“Nervous?” Dash asked directly, she didn’t do word mincing.

“...A little,” Soarin replied, knowing that lying was pointless now that they had been together for so long. “This is my first time doing it all by myself without any input from Spitfire.”

“Trust me, they’re gonna love it!” Dash exclaimed enthusiastically. “Trust me AND Spitfire! She obviously trusts you to do a good job seeing as she left you in charge.” She explained, taking a seat on the bench next to Soarin.

“I know, I guess I just keep going over it in my mind. Overthinking everything,” Soarin sighed with a smile. It was true, he had memorized these notes down to the letter. Perhaps he was getting too worked up.

“Then think about something else for a while,” Dash winked and leant in, landing a kiss on his cheek. “Here’s a hint.”

Soarin chuffed, “I think that would be even more distracting,” He joked.

“...Yeah, I am a pretty good distraction.” Dash admitted with a chuckle. “C’mere,” She extended her wing and wrapped it around his torso, pulling them together. She rested her head on his shoulder and tilted her head up to whisper into his ear. “Quit your worrying and just go with the flow.”

Soarin smiled. “Yeah…”

Just go with the flow...He’d been given similar advice to that about something else already. Problem is that this just didn’t feel like the right time. They were alone, and all their friends were just next door. But it just...didn’t feel right. The opportunity was there, but he just wasn’t feeling it...he withheld a sigh as he reluctantly decided to save it for another chance. He wanted his proposal to feel more special, and it just wasn’t the right mood.

As the doors creaked open, Soarin and Dash separated and brought themselves to their hooves. Soarin rolled his shoulders in his sockets to do a quick warm-up.

“Personal briefing, eh?” Lightning Streak joked as he came out of the stallions locker room, winking and bouncing his eyes between Soarin and Dash.

“I don’t think there was much briefing going on,” His brother Fire Streak joined in behind him.

Soarin shook his head and chuffed at their joking.

“Damn I’ve got a good feeling about this one,” Fleetfoot said, walking out of the locker room and into the space. She bent her neck from side to side and slowly extended her wings, gently raising and lowering them to stretch. “How about you, Soarin?”

“You bet I have,” Soarin replied with a smile. Seeing his team pumped always worked up his enthusiasm. It was like a knock-on effect. “Fall in everypony, briefing time,” he called out, making a circular motion with his hoof.

Everypony made a circle in the middle of the room, with all eyes on Soarin. “Okay, well, I know we usually expect Spitfire to do this, and it’s nothing we haven’t heard before, so I’ll make this quick,” Soarin explained.

“We’ll take it easy on ya,” Rapidfire responded with a wink, causing a few chuckles.

Soarin smirked, “You better, ‘cause I can guarantee that Spitfire will be watching the news like a hawk and will chastise all of us if we screw it up.” Soarin’s deduction got a laugh out of everypony. “Now, this should be fairly routine stuff for us by now. Nothing we haven’t done before, just mixing it up a little. The intro will be around the perimeter of the stadium along the crowd. We’re in four groups of three, colour coded as usual. Feel free to mix things up and put on a show, but please stick to the timings.” He tossed some pieces of paper with his notes on them into the middle of the group to remind them. “I’m sure you’ve all read them, but just in case. Any questions?”

“Yeah,” Silver Lining raised his hoof. “How much crossover between our sections are we allowed?”

“I know Spitfire’s normally quite strict on it, but I’m not quite so much,” Soarin replied. “Just keep it consistent and predictable. I don’t want to see any hesitation or anything else that might disrupt the flow of the show.”

Silver nodded in acknowledgement.

“Anything else?” Soarin asked, looking around, but everypony seemed complacent.

A knock on the main door drew his attention. He looked over his shoulder as the door opened, a member of staff sticking her head through. “Five minutes,” the mare reminded them before leaving.

“Alright, places everypony!” Soarin called out, extending his hoof into the middle of the group. Everypony followed suit, and they all held their hooves together as close as they could get them. “Three...two...one…”

“GO!” Everypony called at the same time, pushing their hooves into the middle of the group. They all bounced off each other and up into the air before turning around.

Soarin held the main door open for everypony, motioning with his hoof for everypony to follow through. His teammates mingled with each other while walking towards the starting position.

Dash deliberately waited until she was the last one to leave, shooting Soarin a grin as she approached the door. She slowly trotted closer until she was standing next to him. “Good luck,” she encouraged before planting a kiss on his lips.

Soarin happily returned the kiss, breaking it quickly. “Thanks. You just knock ‘em dead!”

Dash chuckled, resuming her walk towards her starting position. “Don’t I always?”

Soarin chuffed and smiled, watching her walk. Confirming that there was nopony else, he retracted his hoof holding the door open and walked towards the start himself. The sound of the cheering crowds only grew louder as he walked through the corridor, which only made the smile across his face grow wider. Luckily he was behind everypony so they couldn’t see him. His first time in charge...even though he was a bit nervous, the feeling was very much overshadowed by his excitement.

The streets of Canterlot were brimming with activity. The rays of light flickering through the clouds combined with the pleasant heat was a clear sign that summer was on its way. Many students had their summer breaks at the forefront of their mind.

For Spitfire, however, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

The moment her train pulled into the station, she was ready at the door to leave. The train carriage doors flung open, and she immediately stepped onto the platform. She was carrying a suitcase to her side, holding it with her wing as it wheeled along.

She walked quickly through Canterlot train station out onto the streets, drawing lots of attention as she walked. The publicity of being a Wonderbolt captain wasn’t always an advantage, especially when she stood out like a sore hoof in her dress uniform. Luckily her shades helped somewhat with the eye contact.

She walked hastily through Canterlot, towards the main castle. Walking down the street, she attracted a lot of attention, which she simply ignored or politely said she was on a tight schedule. Or at least, as politely as her current temperament would let her. She was having a nice relaxing vacation in Irwind, only to be dragged away to an emergency defence meeting. Of course, with the news being littered with rumours coming from the situation in the Griffon Kingdom, she hoped that it wasn’t what she thought it was…

She trotted towards the main entrance of the castle, where two of Canterlot’s royal guards in their traditional armour were standing at the door. Their eyes immediately locked on her as she approached.

“Captain!” The pony on the right greeted and saluted, his colleague followed suit.

“Private,” Spitfire greeted him back as she approached, also raising her hoof in a salute. She stopped just short of him. “I’m gonna need one of you to show me to…” she reached into the inner pocket of her blazer with her free wing and pulled out a letter, quickly skim-reading it. “...elevator three of the Starswirl wing.”

The stallion looked over at his colleague. “Would you kindly, Granite?” he said while motioning with his head.

“Yes sir,” Granite replied, nodding. He looked over at Spitfire, “Please follow me, Captain,” he instructed, stepping through the door.

Spitfire followed him in, hearing the wooden doors closing behind her. Canterlot Castle was very much showing its age, the stonework looked like something straight out of a fantasy novel. But it had modern features retrofitted to it such as electric lights that illuminated its interior. It even had an aged smell to it, only just noticeable over the scent of the cleaning products, as it was rightfully so kept spotless, being the home of Princess Celestia and Luna.

“Can I ask you a question, Captain?” Young Granite asked as he walked Spitfire through the halls.

“That depends,” Spitfire replied, looking around. Of course, she had been to Canterlot Castle plenty of times, but it wasn’t often she got to have a good look around. She was usually there on business, so didn’t get the chance to sightsee.

“There’s been a lot of ponies going this way today. Is something going on?” He asked, turning a corner.

Spitfire remained silent. It really was the elephant in the room. She didn’t really know how to respond, as she couldn’t get it off her mind either…

“It’s just...with what's been in the news and all…” Granite trailed off. He didn’t want to accidentally insult her by stating the obvious.

“I understand,” Spitfire replied. “I’m not sure myself as...well, I’ve been on vacation.” She explained, hoping that would be obvious as she was trailing a suitcase alongside her. “But if it was the worst-case scenario, I think we would have heard something by now.”

“That’s what I thought as well.” Granite replied, stopping where another corridor met the one they were walking down. “The elevator is at the end of this corridor.”

“Thank you, Private,” Spitfire replied. “Can you do me a favour and look after this?” She wheeled her suitcase over to him. “I’ll pick it up when I get out.”

“I, uhh...um, sure!” He blurted and took the handle, not expecting the request. “I mean, yes, ma’am.”

Spitfire smiled. “Thank you, Private,” she said again, saluting.

Granite returned the salute. And with that, Spitfire didn’t waste any more time and started walking fast towards the end of the corridor. She slipped her shades off with her wing and tucked one of the legs between her shirt to hold them.

At the end of the corridor, she found the elevator. Or at least the shaft where it would come from. There was a gridded gate in the way to stop anypony accidentally falling down it. She pressed a button mounted on the wall and heard a ding. Seconds later, the subtle whirring of machinery indicated the elevator was on its way.

When it arrived, she was greeted by an older stallion in a suit. “Good morning, Captain,” he said with a smile.

“Morning,” Spitfire greeted, stepping inside the elevator cab. “Can you take me to the--”

“Map room?” The old stallion cut off.

Spitfire glanced over at him, raising an eyebrow.

He only smiled in response. “There’s been plenty of folk heading that way, call it a lucky guess.” He explained, reaching forward and closing the safety gate. He then reached down the control panel by his side and pressed the appropriate button.

The machinery whirred into life again, and Spitfire watched the corridor she just came from fade away as the elevator descended. Giving her a beautiful view of the inside walls of the elevator shaft. It was rare to have these types of elevators still in service, so all it did was highlight how old Canterlot castle really was.

The pair of them stood in silence as the elevator descended for several seconds. Spitfire got a brief glance at several rooms and walkways as the elevator descended before it slowly came to a stop. The stallion reached over and opened the safety gate.

“Thank you,” Spitfire thanked him as she stepped off.

As Spitfire walked forward, she heard the sounds of the gates closing on the elevator, and it whirred back up the shaft. She took a moment to take in where she was. She had never been to this part of Canterlot Castle. But the first thing that stood out was the light...or rather, lack of it. The corridor was lit up by a single emergency-looking light. And the walls were solid stone. No decorations or anything, just a dull grey all the way through. The coldness under her hooves only emphasized how barren it was. It had a distinct dusty smell to it, similar to a museum. It was apparent this hasn’t been used in a while.

She trotted straight to the door on the other end, pushing it straight through. As she entered, it was a different story entirely. Coming through the door, there was immediately more light in the room she had entered. But still no windows. She saw somepony, a white stallion wearing purple armour, resting on the guardrail overlooking whatever was on the floor below them.

“Captain Armor,” Spitfire made her presence aware, recognising the pony she saw in front of her.

Shining Armor looked over his shoulder. He smiled and turned to face her. “Captain Spitfire, glad to see you...eventually…”

“Don’t go there,” Spitfire said with a frown, picking up that he had a jab at her lateness. “I’ve just come straight from my interrupted vacation in Irwind directly to here.” She extended her hoof to him.

“It’s never a good time, is it?” Shining replied, shaking her hoof. “C’mon, we’ve waited long enough.” He motioned with his head to another door.

Spitfire had a glance down over the balcony they were standing on. About a floor or two below them was a massive map of Equestria and its neighbours covering almost the whole room. Ponies were standing around, putting various markers into position. Specifically around the eastern coast of Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom. Spitfires concerns were confirmed, they really were prepping for the worst-case scenario. Nevertheless, proper preparation and planning for such an event was always a good idea. Spitfire had no doubt in her mind that her presence was necessary.

She trotted through the door to find several ponies in the room. Some she recognised, some she didn’t. But she knew that they were all the top commanders in Equestria’s military. They were congregated around a big meeting room table in the middle, various paperwork and other items scattered over it already. To the right was a big window spanning the length of the room to allow them to peer down at the map below them.

“Captain Spitfire, good that you could finally join us.” An old stallion at the top of the table greeted her. He was a unicorn wearing a royal guard uniform. He had a light blue coat, and he probably had a turquoise mane back when he was Spitfire’s age, but it had mostly turned white now.

“Sorry, General,” Spitfire apologised. She didn’t know his name, she just picked up on his rank from the insignia on the shoulder boards of his uniform. “I’ve come directly from my vacation in Irwind.”

“I’m sorry to have dragged you away,” he continued, “But I assure you the decision to hold this meeting immediately wasn’t taken lightly. Please have a seat,” he motioned with his hoof to the table.

Spitfire took her seat, aptly named for her with a name sign triangle placed on the table in front of it. She quietly sighed as she was finally able to take the weight off her hooves after rushing to get here. She sat alongside somepony else who she also didn’t recognise. Another unicorn mare, but she didn’t seem to be affiliated with any part of Equestria’s military. Or at least Spitfire couldn’t tell from the uniform, it just looked like a standard black suit to her. She had a navy blue coat and a brown mane with a centre split.

“Now then,” the stallion leading the conversation leaned into the table. As he leaned, he removed his foreleg, blocking the view to his name triangle for Spitfire to read. Ace Heart. General. “We’ve all probably got a good idea why we’re here, but the situations changed somewhat within the last twenty-four hours…”

Ace took a little glance out the window down at the map before looking back at the ponies he was addressing. “We sent a peaceful diplomatic mission to Griffonstone via airship, but we received a message yesterday during its transit that it was under attack. We’re yet to have a statement from the Griffon Kingdom, but intelligence provided by the EOI-” he pointed at the mare sitting next to Spitfire “-has given us evidence that this attack did come from a Griffon Kingdom airship. All lives were lost in this cowardly attack on a civilian vessel.”

The tension in the room went from zero to a hundred real quick. Spitfire glanced at the pony sitting next to her, then down at the triangle with her name on it. Snapshot was her name, and from Ace’s description, she worked for the EOI...the Equestrian Office of Intelligence. Spitfire had never been quite sure exactly what it did, but it sounded like some sort of spy operation. So maybe it was best if it remained that way...

“Mares and stallions,” Ace rose to his hooves and furrowed his brow. “I regret to inform you that once again, Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom are at war.”

Now things definitely weren’t comfortable. Spitfire could feel her heart rate increasing. It was actually happening. She always considered it a possibility, but never imagined it to actually happen.

“Princess Celestia is expected to make a speech about it tomorrow morning. Until then, that is strictly confidential information.” Ace explained, then sat back down. Everypony nodded in acknowledgement. “Speaking to Princess Celestia this morning, she has appointed me as commander in chief of the Equestrian military for this war. My succession obviously leaves a slot to fill as Captain of Equestria’s royal guard, so…” he turned his head to one of the ponies sitting on his left. “Congratulations, Captain Longsword. Much like Captain Armor’s succession to the Crystal Empire paved the way for me, you now take the command I once had.” He congratulated while motioning with his hoof towards Longsword.

“Thank you, sir. I’m honoured, but it’s regrettable that it’s under such circumstances.” The stallion spoke neutrally. Spitfire looked over at him, recognising the face of the earth pony. Maybe they had met before. Longsword had a golden-yellow coat with a long blonde mane flowing down his back. Apart from Spitfire herself, he looked like he could be the youngest here.

Ace stood up again. “Now then, to business.” He gracefully trotted over to the window to observe the giant map below them. “Let's start with the north. The obvious way the Griffons would enter Equestria is via the shore and railroad link between the Crystal Mountains and the Griffon Kingdom’s northern territory of Taltona.”

“I agree,” Longsword continued, shifting attention to himself. “Although history has proven that the difficult terrain makes it very much a stalemate. It would be a battle of attrition…” Longsword turned his head to look at Snapshot. “How do the numbers look?”

“Numbers on the ground are difficult due to several reports of in-fighting inside the Griffon Kingdom. It seems President Eadric’s succession to the old king hasn’t gone down perfectly...” Snapshot reported briefly while turning a few pages of the file in front of her before resting it once she had found the data she was looking for. “But not including those still in training and those in reserve, we will have approximately six hundred and fifty thousands ponies on standby by the end of this week…but current reports state that the Griffon Kingdom could potentially be up to two million.”

“Hmm…” Ace Heart turned around to face his staff. “So a war of attrition would not be on our side. How do our air and naval forces compare?” He asked, rubbing his chin.

“That’s pretty much the only advantage we have,” Snapshot spoke, turning a few more pages. “Our navy is pretty much equal in strength, but our airship force outnumbers them at an almost two to one ratio.”

“So are you suggesting the quickest way to end this would be by forcing our way in through the Celestial Ocean?” Ace suggested, raising an eyebrow.

“Purely on the numbers, I would agree, yes,” Snapshot replied, nodding her head, then looking over at an earth pony stallion with a mint green coat and a faded orange mane, with a few strands giving way to gray hairs. It was horribly combed-over trying to cover a bald patch, which wasn’t fooling anypony. The name ‘Admiral High Tide’ was written on the name triangle in front of him. “However, you may have other ideas, Admiral. Our observations have seen the Griffon shipyards churning out lots of submarines rather than conventional warships, but it looks like they’re soon to be investing heavily on the latter also. It would seem the Griffon Navy is modernising.”

“Submarines?” High Tide raised an eyebrow, half-smiling. “If they’re anything like ours, they ain’t much use in combat. The boiler takes too long to--”

“They’re not boiler-powered,” Snapshot cut in, lifting a picture out of a file. “We don’t know how they work, the only thing we’ve observed is that their fuel source seems to be some type of transparent yellow-golden liquid.” Snapshot slid the picture over the table towards him with her magic.

High Tide took the picture in his hooves and lifted it up, making a very concentrated look on his face. He stroked his beard while examining it. “Wow, that’s...streamlined. I guess if it has no boiler, it doesn’t need a wide bulge in the middle.”

“There’s rough dimensions on the back,” Snapshot added, making a rotating motion with her hoof.

High Tide flipped the picture over to see hoof-drawn sketches of the Griffon boat with rough dimensions written on them. “Your agent drew this?”

“Yes, and he was caught while doing it.”

That caught the attention of everypony in the room. With all eyes locked onto her, Snapshot sighed. “I’ve lost contact with a lot of agents these past few days. This situation has likely caused the Griffons to take more security precautions, leading to their discovery…I hope they survive…”

“All the more reason we’re here today, to get this war won as soon as we can.” Ace encouraged. “Since our navy and airship force have superior numbers on their side, how plausible is an amphibious assault?”

“On paper, easy,” Snapshot stood up, “But part of me feels we’re being deceived…” She led on, walking towards a scaled-down version of the same map they had below them hung up on the wall.

“Explain?” Ace asked.

“Well, quite simply, the vast majority of the Griffon navy is currently operating out of the southern territories of the kingdom here,” Snapshot explained while pointing to the southern points of the Griffon Kingdom on the map. “And there’s a lot of the naval traffic going south, around Equestria, escorting cargo ships,” she motioned with her hoof the rough path the ships were taking.

“Where are these cargo ships going?” Ace asked.

“We don’t know,” Snapshot replied bluntly, returning to her seat. “They’ve been heading that way for some time, but there was never an opportunity to shadow them safely. We think their destination is somewhere in the Luna Ocean.”

“And what about their cargo?” Ace asked while looking at the map, trying to picture the route in his mind.

“We don’t know that either,” Snapshot replied. “Those naval bases are locked down tighter than Tartarus. We’ve had enough incidents these past few days, I’m not risking anypony else's lives sending them in there.”

The air in the meeting room hung silent for a moment. Snapshot’s words only served as a reminder that this wasn’t a game. Lives were on the line.

“However,” Snapshot started again, pulling out another photo. “We did spot this as one of the ships was docking a few weeks ago.”

Snapshot slid the photo up the table with her magic towards Ace, who picked it up and examined it. The picture was of Eadric, the griffon who had just taken control of the Griffon Kingdom, shaking the hoof of a mare. Eadric had golden feathers around his head and chest with small white patches on his chest, but the rest of his body was dark grey. Or at least what could be seen under the black uniform he was wearing. The mare was an earth pony and had a faded yellow coat, like the colour of sand, with an ocean blue mane with a white stripe through the middle.

“Who is this mare?” Ace asked, looking over at Snapshot.

“Luckily the agent who took the picture recognised her, we would’ve been at it for weeks trying to find out otherwise,” Snapshot replied, a half-smirk on her face. “Her name is Sandbrush, she’s an archaeologist. And a pretty famous one it turns out, look anywhere from anywhere in the Equestrian Museum of Natural History, and you’ll see her name credited for something.”

“So she’s a real-life Daring Do?” Ace chuckled, “What’s she doing in the Griffon Kingdom?”

“She set sail from Vanhoover several months ago on an expedition...into the Luna Ocean…” Snapshot explained slowly, knowing that it wouldn’t take long for everypony in the room to put two and two together.

“You think she was going the same place as the Griffons?” Ace asked, raising an eyebrow.

“That’s open to speculation. Though the bottom line is that we won’t know without asking her...but, it’s a fairly safe presumption that she encountered the Griffons somewhere in the Luna Ocean.” Sandbrush deduced.

“Or on a land they found beyond it,” Ace added, sliding the photograph back down the table. “She doesn’t look like she’s been taken prisoner in the picture, though. In fact, she’s even smiling…”

“It could just be an act. I’ll let you know when I have more info,” Snapshot replied, taking the picture back into her file.

Ace got up and walked towards the map, staring at it for a few seconds before speaking again. “So if an invasion through the north is off the cards, we have no choice but to cross the Celestial Ocean…” he turned his head to look at Shining Armor. “How long would your forces be able to hold back a Griffon invasion, Captain Armor?”

“My mares and stallions know the Crystal Empire as if it were their own back yard, but we wouldn’t last forever,” Shining answered. “I think we would do well, but the Crystal Empire doesn’t account for even a fraction of the figures Snapshot mentioned earlier.”

“Hmm…” Ace looked back at the map, eyeing up the Griffon Kingdom’s coastline while rubbing his chin. “A naval assault would have to hit the Grif’s hard and fast. That would force them to redistribute their armies, potentially opening up a window of opportunity for you to strike into Taltona.”

“Timing would be key, but we’d need all the support we can get.” Shining Armor agreed, looking over at Spitfire. “I trust your squad is ready?”

“It’s what we train for,” Spitfire replied, locking eyes with Shining. “We may be show-ponies as a day-job, but my squad will overcome anything thrown at them…” Spitfire broke eye contact and sighed, “I just don’t think anypony will be expecting this news.”

“I know that feeling,” Longsword joined in, “There’s gonna be a lot of awkward conversations after this, at least until Celestia makes her announcement.”

“We live in extraordinary times,” Admiral Swift Sprint joined in. It had been a while since Spitfire had seen him, but he still looked like the same old stallion she remembered. Although she spotted a few grey patches in his buzz-cut blue mane. She vaguely remembered his son Torque when he tried out for the Wonderbolts as well. “Four hundred years since the last time we were at war with the Grifs. Doesn’t really come into perspective until you say it out loud and think about it, doesn’t it? I’m an old fart, but the only stories I’ve heard about it came from my grandfather, and even then it was vague because it had been passed down to him.”

“I just hope that it never reaches Equestrian territory,” Shining Armor said, leaning back in his chair. “Four hundred years...ponies have probably forgotten the definition of war, let alone willing to take up arms and defend against a Griffon invasion. And I’ve got a wife and a daughter to defend…”

“Not to mention that a lot has changed in four hundred years,” Admiral High Tide added. “Ships no longer need sails, airships are brand new in comparison, and we now have a much wider choice of ranged weapons rather than just the bow and arrow.”

Spitfire chuckled, “It’s funny how airships came in as a revolution and are now fading into obsolescence in such a short amount of time.”

“I would argue that they have their place,” Swift Sprint contested. “They can drop heavy ordnance on targets hundreds of miles inland. Something a battleship can’t do.”

“If they don’t get shot down en route,” High Tide jested with a smirk. “They’re slow, and they’re big targets. And the problem is that their armour can’t get better because they’re limited by weight. Too heavy and they won’t fly. And modern projectiles can tear them to shreds.”

“Well if you want to prove that they’re slow, we can have a drag race over the Celestial Ocean. Because last time I checked, you don’t have any boats that can go faster than a hundred knots.” Swift Sprint joked back at him.

The conversation was interrupted by Ace Heart loudly clearing his throat and grabbing everypony’s attention. While they had been talking, he had been busy drawing on the map on the wall.

“I’ve come up with a plan, feel free to share your thoughts.” He stood out the way for everypony to see and picked up a pointing stick to help demonstrate what all his squiggles meant. “We know the battle over the river between Yaket Range and Taltona will be a stalemate, so we need to act quickly. So I propose launching two naval assaults from Trottingham backed up by air and naval assets, targeting locations either side of the Guto River.” He tapped on the locations on the map, bouncing back and forth between them.

“But Trottingham naval base isn’t exactly a major strategic location, so it isn’t really prepped for being the centre of operations. It would take weeks to prepare something like that,” High Tide raised his concern.

“Correct, Admiral. Well spotted. And that’s what I want the Grifs to spot too,” Ace Heart continued with a smile, obviously having put a lot of thought into this. “Once the Grifs realise what’s going on at Griffish Isles, they will be aware of how long it will take for the operation to commence, making them likely to launch a pre-emptive strike. They will likely send more support from their navy to try and isolate the Isle.” He dragged his pointer along the map to try and illustrate their movement. “After they do this, they will have split their fleet in two. With the north of the Griffon Kingdom under siege from our landings off Trottingham, they won’t risk docking there. They will essentially be cut off from their supply lines. While this might mean more casualties in the northern battles, it would mean that we could use our own navy to force their ships to stay up there. With no way of refuelling or rearming, they would act cautiously.”

“Cautiously?” Spitfire chuckled, “Have you ever met a Griffon?”

“Even if they don’t, we can use our superior navy and airship numbers to outgun them,” Ace stated. “While we’re dealing with that, we launch two more amphibious assaults. Further south, but not quite to Griffonstone,” he pointed at two locations north of the kingdom's capital of Griffonstone. “The southern invasion point simply digs in and holds off any forces coming from Griffonstone. The northern one links up with the invasion from Trottingham earlier and continues to push north. With their link to Griffonstone cutoff, we’ll have them encircled, and the rest should be easy.”

“You say easy, but Spitfire’s right,” Shining Armor commented. “Even under an encirclement, the Griffons won’t go down without a fight.”

“Admiral Swift Sprint’s airships will be on hand to provide as much support as possible if required. But somepony else can feel free to come up with a better idea…”

The room fell silent at Ace’s suggestion. While it had its flaws, Spitfire had to admit, she couldn’t see any better way around it.

“I think it’s the best we can do given the resources we have, General,” Snapshot was the first to speak in agreement. “However, we won’t be the only ones planning. Eadric probably has his own high command sitting around a table exactly like we are right now thinking of how best to invade. It won’t take them long to come to the same conclusion we’ve reached about trying to travel over the northern river between Taltona and Yaket Range.”

“I also have concerns about these convoys heading to the Luna Ocean,” Admiral Swift Sprint added, bringing himself to his hooves. “I have a theory about what they’re transporting…” he slowly walked around the table and over to the map, standing the opposite side to Ace. “The Griffon Kingdom isn’t a huge country when compared with Equestria. Their resource reserves can’t be that huge. I have a theory that they found somewhere to gather resources from in a land beyond the Luna Ocean, and these convoys are what's ferrying their supplies back to the Griffon Kingdom.”

“That’s pretty out there for a theory…” High Tide questioned, raising an eyebrow. “...But honestly, I can’t think of any other reason myself. However, if you’re suggesting we somehow disrupt these ships, my navy will be stretched thin enough as it is with the current plan.”

“If they’ve got the vast majority of the Griffon navy to protect those convoys, they must be carrying something important,” Snapshot added, glancing over at High Tide before looking back at Ace. “But I agree with Admiral Tide. We should be concentrating on putting the Grifs on the back hoof...or rather, paw first. The numbers don’t make for very good odds, we need to focus on superiority quickly.”

“I actually think what Admiral Sprint’s suggesting is a good idea…” Shining Armor continued to debate, drawing everypony’s attention to him. “Think about it; if his theory is correct, then we could cause a big problem for the Griffons. Ships and airships can’t sail and fly without coal, artillery can’t fire without black powder, maybe even that mysterious fuel source they’re using in those new ships they’re building only comes from...wherever it is they found.”

Shining’s words had everypony rubbing their chin. It was clear this wasn’t going to be an easy decision, with such limited resources. The room was silent for several moments while everypony thought.

“I think there’s clearly three points of interest here that we need to decide how to prioritize,” Ace broke the silence, picking up a red pen and pulling off the cap. “The first being the northern parts of the Celestial Ocean around the Griffish Isles, supporting our land forces at the river.” He circles the Griffish Isles and the parts of the ocean surrounding it. “The second being the middle of the Celestial Ocean-” he circled the middle part of the map, “-guarding Equestria’s shores and also meeting the Griffon Navy head-on. And finally, the south-” he circled the south, “-harassing these convoys.”

“Well that’s easy enough for me to work out,” High Tide immediately followed up. “The Griffish Isles are all islands surrounded by shallow waters, my larger cruisers and battleships won’t be able to operate effectively there. And we can send our own submarines against the convoys in the south…” he chuckled, “ ‘bout all our subs are good for anyway.”

“Are they really that bad?” Ace raised an eyebrow. Lack of confidence in their equipment was the last thing they needed right now.

“They’re fine, but making a boiler work on a ship designed to go underwater is...well, it has its challenges. Who would’ve guessed, right?” He said sarcastically, chuckling. “Thing is, up until now, we’ve never really had any competitors to judge their performance against. If these new power plants the Grifs have invented with that weird liquid fuel source work well, we could be outclassed…”

“All the more reason we need to take the initiative,” Ace replied harshly, turning to walk back towards his chair. “Unless I hear any further objections, we will begin working off this plan immediately.”

The room once again fell silent as Ace laid down his authority. It was clear everypony was still having a long think about it, but nopony raised any other concerns.

“Very well,” Ace took his seat, “Time to get underway.” He turned to look at Shining Armor. “Captain Armor, you need to dig in and fortify all defences around Yaket Range, it’s railway and coastline overlooking Taltona. You will likely not be asked to move at this stage, so concentrate on defence only.”

“Understood sir, I’ll see to it right away.” Shining Armor replied, nodding.

Ace turned his head over to Longsword. “Captain Longsword, begin organising your mares and stallions for their invasions, we’ll go over it in more detail once we’ve got the ball rolling and we reconvene in Horseshoe.”

“Understood, General,” Longsword answered.

Ace looked over at High Tide. “Admiral, work with Longsword to coordinate these amphibious attacks. Make sure they have adequate cover and support while maintaining the fight with the Griffon Navy as well as the cargo raiding in the south. It’s going to be tough, but we can reestablish priorities once we know which targets have the most effect.”

“I understand General, I’ll make sure all division commanders are briefed,” High Tide acknowledged.

Ace continued to Swift Sprint. “Admiral, since your forces are the only ones we have with numerical superiority, I’m going to entrust you with a certain degree of freedom. Essentially you will have multiple roles; you need to provide cover at Taltona, provide support for every aspect of the navy, and also provide support to our landing operations when they commence. All while also engaging the Griffon Airship Force. Is that possible?”

“Nothing's impossible General, the Airship Force already maintains a heightened state of readiness. My mares and stallions will have all my ships ready within forty-eight hours.” Swift Sprint stated confidently.

“I don’t doubt it,” Ace added, turning to Spitfire. “Captain, we will need to spread your Wonderbolts and their wealth of experience around our forces. We will arrange specifics at Horseshoe Naval Base on Sunday.”

“Understood General-” Spitfire nodded “-I’ll make preparations today, we will be ready.”

Finally, Ace turned to Snapshot. “Snapshot, I’m aware of the risk, but we really need more info about what’s going on in the Griffon Kingdom. The odds are against us, and we could quite quickly be put on the hind hoof unless we find a weakness. I don’t want to have to pull rank, but unless you start producing results, I will be forced to order you to send your agents in there.”

“I’m already prepping my best mare for the job,” Snapshot used her magic to pull all her papers back into her document folder. “May Faust have mercy on her soul…”

“Good. Very good,” Ace acknowledged, holding his hooves together on the table. “In the meantime, we need to bolster our ranks. Cut any corners you can off the training programs, but don’t take unnecessary risks. I don’t want our precious young mares and stallions going before their time because of…’accidents’...does anypony have anything else to say?”

Ace’s eyes scanned across the room, analysing the faces of his fellow officers. Of course, the news was unsettling, but he was glad to see that everypony still seemed focus. “Very well then,” he continued, not hearing any objections. “We will reconvene on Sunday at seven AM at Horseshoe Naval Base. Dismissed,” he stood up as soon as he said his last word.

Everypony from the meeting proceeded out the door and down the corridor towards the elevator. But Spitfire paused for a minute to look over the balcony down at the big map again. It was mostly unicorns using magic to place little markers with information on them or small models to represent something on various points in Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom. As she looked around, she could still hear the faint banging or sawing as various maintenance ponies worked hard to modernize the room that probably hadn’t been used since the last Equestro-Griffon war. New lights were going in, as well as what looked like a new radio system. Probably for relaying orders.

This was going to be one for the history books. As Admiral High Tide said back in their meeting, a lot has changed in the four hundred years since Equestria’s last conflict. Not only had technology changed drastically, but the frame of mind of Equestria’s ponies as well. Not seeing conflict or hardship for that long will no doubt shake things up. And she, along with her colleagues, teammates, and above all, friends, were about to be in the thick of it. She could only hope they came out of it alive…

Spitfire took one last glance at the map before heading out, thinking about nothing else but how she was going to break the news…

Rainbow Dash stood anxiously in Spitfire’s office. And a little bit tired...in fact, very tired. The only thing keeping her semi-conscious at the moment was the cup of coffee in her hoof. Spitfire’s unexpectedly early return from vacation brought about a certain sense of worry, considering all the stuff about the Griffon Kingdom that had been in the news. She hardly got any sleep, she couldn’t stop thinking about all the possibilities.

Nevertheless, Spitfire told them all to gather in her office in the morning. Of course, her office wasn’t designed to hold an entire squad of Wonderbolts, so it was a little comfy, to say the least. And they were still waiting on one more pony. The occasional sentence flew about but was generally off-topic. Dash was getting the impression that everypony was very much on edge. She just stood where she was and rested up against Soarin, not saying a word...good thing she was standing too. If she was sitting, she might have just fallen asleep on Soarin’s shoulder.

At last, Misty Fly made her way through Spitfire’s office door, pausing to yawn. “Mooorning…” she tried her best to say while yawning, being careful not to bump into anypony in what was now a very crowded office.

Spitfire glanced down at the clock on her desk. It read nine fifty-eight AM. “Just in time, I guess,” Spitfire stood off her office chair. “You’re probably all wondering why I’ve called you all here today and why I’m back from my vacation so early…” she trotted over towards her shelves at the side of her office, having to make awkward walks in-between her teammates to get here.

“And to be frank, I’m still pissed about that. So I’m just gonna let Princess Celestia do the talking.” She stated bluntly in a very...uncharacteristic of herself way.

At her head height sat a small radio. She flicked a switch on the side and twisted the big knob in the middle, making it make all sorts of funny crackling noises as it tuned in to different radio stations. Eventually, Spitfire landed on the one she was after, the static giving way to a clear voice.

“And that concludes the morning news. This is Equestria Radio Central, it’s ten O’clock, and this next announcement is coming to you live from Princess Celestia herself in Canterlot.”

The room fell so silent, aside from the faint buzz on the radio, you could hear a pin drop. Dash had her ears pointed in its direction. She took a quick glance at Soarin, who was also entirely fixated on it. Celestia’s voice was reaching all of Equestria, which could only mean one thing…

“My loyal subjects…” Celestia’s voice began. “Yesterday, on Tuesday the tenth of May, Celestial year one thousand and eight, an Equestrian ship en route to the Griffon Kingdom was intercepted and destroyed by the Griffon Navy. All lives on board were lost in the attack. President Eadric has already taken responsibility for the actions, and worse, denies any wrongdoing. We have tried to be reasonable, but unfortunately, Eadric is unwilling to negotiate. He seems very focused on conquest, going as far to rename the Griffon Kingdom to the Griffon Empire...I speak to you now with deep regret, that as of today, Thursday the twelfth of May, Celestial year one thousand and eight, the Kingdom of Equestria is, once again, at war with the Griffon Empire…”

Dash’s heart sank as Celestia’s words echoed in her ears. She could even picture Celestia’s sad but focused expression in her head, despite the fact she only heard it over the radio. She was half-expecting it, but to actually listen to it...it had a whole different feeling. She felt her forelegs trying to tremble, but she simply wrapped her left foreleg around Soarin’s shoulders to try and hide it.

Soarin glanced down at her as he felt her contact. She looked the same as he did. He could see the shock in her eyes. He had no idea what to do himself. He simply returned the gesture and put his foreleg around her shoulders too, holding her close.

“Do not fear my little ponies, I can assure you that Equestria is fully prepared for this conflict. While this news may upset you, please try to go about your daily lives as you normally would. Subtle changes will take effect over time, some even immediately, but rest assured--”

A quick buzz of static cut the speech short as Spitfire killed the power on the radio. “ ‘Equestria is fully prepared for this conflict’? What a fuckin’ lie,” Spitfire spat, again not like her. Maybe she was feeling the stress of the situation. Or perhaps she was still pissed about her vacation being cut short.

“Spitfire…” Misty Fly tried to form a sentence but still had so much shock coursing through her veins that she struggled to get her words out. “What’s...what are we doing?”

“We have our orders,” Spitfire replied, taking a seat in her office chair. “You are to report to Horseshoe Naval Base at nine AM on Sunday. There we will receive our assignments. DON’T be late.”

Spitfire took a good look across all of the ponies under her command. Of course, the news came as a shock, even to her. But she could still see the fire in their eyes she had come to know and love, meaning that she could always rely on them. It’s what they trained for after all. “I know that doesn’t give you much time between now and then, so consider yourselves all on leave until Sunday. Now unless you have any important questions for me, I’ve got planning of my own to do. So go use your time wisely. Dismissed.”

On Spitfire’s word, everypony made their way out of Spitfire’s office in the most orderly manner they could muster. Small conversations everywhere about the situation. Dash walked with Soarin back to his room, thinking about what she had to do.

“Soarin,” she stopped just before they reached his door.

“Yeah?” Soarin turned, looked at Dash.

Dash looked up at him, “You heard what Spitfire said, we need to get ourselves organised before Sunday...so I need to go to Ponyville.”

“I understand,” Soarin replied, “You do what you need to do. You know where I am if you need me, but I imagine I’ll come home at some point also.”

“Thanks, Soarin,” Dash replied with a smile and leaned in for a kiss. She planted a big kiss on his lips that he happily returned. She could tell that there was maybe one or two of her teammates watching them, but after all these years, she didn’t care anymore when it was around them. She broke the kiss and looked him in the eyes, “I love you, Soarin.”

“I love you too. See you soon,” Soarin answered with a smile, placing his hoof on his door handle.

Dash shot him one last smirk before making her way down the corridor, heading towards the exit.

Soarin pushed through the door to his office and flicked the light on, taking a seat at his desk and sighing. What a day this was going to be, and it wasn’t even time for lunch. He started rummaging through a few things on his desk to plan what he needed to do, but something unfortunate popped into his mind.

He leant to his right side and extended his wing, trying to reach his jacket hanging off a peg on the wall without leaving his seat. He tilted his chair and just about managed it, whipping the coat over his lap. He searched through the pockets and pulled out the little black velvet box with the engagement rings in his pocket.

He opened the box up and stared at the rings for several moments before he sighed and furrowed his brow. “Like that’s gonna fuckin’ happen now,” he groaned to himself in frustration, slamming his desk with his left hoof.

He laid back in his chair and rubbed his forehead with his right hoof while staring at the rings. The common-sense side of his brain told him to leave them here for safekeeping. But the more he thought about it, the more reality started to set in about what was really going on…he could die...Dash could die...they both could die...if he didn’t take an opportunity when it arose, he might never get the chance to ask her.

Against his better judgement, he closed the box and put it back into his Wonderbolt flight jacket. He would find a way to keep it safe while they were out...fighting a war...he never imagined he would be thinking that sentence so casually yet so accurately…

He rested his jacket on the back of his chair while he continued rummaging around his office, trying to work out what he needed to bring with him before he headed home.

Dash raced through the air from Cloudsdale, heading towards Ponyville. Even for her, it felt like she was going a tad too fast, but the announcement...although she initially felt shocked...she was starting to feel some adrenaline pumping. Was she excited? How could she be excited? Whatever it was, she put the thought to the back of her mind so she could concentrate.

She landed just out the front of Twilight’s castle, pacing towards it the moment her hooves touched the ground. To her surprise, there was already royal guards at the entrance to the castle.

As she approached, they saluted her and held the door open. Dash simply smiled and saluted back at them as she walked through. They obviously recognised her, not only as a Wonderbolt but as one of Twilight’s friends.

“Twilight!?” Dash called, looking around the halls. The castle was massive, it could take her a while to find her. She pushed through the doors into the main map room, but couldn’t see her in there. “Twiiii!?” She called again.

Giving up on the downstairs, Dash walked back and flew up the main stairwell, where she found Spike at the top.

“Thought I heard you,” Spike greeted Rainbow Dash. “She’s through here, we’ve officially begun stage one Twilighting.” He motioned with his claw, walking towards the door to Twilight’s room.

“Oh boy,” Dash rolled her eyes, even though she was expecting this.

She pushed through the door, seeing exactly what she predicted. Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Equestria...and professional panicker.

As she entered, she saw all her friends there with her. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy. Opening the door drew their attention away from Twilight to Rainbow Dash.

“Hey guys,” Dash greeted with a smile, waving her hoof.

“RAINBOWDASH!” Twilight immediately rushed over to her, embracing her in a hug “Did you hear the announcement? Are you okay? How are you feeling? Are you being deployed now? Are you ready? Are you prepared? What are you going to do? Where are you going?--”

“Hi Twilight,” Dash cut her off with a chuckle, returning the hug. “That’s a lot of questions...but since we’re there now, what are you doing? Have you been told something?” she twisted her neck to look at Twilight.

“Ohhh nothing much…” Twilight trailed off, her eye twitching as she pulled away from Rainbow Dash. “I’ve only been asked to lead a think tank researching Equestria’s situation in the war and trying to find any upper hoof we can get!”

“Wow, I couldn’t think of anypony better for the job. You’ll do great, Twilight!” Dash encouraged with a smile.

Twilight’s eye twitched again as she tried her best not to grind her teeth. “Are you KIDDING ME!?” she exploded, waving her arms in the air. “I don’t know the first thing about warfare, things are changing so rapidly, I never expected this situation to happen...I...I just don’t know what to do!” She exclaimed, trotting over to her bed and collapsing face-down on it.

Dash smirked. Classic Twilighting…”Twi…” Dash walked over beside her. “I wish I had something to tell you...but the truth is, I don’t know what to do either. I’m reporting for my orders on Sunday. I just came to prep some stuff and say goodbye…”

“Dash…” Twilight sat up, rubbing her eyes. “Promise me you’ll stay safe?”

“I promise. Nothing can take me down,” Dash replied confidently, winking.

Twilight sighed, glancing away. “This whole thing happened very suddenly...I just don’t know what to do about it. They want me to lead this group, but I think the ponies I’ll be leading will know more than me…”

“Hate to break it to ya Twi, but do ya ever think Princesses Celestia and Luna know the full story?” Applejack suggested, trotting towards Twilight. “ ‘Sides, times like this, ponies need the magic of friendship. And nopony knows that magic better than you.”

“And if you ever need anything, even if it’s just somepony to vent to, we’ll always be here for you,” Fluttershy added with a sweet smile across her face.

“Many ponies look up to you, Darling. You inspire them. Now go be that pony!” Rarity encouraged. “Besides, think of the exposure! Oh, you’ll be in history books, magazines, all sorts! Many centuries from now your name will be getting--...” Seeing the disapproving looks she was getting from her friends, Rarity reeled herself in. “Well...one step at a time, as they say…”

Twilight sighed, “You’re right...I may not think I’m ready, but at a time like this, I think Equestria needs me...us…” Twilight sat up and looked at Rainbow Dash. “But I guess they need you especially, Rainbow Dash. Sunday did you say?”

Dash nodded, “I’m reporting to Horseshoe Naval Base on Sunday. After that...who knows…”

“Oh Dashie,” Dash suddenly felt herself being embraced from her side in a very familiar hug. “I’m gonna miss you!” Pinkie exclaimed with tears welling up in her eyes.

“I’ll miss you too, Pinkie,” Dash smiled and returned the hug. “I’ll miss all of you.”

“Y'all better get ya flanks back here in one piece ya here?” Applejack added with a smile, joining the hug. And with that, everypony took the hint a group hug was starting.

“At least you’ll have Soarin there to comfort you,” Fluttershy commented as she nervously joined the hug, trying not to get in anypony’s way.

“...Yeah...that’s true…” Dash somewhat agreed. She agreed for Fluttershy’s comfort, but that sentence did get a thought churning in her head. She and Soarin could be split for a while…

They hugged for several moments before the hug receded. Dash smiled at all of her friends, looking them over. She turned her head to Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie...ponies are gonna be in low spirits in these times. Promise me you won’t stop throwing parties?”

“I Pinkie promise!” Pinkie confirmed, “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” Pinkie enacted the Pinkie Pie promise routine, pulling a cupcake seemingly out of nowhere and getting her face covered in icing. Her tongue somehow extended right across her face, and she licked it all off.

Pinkie’s antics always made Dash giggle a little. It would probably be the last time she would get to if things kept going the way they were anyway, so it only made sense for her to enjoy herself. Next, she looked over at Applejack. “Keep those apples coming, AJ. Equestria’s military won’t last long on an empty stomach.”

“You can count on me!” Applejack declared, winking.

Rainbow turned to Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, I’m gonna have to ask you for a favour...do you mind looking after Tank for me while I’m away?”

“I’d love to, Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy smiled at the prospect. “That poor little turtle would get so lonely…”

“Glad to hear,” Dash smiled and nodded at Fluttershy, then turned her head to Rarity. “Rarity...Of course, I want to live...but if I fail, make sure my memorial statue is awesome,” Dash asked cheekily, winking.

“Oh, don’t talk nonsense, Darling,” Rarity replied, rolling her eyes. “I’m sure you will be fine...but I’m glad you entrusted moi with your special request.” She answered with a smile.

Dash chuckled and lastly, turned to Twilight. “Twilight, the ponies of Equestria, need friendship more than ever. Be the princess they need you to be.”

“I will Dash,” Twilight replied, “As long as you be the best Wonderbolt you can be.”

“Hey, I’m awesome, we all know it,” Rainbow chuckled and grinned. She took another look at her friends...she might not be seeing them for a while… “I’m really gonna miss you guys...try your best to keep in touch, ya hear?”

“We sure will, Sugarcube,” Applejack answered.

“Alright,” Dash stood to her hooves. “I’ve got a few things I need to sort out beforehoof, but I’ve got three days, so we’ll definitely go get dinner or something before I leave, I promise,” Dash stated with an eager smile on her face, heading towards the door. “I’ll catch you guys later!”

“Bye, Dashie!”

“Good luck, Sugarcube!”

“Au revoir, Rainbow Dash!”

“We’ll see you later, Rainbow!”

“Umm...goodbye, Rainbow Dash…”

Dash waved a hoof behind her as she left the room. In her usual carefree style, she jumped over the bannister off the stairs and let her wings catch her, gliding down to the floor.

She said she had a few things to sort out...but the truth was, she didn’t even know where to begin. Her mind had so much flowing through it right now, she didn’t know where to begin. One thing was certain, though, she needed to pack. She remembered back when she first joined the Wonderbolts some four years ago, she was given a list of things she should look at before going away from home on military service with the Wonderbolts... she just had to remember where she put it...to be honest, she didn’t think she would ever need it...well, she’s just been proven wrong...

Author's Note

Well, the ball's rolling now isn't it? :pinkiecrazy:

I was able to turn this chapter around pretty quickly since I'm off work indefinitely due to the coronavirus. Hopefully I can keep this momentum up.

For reference, I'm trying to stick to the cannon map of Equestria as much as I can, but obviously, this story is only work off cannon up to season 4. Plus I'm pretty sure this map isn't to scale, so I'll be taking PLENTY of liberties with distances and scaling. :raritywink:

TBH I thought about making some annotations on the original map to compliment the writing, but my MS paint skills don't do it justice :rainbowlaugh: I was trying to find a free/cheap map creator to try and make some illustrations, but I can't find one (that or my Google-fu is failing me...) so if anyone knows one, please let me know. :eeyup:

Thanks for reading! :twilightsmile:

Chapter 3: Settling In

Rainbow Dash stepped off the train at Horseshoe, quickly racing out of the station and into the town. Despite the heavy saddlebags on her back, she moved quite fast.

“Hey Dash, wait up!” Soarin called, rushing after her. He tried his best not to rush past and startle anypony else on the platform.

Dash heard him but continued anyway. She turned a corner…

...and quickly realised she had no idea where she was going.

She glanced up and extended her wings, then suddenly gave them a hard pump, propelling herself into the air. It was nice to stretch them after being cooped up in a train for a couple hours.

“Dash!” Soarin called again, following her. He did a little runup before taking flight, so it took him less effort to take off.

Dash flew a few feet into the air before hovering in place, giving her an opportunity to take in her surroundings. A cluster of towns and villages that over the years had grown to merge into one known area; Horseshoe Bay. Aptly named because it was in the shape of a horseshoe. Despite the news, the residents seemed to be carrying on as usual. Town markets were still selling their goods, young fillies and colts even played on the streets. The weather only made it feel like a vacation, with a few clouds complemented by a gentle breeze.

“You done?” Soarin called, flying alongside her.

Her attention drawn, Dash’s head quickly darted in Soarin’s direction, seeing him slow to a hover as he pulled alongside her. “Y-yeah...I-I just…” Dash sighed and looked around, and once she spotted a cloud, she flew over and perched on it.

Soarin raised an eyebrow as he slowly flew over to her. Something was definitely up. She almost seemed like she was panicking...not unusual considering the situation, but he hadn’t seen Dash react like that in a long time. “Is everything okay?” Soarin asked, perching alongside her.

“I...I’m not sure…” Dash admitted, looking over the horizon. “Think about what we’re going into…” she looked over at him, “It should be scary, shouldn’t it?”

“I...yeah, I guess,” Soarin answered, not sure where Dash was going with this.

“Well...are you scared?” Dash asked Soarin.

“Of course I am,” Soarin admitted, “But we have a duty. But remember all the incredible things you’ve done that you’ve told me about?” He wrapped a wing around her shoulders to comfort her. “King Sombra, Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek?”

Dash smiled. She knew that Soarin knew how much she loved having her ego stroked. He was clearly using it to his advantage. “I know, but...this is sorta different…” She looked away from him, “We never had weapons...we had the Elements of Harmony. They just kinda...work. I don’t really understand the magic...maybe for the better...but this,” she looked back at him and tapped her hoof a few times on her saddlebag. “We have weapons. We’re going to kill or be killed. This is something completely different…”

Soarin gave her a concerning look as he tried to formulate an answer. “I know what you mean, Dashie…” he began, “But from what I’ve read and the training we’ve been given...apparently it all happens so fast we just kinda move on and forget about it.”

“That’s the thing,” Dash continued, glancing away. “I don’t think I can do that…”

Soarin suppressed a frustrated sigh. “I know what we’re walking into...and frankly, I don’t think anypony’s ready. Don’t let the expressions and voice tones fool you, they’re definitely scared. But there’s one pony I can rely on to make it through this, and that’s you, Rainbow Dash.” He pulled her tighter to himself with his wing, seeing a slight smile creep onto her face as he stroked her ego. “You’ve fought off Changelings, King Sombra, and even Tirek while the rest of us were stuck knocked out on the ground. And there’s a reason you’ve been a Wonderbolt for the last four years.”

Dash’s smiled slowly grew larger, “You know me too well,”

“I hope so,” Soarin replied, quickly smirking before returning to his concerned look. “I just wish I had some more advice I could give you. Hell, there isn’t even anypony we can ask. There are only two ponies alive today who were also alive four hundred years ago…” he gently rested his hoof on one of her cheeks and slowly tilted her head to lock his eyes with hers. “But you’re a quick learner. We’ll learn together. And I’ll be there to protect you. The whole team will. We’ll look after each other, I promise.”

Dash smiled. Soarin’s words felt like they had lifted an incredible weight off her shoulders. “Thanks...I needed to hear that…” She admitted. She had no doubt the road ahead would be challenging, but at least she didn’t have to face it alone…

“Heh,” Soarin smiled, “Now that’s more like the Dashie I know and love.” He looked over the horizon, towards the sea. “Looks like Horseshoe Naval Base is that way,” he motioned with his hoof, causing Dash to look in the direction. There was plenty of silhouettes of pegasi flying around that particular area. In the Horseshoe bay, they could see ships of all different shapes and sizes moored alongside.

“Let’s go,” Soarin extended his wings and took Dash’s hoof in his, “Don’t wanna be late.”

Dash let Soarin pull her up, and they flew side-by-side towards the harbour. As they got closer, it gave them time to examine the base. She could see several different packs of ponies, performing training or marching drills around the base. Out in the harbour, she saw dozens of ships, ranging from small destroyers to large battleships. They were all being loaded with crates full of supplies for the battle ahead. Cranes loaded the ammunition down into the depths of the ships. The mouth of the Horseshoe Bay leading out into the Celestial Ocean looked calm and clear. It was hard to believe that those peaceful waters were about to become a battleground...

Spitfire sat with her back against the guardrail on the roof of one of the buildings, leaning back and going over her notes from the early morning briefing she hadn’t long been out of. It had only given her plenty more to think about, which was the last thing she needed right now. She was just in the process of making herself a checklist of things she needed to go through with her team.

“Everything okay with you?”

Spitfire glanced to her left, seeing Admiral Swift Sprint gently landing next to her. She just shrugged in response, “As good as it’s gonna get, I suppose. How about you? What about your airponies?”

Swift just sighed and turned to look over at the view of the town of Horseshoe, a decent view from the rooftop. “Eager, naive...young…” he reached into the pocket of his uniform and pulled out a packet of cigarettes. “They think they’re going on a grand adventure…” he pulled himself a cigarette with his wing then presented the pack towards Spitfire while putting the cigarette in his mouth.

Spitfire shook her head, “Thanks, but I don’t smoke.”

Swift shrugged and returned the packet to his pocket with his hoof, replacing it with a lighter. He clicked it a few times before it lit up and singed the end of his cigarette, which he followed up by taking a long drag. “Anyway, I came to ask a favour.”

“A favour?” Spitfire raised an eyebrow.

Swift nodded, “Of course, it’s entirely up to you who you assign to me. But I would like to request Rapidfire--”

“Already done,” Spitfire cut him off with a smug look.

Swift chuckled and returned the look, “Great minds think alike, it seems. His past life in the Airship Force will be invaluable.”

“Maybe so, just bear in mind he’s been a Wonderbolt for a long time. Longer than me even,” Spitfire added.

“I’m sure he won’t be that rusty,” Swift replied confidently, taking another drag from his cigarette. “Looks like your team is arriving,” He observed, pointing with his hoof.

Spitfire stood up and turned around, glancing at the entrance to see her team arriving early. Just what she expected. She smiled as she picked off the faces, including some reserves returning for service. “They’re early...not that I didn’t expect it. It’s even a standard I’ve come to expect of them by now…”

“I have no doubt they’ll be very capable...but these will be tough times for all of us. We are all going to be tested.” Swift explained.

“I trust them with my life,” Spitfire stated confidently, “We’re like family…” she looked over at Swift, remembering something. “Didn’t your son go back into the Airship Force?”

“He did indeed,” Swift replied, smiling and glancing up as if he was reminiscing. “Torque is currently a lieutenant serving on the REAS Buckby, engineering.”

“How is he doing? He was a bit...well, interesting all those years ago,” Spitfire put bluntly.

Swift chuckled, “Whatever you did actually flipped a switch in his head. He seemed more confident, more assertive. He wasn’t so scared of me. To be honest, he’s not far off a lieutenant-commander, and if things keep going the way they are, I might have to fast-track his promotion.”

Spitfire raised an eyebrow, “Uh...glad to be of help?” She replied semi-sarcastically, mostly because she had no idea what she might have done to help.

Swift took one last drag on his cigarette and threw the butt on the ground, stomping it out. “I need to brief my CO’s. I imagine you need to need to do the same.”

Spitfire nodded, “Yeah...round about now…”

Swift nodded and smiled, turning to her and brought his right hoof up in a salute. “Good luck, Captain,”

Spitfire turned and saluted him also, “Thank you, Admiral. You too.”

Saying their goodbyes, Spitfire took another look at her team, gathering in the courtyard of the base…

Dash quickly caught up with her teammates as they gathered in the courtyard of the base. The feeling was bittersweet. She was always pleased to see everypony, but there was definitely a tense feeling in the air which put everypony on edge. Dash didn’t want to show it, but she found it really unnerving…

“Hey, Dash!”

Dash turned her head at the sound of the familiar voice. Just as she did, the sound of hooves landing on the concrete below them hit her ears. Standing next to her was her old friend Dahlia. Her deep purple fur and candy cane mane were easy to spot. And before she knew it, Dash was being drawn into a hug. Although she didn’t hesitate to return it, wrapping her forelegs around her. To be honest, she needed one right now.

“Hey Dally,” Dash greeted back. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been good,” she replied, withdrawing from the hug. “I mean, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? Almost two months?”

“Yeah about that,” Dash agreed. “You just uh...started dating that stallion?” Dash tried to recall what they talked about the last time they saw each other.

“Oh yeah, that was a complete waste of time,” Dahlia batted her hoof, “He put on a good act but was such a try-hard.”

Dash chuckled, “So you got pulled up from reserves?”

“That I did,” Dahlia answered with a proud smile, “I was shocked to hear the news, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t expecting it. How are you coping?”

“Uhh...still a bit shocked, but I think I’m ready,” Dash answered, partially lying.

“Pfft, alright for some,” Dahlia rolled her eyes. “To be honest... I'm terrified. But Equestria needs us to be brave.” She looked Dash in the eye and smirked, “Something the brave, daring Element of Loyalty is used to I’m sure.”

“Heh...right,” Dash replied with a smile. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a familiar sight gliding down. “Oh, here comes Spitfire,” she pointed with her hoof.

Spitfire landed on the concrete with a clack of her hooves, drawing everypony’s attention. “Good morning, Wonderbolts,” she greeted, quickly pulling out her list. “Let’s make this quick, we’ve got a lot of work to do,”

Spitfire ran a quick roll call to make sure everypony was there. Of course, everypony was. As expected.

“Alright, paperwork to me,” she pulled a thick file out of her saddlebag and opened it up, “Make sure it’s named clearly.”

Dash dug through her own saddlebag to dig out her paperwork and placed it in the pile. She was never a paperwork fan at the best of times, but this one was even harder. Ironically it was shorter than she was expecting as well. Her last will and testament was something she spent many hours pondering. If the worse were to happen, she wanted to leave it all to Soarin. But Soarin could be in the same position as well. It ended up being very complicated to write, but she was confident she got it right in the end. She had a lot of ponies to write for...

“Okay,” Spitfire pushed the folder shut and set it aside, “We’ve been given three task forces to cover, some requiring more ponypower than others. We’ve spent a long time picking these assignments, and they assigned to you specifically for a reason, so don’t go swapping places with somepony.” She pulled up a list. “I’m only reading this once, so listen up.”

Dash nodded and twisted her ears to try and hear her better.

“On First Fleet, we have High Winds, Silver Lining, Surprise and Dahlia,” she lifted her eyes from the list to look at the ponies in front of her. “You are to report to Commodore Windwaker aboard the battleship RES Celestia.”

Spitfire waited for some nods of acknowledgement before looking back down at her list. “The next assignment is the Airship Force. Those assigned are Rapidfire, Fire Streak, Fleetfoot and Wave Chill.” She glanced up, putting her list away. “Admiral Swift Sprint is leading that operation personally. Report to him directly. He’s arranging an airship to take you to the staging grounds near the Crystal Empire. The rest of us will be based here with the Second Fleet, we will report to Commodore Sea Salt aboard the RES Moonlight.”

Spitfire took another quick glance around the faces of her ponies to make sure that what she was saying was sinking in...and also giving her time to formulate what she wanted to say next…

“Take your orders from whoever they assign you to. Aside from that, the normal chain of command applies...now, this may be the last time some of us see each other for a while…” Spitfire trailed off, looking for words. “Please, be safe. No heroics. I want to see you all back safe. I know I’m probably telling you all to suck eggs...but I just want us all to get out of this alive,” She spoke personally from her heart.

“We will, Sis,” Blaze reinforced Spitfire’s words with a smirk. “Besides, somepony’s gotta watch your six!”

Spitfire chuckled, then focused back on her colleagues. “Alright, we’ve gotta go. So say your goodbyes everypony.”

Lightning Streak turned his head to look over at his brother, Fire Streak. “Well brother, I guess I won’t be seeing you for a little while…”

“I guess not…” Fire agreed, holding his hoof out. “Stay safe out there, little bro. Because I won’t be there to watch your flank when you screw up.” He teased with a grin.

Lightning chuffed, “Likewise,” he raised an eyebrow and banged his hoof against Fire’s. As he did, his eyes moved over onto Fleetfoot. “Make sure you keep him safe, yeah?”

“Pfft, only if you keep him safe,” Fleetfoot joked, pointing at Soarin with her wing.

Lightning chuckled, “I think somepony’s already got that covered,” he answered, looking over at Rainbow Dash. But she was too involved in another conversation to be paying attention to him.

Rainbow Dash extended her hoof to Dahlia. “It’s been short Dally, but we’ll definitely be catching up again.”

“We better be,” Dally responded, bypassing Dash’s hoof completely and extending her forelegs over Dash’s shoulders to pull her into a hug. “If we both get out of this alive…”

“Hey, we will. We’re the best, right?” Dash returned the hug.

“I hope so,” Dahlia replied, withdrawing from the hug. “Goodbye, Dash. And watch those Griffons, I hear their talons can tear through flesh,” Dahlia lifted her own hoof up and looked at it, imagining a set of razor-sharp talons sprouting from it.

“I know, trust me,” Dash replied, “I’ll be fine.”

Finishing their goodbyes with one last group hoof-bump, Dash followed Spitfire and her teammates into flight over the harbour. Flying over the water gave them a good look at all the navy ships of various shapes and sizes. They were looking for the RES Moonlight. Dash didn’t know what she was looking for, but hearing that it was a battleship, she knew it meant it must be one of the bigger ones. And it seemed like Spitfire wasn’t exactly sure either, given the way they were aimlessly flying about the harbour…

Soon enough, they found a large ship bearing the name Moonlight on a plaque on the side of its hull. They descended towards a central section of the vessel to land. Dash had seen and been on a warship before, so she kind of knew what she was looking it. But the sheer size of these enormous hunks of steel always left her in awe. It’s main guns almost looked wide enough for her to crawl down.

"Excuse me, Lieutenant." Spitfire made her presence known, her and her teammates' hooves all clacking down on the wooden deck at the same time just behind a stallion in the blue uniform of the Equestrian Royal Navy.

The earth pony in question turned to face Spitfire, immediately realising who he was talking to. "Captain!" He saluted

"Where's Commodore Salt?" Spitfire asked, saluting back.

"He's forward deckside, overseeing inspections," the stallion motioned with his hoof.

"Thank you, Lieutenant, carry on," Spitfire acknowledged and nodded, turning to walk towards the forward part of the ship.

The walk, albeit short, took a while. The ship was being prepared for its deployment, meaning sailors were carrying crates and other supplies through any walkways they could get their hooves through. Sometimes even with several ponies carrying one object. At least the unicorns had it easy…

Once they reached the front section of the ship, a quick scan with her eyes quickly identified the Commodore for Spitfire. He was wearing the dark blue uniform the rest of the sailors were, but the big cap on his head made his rank clear...well, that and the insignia on his shoulder boards. He was talking to some of his fellow sailors.

“Commodore Salt!” Spitfire struck her left forehoof on the deck to make a clack to help announce her presence. At the same time, she lifted her right forehoof into a salute. Her teammates followed suit.

The Commodore turned his head in their direction, revealing his aged dark purple coat and light blue short cut mane just poking out the sides of his cap. After seeing who it was, he smiled and turned around to face them. He quickly finished his conversation in a few words with the sailor he was talking to. The unicorn mare simply nodded and moved along, carrying a clipboard with her magic.

“Captain Spitfire, a pleasure to meet you!” He greeted in a deep voice, mirroring Spitfire’s salute then extended his right hoof out to her.

“We’re reporting as ordered, Commodore,” Spitfire added, shaking his hoof.

Sea Salt nodded, “I’ll have to go through assignments with you shortly, Captain,” his eyes wandered onto Spitfire’s teammates standing behind her. “I trust your squad is ready?”

“Ready for anything,” Spitfire confirmed with a smile.

Sea Salt smirked and trotted over to the edge of the deck, staring down over the harbour operations. “We’re currently getting ready to move at a moment's notice, hence the reason everypony is running around like a headless chicken trying to get supplies loaded onboard.” He turned back around to face the Wonderbolts. “Dump your gear in the bunks, get suited up, then assist with loading the supplies. They should all be clearly labelled, and anypony should be able to answer your questions. Captain, see me on the bridge.”

“Yes Sir,” Spitfire acknowledged, turning her head. “You heard the stallion. Find a free bunk and dump your gear, then get shifting those crates.”

“Yes, Ma’am!” All of Spitfire’s teammates replied in unison before turning to one of the open doors.

They descended down into the bowels of the ship. Even at idle, the heat and humidity through the corridors were immense. Dash was glad that she wouldn’t have to spend too much time down here. The metallic sound of hooves tapping away on the floors all around them might also drive her stir crazy, but she could get used to it. The stairs were also steeper than she anticipated. Good thing she could fly. She could only imagine the smell that built up from this humidity and temperature after a few weeks on deployment...the thought made her cringe…

The interior had excellent signage, and they just kept following the signs to living quarters. They passed several bunks on the way to it, but none of them was available going by the chalkboards with names written on them on the front of the bunks. They turned a corner, and sure enough, they found an ample space with nothing but bunk beds crammed in any way they could be. They were arranged in stacks of four high, and there were already a couple sailors down there.

As they walked through, it was quite easy to work out how to claim a bed. Each row of beds had a chalkboard in front of it. If it was empty, it wasn’t in use. To claim it, you wrote your name on it. Sounded simple enough…

Dash glanced over all the bunks as she trotted between them. The moment she spotted a set of free beds, she immediately took Soarin by draping her wing over his back and pulled him towards the stack of bunks. She picked up the chalk that was dangling on a piece of string next to the board and quickly wrote their names next to each other for the two top bunks.

“Nice catch, eh?” Dash commented, grinning.

“Damn right, it’s a good catch,” Soarin replied back, giving her a hug with his wing. “Oh, and the beds aren’t that bad either I guess.”

Dash snorted and blushed a little at his sarcasm before dumping her bags in one of the trays below the beds and unzipped one of them. She pulled out her flight suit. It was very different from the one she was used to wearing. It was a darker shade of blue, and it had more holsters and mounting points for the various bits of equipment she could mount to it. It also had plenty more pockets. All in all, much more practical. It had her military rank insignia of Flight Lieutenant represented by a pair of pegasi wings with two light blue stripes underneath them. Her name was printed in large letters on the back as well as smaller letters above the chest pocket on the front.

She threw it on quickly, as did everypony else once they got their living arrangements sorted. Luckily, there seemed to be plenty of spare beds around this neck of the woods.

“It ain’t much, but it’s a bed alright,” Blaze commented while testing out her home away from home for the next...indefinitely…

“If it can stop you snoring, it’s a miracle bed in my book,” Soarin replied as he finished getting his flight suit on.

“I think there’s gonna be more ponies than Blaze to accuse of that…” Bright added, looking around at all the bunk beds that surrounded them. There must be at least a hundred in his little portion of the ship alone.

Dash stretch a little then sighed. “Guess these supplies aren’t gonna load themselves…” she said half-enthusiastically half-sarcastically. While she was eager to get underway, shoving crates around a harbour wasn’t the first thing she had in mind. Nevertheless, it had to be done, and the sooner, the better. She glanced up at Soarin, “How you doing?”

“I’m doing...okay,” Soarin replied with a straight face. “But more importantly, how about you? You holding up fine?”

“Yeah...I’m feeling better…” Dash admitted with a smile.

“Glad to hear it,” Soarin replied, smiling back. “But as you said, these crates won’t shift themselves.” He said while trotting back the way they came.

“Yeah yeah, I know,” Dash answered, following him. Despite not even being in there for very long, she was pleased to be outside in the fresh air again. Also, if she was going to be darting in and out for the next short while, she might as well enjoy the fresh air while she could.

She traced the stream of ponies going back and forth with her eyes and immediately spotted the large...incredibly large pile of crates. Obviously, not all belonging to the Moonlight, but they all had to go somewhere. When she was told she was going to war, she sort of expected something exciting to happen.

Nevertheless, she wasn’t a unicorn; she couldn’t move those crates by staring at them…

Soarin let out a long sigh as he finished pushing a crate into the storage compartment of the ship. As menial as the job was, he quickly found himself getting into a rhythm and losing track of time. He wasn't even sure what time it was, but he had been at it for hours. It must be afternoon by now, or at least midday. Although that was hard to tell when he was stood in the dark storage compartment of the ship he was on.

He perched himself on the crate he had just finished loading to give himself a little rest. With no clock around, he had no idea what time it was. Perhaps it was worth checking in with his teammates.

"Tired already?"

Soarin smirked and turned his head in the direction of the familiar voice to see Lightning Streak approaching him. "I've just finished," he answered back.

Lightning looked around at the well-organised crates. "Everypony helping you did a good job huh?"

"Hey, I did most of it!" Soarin jabbed back

Lightning chuckled, "Relax, I'm only pulling your tail,' he batted his hoof at Soarin. "Anyway, I just wanted to know…" he glanced over his shoulders to confirm nopony else was around before looking back at Soarin. "Have you...said anything to Dash yet?"

"...Not yet," Soarin admitted reluctantly, sighing, "And to be honest, I really don't know what to do. I don't feel like the moments--"

"Do it," Lightning cut him off. "Before we set off. You need to at least ask her before shit really hits the fan. Because who knows what will happen out there…"

Soarin raised an eyebrow. "That's unusually direct advice from you...who put you up to this?"

Lightning chuckled, "You saw through that, eh?"

"Was it Spitfire? You didn’t tell her my plans did you?" Soarin asked again, bluntly.

"No, of course not!" Lightning batted his hoof, "I promised you I’d keep that a secret, I wouldn’t do that. But to be honest with you, Soarin...I think she kinda knows. She was asking me about you two, but I tried to play it off the best I could. She heavily implied that she wanted you two to have a final date in case...y'know, the unthinkable happens..."

“What bought that on?” Soarin continued to question.

“Oh, I was just working near Spitfire, one question leads to another, and we got on the topic,” Lighting shrugged, “To be honest, I think she wanted me to unofficially advise you. She probably doesn’t want to speak to you about it herself because she’s worried you’ll take it as an order rather than a request. Speaking of which, have you had lunch yet?"

"Nope," Soarin answered back.

"Good, because neither has Rainbow," Lightning replied. "She's going to be heading into the harbours mess hall soon. If you catch her, the two of you might be able to go somewhere."

Soarin shook his head, "We have a job to do, I can't just take Dash and go--"

"I won't say anything, and nopony will question you I'm sure. Just go," Lightning encouraged, motioning with his head.

Soarin thought about it for a moment. Lightning seemed to really be pushing him into it...and to be honest, he appreciated the thought. EXPAND

"Okay," he said, sliding off the crate he was sitting on and back onto his hooves. "Thanks for your help, Lightning."

"No need to thank me, just don't fuck this up," Lighting replied with a smile, patting Soarin on the back.

Soarin wandered up and out, flying off the ship he was working on and back to the Moonlight. He made a quick detour inside the battleship to pick up his... equipment...then flew back out.

As he flew low back down into the harbour, he managed to easily spot Rainbow Dash. Her mane stood out as a useful identifier when everypony wore similar uniforms. He changed his course so he could fly in at an angle behind her. Once behind her, he let gravity pull him down, and he landed just behind her. “Boo,” he greeted in a calm voice.

Dash stopped in her tracks and looked behind. “Soarin?”

“How’ve you been doing?” He asked, even though he could probably already guess her answer.

Dash rolled her eyes, “Whenever I blink I see crates,” Dash groaned.

“Me too,” Soarin replied, “No wonder all these sailors probably enjoy spending more time on the ocean than land...speaking of spending time, want to grab lunch?”

“Of course,” Dash answered, “I was actually just heading to the mess.”

“Orrr…” a sly grin formed on Soarin’s face, “We could head to a restaurant, just you and me?”

Dash raised an eyebrow, “I don’t think we should go too far…”

“Oh, it’s just in town,” Soarin batted his hoof, “We won’t be far at all. We’ll even be able to see the harbour from our table.”

Dash half-smiled. His words sounded like he already had a place in mind. She glanced over her shoulders quickly. “Alright...I guess a quick bite wouldn’t hurt,” she caved. “Do we need to ditch the uniforms?”

“Nah, probably best we keep em on just in case,” Soarin replied, rubbing his hoof on the chest of his uniform. “Anyway-” he opened his wings “-follow me!”

Dash quickly took flight after Soarin. She tried not to be too self-conscious, but she struggled with that at the best of times. Part of her couldn’t help but feel like they were acting irresponsibly by leaving for some personal time together. What if they were needed and nopony could find them? If they were quick and made it back in time, then it would be alright she guessed…

Although he wasn’t too familiar with the area himself, Soarin guided Dash up the hills around Horseshoe and surprisingly quickly found a tiny little village up on one of the hills. A couple of cottages very well spread out, with the village name of Haystead printed on an ageing wooden sign at one of the paths. All the ponies they saw while flying through looked quite old. Being out of the way of Horseshoe, it was probably ideal for them being nice and quiet.

On the very eastern side of the village, Soarin found a lovely little cottage pub. It seemed quite quiet, and they were able to get seats right on the edge of the garden, able to overlook the town of Horseshoe and the harbour which was only a few miles away. Had it not been for the current situation, it could have been a little taste of paradise…

The waitress bought the two of them their food. Just plain and simple salads. Soarin paid upon delivery to speed up the process, meaning that they could leave whenever they were ready.

“So...think we’re ready?” Soarin asked, tucking into his food.

“I...I hope so,” Dash answered, unzipping her uniform's headpiece to eat. “I think I’ll get used to it…”

Soarin slowly nodded in agreement. Getting used to war...not something he ever imagined Dash would be telling him…he could still hardly believe it himself. Celestia’s announcement remained stuck in his mind, word-by-word like a nightmare. A speech that would be down in history for sure...

“So Soarin,” Dash started after a swallow. “If I die…” She paused, struggling to find the right words. “Would you...find somepony else?”

Soarin raised an eyebrow and looked away as he thought. Of course, the answer was clear-cut, but it was more the question itself that made him think. It wasn’t an easy topic under normal circumstances, but in these times, it was more important than ever to think about these things.

“No,” Soarin shook his head, looking back up at Dash. “There’s nopony that could replace you, Dash. I love you. And if it happened...well, I don’t know what I’d do. But I’ll do everything I can to stop it.”

“Not even Spitfire?” Dash replied, changing the tone by adding sarcasm. She smiled mischievously and wiggled her eyebrows.

“Eugh,” Soarin cringed, “I’ve known her for so long our relationship is more like brother-sister at this point, that would just be weird.”

Dash laughed at Soarin’s response, causing him to smile as well. At least she was keeping in good spirits.

“How about you?” Soarin flipped the question around as he took another bite.

That was an easy one. “I’d have stallions try, that’s for sure. They always have. But to be honest...well, I’ve never really wanted a special somepony...until I met you,” she felt the heat rising in her cheeks as she admitted. She tried to cover it by taking another mouthful of food.

“Glad to see you’re sticking to your Element of Loyalty,” Soarin replied, smiling.

They finished their meals and leant back in their chairs, enjoying the view out onto Horseshoe Bay. The afternoon had almost perfect weather. The trees that lined the hill obviously did something to calm what would otherwise be an aggressive wind. With the atmosphere being so calm in the small village and the gorgeous weather, it was hard to believe there was a war going on.

Falling into silence as they finished their meal, Soarin had time to think. This was it. This was the opportunity. All he needed to do now was stallion up and take it.

“How long have we been together now?” Soarin extended his hoof over the table and scooped Dash’s up over it.

Dash glanced down at her hoof as he held it. “Over four years now…” Dash replied, blushing as she recalled the memories.

“They’ve been the best years of my life,” Soarin answered, feeling himself blush a little too. His ears twitched as they tried to fold backwards, but he was trying his best to maintain his composure.

“Mine too,” Dash smiled, “So much has changed in these past four years…”

“I know,” Soarin replied, “Meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me, Rainbow Dash,” he said sincerely.

Dash felt her whole face turning red and her ears folding back as he praised her. She had to break eye contact before she exploded.

Soarin had it. He had her buttered up. The scenery was beautiful. It seemed like the perfect moment. The only complaint he had was the number of strangers that were around, but being Wonderbolts, they were used to being famous faces in the public's eyes at all times. Especially when their names and faces were also printed all over merchandise and advertisements everywhere.

Welp, here goes nothing.

“Hey, can I ask you a question?” Soarin asked as he withdrew his hoof.

Dash turned her head back to face Soarin. “Sure, what is it?” She replied casually.

“...Well…” Soarin smirked and pushed back on his chair. “It’s probably better if I showed you,” he stood up from his seat. “Close your eyes.”

Dash chuckled as she complied and shut her eyes. “What’s the prank this time?”

“One you won’t SEE coming,” Soarin replied sarcastically.

Dash shook her head, “That pun was terrible...but I’m Ponyville’s all-time prank champion, there’s nothing I won’t expect.” She stated proudly with a smile.

“Well, we’ll see about that in a few seconds, won’t we?” Soarin replied.

Dash chuckled as she simply kept her eyes closed and waited. She relied on her ears to convey as much info as she could. With her eyes shut, they naturally felt more sensitive. She heard Soarin moving around in front of her. She couldn’t tell what she was doing, but he was definitely there.

She sat patiently and waited, her ears poised to pick up any little detail they could.

...Or one crucial detail. A loud BOOM in the distance echoed in her right ear. “WHAT THE HELL!?” her head immediately darted to the right, opening her eyes and looking down at Horseshoe Bay harbour.

A black plume of smoke gushed from one of the ships in the harbour. The ships seemed like toys in a bathtub from this distance, but Dash could tell it was serious. Alarms began blaring from all over the harbour. Other ponies dining had got up from their tables to look at the scene. Seconds later, another ship exploded with a second powerful BANG that rang out across the area. The explosion tore it in half down the middle like paper.

“Quick Soarin, we gotta go!” Dash yelled but didn’t wait for Soarin to act. She didn't even look at him after opening her eyes. She zipped up her flight suit’s headpiece and leapt out of her chair in unison. Using the sheer power of her wings, she took off from the seating position and flew towards the harbour.

Soarin’s eyes twitched as he watched Dash fly away...he was down on one foreleg presenting the box to her...and she didn’t even see.

“Will you marry me, Rainbow Dash?” He said to himself, half-sarcastically half-angrily. He gritted his teeth, stood up and drew his hoof back with the velvet box in it…

..And used every ounce of his willpower to overcome the anger that wanted to use all of his strength to throw the box as far as he could into the distance. He groaned in frustration as he composed himself, taking a deep breath to help calm himself and focus. He pocketed the rings once again and zipped up his flight suits headpiece before following Dash. All he could do was pray that none of his teammates were on those ships...

Author's Note

Well then...it begins. Horseshoe bay just got a wakeup call.

Poor Soarin, the war has barely begun and he's already getting cucked by the Griffons. :rainbowlaugh:

Luckily I was able to get this chapter ready in time. I'm going to be experimenting with a new way of uploading chapters with this story. I plan to leave updates between chapters no longer than a month. If a chapter isn't ready after a month, then I'll either:
1.) if it's somewhere around 50% complete, I'll split the chapter in half and upload what I've got so far.
2.) if it's closer to 90% completed, I'll delay the release to get it finished.

Of course, the earlier the better still applies, so I'll still do my best to get my chapters turned out ASAP :rainbowdetermined2:
I just wanted to give you guys a heads-up as my work is restarting after being shut down from the coronavirus, and it's given us a huge backlog of stuff, so I'll be doing plenty of overtime for the foreseeable to make up for it. This will of course impact my writing time.

Thanks for reading! :twilightsmile:

Chapter 4: At What Cost?

Dash flew low across Horseshoe towards the harbour, having to weave through the many pegasi that had taken to the skies to get a better view of what was going on. Flying higher would mean having to fly through the smoke, which she was trying to avoid.

When she got to the harbour, she couldn’t believe her eyes. Flames were erupting from the ships like a dragon breathing fire. A few small explosions from various components being detonated by the heat came from all around her. The cries of ponies screaming for help or trying to help almost drowned out the burning wrecks that were slowly submerging in the harbour. She saw unicorns attempt to perform teleportation spells to save themselves, only to end up in the water or end up in the air, thus falling into the water. Dash was no unicorn, but she knew from Twilight that teleportation magic was very advanced magic that took a lot of practice to get right.

She immediately got to work, flying down towards the closest burning ship and lifting off the earth ponies and unicorns trapped on board. She pulled her goggles up from around her neck onto her eyes as the smoke was making her eyes water. She didn’t bother trying to say anything as she pretty much had to shout at the top of her lungs just to be heard through all the commotion. Despite the smoke making her cough, she kept flying back and forth to the best of her ability.

Just as she dropped another pony off on the dockside, an explosion from the ship she was rescuing ponies from drew her attention. The boat split in half from the blast, the force causing the forward section to drift towards the port, ramming the support beams of the dock. The sound of metal groaning under the weight filled the air and seconds later, the pier collapsed under the weight of the section of the boat pressing against it, causing several ponies to fall in...under the sinking debris…

Dash rushed towards the water, preparing to enter. She heard several ponies yelling at her, maybe trying to tell her something, but she wasn’t concentrating on that right now. She held her breath and drew her wings in at the last second to make her body as streamlined as possible as she dived into the water. The cold water was a wake-up call to her body, giving her a tingling sensation all over. She was pleased to learn that the flight goggles worked perfectly well underwater as well. The sound of metal groaning and banging against the seabed was all she could hear, so she would have to rely on her eyes.

She quickly identified the few ponies that fell in. Most of them seemed to be making their own way to the top, apart from one that was trapped underneath a long hunk of metal. Her legs were wiggling frantically as she tried to pull herself free, and the water around her had a slightly red hue to it...blood. She was injured.

Dash kicked with her hooves and raced towards the mare as fast as she could. The mare saw her coming and started making gestures to Dash, shaking her head and waving her hooves at something.

Dash quickly closed the difference then took a pause to try and understand the gestures through the water...pointing at the far end...was she trying to tell Dash to lift it from there?

Dash simply nodded, then swam towards the end of the metal hunk. She didn’t have much breath left to waste time trying to figure out exactly what she was trying to say. She wiggled her hooves underneath one chunk of the debris and surprisingly enough, it was quite easy to lift once she got her hind hooves on the seabed. The water obviously made things easier to move. She lifted it up just enough for the mare to free herself, then let it drop back down again. She swam over to the mare to help her get back to the surface, holding onto her with her wing as they swam upwards.

Breaching the surface, Dash gasped as she inhaled what she hoped would be fresh air, but she coughed a few times as she inhaled a bit of smoke along with it. She soldiered through it and got herself above the water enough for her to use her wings and lift the mare to safety.

Dash tried her best not to drop the mare as she flew her over the pier, but that little stunt had given her an intense workout, so as soon as she placed the mare down, she let her wings fail and simply dropped next to her herself, remaining still as she concentrated on nothing but breathing.

After a few breaths, she sat up to look at the white pegasus she recovered, “Are...you...alright?” She heaved through deep breaths, pulling her goggles back onto her forehead.

“I’ll live…” the mare gasped back, looking at the cuts on her leg, “But don’t...do that again…”

“What…” Dash raised an eyebrow, “I saved your life...right?”

“You did...and I’m forever grateful...but you didn’t see...all the unexploded warheads…”

Dash’s eyes widened at the revelation…

“If they went off while you were rescuing me...we’d both be dead,” the mare stated.

“...noted…” Dash gulped while standing up, even though she was still catching her breath. She hadn’t even considered the other risks, all she cared about was saving another ponies life. She got lucky this time, but next time she may not be so fortunate… “How’s your leg?” Dash asked, holding her wing out to help the mare up. At this point, several ponies were gathering around.

The mare took Dash’s assistance and pulled herself up, keeping an eye on the deep gashes on her right hind leg. “It hurts to hell...but I can walk,” she advised, tentatively putting weight on it. But some medical staff quickly arrived to help her. “Thanks, Rainbow Dash. I owe ya one,”

Dash smirked, “I’ll hold you to it,” she joked, performing a quick salute with her wing before taking off. She flew over the harbour, keeping an eye out for anypony else that might need help. But it looks like it was all mostly under control now. Everypony was out of immediate danger, and it was just a matter of firefighting and damage control now.

Now that she had a minute to survey the scene...there were no signs of any Griffons. A proper sneak attack. They hit then ran. And whatever they hit with hit hard, leaving no trace of their presence. If all of their encounters were going to be like this, Dash would be in for one hell of a challenge...

She landed at the back of the harbour for a minute to take a breather…but what caught her eyes didn’t give her much time to think. She sat a few meters away from the building with all the medical equipment in it. The building was so overwhelmed that the medics were treating ponies on the concrete outside. Feeling how cold it was under her own hooves only made Dash cringed as she imagined what it must be like to be lying down in pain on this surface. Some of the ponies were moving...some were crying and writhing in pain...others laid still...and some had blankets draped over their entire body...motionless…

Dash gritted her teeth at the sight. She felt her forehooves tremble at the shocking sight. That or the fact that she was drenched was starting to make her feel cold. She gulped and tried to remain strong as she continued to catch her breath. There was no beating around the bush; this was war. Ponies were going to die. And as much as it wanted to, she couldn’t let it affect her. She needed to remain strong to stop this. Equestria needed her.

“LIEUTENANT DASH!”

Dash cringed slightly as the voice echoed in her ear. She quickly turned to see a stallion standing next to her in the uniform carrying medical equipment.

“Are you hurt!? Do you need treatment?” He sputtered, placing a stethoscope on her chest.

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” Dash protested, brushing the tool away with her hoof. “Go help them!” She instructed, pointing her hoof towards the building.

“Then get out the way,” the stallion replied angrily, turning towards the building. “We’ve got wounded coming through!” He yelled while he walked back to the group of injured ponies.

Dash quickly glanced over her shoulders to see ponies being carried on stretchers towards her, some screaming in pain, some deathly quiet... realising that she was in the way, she quickly retook flight to remove herself as an obstacle.

“Have a nice swim?”

Dash turned in the direction of Blaze’s voice to see her hovering beside her. “I’m okay,” she replied, “How about you?” She asked, noticing the burn marks on Blaze’s flight suit.

“I was on the deck of the RES Laker when the torpedoes hit,” Blaze answered, glancing down at herself. “I’m a little singed, but I’m alright.”

“Torpedoes?” Dash raised an eyebrow and focused on the harbour.

Blaze nodded, “Spitfire said that other naval bases all over Equestria are reporting the same thing. It was some kind of coordinated submarine attack that caught us napping.”

“Dammit,” Dash groaned, rubbing her forehead with her hoof. The Griffons already sounded like they were a step ahead…

“Spitfire’s ordered us to whip up some heavy rain to suppress the fires. C’mon, I’ll need your help,” Blaze explained briefly before flying back towards the land.

“Right behind you,” Dash acknowledged, looking forward and following her. She never imagined that her first day of war would involve...doing her old Ponyville job…

Spitfire sighed as she walked through the door of the main building. Compared to the harbour front, it was nice to have a bit of peace and quiet. Although all the ponies running around inside it performing various tasks while all trying to talk over the top of one another seemed to say otherwise.

Spitfire began the task of trying to find Commodore Sea Salt. As she waded through the ponies, most of them recognised who she was and gave way to her, which she was extremely grateful for. After some brief directions, she finally found Sea Salt in an office, overlooking a big map on a large table by himself. “Sir!” Spitfire announced her presence.

Sea Salt cleared his throat, “Glad you’re still with us, Captain. Are you alright?” He motioned with his hoof for her to come closer but didn’t look back.

“I’m fine, Commodore. And so are my team,” Spitfire replied, taking a few steps to stand next to him, feeling the floorboards creak under her hooves. “What’s going on?”

“It seems this surprise attack by the Griffs has targeted our smaller screening ships and transport ships. I’ve just been on the radio and had reports of every single harbour along Equestria’s east coast being attacked,” he explained, tapping his hoof on every harbour with a red X over it on the map. To the side of the X, a brief description written on a separate piece of paper detailing the damage to ships.

“This attack caught us all by surprise…” Spitfire carried on but raised an eyebrow as she picked out some details on the map. “All these ships...they’re not very significant. Why didn’t they target the ones that would really do some damage, like the battleships?”

Sea Salt smiled as if he anticipated her question. “I thought of that too,” he replied, “But what they’ve effectively done is taken out our only means of transporting an army over the Luna Ocean. They’ve also taken out the only ships we have that are capable of attacking submerged submarines. They’ve effectively blockaded the entire Navy to Equestria’s coastline!” He slammed his hoof on the table in frustration.

“Now that’s gonna cause a problem for our current plan…” Spitfire replied calmly, seemingly unphased by his outburst. “I take it we have a new plan?”

“Not much as of yet,” Sea Salt shook his head, “But I’ve just been speaking to Ace on the radio. We now need to heavily utilise the airship force to compensate." He turned his head to look at Spitfire, "You and your team are being redeployed to the Airship Force. You can't do much good on a fleet that can't leave port. Admiral Swift Sprint is sending an airship to come and collect you to the Crystal Empire."

"Understood," Spitfire nodded, "I'll make sure my team is ready."

Sea Salt nodded at her acknowledgement and then breathed a sigh of relief, taking a seat in his chair and dropping his officers' cap onto the table with one hoof while brushing his blue mane back with the other. "How is your team? Any injuries?"

"Nothing worse than scratches," Spitfire replied, turning to look out the window. "I think we've done alright considering how much this caught us off guard." She took a few steps forward to put her face right up against the window. She saw the rain hammer down on the ground. The fires were all out now, but some smoke was still rising from the wreckages in the harbour. The only activity was repair crews moving around the dock as well as medics treating injuries in whatever space they could find.

Thankfully none of her own team was severely injured during the attack, but she couldn’t say the same for everypony. This attack only reinforced the substantial weight of responsibility she had of the lives under her command. It would not be easy, and they would all be looking to her for guidance. She quietly sighed, her breath condensing on the glass. She only hoped that when the time came to make a tough decision, she would make the right one.

The rain still pounded down heavily. Dash held her waterproof bag above her head with her wings to keep herself mostly dry. Not that it really mattered, as she was still damp from her little swim earlier. She tried to dry her equipment as much as she could, but it was still pretty wet when she stuffed it in her bag. Hopefully, she would get a chance to dry it properly when they got to the Crystal Empire.

But what really had Dash in deep thought was where she was sitting. A few feet in front of her were...stretchers...with bodies covered over by a blanket.

As much as she wanted to, Dash couldn’t stop thinking about it. Without even a fight, these mares and stallions were already lost. Gone. In the blink of an eye...and there was nothing she could do about it.

“Everything okay?”

Dash glanced to her right in the direction of Soarin’s voice to see him descending down to her, landing just next to her and taking a seat. He dropped his bag off to his side, not bothered about the rain.

“I’m fine,” Dash responded before glancing back at the stretchers, releasing a sigh. “I just feel so...powerless…”

“I know,” Soarin spoke softly, “These ponies didn’t even have a chance to fight back before…” he shuddered a tiny bit, “Chilling isn’t it?”

Dash nodded slowly. “I’ve never felt this way before. I feel like I...we should have done something sooner.” She turned to Soarin, “Because it took us a few minutes to arrive because we went on a mini-date...I feel partly responsible...I feel like we should have been here. Then maybe they still would have been,” she explained, motioning with her hoof towards the bodies. “Do you think…” Dash looked back over at Soarin, “Do you think we could have done better?”

“...That’s…” Soarin glanced away from Dash with a short sigh, “That’s a difficult question…” He looked back up at her. “It’s always gonna be tough, but we can’t dwell on what if’s. We have to keep looking forward if we want to stay ahead.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Dash responded with a more serious tone.

Soarin furrowed his brow as he saw where this conversation was going. “Well, to be blunt, yes. Yes, we could have done things differently. But everypony’s going to be telling themselves the same thing, you don’t think you’re the only one do you?”

Dash’s eyes glanced away as she thought for a moment. She hadn’t thought about it like that…

“Everypony’s gonna have stuff running through their heads like; oh, what if I didn’t go to file that paperwork? What if I wasn’t in the bathroom? What if I was on the deck instead of inside the ship? What if I was on the dock instead?” He made elaborate gestures with his hooves to emphasise his point. “No matter how big or small, we all could have done something better today. And that will always be the case. Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.”

Dash smiled a little, “I guess…” but the smile quickly faded back into a frown. “I just...I dunno...when it was me and my friends battling magical forces, things just seemed to work out in the end. But I’m not getting any of those vibes here…”

“I know,” Soarin replied, draping his wing over, “Neither am I. But tomorrow is another day. Whaddya say we hit the Grifs back twice as hard?” He said enthusiastically with a smile.

Dash could only smirk in response, “You sure do know how to make me tick,” she chimed, lowering her bag to her side and resting her head on his shoulder.

Soarin chuckled, “I know how to make you do a lot more than that,” he joked back, resting his head gently on the top of hers.

They held each other close for several moments, simply enjoying the comfort. Dash was considerably more wet than Soarin, so she didn’t mind somepony to dry herself off against. Not that it really mattered in this heavy rain. She had done an excellent job whipping that up.

Soarin once again thought about it...it was in his bag ready to pounce. The words were on the tip of his tongue, ready to leap out of his mouth...but now just wasn’t perfect. The Griffon attack really had killed the mood. As frustrating as it was, he subtly gritted his teeth as he had no choice but to withhold his proposal until the timing was better.

Dash’s ears twisted as she heard what sounded like an airship approaching, which she followed up by raising her head. Soarin also looked in the direction of the noise. The dark clouds meant they could hear it but not see it. Several moments later, it descended through the clouds and into sight. A small vessel, but it didn’t need to be anything special. It was only providing them with a taxi service to the Crystal Empire.

“Looks like our rides here,” Soarin broke the cuddle, “You ready?” He asked, picking up his bag.

“Yeah,” Dash nodded, bringing herself to her hooves and picking up her bag. She spread her wings and took flight, her eyes squinting as the rain battered them due to flying through it. Soarin flew alongside her as they headed towards the landing ship. She still felt like she hadn’t done enough to prevent the tragedies today, but Soarin was right; she just needed to punch back twice as hard. And she planned to do just that...

Author's Note

Well, things sure are heating up in here..sounds like the 'Bolts are about to be thrown into the thick of it. I wonder how things will play out...

Reality is hitting Dash hard. But hopefully she can punch back twice as hard. And in an awesome way too! :rainbowdetermined2:

This chapter came up a little shorter than anticipated, but I'm trying to keep the pacing consistent whilst still moving the plot along. I feel like getting bogged down in the details will just start getting repetitive, but obviously there's a time and place for everything. I'm just trying to keep it balanced and not fall into the same trap I did with Wonderbolts Trials and Tribulations.

Thanks for reading! :twilightsmile: