「Crystal War Requiem」

-Destroyed Appleloosa Square

Crashlanding near Giorno and Pinkie, Rainbow trudged towards them, and each step she took looked painful and tired. She looks worse for wear since the last time Giorno had encountered her, with bandages wrapped around her body underneath the crooks of her armor.

"Reinforcements has arrived, where- *huff* where is the enemy?" Rainbow breathed,

"The enemy has made their retreat, Lieutenant. Sir Giorno managed to drive them away." Pinkie responded,

"What? Who the hell is Sir Giorno?" Turning to her right, she was met with a very familiar face, "Y- you! You're the piece of shit The Apples called for!" Her reaction was less than pleasant, surrendering both his hands up to show he doesn't want to start a conflict. Giorno stood up,

"Please calm down, Lieutenant. I'm on your side."

"Bullshit! You've must've used some sorta hypnosis magic on them like you did on me. Release them!"

"Lieutenant Dash, please calm down. Sir Giorno here just saved Captain Steelhooves from near death." Pinkie rebuttal,

"What? he saved The Captain?" Pinkie shifted the unconscious Captain to face Rainbow, letting her guard down, she relaxed her posture.

"...You saved the Captain, huh? I guess I was wrong about you." Rainbow took a pause, taking in the messy aftermath of the demolished Appleloosa Square.

"What's the situation now?" Rainbow asked,

"Our troops are still stationed around the perimeter. A General was accompanying the raid, but most of if not all of Sombra's forces have retreated by now." Pinkie responded,

"W-what? A General? No wonder the captain's so beat up." Rainbow tried to crouch down to examine the captain's conditions. Still, with her broken ribs hindering her full range of motion, she could only bend a quarter way down before succumbing to the piercing pain in her sides. Finching, she hugged her bandaged ribs.

"Oh mio your ribs are broken, here let me heal you." Summoning「G.E.R」, he reached out to caress the bandaged area gently. A glow illuminated within the armor's spaces, and Dash immediately felt a sharp pain shocking around her ribs.

"Argh! What the hell are you doing!? It's not..." Rainbow touched her ribs again. She realized it wasn't hurting anymore.

"It's not... Broken anymore?" She said, dumbfounded. Giorno shrugged it off,

"Yea, it's called healing. Anyway, do any of you have a way to communicate with the Princesses? I wish to talk to them." Pinkie reached into her back pouch and fished out a shiny pink crystal. Tapping it twice with her thumb, she handed it over to Giorno,

"Here, use this. It's a communication crystal. I've already signaled for a live call. Now we have to wait for either one of the princesses to answer." Grabbing the rosy gem into his hands, he stretched it out slightly in front of himself, and he waited patiently for the princesses to respond. While waiting, he turns his attention to Rainbow removing her helmet.

"Lieutenant Dash, was it? If memory serves me right, we first met at the fields in Ponyville."

"Yea, I remember, you decked me 'til my ass was on the ground." she scoffs.

"Yeah... sorry about that."

"Save your pity. I don't need it."

"Right...... Lieutenant Dash, do you worry for The Captain?" Getting her attention, she fully turns to face Giorno.

"What do you know?"

"When Lieutenant Pie mentioned The Captain being safe, you seemed... relieved." Sighing, Rainbow sat down along with Giorno and Pinkie, placing her helmet to her side, and she continues,

"Among The Equestrian Military Forces. The Captains are the highest-ranking officers there are. Not only are they respected for their positions and rank but for the power and magical prowess they have. They are some of the strongest fighters in all of Equestria, 'sides from the Princess, of course. Still, in the presence of a General. It's a totally different system altogether. The power of a General is on a totally new level of strength that it's terrifying. They could wipe whole armies if they wanted to. It's not uncommon for a Captain to lose to a General in combat, die even. Because those who have the shit luck of stumbling across a General usually never survives, so it sure was a hell of a surprise when you said you beat a General!"

"It's not. It was all the work of Captain Steelhooves. He weakened the General for me to deliver the finishing blow." Their conversation was interrupted by the rose-colored crystal shimmering with light. A projection came from it, and there sat Princess Celestia. The two Lieutenants next to Giorno bowed with their heads down to the sun goddess as a sign of respect without hesitation.

"Your highness." both said in unison. A slight nod set the two at ease,

"Is the situation over at Appleloosa resolved?" Celestia asked,

"We encountered a General, your highness. But we managed to beat him and chase him away." Giorno replied,

"That's wonderful news! I will be sending a transport train over to bring all of you back to Canterlot."

"Princess, you can send all the troops back. I will be heading straight to Fillydelphia."

"What? Don't tell me you're going to fight in Fillydelphia all by yourself?"

"That's precisely what I'm planning to do," Giorno said,

"Don't be absurd, Giorno! We have already got what we came for! Going to fight more of Sombra's troops is suicide!" Pinkie interjected,

"Lieutenant Pie is right, Giorno. You have already secured your objective in Appleloosa. We can head over to Fillydephia when more of my ponies are fully healed." Celestia added Giorno wasn't swayed in the slightest, however. Opting to stand by his decision of heading straight to Fillydelphia.

"Princess Celestia, what I had in mind wasn't to only defend Appleloosa. I never had any intentions to let them take over Fillydelphia. It's like you said, it is a mine full of resourced goods and rations. I wasn't heavily injured in our confrontation with one of Sombra's Generals, so I'm more than capable of traveling over to Fillydelphia myself. I believe this is very crucial, Princess. Even you have to agree with me that letting them take over Fillydelphia would come with many negative comebacks soon."

"... There's no convincing you, is there, Giorno Giovanna?" letting a small sigh, Celestia resumes sounding defeated,

"Alright, I'll send in more available troops to support you."

"Oh, that won't be necessary. The cityscape is too large and vast. I can't focus on the mission without them getting lost or getting in the way. Not to mention the possibility of getting separated and divided with the enemy knowing the terrain's layout, we will just be caught in a spider's web. And they will slowly pick us off one by one."

"That seems plausible, so you would prefer a small group instead, am I right?"

"Actually, all I want is just two captains to accompany me."

"I'll arrange it for you then. And I minus well teleport you there myself, no point in wasting time to travel."

"Thank you, Princess. Your generosity knows no bounds." Celestia gave a small smile at the compliment,

"Prepare yourself in thirty minutes, Giorno. I will magically teleport you via the communication crystal you are holding. I will spawn you near the outskirts of Fillydelphia. From there on, you will meet up with the two Captains I have assigned to accompany you on your mission. That said, I can't teleport all of you back to Canterlot unless you have the crystal you are holding. So if you wish to leave Fillydelphia, you absolutely must NOT lose the communication crystal. Is that clear?"

"Understood, your highness," Giorno noted,

"Good, I will talk to you again five minutes before teleportation. Please be ready by then."

"Yes, your highness." With that, Celestia ended the communication link. Shifting back, Giorno walked past Pinkie and Rainbow. Making his way past the rocky terrain and towards where the troops were guarding.

"And where are you going?" Rainbow asked,

"I'm going to check on the troops to see whether they had sustained any injuries so I could heal them. I'll be back before Princess Celestia contacts me again." Maneuvering, he made his way out of the battlefield and disappeared behind the houses. Thunderous booming came from the skies, and three smoke trails can be seen from above coming down to where Pinkie and Dash are located. Hovering in the air were three Wonderbolts, equipped and ready for battle.

"Lieutenant Dash! Lieutenant Pie! Reinforcements have arrived!" A voice of a stallion spoke up from the three.

"The threat has been resolved, but we can't be too sure. We are to be stationed here for the next several hours, fly around Appleloosa and keep a lookout for all suspicious activity." Rainbow commanded. With the three Pegasus nodding, they blasted by into the skies to survey the premise of Appleloosa. Stretching her wings, she clipped on her helmet and turns to Pinkie.

"I'll help The Wonderbolts with the scouting. You should find a better place to let The Captain rests before the pickup train arrives." Spreading her wings, she flapped them once and took off with a trail of sparkling rainbows behind her. Finally, realizing the ground was probably not the most comfortable place to rest your fatigued body after a battle to the death. Pinkie hefted The Captain up and carried him into an abandoned house, laying him onto the couch so he could rest comfortably. She kept watch of him until Giorno came back to the square.

Roughly twenty minutes later~

"Lieutenant Pie? Are you there?" Giorno called,

"I'm over here." Pinkie waved Giorno over to the abandoned home, stepping in. Giorno immediately noticed the sleeping Steelhooves on the couch.

"I have mended all of our troops' injuries. How's the Captain?" Giorno spoke,

"He seems to be doing fine, no complications while you were gone." Pinkie replied,

"Great, good to hear. Please tell him to rest if he wakes up anytime soon, his body is still battered, and I don't want him to overexert himself."

"Will do."

As on cue, the crystal tucked away in Giorno's pocket flashed repeatedly. Digging it out, a projection of Celestia came online as she promised. Pinkie kneeled as she did before while Giorno just stared.

"Giorno Giovanna, the teleportation spell is ready. Are you ready to go?" Celestia asked. Giorno looked over to Pinkie and spoke,

"I'll meet you back at Canterlot Castle. Please take care until then." He smiled before turning back to face Celestia,

"Yes, I am. Please bring me there."

She nodded and shined her horn. The crystal which Giorno was holding shined along with her. The live projection was cut off as the light soon engulfed Giorno's being. The sound of shimmering glitter could be heard as he vanished straight to the city in the east. Pinkie was left crouching there in the vacant wooden building, a slight tang of worry smudged over her face.

"And the same goes to you, Giorno Giovanna." She muttered.