Ponyserk I- Egg of the High Queen

Chapters

Warrior without a cause
Meeting of Fate
Joining the Band of the Phoenix
Hai Yai Forces!
Downtime
Three Years Later: Beginning of the Golden Age
How things have changed and stayed the same
Knighthood

Warrior without a cause

In this world. Is the destiny of pony kind controlled by some transcendental entity or law? Is it like the hand of fate hovering above? At-least it is true, ponies have no control...Even over there own will!

Rainbow Dash

All she could do was stare. The sky above her always held such an allure to her: The serenity of the infinite blue above her called out constantly as if inviting her to join it in all it's majesty, to mingle amongst the marble white clouds and the birds that made the space home. How she wanted to just leap into the air, to take flight and send herself through the infinite space, but she knew that at a time like this it was impossible. Her gaze was drawn to a single hawk, circling above her and the other hundreds if not thousands of souls confined to the ground below. She envied the creature in it's freedom to travel where it pleased, to be free from any and all orders or responsibility from other creatures. She was torn between wanting to tear the creature from the sky, to make it suffer on the ground with her and the rest of the ponies below, and just continuing in watching it circle without purpose or reason. There was peace in this sight, more so then what occurred below, free from conflict or danger. The thoughts of the pegasus were rudely interrupted as a stray arrow struck the airborne creature in the neck, sending it spiralling to the unforgiving ground below. It was a sight she had seen time and again, just another victim of the war below it.
The sounds of the battlefield came back full force to the pegasus, eliciting a quiet sigh of regret before her gaze hardened.

The barren land surrounding the castle was blotted out by armoured ponies, all of them making a mad dash toward the outer wall to try to breach the inside. Arrows rained down from the battlements, some unfortunate ponies being struck and killed before they even reached the wall. But reaching the curtain wall or portcullis did not assure safety, oh no, the pegasus had learned long ago such a thing was just foolish hope. Most of the time the battlements swapped arrows for stones, using them to crush the head of whatever unfortunate pony they aimed for. If they were smart or served an especially wealthy lord, they would pour scolding hot oil or water on the victims ramming at the gates. Such occasions had been rare in her career on the battlefields of equestria, but she had seen the pain the ram-wielders suffered from such assaults. In this situation, the ponies manning the ram had managed smartly placed a boat over the top of them to dull the hits from the stones that rained down from atop of the portcullis. This was taking too long for her: The gate had barely been scathed by the ram, the ladders that had been erected by eager soldiers had been either knocked down or it's climbers disposed of for recklessly rushing up it to meet the tip of an enemy sword.

Pulling the visor of her helmet down to obscure her face, she finally took off in a charge towards the castle walls. The last wave of soldiers was rushing alongside her, having had the misfortune of being lumped with them. The last wave was always ones who had never killed a pony before, or ones that were too cowardly to stake their lives on the first wave. It didn't matter to her for she had no intention of staying with them, a smirk crossing her face as she picked up the pace. Her wings gradually splayed themselves out, managing to side-step or miss the arrows as she neared the walls until, finally, she launched herself off the ground and into the air.
The pegasus didn't waist another second, using the brief surprise of the archers to charge directly overhead and towards the bailey. Spotting the archer ahead of her notch a bow, she grasped the hilt of her blade as she neared closer. She wasn't far, she could do this! Just as the archer raised his bow to fire, she swiftly drew the blade from her back and swung the weapon in a diagonal arc in-front of her. The pony before her had no chance, the bow snapping with an audible crack as the sharpened metal edge made contact with wood. His head was liberated cleanly from his body and sent flying up into the air above as she sped past, the leather scraps he called 'armour' being all but useless to her blades wrath.

But as soon as the moment of freedom had begun it was over and she landed on the opposite end of the castles battlements. Archers dropped bows to quickly draw blades, but it didn't matter to the pegasus: She had flown in, breached the supposedly 'impenetrable' defences, and even drawn blood. Right now, in this moment of euphoria, the enemies numbers meant absolutely nothing to her.

The sound of wood collapsing and the cries of horror from the bailey beneath her meant one thing and one thing alone: The gate had been breached at-last. Using the distraction to her advantage, she flared her wings and propelled herself forwards, swiftly fighting her way along the battlements' distracted soldiers to clear a path below. That was where the real money would be: The commanders head.

It took but a few moments after her hooves touched the ground of the bailey before the forces she tentatively called her allies had stalled once again, coming to a halt in the face of a single armoured colt. No, this was no Colt: It was a suit of Armour masquerading as a pony, it's size and bloodied battleaxe instantly halting the once eager and brave mercenaries that had been eager for a pay-check The light grey plates that completely covered the colt from head to hoof made him seem less real and more metal: The only sign that there was a living creature inside of the suit was two holes in the front of the armored helmet where wide, blue eyes glared sinisterly down at the others as he loomed above them.
“Bazuzo!” The mercenaries muttered in fear amongst the ranks, whispering this hunk of metals accomplishments and titles: The grey knight, once said to have single-handedly defended a castle against a force of thirty ponies. An impressive feat, but Rainbow dash knew all to well that there was a pony under that suit of armour A pony that bled, ate and shat themselves like all the rest. Something her comrades had yet to acknowledge.
“Look at you all, standing around like scared little fillies!”Bazuzo chuckled heartily, raising his great and bloodied axe again.”Whoever wants their heads smashed in, come on in!” Yet again her comrades did little but stand around gawking, much to the dismay of her commander.
“What are you all waiting for!? Is nobody going to fight him?” Her commander cried out. He was a colt in black plate armour that looked a bit to elaborate for her tastes: It looked like it had just been bought recently, a ridiculous red feather sticking out the top of the helmet that she just wanted to rip out of it. But, he was her employer and until she got her money, she had no choice but to follow him.
“Hey! W-we never signed up for this!” One of her comrades muttered.
“If he's so important, why don't you go fight him!?” Another added fearfully.
Her commanders hoof made contact with his face, shaking his head in disgust.
“Unbelievable! And you call yourselves knights?”
“Uh. We're Mercenaries..”A short colt corrected, making the pegasus shake her head. They had a job to do and if they weren't going to do it, she was.

Making her way through the line of ponies, shouldering passed them amidst complaints and threats. She kept her gaze on the armoured pony before her, and only on him, knowing he was her ticket to a bigger pay-check Before she knew it she was at the front of the line of her scared comrades, stabbing her blade into the ground beside her.
“How much?”Speaking at-last made the ponies at her back burst into mutters and murmurs of astonishment, the leader just standing in shock. She sighed, unimpressed at the silence, and pointed her free hoof at the armoured giant before her before speaking again.”How much for the giant, Buzzo, Bazuzu- Ergh, Mister Thirty man slayer here?” She noticed the shock on her commanders face before adding.”I'm a mercenary. I'm not out for status and Rank, I just want pay”.
Bazuzo straightened in surprise, appearing to be angered by the lack of respect she had shown him.“Grr! Why you insolent little-”
“I'll give you five silver bits for his head!” Her commander replied at last.
“Only five?” She asked, astonished at how stingy this commander was being. This was a supposed thirty man slayer after all, she only figured he'd be worth a gold at least!
“F-fine! Seven Silver! But no more!”
Sighing in aggravation, she just shook her head.
“Man, you're stingy..fine, seven it is for the giants head” She grumbled in consent. Stingy or not, this was still far better pay then she usually got for these jobs.
“Hah! See this? The enemies so weak they have to send little mares in to do their dirty work!” Bazuzo teased as his composure was seemingly regained, taking a step forwards.”Only a coward would let a little foal fight a colts ba-” Bazuzo got not further as Rainbow dash swiftly charged forwards, bringing the large two handed blade in her possession down in a powerful strike, not only stumbling her opponent but shutting his large mouth in the process.

She didn't care about anything else at this moment but her enemy, constantly swinging her sword downwards again and again at the armoured colts mid-section. His armour made him slow, his helmet likely hindering his sight more. A fair duel was just going to get her head lopped off, so she had to make sure he couldn't make a single move. Metal met metal continually as her blade made contact with the metal hilt of the great-axe, forcing Bazuzo into a corner with little hope of retaliating. She just had to keep this up until he stumbled back. If he fell she knew with that armour he wasn't getting back up. Then? It was just a matter of striking where his plates couldn't protect him.
Unfortunately, she had gotten so lost in keeping him on guard with continuous strikes that she failed to notice the armoured hoof strike out, hitting her right in the armoured breast-plate she wore. The brown scarf wrapped around her neck fluttered out in front of her, obscuring her vision for a scant few seconds as she fell flat onto her back. Her armour was thankfully much lighter then her opponent, allowing the mare to swiftly recover.
Glancing up, she saw the sinister gleam of blood on her opponents axe, which was now raised above his head and on a collision course for her. A loud growl escaping the mare, she swung her blade up, parrying the blow by her blade making contact with the axe. She noticed the blow had left a solid crack in her opponents axe head, leaving him to again stumble back. Only this time, he leaned back enough to cause the plates of his armour to shift. Seeing her chance, she rushed forwards with her sword prepared and swung diagonally from the left to try to slice her opponent in two. Just as she swung left Bazuzo swung right, hitting the side of her head as she moved in for the kill. Instead of slicing through her head though, the axe split down the middle, rendering any threat from it useless and also dislodged her helmet. Rainbow streaks of hair peaked out at last from under the blue pegasus' helmet, her face revealed completely to the spectators. Her opponent had made his saving throw, but by then it was already far too late: He had lost.

Letting out a cry of pain as her blade embedded itself in the side of his waist, Bazuzo fell down to his knee's. One of his hooves grasped his side in a vain attempt to stop the blood evacuating his body, the other raising itself in defeat.
“H-hold on! I, the mighty Bazuzo acknowledge your-”She didn't even let him finish she pulled her greatsword back, raising her blade above her head and bringing the sharp blade down on his skull. His helmet, it appeared, was rather weak compared to the rest of his armour: Her sword cut through it like a pumpkin, sending his brains flying out amidst a stream of blood. His body fell back as she withdrew her sword, dislodging one of his eyeballs from his ruined skull in the process. The mighty Bazuzo? She had proven he was nothing more then another mortal pony.
She looked up to expressions of horror from those who had been her enemies, their spirits all but crushed at the sight of their trump-card being butchered so effortlessly before taking a breath and flicking the blood from her blade. Her commander laughed, calling for her allies to finish their assault and charge forwards. But, she didn't care: She knew now that the enemy had lost, she had seen to that, and that all that was left now was for the remaining soldiers to take the castle.

She moved, collecting her helmet from beside the fresh corpse of the former Grey knight, ignoring her allies as they charged passed her.

Unknown soldiers

From the balcony of the keep above, four ponies surveyed the chaos below them.
“I'll be! Seems they had someone capable down there. Gotta wander who she's with” The mare second from the left spoke, her accent having a noticeable southern accent to her voice.
“This is no time to be in awe of such ruffians!” A more dignified voice to the left of her spoke, her tone suggesting annoyance.”They completely took away our chance for glory”. A smirk graced the second speakers face underneath her visor, turning to face the pony to the far right of her.”Still, Pinkie-pie, between you and that ruffian down there, who do you think is stronger?” This caused a huff of annoyance to come from the fourth and final pony to her left.
“Please don't say such things!” She replied, her tone soft and meek yet also oddly defiant.”There is nobody stronger then Pinkie-pie!”
The pony on the far right, Pinkie-Pie, who was obscured by white armour and a strange helmet akin to an open birds beak, just stared down intently at the rainbow haired sword-pony below. Her eyes narrowed, as if a hawk training in on it's prey, ignoring the battle taking place below. One of her hooves absently traced over a red bauble on her necklace as her gaze locked on the pony, not seeming to even notice she was unconsciously carressing the piece of jewellery. It was an odd, even ugly thing: A small red egg with what looked to be parts of a face carved into it on various angles.
“Send the word to our forces: we're pulling out”. She finally ordered, her companions nodding and moving to quickly gather our forces.
“This was a good job while we had it, Sugacubes” The southern accented pony spoke as she made her way along.”We lasted three months when the ones that hired us didn't even think we'd last three days”.

Meeting of Fate

Rainbow Dash

With the battle now concluded, the conquerors for hire went about rounding up the surviving ponies: Some were soldiers that had been captured, others were just civilians that had taken to hiding underneath the castle in the basement. The latter were being escorted from the ruined by her now former allies, colts and mares of all ages. From elderly servants and staff, to young children. She could tell the latter from the wailing she heard from them, not blaming them for being so scared for only fate knew what would happen to them now: If they were lucky, they might be taken in as servants by a kindly warrior or even allowed to be released. But, more likely, there would be a few that ended up dead...or worse.
“Alright, next!” The calls of the commander brought the pegasus back to reality, now making her way towards a small wooden desk and a chair that the leading pony sat on. It was a quaint enough piece of furniture, likely taken from the castle and set up as a means of distributing pay, but it was undermined by the pile of dead behind it. If she were a lesser pony she would have been unable to take the sight let alone the horrid stench. But, she had crossed too many battlefields in her short life and had just simply gotten used to it as all soldiers did.

“Here's your pay for the two months of service, plus your reward. Go ahead, count it”. The colt smugly stated as he placed a small bag of bits plus several silver ones. Despite assurances from her commander, a slimy looking grey pony with a mane of blonde, short cut hair and a moustache, she picked up the coins to individually count them. Every one of them she bit into, testing if they were real or not.”You know, you impressed me today, obvious fluke aside. Imagine, a little mare like yourself slaying Bazuzo!” He chuckled, taking a sip from a small goblet of wine before continuing but the pegasus just continued counting her coins.”How about you work for me? I'll triple your pay. My clerk even said I can take you on as a knight, even give you a few squires. For a Merc, that seems like a dream come true right?”
“Dreams?” Rainbow dash finally spoke, looking at her former commander as he took another sip of his wine.”Last I checked you couldn't eat those”. The response made the colt relinquish the contents of his mouth, spraying it out across the table amidst a surprised cough.”Besides, my contract with you expires today. Not good business for a Merc to stay with one employer” She had been through this song and dance routine so many times it was tedious: Pegasai were not common on the battlefield, and the few that did fight were hoarded up among various noble lords due to their flight abilities. She'd heard stories when she had been younger about great aerial battles, sieges in cities among the clouds. Of great aerial machines, and of powerful unicorns that wielded sinister magical power. But, those days were in the past:
The great aerial machines had broken, the Pegasai had fled to somewhere in the skies or retired to the ground. And the unicorns? Their once fabled magical prowess appeared to be all but gone
“H-hey! Hold on, I'm offering you riches and power beyond what any mere mercenary could ever hope to have and you turn it back in my face!?” It seemed her employer had tried to follow after her in an attempt to convince her to stay, but she would have none of it. She was a mercenary, she knew where her priorities lay.”I said hold on!” The feeling of her employers hoof on her back made her come to a halt, rage welling within her.
“DON'T TOUCH ME!” She roared, reflexively striking the hoof away and glaring at her employer. She hated, nay loathed, to be touched. She knew all to well the intentions of those touching her, and she'd be damned if she let them get what they wanted. Never again would she give them another chance.”Don't you ever touch me!” She watched the colt recoil from her, satisfied he had the message. She turned and continued walking away, hearing mutters of surprise and distaste from her former comrades as she left the ruined gate.

She bit down the temptation to fly for the time being, noticing the all too present ominous storm cloud overhead. She had learned the folly of flying in storms, and was none to keen to repeat such a mistake.

Rarity

Things had gone well enough during the evacuation. The nobles that had owned that castle had thankfully provided a blueprint of the castle, making them privy to secret passages that could be used to escape. The lords had long since escaped them three months ago, leaving them to guard the castle for as long as possible against enemy forces. They hadn't even lost anyone during the escape either, something she was all to used too from long service in this mercenary band.
But, it was still a retreat from a job and the unicorn couldn't help the feeling of shame that welled in her as she retreated: Three months down the drain, and not a single noteworthy kill to her name. Even now as she sat atop the grassy hill against a rock, she couldn't escape the feeling of failure let alone the amount of bits she still owed.

“Hey, Someone's coming!” The unicorn looked up absently from examining a few gems that one of her underlings had asked for her to check to see if it was real before returning her attention to the gem. As usual, she couldn't trust her men to tell a gold bit from a button and found that the gem was a forgery. She didn't know how many times she had gone over how to tell the difference between a fake and the real thing, but as always they had ignored her. She decided to ignore the call: After all, unless it was a group of soldiers patrolling or an enemy heading their way she had better things to do then watch every ruffian that walked the path. Plus, the prospect that at-least one of these gems she had not yet examined may just be real enough to warrant the amount of bits that exchanged hooves for these forgeries was enough to keep her attention on the task at hand.
“Hold up! That's the mare that killed Bazuzo!” And with that detail, her priorities instantly changed.
“Hang on, she's not our enemy any more so why the hell should we care?” Another of her underlings spoke, another giving a grunt of agreement.
“Then again, that bag of bits she's got is just filled to the brim, I can sense it!” Rarity poked her head up between two of her subordinates, a greedy smile making it's way across her face as her hooves moved to pull them closer to her.”She got a lot of bits for killing Bazuzo...Bits, might I add, that rightfully belong to us!” She had made a bet with some of the other commanders that Bazuzo would be her kill after the job had been done. She could have finally had a bit of glory for killing someone famous only to have this Pegasus crush it under her sword. But she was going to have the last laugh, and the bits to show for it. But, desires for banditry aside, she knew she couldn't just run off.”Hey Pinkie-pie! Mind if we go and get her?” She called back

The pink earth pony was resting on the grass, her hooves behind her head as she gazed up at the blue sky. There had been some fears of a storm earlier but, luckily, the clouds had given way to clearer weather.
“Do what you want”. Pinkie-pie sighed out in boredom, not even giving the unicorn a second look. Not that she cared: She had the permission to do as she wished!
“Alright boys, with me!” She laughed happily, grabbing her helmet and spear, eagerly moving to the edge of the hill before a sigh of discontent hit her ears. A sigh she knew all to well.”Fluttershy, what are you moping about?”
“You won't be able to beat her Rarity, not with your abilities”.
Rarity scoffed.“Let me tell you something Darling: I was the one who was going to kill Bazuzo and I won't be satisfied until I kill the one foolish enough to come between me and the glory that is rightfully mine!”
“In that case you'll die”. The morbid tone of her words made Rarity scowl.
“It-is-on!” She turned, placing her helmet on her head before grabbing her spear.
“Oh no, Sugar-cube..”The southern accented earth pony spoke in concern, looking up briefly from a wood carving she was busy working on as rarity walked by.”Pinkie-Pie. Are you sure it's ok to leave this up to her?” She asked the pink haired leader, only to receive no reply.

Silence befell the rest of her comrades as the last of Rarity's men donned their helmets and grabbed weapons, a sight that made that greedy smile return to the unicorns face.

Rainbow Dash

Noticing the clouds dissipate above her, the Pegasus stopped in her travels to stretch her wings. With no fear of a storm stopping her now, she knew that flying would be easy. Hearing a twig snap nearby, she froze in place like a deer, gazing in the direction the sound originated. Spotting nothing, she shook her head with a sigh.
“Just my imagination” She knew paths through the hills, especially when the wind blew with a bit more velocity then normal, tended to make you hear things that weren't truly there.

The peace of the realisation was shattered as she heard the sound of hooves galloping in her direction, looking up to see a horde of armoured ponies brandishing weapons. It was all to clear what the origin of the earlier noise was these bandits and she needed even less time to realise she was their target.
Putting her bag of coins down beside her, the mare put her helmet on her head, pulling the visor down.
“Dan, Get her!” The one leading them, a Pegasus from the look of the horn jutting out through her helmet, spoke. The other, Dan, let out a loud Yeehaw! Of delight as he charged right for her, ready to bring his sword down on her.
Taking a few steps back, Rainbow Dash unsheathed her great sword and flared her wings as her enemy approached. Just as he was mere moments away, she propelled herself fourth, slicing through the ponies chest as she took to the air, decorating the ground she had once stood with her enemies blood. Forgetting for a moment that she was still hovering in place, she turned to see a flail being swung downwards at her by another of the bandits. She barely had time to manoeuvre herself out of the way, the spikes just barely grazing her cheek as the weapon hit where her body had just been seconds before. She immediately countered this assault by swinging her sword down at the other ponies outstretched hoof, severing the appendage to the sound of her enemy screaming Her opponent lost his balance, falling the rest of the way down the hill and collapsing in a squealing heap. He grasped helplessly at where his hoof used to be, unable to stop screaming.

“Dear God. She's so...powerful”. The bandit that had ordered her first victim blurted out in shock, having come to a stop alongside the rest of her henchmen.

Fluttershy

“Look at what that mare did to Dan and Earl!” One of the colts watching the spectacle spoke.
“Dammit, what is Rarity doing: Fight or just get out of their already! She's gonna get herself killed!” Another spoke in distress, but the yellow Pegasus just sighed and shook her head at their disbelief. She had known Rarity was going to get into trouble and bite off more then she could handle: She had always been a glory seeker, motivated only by the riches of mercenary life and nothing more as far as she had seen. True, she was among one of the earliest members of Pinkie-Pie's band of warriors, but she remained the weakest of the commanders. She recalled many times that she had been forced to double back and save the Unicorn, from either an enemy or from her own retched greed and stupidity. She was by no means the worst fighter among them, but she wasn't about to go and lump unwanted praise on something like that. Not when she was the one that truly excelled.
“Fluttershy, go handle this”. The voice of Pinkie-pie instantly alerted her to what needed to be done, instantly filling the shy Pegasus with anger. Her? Help Rarity!? She had gotten herself into this, and as far as she was concerned she could get herself out without her help this time.
“M-me? B-but this is all Rarity's Faul-” Pinkie-Pie's blue eyes opening and staring at her made her finish her sentence there, any anger at the situation dying down into silence.”O-ok..I'll do it”

She knew that she had no choice, not where Pinkie-Pie was concerned: whatever their leader told her, she did without question. She was her sword, to be used in whatever Pinkie-Pie needed accomplished.

The pegasus donned her helmet, moving to grab a crossbow from nearby. Making sure to check her sword was at her back, she spread her wings in preparation for battle with one of her own species.

Rainbow Dash

“Donnelly! You go!” Rainbow Dash floated in the air, simply waiting to see if her opponents would wise up and decide to retreat. Unfortunately the unicorn and her ilk seemed to be persistent, despite the rather glaring disadvantage of being unable to get off the ground.
“Why me!?” The other bandit complained to their leader, prompting Rainbow Dash to lose her patience. She'd given them a chance to run, but they hadn't taken it. So she'd take their heads instead. Raising her sword up, she flew down at the leader, aiming to cave the unicorns head in with a single blow just as she'd done to Bazuzo. The unicorn screamed in terror, bracing herself for the impact.

A sharp pain erupted in her side, making her cry out and end her hover. This had the dubious side-effect of making her ungraciously fall and hit the ground with a sharp thud. Wincing, she slowly picked herself, curious as to what had happened until she saw...another Pegasus? These bandits had a Pegasus on their side!? And with her current injury making flight difficult, she had just turned this fight in her favour Whoever she was, she was no amateur.
The newcomer flew over rather swiftly, standing guard in front of the unicorn and her men. It was rather sad to admit that she found the pegasus a more intimidating sight then the group of armed bandits, but she could tell this new enemy wasn't like the ones behind her. Rainbow dash grabbed at her side, finding a crossbow bolt embedded there. She pulled sharply, causing the bolt to be removed and a cry of pain to escape her as she let it slip to the ground.
“Fluttershy? You've come to back me up?”
“Of-course I haven’t, I'm here under Pinkie-Pie's orders”. The Pegasus shoved her crossbow into the hooves of the unicorn, glaring back at her before she felt her new enemies attention turn back to her.
The newcomer Fluttershy, as the bandit leader had called her, let out a cry of anger before unsheathing a short-sword and swooping down to slash at her. Dash's eyes widened, blocking the blade with her own. The other Pegasus turned in the air quickly, making another pass that Rainbow Dash was again able to block. Her enemy didn't let up, attacking with surprising ferocity that left her unable to attack. It was a smart tactic, she had to give her opponent that: This Fluttershy's assault seemed to be designed to not allow for her enemy to counter attack without risking serious injury and against any other pony it might have worked. But, Rainbow Dash noticed that there was a slight delay where her back was turned. It was only a brief window though, and she knew if she was to have any hope of winning she'd need speed. There was one way she could do it, it would hurt but if she pulled it off then she could knock this Fluttershy out of the sky.

Waiting for her enemy to make another swoop, Dash jumped to the side and quickly flared her wings. She bit down a growl of pain from her injury, knowing it hurt to spread her wings. However she didn't need to fly..she just needed a push. Flapping the down, she used the momentum to propel herself forwards as her enemy turned, stabbing her sword at the rival Pegasus' head.
Hearing a cry of surprise escape her enemy, Rainbow Dash knew she had done it. She watched her enemies helmet be dislodged as her sword hit her, the equipment managing to save her enemies head from being sliced through as she tumbled back onto the ground.
“How dare you!” Fluttershy cried out, making a mad rush at her and swinging her short-sword down in anger. The blow was easily blocked, with Rainbow dash replying with a kick to her opponents stomach, sending her back before starting to swing wildly at her. The tables now effectively turned, the Pegasus continued her assault and repeatedly swung her blade down, leaving her no chance to counter.
“Fluttershy's cornered!” A voice rang out from above.
“That's impossible. None of us can beat Fluttershy but Pinkie-Pie, yet this mare's making it look so easy..I think we're in trouble here”. A second spoke up as the pegasus swung diagonally across, changing her blades direction and knocking the sword from Fluttershy's hooves and sending her tumbling down. Raising her sword up, Rainbow dash looked down at the shocked expression of her enemy: She knew that look, it was the one that soldiers gave when they realised they were going to die.

A spear lodging itself into the ground beside her was the only thing that stopped her from dealing the final blow, immediately looking to the side to find the origin: It was a pony wearing white armour, with a strange helmet that looked like an opened birds beak. Only a sabre was sheathed at her side, immediately reminding Rainbow Dash of those festivals where nobles paraded down the streets. But, despite the strange appearance, the Pegasus couldn't help but keep her attention on this strange pony.
“Pinkie-Pie! Be careful, she's very strong!” Fluttershy spoke as the newcomer, Pinkie-Pie, stood across from them. Despite the visor, The pegasus could feel her stare, as if she was the only thing in this ponies world.
“Will you lay down your sword?” The question made the Pegasus' eyes narrow, proceeding to raise her own blade up in-front of her.”I see..”A sigh came from the earth pony, almost as if it was of regret, but the Pegasus shook that from her thoughts. She was her enemy, nothing else mattered but beating her!
Letting out a roar, she rushed forwards and swung her blade down, expecting it to cleave through this seemingly 'fake' warrior like a fine cake. However, the clang of metal showed that her enemy had drawn her blade to block the incoming blow, the small blade surprisingly sturdy against the strength of the Pegasus' blade. She spotted a smirk on her enemies lips before she tilted her blade down, ending the clash and causing Rainbow dash to stumble forwards due to her blade slipping forward. Turning quickly to retaliate, she could only watch in horror as her enemies blade embedded itself in her chest. She was surprised at how graceful and quick her enemy was, having expected her to go down easily as the others had. But, with a flick of her wrist, Pinkie-pie withdrew the blade, allowing the Pegasus to fall back, the pain of the blow finally coming to her in full force.

How could this pony, an earth pony no less, be so fast?

Fluttershy

Relief washed over her as she saw Pinkie-pie deal with her foe in a single stroke, her allies immediately cheering happily at the victory.
“Amazing, you beat her in just a single attack!” She permitted herself to smile as she moved towards her leader, wanting to check to see if she had been injured in any capacity.
“Hmmph! That Ruffian was a fool to go up against Pinkie-Pie!” Rarity's confident statement made Fluttershys anger return full force, quickly turning to point her sword at the unicorn. Did she not understand how much she had just cost them, or that she had placed Pinkie-pie in danger!? No..of course she hadn't. She never did.
“You're the whole reason this happened Rarity, I don't want to hear another word out of you!” To most it was a shock to see someone who was normally so meek and shy be so aggressive, or even carry any authority. But, her comrades knew that on the battlefield, she was just as serious as the others.”If you can't fight, then don't create trouble” Her words made the unicorn back up slightly, her hooves out in-front of her.
“I'm sorry Darling, I promise it won't happen again!” Fluttershy knew that was a lie if she'd ever heard one, and was about to speak further when she heard movement nearby.
“Unbelievable, s-she's still able to stand!”

Fluttershy looked up in shock to see the other Pegasus slowly limping over, a look of determination on her features. Her first instinct was to move over near her leader, quickly getting into an attack stance.
“Step aside Fluttershy” The pink-haired pegasus was about to argue until she heard a cry of anger, looking to see the Pegasus rush towards them. She readied herself, about to attack when her injured opponent collapsed to the ground,a stopping just before Fluttershy's hooves. She saw a glare of defiance directed towards Pinkie-Pie, who just looked down at her fallen foe indifferently before moving to undo her helmet, freeing her fluffy pink hair from underneath and allowing it to pool out. She stared down at the rainbow headed pegasus until she passed out.”Take her back to camp”.

The order made everyone murmur amongst themselves until two ponies moved to carry the unconscious mare away, whilst Fluttershy just stood there in silent shock.

Joining the Band of the Phoenix

Rainbow Dash

She didn't know how long she had been running, and in truth she didn't care. Briefly she looked back at the large bulky creature standing tall over her. She had no armour in this place of shadows and darkness, her wings having all but disappeared and forcing her to have to run to try to escape the beast chasing her. Worse still, she had reverted to being a young filly again, leaving her with no strength to swing that sword she carried with her. She found the creature pursuing her was familiar, it's silhouette reminding her of another pony due to it's large size and bulky build, but she couldn't place the monster due to it's features being obscured by the shadows. All she knew was she had to run as far from it as she could. Spotting the creature reaching out towards her from the corner of her eye, she turned and swung the sword in her grasp at what looked to be it's hoof. Her blade was heavier now, her swing clumsy and short when before she had been able to swing it effortlessly. The beast stumbled back slightly, her blade having successfully cut deeply into the limb, allowing herself to smile slightly at the injury she inflicted. Unfortunately, she saw the creature heal from the injury.
She could cleave a pony in two with just one swing, send grown colts flying through the air and onto their backs. But that was when she had been older, stronger, when she had wings. Oh how she wanted her wings, to just fly away from all of this and be forever out of the monsters grasp. But that would have been to easy, and something told her that this monster didn't like to make it easy. All she could do was stare in horror as the creature repaired itself, mentally screaming at herself to move. But she was frozen, utterly petrified by fear of what this beast would do to her. She looked around, hoping to find something: An exit, a crevice to hide in or even some high ground she could use to escape this monster for just a moment. A pile of bones greeted her young eyes, the skulls and disembodied limbs of what could only be thousands of long dead ponies stacked one after another atop each other to create the edifice. But, that wasn't what caught her eyes most. It was the figure sitting atop the bones of those long dead, in that same seat he had been confined too and that dog he had loved so much.
“Gambino!” She called out desperately to the colt, the filly finding the resolve to move over towards her as quickly as her small legs could muster.”Gambino! You have to help me, this monsters too powerful!” Gambino just continued to pet the dog he had before him, almost as if hhe couldn't hear the fillies cries for help.”Gambino?”
“Don't be such a dumbass..” A sinister grin made it's way across the colts face, pointing one of his hooves at her.”You took my leg, remember? I can't exactly fight without a leg you know”
She wanted to ask what he meant, why he was denying her aid until she noticed her swords grip felt strange in her hoof. Looking down, a sense of disgust and horror welled inside her as she found her sword had been replaced with Gambino's back leg. It looked old, half rotted through with just barely any flesh hanging from the severed limb. She screamed, dropping the limb to the ground in shock as she looked at her gore stained hooves with utter horror. No! She hadn't taken it! It wasn't her fault what happened that day.
“Besides stupid, not like I could do much anyway”. She watched as Gambino turned his head to face her directly, that grin still plain to see on his face.”I'm dead remember?” The colt grabbed the back of his own head, pulling on it sharply. This had the result of a large amount of blood spurting from the colts neck as his head fell back. The colts neck had been sliced open, blood still pouring from the large open wound, his damaged windpipes seeming to still work to take in breath as he spoke.”You stabbed that sword of yours right through my neck..”
“Gambino, please, you have to listen to me!” Rainbow Dash pleaded desperately, hoping that it would somehow convince her step-parent to try to save her from the beast. Unfortunately, the creature had already long recovered and moved to forcefully pin the young and wingless pegasus to the ground. She watched in horror as the shadows now moved away from the creatures face, revealing a face she knew. No! It couldn't be him! He had died so very long ago, she had seen to that. So why was he here, still grinning that horrible grin and looking down on her as though she were some kind of toy.”Help me, please!” The young pegasus' voice broke in desperation as she cried out to the griffin, wanting to this pony turned monsters grasp. She knew what he wanted, of all the pain he would cause and she wanted none of it. Not again, never again.
“You should have died a long time ago, Dash”. Looking up, she saw that Gambino was nowhere to be seen. Instead, the bones and skulls of the various ponies seemed to have repaired themselves, standing around in a circle and staring down at her. Although their mouths didn't move, she could hear the words they spoke growing louder and louder. You should have died. The chorus continued to rise, the voices all having the same low and growling tone while repeating the horrid phrase over and over again. You should have died. She whimpered, trying to free herself from the ponies grasp. You should have died.
“I'm sorry!” She screamed feebly.”Gambino, please forgive me”.

She woke suddenly with a start, letting out a small sigh as she found herself far from the shadows and monsters of before. With the brief respite, her fear had now been replaced with a keen curiousity at where she was. She was laying down inside a tent that had various crates and chests, her sleeping mat having been placed in the centre of the small indoor area. The brown leather of the tents walls looked old to her eyes. The brown leather was faded and full of holes, looking as though it could be torn apart like a twig at any second with how brittle it seemed. The crates contents remained a mystery to her, but only drew her back to one important question. Where was she? Last she remembered she had been attacked on the road by bandits: Surprisingly well equipped bandits, but from how they had attacked her without provocation she knew it was the only profession for ponies such as that. She remembered there had been another pegasus among them, and also another pony in white armour.
Finally moving to sit up, she felt a sharp pain in her side. Looking down, she saw that her chest had been bandaged up, suddenly remembering her injury: She had been stabbed there by that other pony, whoever she was. Her name escaped her, but in truth she didn't care. She was alive, and that was all that mattered.

Getting to her feet slowly, being careful not to cause to much pain to her injury, she walked towards the opened flap of the tents entrance, seeing herself out. She winced at the sudden light that blinded her, having not realised or prepared herself for the fact it was daytime outside. Her vision clearing, she saw countless other tents just like her own: Some larger, some smaller, some even in much better shape then hers but all of them were located close together..except for hers. Countless ponies also greeted her outside: Some sharpened swords, others made conversation by the various camp-fires scattered around that appeared to be cooking food and some even gambled. She noticed some were carrying crates or other objects, one or two stopping to direct a glare in her direction as if suspicious of what she would do. Finally, her gaze rested on two ponies: A pink one that seemed to be listening to the cries of a gold coloured one who had a lighter shade of pink for hair herself. She couldn't tell what they were talking about, but she could tell the yellow one was angry about something. This came to a stop as soon as the pink pony noticed Rainbow dash staring at her, prompting the yellow pony to flare her wings and quickly start moving over.
Wings? Pink hair? Blue eyes...she had been the pegasus she'd been fighting before. And now, she was heading right in her direction with fire in her eyes at a brisk pace. Rainbow dash didn't even have time to speak before she was in-front of her, that same glare directed at her that she had given during their fight. One of the other pegasus' hooves, Fluttershy if she remembered correctly, quickly slammed her forehead directly into her own. Rainbow Dash stumbled back with a cry, whilst the other pegasus seemed slightly dazed and thrown off by the action. If only she knew you never went for the head first, let alone open with a head butt.
“Good morning!” The other pegasus hissed, quickly turning.”If it had been up to me, you'd have been left to die back there”. She walked off as Rainbow dash got to her feet, silently curious about just what had prompted that outburst. If she'd wanted her dead so badly she could have easily killed her before.
“Don't let it get to ya”Another voice to her left spoke suddenly, her accent giving away that she was from somewhere south. “Fluttershy's always been a restless kind, always rebellin' against her life as a mercenary. Probably cause she's just so much better then the rest of us”. The pony in question had blonde hair and was coloured dark orange, a defining feature being the wide brown leather hat she wore on her head. She appeared to be busy whittling away at a piece of wood with a short curved knife as she sat back on a wooden crate, the various carvings around her of things from cats to even small birds showed she was no amateur at the craft.”Still, don't go to hard on her. It's because of her you were able to make it through those last two nights”
“What are you on about?”Rainbow Dash asked curiously.
“Pinkie pie gave her the order to lay down with you fer two whole nights: You'd lost a lot of blood from the fight and you were shiverin' pretty bad, you woulda died if not for her” The pegasus believed her despite a mild passive aggressive tone to it. Still, the pony seemed to be rather honest, a surprising trait for what seemed to be a group of bandits. She didn't exactly know why this detail came to mind upon seeing her, but something in her heart told her she could trust this pony. It was then the orange pony continued.”Pinkie pie said that she should look out for a fellow pegasus, what with you lot being so rare and everything” She swiftly flung the knife in her hoof that she had been using to carve wood right passed the rainbow haired mares head, the blade lodging itself into the wooden support just next to the head of a nearby pony sharpening his sword.
“What the hell Applejack!?”
“S-sorry! Didn't see you there” The pony chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment.
“Hey you're up!” A fourth voice spoke, noticing the pink pony from before now trotting over rather quickly with a big grin on her face.”Good! I was starting to get worried, and I mean really worried! You were out unconscious like that, and then you started shivering due to the lost blood and all. So it's great to see you're up and alive!” The speed at which the mare spoke and how energetic she seemed utterly threw the pegasus off, just staring with a raised eyebrow.”So anyway, now that you're up we can get a party started up! I mean, we've been stuck in the same spot for the last two days with nothing to do..that's just so boring, I thought i'd just die! Besides, wouldn't be right to just send you off like that, cause I know every single pony in this band of-”
“Hey hey!”Rainbow Dash's head was spinning from all the details of this hyperactive pony, barely able to keep it in. And yet, strangely, this whole exercise seemed incredibly familiar to her somehow.”Look, first off..i don't do parties. Second, I don't even know who any of you are !” She was finding this pony before her to be rather trying to her patience and if she had lost two days it meant she had lost time both in travelling to the next city or town and also in finding work.
The pink pony blinked in surprise, her smile faltering for but a moment before it returned.
“Oh! That's right, we havn't even been introduced have we? Silly me” She giggled, her smile returning to her face in full force.”I'm the leader here, Pinkie-Pie. And you?”
“I'm Rainbow Dash” She replied bluntly, watching the pony before her remove a large blade from her back in a clumsy manner. A blade she knew all to well.
“This sword you got is great! A bit to heavy for me though”. She held the weapon up in-front of her for the Pegasus to take, which rainbow dash promptly did.”Come on, this way!” The pink earth pony ordered suddenly as Rainbow Dash returned her sword to it's proper spot on her back. She was suspicious at first but, finding she needed answers, proceeded to follow after the strange pony. She found it incredibly odd to see someone who had been so calm and composed on the field of battle before to be so energetic and cheerful like that. But, she also knew that Ponies acted differently in certain situations, particularly in the heat of battle where such acting could get a pony killed. So, she decided not to question it, still unable to shake the reason why this whole situation felt so familiar to her.

Rarity

All the Purple haired unicorn could do was look at Pinkie Pie and the pegasus walk away towards the nearby clearing, curious about what their leader would want with someone who had killed their comrades. All she knew was that she didn't want to be in that ponies hooves at that moment, for she knew all to well how deceitful Pinkie pie was in how she portrayed herself to others: Sure, she was known to be energetic and incredibly hyperactive around her comrades but, when placed onto the battlefield, it was like she became someone else entirely. Time and again she had shown how brilliant tactically she was, and her skills with a blade were always a joy to see. But even now she didn't know which side of her was the real pinkie pie, all she knew was that if she was to gain any glory she had to stay by her side. She had learned the hard way that to do so on her own was utterly impossible.
“So, what do you suppose Pinkie Pie is up to?”She spoke as she made her way over to her comrades, settling down near a tent.”In my opinion she should never have spared that Ruffians life”
“I think she wants her to join us” A southern voice, younger and softer then that of applejacks spoke up beside Rarity. It belonged to one of the scouts siblings, Applebloom, who was busy working on assembling a crossbow that she had been tinkering with.”We saw just how strong she was back there. I think if we had her with us, we'd be a lot stronger!” The filly proclaimed happily, making the unicorns anger come back full force. Using one of her hooves, she struck out and knocked the still incomplete weapon from the other mares' grasp.
“Never! Don't say something so ridiculous Applebloom”. She frowned at the younger mare, noticing how shocked and upset she looked at her previous action.”In case you happen to have forgotten, let me refresh your memory: That ruffian cut off Dan's leg and killed Earl! She would never be allowed into our midst, not after that!” She blamed the pegasus fully for what had happened to her own forces: Idiots though they might have been, they had still been her comrades and she was not going to forgive their murder.
“You're the one that asked Rarity..”The younger mare spoke in a disheartened manner, moving to try and gather up the pieces of her now scattered crossbow.
“I won't rest soundly if that...beast is able to become one of us, and neither will anyone else. Isn't that right Macintosh?”She asked the third and eldest of the siblings who had gone over to help the youngest of his siblings gather the remaining pieces of her crossbow. He said nothing, just giving a shrug as he set to work on the task before him. “Urgh!” The unicorn cried out in frustration, storming away from the group of her comrades.

Rainbow Dash

“Who are they?” The pegasus asked, referring to the numerous ponies, colts primarily, that seemed to be leering or glaring in her direction. Their unabashed staring at her made her feel incredibly uncomfortable, but she knew she couldn't show it. After all if they got even a whiff of unease from her, she knew they'd be all over her in under a second.
“The band of the pheonix”The earth pony replied cheerfully, making the Pegasus come to a hault suddenly.
“The Band of the Pheonix!?”She uttered in surprise. She had a feeling they were more then simple bandits but..for them to be one of the most feared and ruthless mercenary bands in the whole of Equestria? Even she hadn't expected that. She moved to quickly try to catch up with the pink mare, having to trot slightly to catch up.
“I'm gonna guess you've heard of us?”Pinkie grinned happily back at her.
“Yeah, I've heard of you”. Rainbow Dash spoke. She had heard stories of The Band of the Pheonix. They were a mercenary company known as 'Death on the Battlefield', and had been the ones she had fought against back in the castle two days ago. The castle took so long to break into because they had been holed up inside: They had predicted that the group wouldn't last three days before the walls were breached, instead they had lasted three months and solidified their reputation as a group of warriors no pony wanted to meet as enemies. When she had fought them she hadn't noticed, but upon closer inspection it had become clear: All of them were not older colts in their later years or retired soldiers looking for work. No, most of them were still rather young, just a bit older then the Pegasus herself. She wandered if the youth of the soldiers had been a key part to the bands success, the thought lingering even as she passed through the clearing with Pinkie pie.

Seeing the other pony give a stretch as they walked out onto a small hill, another question suddenly filled the Pegasus' mind.
“Why?” The question hung in the air a moment before Rainbow dash continued.”You could have easily stabbed me right through the heart back there, so why didn't you kill me?” She received only silence from the puffy haired pony.
“I want you Rainbow Dash”. The response made the pegasus' face scrunch up in annoyance and disgust, backing away slightly.
“You'd better not be coming on to me or I swear i'll-”
“No, not like that silly!” She giggled again, shaking her head as she stared at her again. Once more the pegasus felt her blue eyes gazing right at her: It was strange how they bore into her, as if she was again the only thing in this other ponies world. It was an odd feeling, to feel so important yet also totally insignificant next to her at the same time.”I watched your duel with Bazuzo, and you were absolutely amazing. But..that fight was very close. If Bazuzo's axe hadn't been cracked, it would have been you that lost their head rather then him”.
Rainbow Dash shrugged, in truth not really caring. She had won, he had lost, that was all their was too it.”Yeah, I guess..”She sounded utterly unimpressed with the memory of the duel.
“From how i've seen you fight, it's almost like you value winning above even your own life” She sounded surprisingly insightful all of a sudden, almost as if the bubbly and cheerful airhead from before had all but faded once again.”You never yield, even when faced with someone as monstrous as Bazuzo or Rarity and her men. You throw yourself into danger, as if testing yourself and preserve an existence you don't fully understand”. She spoke so confidently then, as if she had read the pegasus like an open book.”You are very interesting, actually you're completely perfect for me..exactly what i've been looking for” That same calming smile was on the ponies face again.“I want you to join me Dash”.

Anger started to bubble up inside of the Pegasus: Here was a pony, who had just two days earlier tried to kill her, now acting so happy and acting like she knew her like an open book! It irked her, even more so with how casually and quickly she was able to change from an utter hyperactive child to a calm, focused philosopher.
“And if I refuse?” She growled, making Pinkie pies smile fade.
“Huh!? You mean...you don't wanna join us?” She asked, mild disappointment heard clearly in her voice.
“Of course I don't want to!” She roared, wincing as the pain from her side returned, making her grasp at her bandaged side for a moment. Her mouth curled into a snarl as she glared daggers at the pony across from her.”Stop acting like you know so damned much about me! You've never talked to me, so how the hell could you possibly know one single thing about me!? For all you know you could be utterly wrong”.
“You're right, I don't. But..i just have a feeling. Stick around me long enough, and you'd learn to trust my feelings too!” She smiled at her, that same stupid smile!
“You bitch! Don't think I can't see through your bullshit!” The pegasus pointed at the pony before her, anger now spilling fourth in full.”You stab me in the fucking chest, and now you try and act like we're old friends!? Don't think I won't forget about what you did to me, and I can bet you aren't going to forget so soon either!” She spat on the ground, her glare not softening.”We are enemies”.
“So, what do you want?”
A dangerous smirk crossed the pegasus' face, a hoof grasping at the sword on her back.
“That's easy” She drew the blade, holding it out in-front of her in a ready stance.”To settle this, once and for all. If I win, I'll carve a hole in your chest just like you gave to me!”
“And if I win?” The ponies voice was calm, her pink and puffy hair slightly fluttering in a small breeze that wafted through.
“I'll be your partner, your soldier..whatever you want” Rainbow dash scoffed, the pegasus utterly confident that her victory was assured.
“Pinkie Promise?” There it was again, that childishness from before had returned once again in full force. Again and again this pony confused her.
“What!?”
“Promise. If you win i'll let you stab me through the chest. But if I win, you are mine”. She seemed oddly serious about this incredibly childish act, her gaze hardening slightly as if fully expecting her to take it at face value.
The Pegasus winced, utterly embarrassed by this before sighing.”Ok fine, I..”She shuddered.”Pinkie Promise” The words just felt wrong to her, making her feel dirty and unclean just by conceding to it. She watched pinkie pie perform a cross over where her heart would be before pointing a hoof to her forehead. She looked at the pegasus after she did so, as if expecting her to do the same. Rainbow Dash sighed, closing her eyes in embarrassment before copying her actions by crossing her hoof over where her heart would be before pointing it at her forehead. She resumed her attack stance, her anger now increased from that embarrassing little display.

It was then Pinkie pie once more unsheathed her sabre, the pegasus just now noticing she had been carrying it at her side despite not wearing any armour this time, raising the blade up to her face.
“I kind of like solving things this way, much more fun” The ponies expression remained calm even in spite of what she was getting herself into, but another voice crying out briefly disrupted the pegasus' focus.
“Pinkie Pie!” Fluttershy cried out, seeming to have been following both the pegasus and her leader.
“Stay back Fluttershy”. The pink ponies smile returned as she pointed her sword at the pegasus across from her.”I will have what I want, don't worry”.
The words that calmed the pink haired pegasus only further angered the one across from her, with Rainbow Dash feeling that she was being looked down upon once more.
“Will you just shut up!?” She roared, bringing the two handed blade up and swinging it down at the pink haired pony across from her, hoping to cleave her idiotic head in twain as she had Bazuzo. But, she seemed to have expected this, quickly using her own short sword to block and redirect the blade away from her. Blinking in surprise, Rainbow dash stumbled only to find her enemies blade swiping at her foreleg, making her growl in pain at the small gash as she fell forwards.
This Pinkie Pie was fast, effortlessly reflecting a blow that should have cleaved her weapon in two: The pegasus knew she could slice through solid steel with her sword, so why was this pony able to reflect her blows, let alone with just one hoof? This Pinkie Pie seemed to be more skilled then Rainbow Dash initially thought.
With a roar, the pegasus got up and swung her blade once again, her opponent skillfully blocking and redirecting the incoming blow. The rainbow haired pegasus growled, following up with another slash only for the process to repeat. She had to win, she always won. She sped up the swings of her swords, she had to be faster, she had to be stronger. Then, and only then, could she beat this artful dodger. But, it seemed that her enemy was always one step ahead, the pony dodging, weaving and redirecting the sword swings with ease. After three more dodged swings, the pony locked blades briefly before manoeuvring to the left. Using the butt of her short blade, she smacked Rainbow dash in the forehead, throwing the pegasus off balance before lunging the tip of the weapon passed her cheek, leaving a graze.
More ponies had shown up by now, distracting the pegasus due to talks by a purple haired unicorn in 'saving' their leader. It was the same unicorn that had attacked her that day, and for a moment the pegasus readied herself for a second opponent. However, it appeared Fluttershy had calmed that sentiment by proclaiming that this was their leaders fight and they should stay out of it. Her attention was jarringly returned to the fight by a sharp pain at her other cheek as the pink pony lunged her blade passed her face again. Rainbow Dash's eyes narrowed, quickly resuming her barrage of attacks. They were unfocused now, fuelled by anger and rage, coming in far quicker then they had before at the cost of the brute strength. But still her enemy dodged and redirected her blows, not looking the least bit flustered in the greater speed of the assault.
“You know if you're still not feeling well we can postpone this” Pinkie Pie Spoke calmly as she continued dodging the blows, almost as if the fight had already ceased and she was just conversing normally.”You haven’t fully healed yet so you're at a disadvantage”
“I said shut up!” Rainbow Dash pulled her blade back behind her, swinging forwards once again. This time though, she dragged the tip of her great sword in an arc through the dirt, causing a large cloud of dust to be sent flying into her enemies face. This lead to cries of foul play and horror as Pinkie Pie begun to cough and splutter, but Rainbow Dash ignored them. She had her prey now, she knew she had won this little duel. She raised her sword up over her head, swinging the weapon downwards on where her enemy stood.

There was no resistance as her blade spiralled down towards her foe, not even a cry of agony from her foe. In-fact, there wasn't even a sound made as her swords edge hit the earth below, leading to Rainbow Dash to realise very quickly that her blow had not made contact. Looking up, she saw Pinkie pie just to the left of where her sword was, the pony again smiling happily right at her. The pegasus moved to raise her sword, but to her horror watched as her enemy jumped up onto the edge, her hooves keeping a sizeable pressure on the weapon whilst her own sword was pointed at the pegasus' neck.
“I like you even more now. You're prepared to go to any lengths to win” The females head tilted to one side, her smile taking on a more mischievous look.”But now you can't move that sword without me cutting open your throat. I wouldn't mind if you post-poned this”
“You Talk too much..”She smirked, looking down at the blade being pointed at her. She knew this was going to be risky but, right now she didn't care: If it meant she could win this duel and wipe that stupid smirk from the other ponies face, it would be worth it.”Let me show you how you should be using your mouth!” She quickly opened her mouth, biting down on the tip of the sabre, throwing her enemy off guard. It hurt, the tip of the blade cutting at the side of her mouth and causing some blood to seep down from in between her teeth due to the blade cutting into her cheek. The action had caused her enemies eyes to widen, throwing the other mare off guard and eliciting a few shocked cries from the crowd of onlookers.
The pegasus grasped the hilt of her great sword, pushing it up with as much force as she could manage. The action succeeded in pushing her enemy off, but also ended up throwing the pegasus off balance as well and sending both combatants down the edge of the small cliff. The sabre fell free from her mouth as they both fell, her own grip on her great sword loosened and the weapon lost as they hit the ground that was thankfully not steep enough to cause damage.

Helping herself to her feet, she spotted Pinkie pie gradually trying to get her own bearings, seeing an opportunity once again. Flaring her wings, despite the pain it caused, she propelled herself forwards, sending one of her hooves into the other ponies face as she made the pass. It connected, sending the other pony onto her back with a cry of pain. Rainbow dash quickly followed up with three more strikes with her hoof while her opponent was still dazed by her other attack, reveling in every single hit. She had been annoyed with how her enemy continued to evade every single strike, embarassing her with the grace and speed she had outdoing her own strength. She would be damned if she was going to lose to this childish mare again: She'd gotten lucky once, something she'd ensure wouldn't happen again. Sure, the pegasus didn't have her sword anymore but wielding that weapon had it's advantages, namely in granting her incredible upper body strength. Her opponent, from what she had observed was quick but she wasn't very strong, her advantage coming from redirecting blows. But she didn't have a sword anymore either, and without that she was useless.
She unleashed one final kick, this one to her enemies stomach, causing her to fall down amidst loud spluttering coughs. Some blood left the pink ponies mouth as she did this, quickly moving one of her hooves to try to stop the obscene display
“How do you like the taste of your own blood?” Rainbow Dash smirked, spitting on her enemy. Some of her blood, namely from the cut on her inner cheek, mixed with the saliva and stained her enemies back as it made contact.”What's wrong, never gotten hit before?”She teased, the insult feeling so satisfying: It was her turn to hold the advantage, and she was enjoying every second of it. The feeling of satisfaction only grew when her opponent got to her feet, her expression surprisingly serious. No longer was she smiling so cheerfully or confidently, her mouth was curled back and her eyes instead narrowed. Whether it was in anger or concentration, she couldn't be sure, but the bleeding lip and puffy cheeks certainly made her seem less confident.”Shame your little minions have to see you get your ass kicked, but this is it...this is where I win!” She again lunged forwards, swinging her hoof right for her opponents face. However the blow didn't connect, her opponent moving to the side and quickly grabbing ahold of the outstretched leg before pulling it back. She used her weight to press down on the pegasus' back, sending them both down into the ground below.
Cheers rang out from the crowd of onlookers above, the mercenaries cheering as their leader managed to get the pegasus into a body lock.
“Phew! That sure made me dizzy. But you were right about something...this is it” She could spot that smile back on her opponents face again from the corner of her eyes, that damned stupid smile.”Now, you have a choice. Are you going to surrender, or let me dislocate your shoulder?” The pony asked, surprisingly calm for someone who just moment ago had the daylights beaten out of them.”Choose” She spoke after a brief moments silence
“Fuck...You..”

Rainbow Dash let out a cry as a sharp pain ran throughout her whole leg, the small crack signalling it's dislocation and a large roar of praise and laughter to erupt from their audience. The crowd of ponies all came down the hill, many rushing over to congratulate their leader on her 'victory'. The only one that didn't was the purple haired pegasus, who chuckled mockingly down at her before kneeling down to be slightly more level.
“Aww, did that hurt? Guess it must feel rather bad to lose twice in a row like that, mustn't it Ruffian?” She taunted, the rainbow haired Pegasus wanting to reach out and choke the unicorn then and there, but the pain in her leg was just too much to bear. Fortunately, Pinkie Pie gently placed a hand on the unicorns shoulder, causing her to move back in silence as the pink pony moved to take her place. She gently reached out, her hooves gently reaching the sides of the rainbow haired mares head and softly making her look into her eyes. Her expression was different now, the smile more welcoming and the eyes slightly softer, not unlike the look a mother would give to her child. It was an odd look but, oddly enough, all Rainbow Dash could feel by it was comforted.
“And now, you are mine..” She spoke softly, still appearing to be deathly calm yet the tone still held some measure of comfort to it. Pinkie Pie slowly got to her feet, her expression remaining unchanging.”Welcome to the Pheonixes”
“Y-you really mean it?” A younger voice spoke, the southern accent not as pronounced as the one the pegasus had spoke too previously but still present nonetheless.
“Yes, from now on she's one of us”. And with that the matriarchal, calming feeling had gone only to be replaced by the childish smile from before.
This elicited a cheer from all of the surrounding ponies, the aggression and rage from earlier now replaced with an eager cheerfulness. Only two didn't join in: The first was the unicorn, who just stood their with a look of utter shock and dread, as if her brain was unable to register what had happened. The second was Fluttershy, who looked decidedly bothered by the ordeal and turned to walk away, as if something was on her mind.

The pain in Rainbow Dash's leg from the dislocation suddenly returned full force, gently caressing the limb. This was all so strange: She had never been so forcefully brought into any mercenary group, but it was the leader Pinkie Pie that grabbed her attention most. She acted so foolishly and like a child, but could command all of these men. She seemed to be so innocent, and yet she could calculate movements and figure out how to best someone like herself. This was just too strange, but first thing was first: Relocating her shoulder.

Hai Yai Forces!

Authors Note: Hello everyone that I assume to have made it this far in. I feel the need to ask a favor of anyone reading this chapter: Open up a tab to youtube, search for “Susumu Hirasawa Forces” and click the first entry. Wait until a point in the story when a soldier says the words “Enemies!?” is uttered and then start playing the song whilst reading and let your imagination do the rest. You can stop it if you want once it switches to Applejacks P.O.V again (Yay, I finally get a chance to do a P.O.V for her!)

I ask this because Susumu Hirasawa is a great composer who honestly needs to get more recognition. I also ask this because, during this part of the original berserk show, this marks one of two times this song is actually played during a scene of the show itself and it really is a very good song.

That aside, There is another thing I need to discuss. I realise that starting this out I originally only wanted to adapt the story of berserk and throw in ponies but..the more I seem to be writing it the more I'm tempted to slightly change a few things up. Before I go further, let me make one thing clear: I am not going to change the outcome of this story, as everything will still end up having the same outcome and character arcs are going to be mostly similar. But, I'm sort of delving into having a few more additions or slight changes to help this mix of the two universes work better and hopefully make it into something a bit more then just a mash up of the manga, series and films story being told in My Little Ponies universe as a means to advertise and celebrate the original series (Although that is still a big motivation). So while I may be adding in new stuff to keep it a bit fresh and help it meld better, I still intend to keep it feeling like berserk and MLP. But at the same time, I don't intend to change the outcome of a certain eclipse (I won't spoil it for those that don't know what is being talked about here, but...let's just say I imagine some people are going to react rather strongly to that part when and if it's eventually written and posted up here), nor remove the presence of everyone’s favourite skeletal knight as one certain animated adaptation did (Start placing bets on who I plan on placing in that role).
Finally, I also realise this chapter was slow coming out and the others may also start to come out a bit slower. I have been very busy as of late and I also am still in the process of deciding which Ponies can fit the role of which berserk character. If you have any suggestions for who should play which role, or even how I should handle certain...creatures (I am still deciding on how to handle the Elves and some members of this incarnation of the Godhand) by all means speak up and don't ever be afraid to offer constructive criticism of any kind. This story won't improve without it, even if it's a pseudo adaptation of a pre-existing story into a different medium.

Don't ever hesitate to leave a comment, and please enjoy this next Chapter. Thank you for your Patience.

Rainbow Dash

It had been a quiet week until tonight: Not a single job had come for this little band of warriors, the rest just stuck sitting around or travelling along between towns or settlements. Things in the camp had been equally as Quiet though, although the Pegasus knew it was herself to blame for that. Between relocating one of her shoulders and waiting for some wounds to heal, she hadn't taken any time to socialise amongst her..'comrades'. It was a term she used incredibly loosely, not trusting a single one of them as far as she could throw them and all to aware that members of this band still viewed her as an enemy. The unicorn, Rarity as everyone called her, had made another attempt to try to kill her two nights ago.
She had been trying to get to sleep in her tent when she had heard them speaking: Rarity made hushed mutterings to some of her fellow ponies that they would sneak in and kill the pegasus in her sleep, using the deaths of two others as motivation. The names alluded her, but she was sure she heard a Dan in the unicorns list of the dead: She honestly hadn't known the names of her attackers and it had been nobodies fault but their own that they had ended up meeting their ends at the tip of her sword. Why was this so hard for ponies to accept? It was a question she found herself asking more times then not, mainly because it continued to baffle her. It was when somepony called Donnelly had protested to going first that Fluttershy had come to dissuade them. She had gone out to meet the other pegasus and offer some manner of thanks, only to be coldly brushed aside with the justification that it was under Pinkie Pies orders. She had a feeling this was going to be something of a recurring trend.

Pulling her mind back to reality, she surveyed the armoured ponies all standing at attention around her at the border of the forest. The moon was only a crescent in the sky above and the stars all but obscured by the clouds that cast themselves in the blackened sky, further adding to the feel of being stationed in utter darkness.
“On the hill our opponents have their headquarters, manned by approximately two thousand soldiers”. Pinkie pie spoke from the head of the body of mercenaries, donned in her armor. The naïve and bubbly persona had once again fled, leaving the calm and capable warrior in her place to lead them. Even now it seemed like she was two different people in one body, and the pegasus couldn't help but be perplexed. She had heard about how some ponies were born with 'Two souls', normally acting as though a normal person but at a moments notice could become a radically different personality and person. Whether or not this was the case with her current commander remained to be seen, but she was not about to dispel the possibility.”Our Mission is to burn the provisions and other supplies stored behind the hill. Theoretically, our enemies should mass in-front of the hill in order to prepare for a night attack”. The pegasus caught the knowing gleam in the earth ponies eyes as she continued her explaination.”This is my strategy: While the enemy has focused themselves on the front, we will use the river to launch an assault at the rear. After that, we take the shortest route we can back to the castle gate and run through the middle of their forces”

She was going to go through the middle of the enemy forces? Even the Pegasus was surprised by this approach. At first she had assumed this to have just been a simple distraction: They would attack from the rear, while another attacked from the front and sandwiched them. She had done that manuevor a few times before, usually being at the front lines during those kinds of attacks, but to make a back attack in these conditions and make a dash back to the castle? It was like they were just attacking and running rather then staying to fight, something that Rainbow Dash found herself curious about.
“Any reinforcements?” One of the colts at the front asked.
“No. I'm afraid our employers couldn't afford to spare any of their own men”
“Yeah cause their all a bunch of cowards!” Another spoke up with a chuckle, causing the entire mercenary body to erupt into laughter. Pinkie Pie just waited patiently for the laughter to die down before she finally continued.
“The rear guard for tonight, will be Rainbow Dash...that is if you accept”

Rainbow Dash could only stand their in shock, her eyes immediately wide as hushed whispers of awe erupted around her. Some of them were wandering about the sanity of their leader, others about if this was some kind of test. But, the rainbow haired swordponies wings twitched before she found it in her to respond.”You'll have to handle hundreds of enemy calvary on a straight road through the woods. Do you feel you can handle that?”
“Is that an order?”
“It is” The white armored pony smirked playfully.

Fluttershy

“Is she trying to test her?” One of the colts near her voiced up, with another exclaiming sympathies at their newest recruit being given such a harsh task. A quiet chuckle, coming from none other then Rarity, reached the yellow pegasus' ears.
“I guess I won't have to worry about killing that brute after all! I doubt she's going to survive this little test!”
Fluttershy knew immediately this wasn't a test.

Despite how she acted absent mindedly and even bubbly in personality at times, She knew their leader was anything but a fool. Pinkie Pie never wasted time on doing tests in critical moments, and she knew she wouldn't start now by giving this recruit such an important task. It would endanger the mission in leaving just a small, but lethal, possibility of complete failure.which left another, far more horrifying prospect to form in her mind: Pinkie Pie, for whatever reason, truly believed that this Rainbow Dash would be able to perform as the rear guard on her own.

As if on instinct, the pink haired pegasus tied her helmets straps as she put it on her head, watching in interest as everyone begun to do the same or pull their visors down. The last one to pull down their visor was none other then their newest recruit, making the Pegasus start to wander if they had made the right decision in letting this newcomer handle such a dangerous task alone.

Rainbow Dash

The pegasus wasn't entirely comfortable in trecking through the river rather then marching alongside it. Despite them having healed, she still didn't wish to burden her wings and risk infection let alone having them wet and hampered if she had to take flight. Despite the harsh winds and climate, the Pegasus knew she could handle flight in these conditions, but she also knew that to just fly overhead would be compromising: Her wings would have made too much noise if she had flown overhead, far more then any bird could naturally and would no doubt alert anypony with keen enough hearing to her presence. Even if that hadn't caught their attention, the large shadow of her looming overhead would certainly capture the attention of those below, especially if they had a torch in hoof. Which, given the curtain of darkness that this hour bestowed to the world and that the enemies headquarters was in the middle of this forest, gave them all the reason they needed to carry light amidst this night.

Plus, the river meant that they could hide their hoofsteps by using the current of the stream. If they had just walked alongside it they would have no doubt had their approach heard easily, even over the noise of the rushing stream. They also had the large gusts of wind to obscure any sounds their hoof falls made through the trip in such a rapid stream. The enemy wasn't likely to foresee an attack from the rear, especially from such a rapid stream and under such terrible conditions and with the setting of fires combined with the fact they were travelling the direction of the wind...meant that their base would be a smoldering inferno in no time. Pinkie Pie had Calculated for every single element in her mind, managing to rethink her strategy even after the weather had turned out so poorly. There had even been recommendations to not even bother attempting to attack during sudden appearance of poor weather, but she had insisted in that calm way she always did that they would be able to manage finishing the task they had been assigned tonight. And the Pegasus, somehow, found herself believing it.
Up ahead the company suddenly came to a hault as they saw the hoof of one of their scouts go up. She remembered her as the one that had talked to her after she had regained consciousness, being one of “The three siblings”: She was the middle one and the one in charge of the scouts, the one they called Applejack.

AppleJack

Things had been just a bit to easy so far, the scout had felt it as clearly as the chill that now travelled through her very bones. There had yet to be a single enemy patrol out this way, not uncommon given they were likely directing their attention to the castle up ahead and their employers, but to not have a single pony on guard duty? That just stank of stupidity, even for enemies such as these. But, she had spotted a shimmer of a halberd, two in-fact, as two ponies came from the opposite direction, not yet noticing the warriors in the river. But she saw them, and she wasn't about to let them see them or get a word out about possible intruders: Things had been going so well for them up until now, and she didn't wish to see the current trend come to it's conclusion, the actor in her just wouldn't allow it. After all, it didn't make a good story for the lead cast to perish at the first obstacle.

She didn't have the strength of her brother, but in a situation like this she knew that brute force was just going to get them found out quicker. No, she had to drop these guards not just quickly, but silently: It was nights like this she blessed whatever gods or divine entities that existed for her time spent amongst those performers, and for the skills she picked up from them.
Moving her left hoof to a bandolier of small knives, she retracted one of the small blades and clasped it tightly. It was a move she had done a thousand times before and one she would do a thousand times more after as she took a breath and kept both enemy ponies in her gaze before briefly letting her eyes settle on the one on the left. Quickly, she raised her foreleg overhead before throwing the blade she held at the enemy to her left. The blade hit home, embedding itself into the vital artery of her opponents neck and sending out a spurt of vital red liquid as he fell back, the pony letting out a choked gargle as he fell back amidst a puddle of his own blood. In quick succession the earth pony wrapped her right hoof around herself to rest on a small knife sheath at her left hind leg. Retracting it, she spun around in a step forwards before throwing the second blade into the other ponies neck before he could react to his comrades death. The action was fluid, graceful, almost akin to a quick dance. It was a trick she had learned some time back, a rather simple one compared to her comrades but one that never failed to get some applause. Or, in this case, kill unsuspecting enemies.
Seeing no further foes on patrol, she looked back and gave a nod to Pinkie pie who gestured for the others to start moving forwards again towards the enemy camp. If they were lucky, which the earth pony found they seemed to have an endless supply of as of late, they wouldn't encounter any further opposition until they reached the camp. She just hoped that luck wasn't about to fail them just yet.

Various Perspectives

“It's freezing out here! Why did they have to make us draw sticks!?” The colt unfortunate enough to be caught guarding the entrance to the wrapped the cloak he wore around himself more snugly, biting back a sneeze that he felt the urge to release. He was instantly envious of his comrades behind him that were huddled around a campfire whilst he was sitting on an overturned log in the midst of a howling, unrelenting gale of wind. He knew his position was important: After all, they had all their warriors up the front whilst a few stayed behind to guard the ammunition for the canons. Someone had to be on lookout to make sure that nobody made any move to try to catch them off guard by attacking their rear, and if there was any attempt made then he could call out to report it.”I just want to go home!” He shivered again, hating that the night was just so foreboding and creepy when so far from comrades or the camp. It wasn't that far, true, but staring into a dark and empty forest in the middle of such fierce winds naturally had some effects on the psyche. Hell, even now he was seeing several flames beginning to approach him!
Wait...flames?
“Huh?” He squinted, spotting the features of several ponies moving towards him and also the shapes of what he could only assume to be weapons. He knew they hadn't sent out that many ponies on patrol this eve, which meant only one things.”Enemies!?” He sprung to his hooves in shock, backing away as they grew closer.”Why are they coming from that direction!?” Turning to sprint towards his comrades at the camp he heard the hoof-falls of the enemies behind him follow after him, with the horde quickly ovetaking him. Despite how fast he wanted to run he found himself knocked into the dirt by the large body of equines. Before he was trampled, he managed to let out a final cry to his comrades before the mass of enemy hooves crushed him into the ground.”ENEMY RAID!”
“Set the fires!” Pinkie Pie called out as she ran forwards, sword in hoof.

Hearing the cry of their fallen comrade, the two guards at the front of the tent grabbed hold of their weapons and rallied their allies as a white armoured pony made a dash for them.
“We're under atta-” The colts words were cut off as a sabres blade sliced through his neck, silencing any further attempts at speech. The one at his side made an attempt to charge at the pony before his path was blocked by a large red colt, battle-axe in one of his hooves and a flaming torch in the other.
The edge of the ponies axe descended, crushing the head of it's victim underneath as his head caved in, coating his attacker in his blood. Another two made an attempt to flank him in the confusion, one running from the left with a spear in hoof and the other from the right with a shortsword. The sound of beating wings overhead stopped the assailant from the right, who looked up with a horrified expression as he saw a gleam of a greatsword from up above quickly swooping towards him. He barely had time to raise his sword, but by then the enemy had passed him and was already making a rush towards the other parts of the garrison, his upper body seperated and sent flying backwards as he fell back. A cry of horror and intense agony escaped the right attackers lips, using his last breaths to try to vainly stop his organs and blood from decorating the grass. The one on the left was no less lucky, not stopping his assault until a blur of orange crashed into his side, sending him sprawling. With a growl, he made to grasp his recently dropped spear, turning to glare up at his enemy. His eyes soon found themselves staring into the tip of a short-sword held by a lightly armoured mare, who soon thrust the weapon in between his eyes, causing him to fall back.
“Cmon Big Mac!” Applejack urged her elder sibling as she rushed to catch up, her sibling as they made a run to catch up to their comrades. Macintosh stared into the flames briefly, giving a shrug and absently throwing it behind him into the cluster of nearby tents before breaking into a run to catch up to her younger sibling.

Haulting his garrison near one of the burning tents, the lieutenant could only glare at the enemies backs as they made a run through their camp.“Jerry, go to the front and get the commander to bring the heavy infantry down here! This fires going to reach the headquarters in this storm if we aren't careful, and I want them to handle chasing these bastards out so we can make sure these fires get put out” He spoke to the colt at his side who quickly turned and started running for the nearby hill, the lieutenant shaking his head.
“Sir, there's something that I-
”This is a disgrace. The heavy infantries just sitting up their as we get defeated by a bunch of ragtag misfits!” The lieutenant interrupted one of his infantryman before he could continue
“Umm, s-sir..”
“I want the half to my left to chase down and keep some of these bastards at bay while the ones at the right go get to work on getting some water to put this damned fire out”
“Sir!” The private finally put his hoof down, speaking up rather boldly.
“What's the matter Now!?” The lieutenant growled, looking at his subordinate impatiently.”Well cmon pony, spit it out!”

“Uhh, well-”The other pony took a breath, pointing at the burning tent they were all standing beside.”S-s-sir, isn't that tent where we keep all the ammuniti-”

Rainbow Dash

“Disengage. Break for the castle, this is done!” The explosion nearby heralded the words of her commander, causing the entire mercenary force turn tail and start to run towards the castle. The pegasus finished off a few more foes before turning to fly off after them.”Move it, double file!” The mercenaries fleeing all moved themselves into two separate lines that ran alongside one another, likely to aid in the ease of movement to the location without having everyone trip over each-other as they made this rather mad dash to the castle.
The pegasus swooped down behind her comrades and allowed her hooves to meet the ground as she broke into a run herself, surprised at how organised and quick they were moving: Most of the raids she had been apart of were usually very clumsy and inefficient, with typically ninety percent of the entire allied force tripping over their own horse-shoes to try to get out of the enemy base when the call was made. Here though? They all ran side by side at a steady pace, as if they all silently knew they were going to be able to make it to the castle without any casualties. The clamour of hooves against the ground behind her signified that the enemy had now caught up to them. They were more heavily armoured then the ones back at the camp, likely some troops sent down from the hill to try to turn the tides of a battle they had long since lost, moving in a tight formation towards her. The sight just brought a smirk to the pegasus' face as she stared back at the invaders: Now, it was her turn to shine.

She clashed swords with one of the ponies that ran up alongside of her for a moment. His attack had some punch but it wasn't going to be enough to match her strength, let alone the blade she wielded. It was a fact she proved quite quickly by pushing back against her attacker, stumbling him and leaving him open for a diagonal slice, ending the fools life.
In her clash she had failed to notice one of the attackers had gotten by as she clashed with another, alerted to it only by a loud squeaking noise from nearby. Looking behind her, she saw one of the soldiers had started to catch up on one of her allies: A rather small creature, the young filly that was said to be one of “The Three Siblings”. Flaring her wings she propelled herself towards her foe as he raised his sword, raking her sword through the unsuspecting colts chest and sending him falling to the ground with the life gone from his face.
“Get out of here!” The pegasus roared, the young filly giving a nod of understanding before turning to run and for Rainbow Dash to turn to swing her sword in a diagonal arc, cutting through three more of the armoured soldiers before turning to try to catch up with her allies, now noticing she had taken the full attention of her foes. They just had to get a little further, and then they would be in the clear.”Come on, get going already!”

AppleJack

“What are our losses?” Just returned and already questions were being asked by their commander for progress. In truth, she didn't mind all that much but she did certainly appreciate the slight irony to it all: She was meant to be the scout of this band of mercenaries after all.
“Nothin' serious, one or two o' us were slow and some o' th' others havn't shown up but..we pretty much all got through unscathed” She spoke, catching her breath before looking back into the dark forest anxiously: She had lost sight of her younger sister during the raid, and she was quite scared for her safety. She hadn't wanted to have her sibling see any action yet, even Macintosh she worried about given his normally peaceful demeanour off the battlefield. He was strong and could cleave a ponies skull in two if he wanted too, but she still found herself worried about him: If not for his life, then definitely for his continued sanity. But, she knew he could handle himself. Applebloom was still only young and the thought of her possibly being killed, or worse captured and subjected to her captors whims was something that made knots start to tie in her stomach whenever she was set to go onto a battlefield.
“That's good to hear that our losses are so minimal”Pinkie Pie spoke calmly, seeming to be pleased with both the answer and with the outcome.
“It's all thanks to Rainbow Dash really, yah should'a seen her take on a group of heavy infantry all on her own..even though it was on a straight path through the woods!” The scout allowed herself to smile, still impressed with the ease that the pegasus had handled the entire group and called for them to all leave her be. Pinkie Pies expression lightened ever so slightly at the praise whilst Fluttershy, as always found by her commander side, proceeded to narrow her eyes in annoyance.”Boy, she sure's somethin'!”

The sound of somepony rushing towards them made Applejacks concentration break, turning to face the forest entrance. A hoof went to the sheathed short-sword on her back, ready to draw it in-case this turned out to be a surviving enemy that had made their way into their midst and make an attempt. However, the small silhouette and the light footfall of the one coming towards them made it clear as to the identity of this lone pony and for a great amount of relief to swell in the scout as she rushed towards her.
“Applebloom!” She quickly embraced the exhausted younger sibling, glad that she had managed to make it out of the forest safely. However, with the safety of her sister now assured she realised this battle hadn't yet concluded, realising they were still short one other person.”Where's Rainbow Dash?”
“She-”Applebloom took a moment to catch her breath before continuing.”She sent me back without her”
The elder scouts eyes narrowed, looking up towards the forest.”Oh no, I hope she's still alive” The silence of the forest was almost as damning a piece of evidence as the lack of any other person emerging from the darkness of the tree line.

Rainbow Dash

The amount of ponies she had cut down had escaped her as she sliced through anothers neck, soon using her wings to propel herself forwards and take to the air. She strafed to the left as another blade from behind her was swung at where she had been hovering, moving to counter the blow by slamming the base of her swords hilt into the eye-slit of the assailants helmet, sending him plummeting backwards and moving to cover his eye with one of his hooves, momentarily disoriented by the sudden attack and no doubt swelling of pain. She continued forwards as crossbow bolts were fired, the pegasus tilting her wings at moving very slightly to ensure she wasn't hit with any-more bolts: She'd already been grounded once recently thanks to meeting Pinkie Pie and she was in no mood for a repeat experience.
Unfortunately, all it took was a single look back to gauge the distance between herself and her pursuers for her to run head first into a hanging tree branch. A flash of light suddenly overcame her as she found herself sprawled out on the ground, her joints aching, and finally to top it all off was a great thumping noise that echoed about in her head. She shook her head, trying to dispel the sound until a mass of shadow loomed over her and forced her to gaze at it's source: A group of the heavily armoured ponies moved closer, raising their weapons overhead in their approach so they could end the mares life in a single downward stroke.
Damn it all! She had failed yet again, and now she was going to meet her end at the hoof of another pony this night for all her efforts. She was frozen, her disorientation still making it impossible for her to move out of the way with any definite success of dodging the blades. This was it...this was where she was going to die. Raising herself to her feet and holding her sword out infront of her clumsily, she narrowed her eyes in concentration at the rapidly moving wall of enemies. If she was going to die here, she wasn't going to just sit back and be skewered like some coward..and who knows, maybe she might be able to take one of these ponies to Tartarus with her!

Her despair shattered as she observed a volley of crossbow bolts suddenly fire into the ponies that were moving in to slay her, the colts all falling over dead. The pegasus swiftly turned, immediately feeling dizzy from the sudden movement as another crossbow bolt was sent flying into the neck of one of the remaining soldiers. Looking at the three figures before her, she immediately recognized the white armoured mare before her.
“Pinkie-”She didn't get any further time to say anything before the other pony had grabbed her hoof and dragged her over to one of the two others beside her, who had just finished cleaving through another colt with his battle-axe. Immediately grabbing her, he helped the pegasus onto his back.
“Let's go!” Pinkie pie called out, the three immediately breaking into a run as the remaining enemy soldiers behind them gave chase.
“Why did you come back?” The pegasus spoke, still disoriented from the collision and also because of the momentum of having to ride draped over the other colts back.
“Hold your tongue!” The pink mare replied angrily as they continued to run, already noticing that her current mode of transportation was slower then her trot or even her flight: She was weighing her companion down and making him run at a slower pace because he was transporting her. She could tell from how fast they were catching up to them that they wouldn't have long until they were close enough to start slicing at her allies ankles. And when that happened..they were both going to die.
“They're going to catch us, I'm weighing you down!” She could hear them getting closer, almost certain she could see them raising their blades for a chance to attack at the exposed back of both her and the one transporting her. She was distracted by a flicker of light from the edge of the forest, noticing it's yellow color and what it usually meant: Fire. She was starting to get more and more apprehensive about travelling in this direction, not in the mood to be saved only to end up running directly into a forest fire.
“Disperse, now!” Pinkie pie cried out just before they reached the edge of the clearing, causing her and the scout to veer off to the left whilst Rainbow Dash and her current mode of transport veered right sharply, throwing her off balance. It was a good call though, and the sight in-front of her was enough to make a smile, however slightly, spread across her features.

A line of canons were now stationed in-front of the castles gates and pointed directly into the forest, and by extension the large body of enemy soldiers that had now come to an absolute halt thanks to coming face to face with the firearms.
“Oh..shit-”
“Fire!” The colt standing in-front of the canons ordered, pointing his hoof at the entrance of the Forest as the canons all begun to fire one by one. The scene quickly turned into a chaotic blend of gunpowder, cannonballs, blood and dirt. The screams of the soldiers hit as they found themselves in pieces screamed out in a chorus of differing tones: A mix of surprise, horror, fear and even utter agony as they found themselves scattering about as some were torn apart by the giant metal balls propelled at them. One unfortunate victim had his head torn clean off only to have the cannonball that hit him be lodged into the chest of the soldier behind him, rupturing his internal organs and causing him to fall back, the cannonball still lodged partway into his chest. The rest of the soldiers soon understood they stood no chance against the continuous volley of fire and metal, the last few falling into an immediate retreat. They turned tail, rapidly making their way into the safety of the forest behind them and out of range from the Canons.

The screams of the dead were soon replaced with cheers of victory from her allies, The pegasus finally deciding to step down from her saviors back rather quickly. She almost tripped, but quickly got her bearings in spite of the uneven soil beneath her hooves. She may have been grateful to the colt for saving her, but she still didn't enjoy being touched although she understood the need to in that situation. Still, now that the danger was over she had no desire to have him or anybody else in this band of warriors lay so much as a hair on her. She quickly started to shoulder through those that crowded around her, aiming to get away from all these ponies.

AppleJack

It had been a long night, but despite everything it wasn't too late for everyone. Despite their exhaustion, despite how tired some of them happened to be, they still had energy left behind for one thing and one thing alone: Celebrating. They had all been planning something like this for quite some time, particularly in regards to the arrival of their new found comrade. Pinkie Pie had been planning to do it sooner, it had been obvious given how she had a penchant for major celebrations: She had always enjoyed throwing parties over even small accomplishments, or to celebrate occasions such as the arrival of a new group of members into their midst or even for what they were celebrating for tonight aside from as a welcome ceremony: Victory, and also for their new pay.
Fund had been a little bit strapped lately thanks to the lack of any true work, and they had gone through a lot of their money in keeping themselves stocked for both food and also for repairs of weapons and other items. Rarity, who had been granted the roll of the unofficial accountant due to her...less then stellar combat abilities, had been tearing her mane out over the finances as of late and in keeping everything stocked. It was under her suggestion that they stave off any celebrations as advice, something that had probably hurt their leader more then she cared to show.

But, all of that seemed to disappear whenever they celebrated like this. It was like they didn't have a care in the whole of Equestria as they all sat around the various fires, drinking from their mugs and feasting on whatever meat they happened to be roasting over their fires. Everyone reminiscing and celebrating the victory they had achieved, and how they had once again defied the odds of those who had believed them to fail.
Sitting at the fire, she took another piece of solace in something entirely different: The fact she still had her little sister and her brother by her side completely unharmed. She allowed herself to briefly smile at the two as they talked to one another, picking up her sisters talk of how she had managed to repair a crossbow that everyone had said would be beyond disrepair. It was one she had told a thousand times before but there her brother was, sitting and listening patiently as though he was just hearing it for the first time. She briefly spied Pinkie Pie laughing as she reminisced on something with Rarity, who seemed to look incredibly embarassed about the current subject: Likely regailing the tale of how she had secured the unicorns loyalty in the first place. Fluttershy had said she was going to make sure the castles guard dogs weren't disturbed by the celebrations, but she knew it was because she didn't want to be around this many people: She had never been good in social situations, no matter how much of a tough shell she tried to put up and she had always adored other animals, so it seemed only fitting. Taking another sip of her drink she sighed happily, just happy her siblings were safe and sound. She honestly hoped they would be able to always meet up after a victory, no matter how trivial, and just..spend time together. She had a feeling nothing was going to tear them apart, but all the same she cherished every moment of down-time like this whenever she was able to get it.
“Hey, has anyone seen Dash around?” Applebloom spoke up from beside her, distracting the scout from her thoughts. She took a moment to look around before finally spying the Pegasus sitting up on one of the battlements, her sword resting against her.
“She isn't here!? M-m-maybe she didn't know we were having it..Someone should go get her, a parties no fun without the one that it's being celebrated for!” Pinkie Pie spoke up in distress, starting to frantically begin going over what she might have gotten wrong to drive the Pegasus away. Her energy seemed to die down into sadness, an odd sight for the leader of a military band as she just pouted and moped, her happiness all but gone. Applejack had seen her leader like this a few times, and she knew exactly how to fix it.

“Hold on, I'll go an' get 'er! Just keep this party going till then alright?” She looked at her brother, tapping his shoulder before leaning over.”I think I might need your help gettin' her down here..”She whispered to her brother, getting to her feet and making her way towards the stairs, looking back to see not just her brother but also her sister following suit.

Rainbow Dash

Taking the time in her solitude to think, the Pegasus looked up at the sky's longingly, the urge to fly once again taking over her. However, her mind kept turning back to how the battle she had fought in had panned out so successfully and with further thought her mind once again turned back to the mare that lead this band of mercenaries. And now, by extension, the pegasus herself.
Despite her age, Pinkie Pie had the qualities of a great leader. The ponies under her command believed in her completely and were all prepared, at a moments notice, to lay down their lives if it meant the continued survival of their leader. Above all though and in spite of her difficult to pin down personality, she was capable of making split second decisions in the heat of battle. To her, she didn't seem quite like the kind of person to be leading a mercenary band. No, these were more like the qualities of a Queen. She had to shake her head at that thought: She was just a commoner, born into a life of work and struggle that had little effect on the world around her. She couldn't possibly think she could reach that point and become a ruler of a kingdom? She had the qualities, but her station made such a thought nothing more then a dream.
She found herself returning to reality after hearing footsteps coming from behind her, making the rainbow haired mare grasp the hilt of her sword in preparation for being jumped out of nowhere again half expecting that unicorn to try to off her with a crossbow.
But, to her surprise and quiet relief, she saw that it was the two that had saved her in the forest before accompanied by a young filly.
“Hey Dash!” The younger one spoke up cheerfully, making her way over with a smile on her face.
“What're ya doin' up here, gossipin' with the birds?” The mare, Applejack, let out a chuckle as she made her way over appearing to be in high spirits.
“Thank you for helping us out in the fight before, I wouldn't have made it out if you hadn't saved me” Realisation soon dawned on the younger ponies face, quickly inclining her head.”Oops! Sorry, I didn't tell you my name did I? I'm Applebloom!”
Applejack chuckled, ruffling up the younger mares hair.
“Still gotta brush up on your manners! Mercenary or not, we still gotta make sure we don't just act carelessly. I don't think either of us want another talk from ol' Rarity about how to act proper..”This made the younger filly look at her sister in utter despair, shaking her head quickly which got a laugh from the elder sibling who soon looked back to the Pegasus before her.”Still, I owe you one for savin' my dear sister. I still hate having her out on the battlefield but, well..sometimes we just need numbers and in this case she just happened to be needed”
Rainbow Dash shook her head.”Don't...pull this favor for a favor thing on me. I don't owe you anything, really. I did nothing more then my duty, I have no reason to be thanked” She looked over at the other two beside her.”Same goes for you two”
Applejack shrugged, letting out a quiet sigh.
“Well, I won't argue with you about that. Anyhow cmon follow us, a party ain't as lively without it's hero after all!”
This caused a raising of the Pegasus' eyebrows as well as a few other internal alarms, especially as Applejacks smile took on a much more sinister edge.”That Celebration down there's in honour of you!”
“I...w-wait..Hold on! I never asked for anything like that! No way, I am NOT going down there!” Applejack's smirk widened slightly, tapping the red colt beside her that seemed to be her sibling.
“Big Mac, I think our guest 'ere needs a bit of help gettin' to the party we all set up for her. Lend a hoof to her ok?”
“Eeyup!” The larger pony said, making his way over and, rather clumsily, lifted the Pegasus off her feet.
“W-what are you doing!? Put me down you big oaf!” She screamed, flailing about upside down in the larger ponies grasp as she was slumped over one of his shoulders. How dare he go and touch her! NOBODY touched her, let alone him: She had given him a free pass when he had saved her in that battle, but that was a battle this was not. She knew the intention of those that touched her, dark intentions that existed in the souls of every pony, and for him to violate her personal space, especially in such a miraculous way, made her very uncomfortable. Still he seemed to keep her in place well enough, The pegasus realising he had a remarkable degree of strength in him especially given his size.”Put me down!” Rainbow Dash growled, using one of her hooves to smack the colt right in the nose, causing it to start to bleed and him to stop in his tracks. This caused concern to appear on the faces of the two younger siblings, Applejack's brows starting to furrow as if to calm the Pegasus down but soon enough the larger pony started to carry her along once again.
“Let's go” He remarked simply, carrying her down the stairs and into the vast crowd of Ponies gathered around the fires and celebrating.

She felt all eyes suddenly focus on her as she was carried, her discomfort growing into embarrassment as more attention was given to the pegasus that had to be carried through the crowd. Some of them laughed and pointed, others gave a respectful nod whilst others seemed to just give her only a moments notice before she eventually spotted Pinkie pie. She noticed how depressed she seemed to appear, curious about what could be affecting her mood like this, not even seeming to laugh or notice jokes and conversations directed at her. This lasted until she looked up to spot the Pegasus, a large smile of happiness crossing her features as she suddenly sprung to her feet and quickly made her way towards the colt in the middle of the other ponies.
“You made it!” She squealed happily as she made her way over, acting as excited as a child that had just gotten something that they had been after.”I knew you'd come, I knew it!”
“I told you we'd get her here, one way or the other!” Applejack chuckled.
“PUT ME DOWN NOW YOU THICK HEADED BASTARD!” Rainbow Dash screamed at the colt holding her up, who rolled his eyes and clumsily deposited her on the ground.'
“My name is Big Macintosh”
Rainbow Dash's anger had finally reached boiling point: She had made it clearer then a crystal about how she felt about being touched to this dumbass, and he had still carried her around like a ragdoll. And worse yet, everyone else here had seen her so utterly helpless against him.
“Look you Dumbass, I am going to make this as clear to you as I possibly can” She was ready to lay into him with all the fuel of humiliation, anger and frustration built up ever since she had lost that first time. Glaring up at him, she continued her tirade.”Don't. Touch. Me-”She stopped as she suddenly found the colt had a glass of ale in his hand, holding it out to her with a rather sincere smile on his face despite the bleeding nose.
“Drink” And just like that, the anger disappeared and the Pegasus could only stare at the Colt with a look of utter confusion.
“Everyone, a toast to our firey and brash new friend!” Applejack called out, raising her glass into the air as a cheer erupted as if on command which soon descended into happy laughter. An atmosphere that was foreign and above all very strange to the Pegasus: Most of the bands he had been in didn't celebrate like this, most of the time just counting their coins and going to the nearest brothel or tavern to spend their earnings before remembering they had essentials. The only one not enjoying herself seemed to be the Unicorn Rarity, who quickly stood up and left in hurried disgust at the proceedings. A nudge to her shoulder from Macintosh brought her focus back to the cup in his hoof, which she finally took and begun to skull down it's contents, leading to the ponies around her to begin chanting the word “Chug!”. Given the mugs size it was definitely worth the chant, which started to pick up in volume and in speed the longer she kept the cup their until, finally, it's contents were depleted. Letting out a hearty burp, the crowd suddenly started to cheer although some were quick to erupt into laughter at such a loud and rowdy noise coming from a Mare.
It was then some of the others in the crowd of faces stepped forth, smiles on their faces as one of them grabbed her shoulder. The discomfort she felt was there as usual but...it seemed lessened somehow, as if she knew that nobody here was going to try anything sinister towards her.
“I gotta hand it to you, you're probably one of the best fighters we've had in our group so far!” One of them complimented her, slapping her on the back.”You cut off that enemy attack all on your own, even though we were outnumbered!”
“Pinkie Pie was right about you, welcome aboard!” Another spoke, thankfully keeping his interaction with her non-physical and simply offering a nod of approval.
Another approached her, grabbing her shoulder.”YOU are completely out of your mind!” He jammed a hoof right into her chest, smirking at her.”I'm just glad you're on our side and not the enemies!”He laughed, soon moving to wander off into the party to mingle with the others.

Rainbow Dash simply stood their dumbfounded, not used to such positive energy or happiness amongst ponies. And yet, there was something oddly nostalgic about all of this as if she had been in this atmosphere once before.
“What's the matter? You act like you havn't been in a party before!” Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared in-front of her, grinning like a madmare
“I guess...”The pegasus shrugged.”If we're being honest I actually havn't...been in a party. Couple of tavern runs yeah but, well not a party” She heard Pinkie Pie gasp in an overly dramatic manner, as if she had just heard a confession of murder.
“You-You've never been part of a party!?”She literally screamed, making Rainbow Dash wince due to the loud noise. She was dreading the expression she was making, almost as if a plan was formulating in her mind. She almost knew, as if by instinct: Pinkie Pie was going to do something utterly crazy.”Applejack, how much ale and cider have we got left?”
The other earth pony raised an eyebrow at this question out of the blue.
“Why're you goin' an' askin' something like that?”
“Cause we're using all of it. Tonight!” Before the other pony could respond she looked at Rainbow Dash again, a mischevious gleam in her eyes.”Our friend here has never been in a party before...and I intend to make her first ever party one that she's going to remember forever” She took a breath before roaring out and raising her glass.”Has everyone got that? Don't be afraid to go overboard and drink as much as you want! Tonight, we are going to make the royal balls look paltry by comparison!” This resulted in a universal cheer of happiness as everyone started rushing to break open the barrels of ale and other beverages, some even starting to brawl over it.”Now then, I intend to give you a party to remember. I should warn you I'm good at holding my ale, nobodies ever beaten me in a drinking match and I don't expect you to join me..”She suddenly put her forehead dangerously close to the Pegasus', her expression one of overconfidence and her smile suddenly taking a dangerous edge.”That is if you think you can beat me”
Something stirred inside of Rainbow Dash at that moment: A desire to compete, a desire for reward. But, above all, a desire to win. Her own gaze became serious, a frown on her face.
“Bring. It. On!” She declared, the two holding the gaze for some time as some of the others around them watched, the scene getting surprisingly tense. It was only broken by Pinkie Pie bursting into laughter, shaking her head slightly at the display. Even the Pegasus let out a quiet chuckle, a smile now on her face.
“Ohh! I got a smile out of you after all!” Pinkie Pie happily spoke, handing the pegasus a new glass of ale while she herself held a second.”Now, let's get this duel of ours under way...”
“This time, you're going to lose Pinkie” The pegasus declared, starting to quickly chug down her drink before the earth pony followed suit, the crowd starting to urge the two of them on.

As she drank the night away, the pegasus felt surprisingly at peace. She wasn't wanting to fight, or even to find out details on the next mission. She was just happy to drink alongside her newfound comrades and forget her worries. Happiness and company? Suddenly a slight epiphany begun to form in the Pegasus' mind. Maybe, just maybe, this was going to be the start of something great..maybe being happy wasn't such a bad thing after all.

Downtime

Authors Notes: Boy did this one take a while. Sorry about the wait, but between having to find new accomodations and dealing with some rather notable real life issues this took more time to complete then i would have liked. I admit this Chapter isn't the most eventful, but i figured it was necessary to have one that wasn't just devoted to fighting and let the characters have some moments to interact. This is also going to be where i start to take some liberties from the source material and start to add in some of my own plot points, but I'm going to aim to at-least finish off the 'Egg of the High Queen'. Depending on reaction, i may make a sequel but that remains to be seen.

Enjoy the chapter and thank you for reading, i again apologise for the time taken to update.

Rainbow Dash

“Still Chattin' with the birds are ya?” Applejacks words caused the rainbow haired Pegasus to stir from her place on the battlements, rubbing the sleep from her eyes in an attempt to clear her vision. Her head was pounding, no doubt the effects of all the alcohol that they had used up last night. She was surprised the earth pony before her looked so alert, let alone the fact she was awake at the moment. All the other ponies were slumped over themselves or parts of the castle, still unconscious and fast asleep from the festivities of last night.
The pegasus gave the earth pony a mere second of her attention before turning to look at the still rising sun on the horizon. Fog loomed over the previously occupied forest, silent except for the odd noise of local wildlife that seemed to be returning to the area after the raid the mercenaries and herself had performed. The battle was still burned into her mind, of how they had all acted so quickly and methodically under Pinkie Pies leadership: Even now her decision to save her was baffling. Was it because she was capable of flight? Or, was it due to her strength? No, in both cases she had a skill that could easily be fulfilled by members of the mercenary band she was forced to serve. The former by the other pegasus, Fluttershy, and the latter by the giant of a pony that was only known as Machintosh and was often called “Big Mac” for short. In her thought she spotted movement from the corner of her eye, closing her eyes for a moment before turning her head towards the source.
Applejack moved herself to sit up on one of the nearby battlements alongside Rainbow Dash, the pegasus moving her swords hilt that was resting against her shoulder to be placed delicately against the concrete slab against her back as she sat herself up slightly to stare at the earth pony. What did she want?
“So Dash, waddya think o' our group?” The sudden question caught the pegasus of guard, becoming silent for a moment before finally replying.
“What do you mean?” Applejack shrugged in response, a smile crossing her face.
“Well...do ya like it here?” Her tone was oddly casual, but there was a hint of genuine curiosity about the way she spoke as well indicating that the pegasus should answer seriously.
“I havn't figured that part out yet”. She looked again out at the quiet forest below, finding the sight oddly soothing to her troubled feelings. She was so used to being alone, to fighting her own battles and hating the company of others and yet...she felt right at home amongst these ponies.”It's different here, in most mercenary bands it's easy to see the ranks are made up of hoodlums and ponies that are running from the past. It's why I normally prefer to stay on my own. But, somethings different here”.
“Huh, never really thought of it like that but now that you mention it...you're right” Applejack seemed to dip into thought just as she had done earlier.”I guess it's 'cause o' Pinkie Pie, everyone here really admires her. We all expect great rewards to come from staying with Pinkie Pie but, tah be honest we're probably all gathered here because of her charisma. Of-course, we still fight and kill, it's the nature o' our profession an' all but..i think the folks in this band can still live like normal ponies as long as we're members of this band”
“What kind of Pony is Pinkie Pie?” The pegasus found herself still reeling from how odd her new-found leaders behaviour was prone to being, but perhaps the second opinion of a longer standing member would shed some light on it.
“Hmm...”The earth pony frowned, silent for a moment as she appeared to let herself delve into her thoughts, as if trying to find the words. Unfortunately, it was not the answer she had hoped.”I can't really say?”
“You what!?” Rainbow Dash blurted out a bit louder then she intended, earning her a small chorus of pained groans from the hung over mercenaries below.
“Now now, listen it's....”Applejack sighed.”I can't really describe it to ya but...it's like Pinkie Pie believes in something beyond glory an' battle. Now it probably won't be somethin' she's gonna achieve in her lifetime but it drives her. And it's something us normal ponies can't understand”. The earth pony soon chuckled.”Still, it hasn't had any effects on her ability to throw big parties on short notice...”
Rainbow Dash chuckled at this.”Yeah, here I was thinking she was gonna start singing. Thankfully not!” Both her and Applejack laughed at this, grateful they had been able to avoid another one of Pinkie Pies infamous 'ballads'.
“I'll give ya that one. Still, i think that party she threw last night outdid the one she threw for Twili-” The laughter died down not just from the Pegasus herself, but from her comrade seated beside her. She stared in utter astonishment at Applejack, shocked to her core by what had just happened.
How in Equestria did she know all this!? She hadn't met any of them before and she hadn't heard her commander sing. So, why did this feel so familiar to her? And, more to the point, how come it felt like she knew not just Pinkie Pie but this Applejack as well? But, there was also another thing that crept into her mind: Why did it feel as though somebody was missing?
It seemed the earth pony to her side was just as confused by this sudden familiarity, instantly shaking her head as an awkward silence built up between them. It lasted for some time, the silence only broken by the groans and ramblings of the ponies that were recovering or waking from their drunken rowdiness the night before to see the mess they had slept in. All of it, the pegasus would muse, of their own making. Even she was unsure how she had remained sober enough to find her way back to the battlements or how she had avoided falling over them.
“So-” Applejack started to speak, awkwardly trying to break the silence that had fallen over them before a voice rang out below them
“Hey, Rainbow Dash! Pinkie Pie asked for you” The voice of Fluttershy interrupted the conversation being held by the two, with the pegasus simply sighing as she got to her feet, moving to sheath her sword on her back again.
“Uh..Seeya..” Rainbow Dash spoke as she moved to walk away.
“Hey, Rainbow Dash” The pegasus turned to look back at her, seeing the orange pony grin right back at her.”I have an inklin' that yer gonna fit in just fine here”

Fluttershy had lead the rainbow haired mare into the further edge of the courtyard, seeing the rather naked pink pony lift a bucket of water up over her head from a nearby well, tipping the water up over her head. She shuddered for a moment as the cold liquid washed over her, shaking her now soaked hair wildly without a care as though nothing more then a dog. She sighed in happiness as she moved to refill the bucket, as if the task was a source of joy for her before the Pegasus could stomach this no more: She'd had one awkward moment already today, she was in no mood for a second. Clearing her throat with a slightly louder then intended 'Ahem', the pink pony suddenly froze in her movement in tipping the water over her head, placing the bucket instead down beside her and turning to smile at Rainbow Dash.
“Ah, this is the best way to wake yourself up after a long night” Pinkie Pie's smile widened.”Care to join me?”
The query made Rainbow Dash incredibly suspicious, starting to get second thoughts about placing trust in these people: Did this Pinkie Pie just want to get her clothes off after all? Well, she wasn't going to let that slide even if she was indebted to her cause.
“No thanks!” She growled with a shake of her head.”If that's all you wanted me for, then I guess I'll just leave”
“Oh come on, join me! Don't tell me you're afraid of a little water!” Pinkie Pie's expression took on a more mischevious edge to it as she bent over to grab the other bucket of water, making Rainbow Dash put her hooves up in-front of her.
“Will you stop it!” She roared angrilly.”I hate to break this to you but we are NOT foals anymore, so I suggest you drop this before I-”Rainbow Dash's angry tirade was cut short by her face being splashed with water.

“Oh no! I've done it now, havn't I?” Pinkie Pie teased as she burst into laughter, making the Pegasus' anger fade instead into something else: A competitive desire to come out on top. Quickly grabbing a nearby bucket, she broke into a run to the well, aiming to repay watery assault in kind.

AppleJack

Looking down at the duo, the orange mare couldn't help the smile that crossed her face, shaking her head with some delight as she moved away from the battlements towards the stairs. Seeing both Pinkie Pie and Rainbow dash so happy and playing about, especially after the action of the previous evening was something that made the mare pleased. But, it also calmed her nerves after what had happened last night. It hadn't been the battle that shook her, such things were a common occurrence in her mercenary life now and she had long since gotten used to it. What truly made her sweat in despair had been what she had witnessed in her dreams the previous night.

It was still a blur to her, her memory having all but left her. She couldn't even recollect just what had made her so terrified, only that it was something that had struck her right in the very heart of the pony she was. It had been something, she just had to remember it.

“Dangit! Cmon, mah noggin' ain't gonna forget something that scares me outta mah britches! So what was it?” She moved to sit back against the nearby wall, perhaps a bit too quickly, the aches from the sudden action making themselves apparent the moment her rear made contact with the concrete floor. She bit back a growl, her eyes squinting shut in concentration, methodically going back through what she had done before this moment and working her way back to when she was asleep: She slammed herself against this wall, she came down the stairs, she saw Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie playing, spoke to Rainbow Dash, walked up the stairs to the battlements, dunked her head in cold water to fight off the hangover from the previous night, seating herself up from where she had fallen that previous night, groaning herself awake-

“Twilight...i don't get it, what's so important about this?”The voice of Rainbow Dash immediately made the earth pony realise she was no longer in the castle, but seated underneath a tree that was overlooking a town below. She wasn't alone either: At her left was Fluttershy, who seemed to be fidgeting about rather nervously. No armour was on her person, her hair much longer and more vibrant rather then the shorter pixie cut the pegasus had given to herself so she could make sure 'it wasn't used against her in a fight'. To her right sat Pinkie Pie who, aside from the armour missing, didn't look any different except for the fact her expression was a bit more vacant. And Rainbow Dash, as naked as the others, was flying in a hover alongside a purple unicorn that was swiftly flicking through the pages of a book. Most astonishingly of all was the strange marks that all of them now had on their flanks, almost like tattoo's of some kind. What did the markings mean? She honestly had no clue.”It's just an Eclipse, what's so bad about that? Besides, sitting around up here is Boring~!”She held the last word in a long groan as if to emphasise her disdain for her current circumstances.
“There is going to be a solar eclipse tomorrow” The unicorn, which seemed to go by the name of Twilight replied, her voice one of concern.
“Still don't see what's so important..”
“How often does an eclipse happen?” The unicorn asked.
“The last one occurred...why, I can't even remember the last time!” Another voice, Rarity's, was heard on the horizon. Much like the others she no longer wore armour even then she was near unrecogniseable. Gone was the greedy smile, the narrowed eyes, the cocky attitude and the greasy hair. Instead, was a well groomed and cheerful looking mare.”I apologise for being so late Darlings. Spikey-Wikey was asking me about...well, I'm here now and that is the main thing”
“What did Spike ask you about Rarity?” Twilight suddenly asked, going over to the unicorn rather hurriedly, seeming to be desperate all of a sudden.
Rarity was silent for a long time, her expression reflecting inner turmoil.“Twilight...i promise nothing is wrong. He just needed to speak to me about....things..”
“What things?” Twilight probed even further, her expression determined.
“Hey now sugar cube, don' you think you're overreactin' just a little bit?”Applejack finally spoke to the others, appearing to know this Twilight on a personal level given how she addressed her.”Just 'cause Spike acted a bit different don't mean he-”
“Yes it does!” The unicorn roared out in anger, stomping her hoof into the grass below.”Nothing has made any sense for the last two weeks..everypony is acting strangely and I don't know why. Even the princesses left after the stars formed that marking and...and...” The unicorn started to break down into tears, slumping onto her backside and starting to bury her face into her hooves.
“Hey...”A sudden desire to comfort the unicorn rushed over Applejack, slowly moving over and placing a hand on the weeping mares shoulder.”Sugarcube, there ain't nothing to cry about”
“They were so scared..Princess Celestia was terrified when she saw those stars form that marking. What could...what could be so bad that could terrify Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?” She took a shaky breath.”Things have been strange since then, everyone forgetting things and acting like they are different people one moment and then act like nothing was wrong the next. And then Pinkie-” Shaking her head, the Unicorn hesitated for a moment before continuing.”It feels like something horrible is going to happen, something worse then anything that's ever happened”
“If something tries to cause trouble then we'll fight it! It's worked well for us so far” Rainbow Dash spoke with confidence, landing beside Twilight with a smirk on her face.

“But..what if we can't?” She looked at the pegasus then around at the others, her expression one of utter despair that seemed to suck the hope right out of everyone present.

“Applejack!”
The raised voice of Applebloom finally broke the orange ponies concentration, opening her eyes to look across at her younger sibling and elder brother, now clad in a pair of light green clothes as opposed to the basic leather armour she had worn during the raid the previous night.
“What's the matter, is Rarity bugging you again?” She gave her sister the best smile she could muster, reaching over to ruffle up her siblings hair.
“Uh..no, well..not right now” Applebloom shot her sister a surprisingly excited smile.”They're all bettin' again! But this time Fluttershy's gonna try out, Cmon let's go watch!”
“You came all the way over here to bother me about that?” She said this a bit to harshly then she intended, immediately regretting it as she saw her sisters expression grow dispirited, looking as if she might cry at any moment. The mares expression quickly softened, moving to get to her feet.”Well, I needed to get up an' move about a bit anyway...cmon, let's go watch!” The words were enough to brighten her younger sisters spirits almost instantly which in turn brightened Applejacks own. There was enough suffering in this mercenary band and the world, and her sister was still young. She deserved a chance to be happy off of the battlefield, to be allowed a chance to be happy and above all to be able to smile like any young pony should. If circumstances had been different, she would not have been forced to be here in the first place, and neither would her siblings. But, fate was strange like that.

With a helping hoof from her elder brother to get her off her backside, which she now realised was hurting like no tomorrow as the pain come flooding back, the three siblings made their way over to the nearby crowd of people.
“Hey, can I ask you something?” Applejack could not stop herself from nodding, still feeling the need to make it up slightly for her earlier attempt at brushing her off.”Do you think..we'll be able to find a home again?”
The question caused the orange mare to be silent for a moment, wanting to find a way to reassure her sister but not set her hopes to such unreasonable heights that it would be near impossible to fulfil. Fortunately her brother, in a rare vocalisation, spoke for her.
“Maybe we will, maybe we won't. But, even if we don't it won't matter” He smiled, coming to a slight stop.”Because we're a family. And that's better then any stone wall to block the wind, or any roof over your head to stop the rain. So as long as we're together..even if we don't have all the structural stuff, we still have a home”
“Then I promise I'll to stay with you and sis forever!” Applebloom declared happily, with Macintosh just smiling at her.
“And I promise the same to you” He replied with such sincerity that it touched even Applejack, who couldn't help but smile due to the contagion her siblings had inadvertantly created.
“I'll be with you two no matter what” She spoke at last, finally turning to face the crowd that formed, picking out the faces of Rarity and Fluttershy sitting across from one another.

Rarity

A grin worked its way across the mares face as she collected the bits from the latest unfortunate pony that had lost their earnings to her. He let out a loud cry of anguish as this happened, begging her for another chance to win back what he had lost.
“You know the rules: One shot at glory, nothing more. Now you'd best get going before you're stuck going into battle with sticks and stones..”She laughed tauntingly at the colt as he dragged himself to his feet and made his way back to where his comrades welcomed him with a mocking chuckle, the rest of the crowd smirking in amusement at the poor colts loss.”In the arena of chance, I truly am without an equal...and if my fortune is anything to go by, i'd say my fantastic luck is rubbing off on us on the battlefield as well”
“Y'know you gotta stop bein' so cocky Rarity” Applejack spoke, walking towards her from the crowd with her siblings.”Your luck has a bad habit of always fizzlin' out whenever ya do”
“My darling Applejack, don't you dare think you can dash my spirits right now..my luck is fantastic!” She spoke this surprisingly playfully, swirling the wooden cup containing the dice in her left hoof as she looked over at the scout with her confident smile.

If she had to pick anyone as a friend, she was likely the closest person to it in this mercenary band. Sure, the two weren't exactly all that close but they had grown to have a certain rapport with one another and an understanding, with even hints of a playful rivalry between them. Her other siblings weren't exactly hated either, but Macintosh rarely spoke a word to her and Applebloom was far to innocent in how the world worked to be of any solid company. She had a soft spot for the young filly though even if she was a bit rough with her sometimes, having been among one of the first to object to her placement on the battlefield and had done what she could to look out for her on the occasions Applejack or Macintosh couldn't. Fluttershy and herself were both loyal to Pinkie Pie, and they could co-operate to an extent but that was as far as their interactions went. The two often butted heads due to how willing Rarity was to be underhanded and dishonest, whilst Rarity was simply confused at how someone so soft spoken off the battlefield grew such a backbone whenever in a fight or following an order from their commander. If she had a greater willingness to ditch her morals and apply her sword skills when not under order from their commander, the mare reckoned the Pegasus could have made a fantastic Bandit.
“Still, you smiling beats you sulking about Rainbow Dash and the party last night...i still don't understand how someone like you could look so depressed at a party. One our commander threw no less!”
Anger once again found itself replacing her happiness at the mention of their new recruit, her eyes narrowed.
“And why wouldn't I have a reason to be unhappy? That bitch killed our men, and then our leader goes and blows all our supplies on welcoming her in. Not just a few, but EVERYTHING! I..didn't even know ponies could eat and drink that much in a single night”.
“Well, it ain't like Pinkie to just use up all our food like that 'less we had reserve funds or somethin'”
“We have enough to replace all our food stocks and still have enough for repairs on the raiders armour and weapons. I told Pinkie Pie herself that in my last report two nights ago” The mare may not have been the best fighter of the band, and her greed was sometimes known to be ill advised but she had one duty above all others that she excelled at: Fund Management.
She had prior experience to joining up with the Band of the Phoenix in dealing with funds and keeping track of how much the mercenaries had left to spend on themselves. While Macintosh seemed to have mathematical skills, Rarity's experience and knowledge of economics had helped the mercenaries in ensuring that they had enough money to keep them afloat.”But that's not the point: When has Pinkie Pie ever gone so over the top for just one person, and over a small victory of all things? It's utterly illogical and it means we all have to make a stop over at the next city when we go to the next job so we can stock up on supplies..and that means less time spent earning money!”
“Always the realist ain't ya Rarity?”Applejack chuckled, to which the greedy mare simply nodded her head.
“Someone around here has to be: We won't keep focused otherwise” She replied before a smirk crossed her face at the sight of Fluttershy approaching.”Now if you'll excuse me, i've got a Lieutenant to liberate the bits from” She turned her gaze to the pegasus as she sat across from her, the expression on her new victim surprisingly neutral but still seeming to avoid eye contact shyly.
“Alright Fluttershy, you know the rules. Call odd or even and if the dice are what you call it, you win. You get one shot and one shot alone, so make it count” Rarity raised the hoof holding the wooden cup, resuming swirling it around.”But first you have to make a bet, wouldn't be a game of chance if there wasn't something on the line”

She was well aware of how careful Fluttershy was in these betting matches: It seemed to be her one vice so to speak, but the unicorn suspected that Pinkie Pie may have pressed it as a way of interacting more with her fellow comrades. She was a shy one, her name oddly appropriate in that regard, but she was also very cautious when it came to this activity. It almost made it boring..if not for the fact that Rarity was aware she always won these bouts. It was almost too easy.
As three bits made their way onto the ground, the unicorn raised an eyebrow: She had gotten more adventurous then her usual one bit investments, making the unicorn feel a bit so herself.”Let's make this interesting” She pushed all of the bits she had earned from her recent exploits with a grin.”That's everything I have, and if you guess right it'll be yours. Throw everything in, can't have this be unfair can we”
“Umm...o-ok...”Fluttershy murmured so quietly that the unicorn was lucky she had even heard it, watching as Fluttershy timidly retrieved the rest of the bits on her person, placing it out infront of her.

Her eyes flashing with a desire to have those bits be hers, the unicorn slammed the wooden cup down on the ground between them, perhaps with a little bit more force then necessary with a grin on her face.
“Call it! Odd or even?”
“O-odd...” Fluttershy murmured so quietly that even Rarity didn't pick it up.
“Pardon?”
“I..I said Odd” She spoke louder, enough that Rarity understood what she chose and only made her smile grow more sinister.
“Then I call Even!” She chuckled.”You really don't stand a chance you know! My luck has seen me throughout this far, and my luck says that your bits are mine-” Removing the cup, Rarity immediately stopped, her expression contorting in despair at what greeted her. The dice all added up to seven, causing the confident smile to fade to a quivering lip and the eyes that were once narrowed in determination to be wide in a pleading manner.”B-best two out of three...?”

“Wasn't it the rule that you only had 'one shot at glory, nothin' more'? Or did that change just now?” Applejack spoke mockingly, shaking her head at the unicorn.”Now go on and pay up” The crowd immediately started to laugh at Rarity's sudden turn in fortunes, the mare growing both embarrassed and angered at this turn of events. With a quick shove of the bits she had lost towards the pegasus across from her, she moved to her feet and stormed away, grumbling to herself in an incomprehensible rage whilst the rest of the ponies present celebrated the Fluttershy's triumph.

Rainbow Dash

It had been a long, almost gruelling, duel between the two ponies for who would submit first in the duel but eventually Pinkie Pie had submitted. She sat back against the well with a loud laugh, throwing her hooves up.
“Enough enough! I surrender!” She said in jest, slumping back in exhaustion with a tired yet happy smile on her face. Seeing an opening, the pegasus quickly tipped the still full bucket of water she had over the pink mares head. This caused her to cry out in shock, stumbling over from the sudden action before shooting the pegasus a filthy look. It made her happy in a way to see someone who had so easily beaten her before seem so threatened and surprised all of a sudden, but she found she lacked any of the animosity from when they had last dueled. She didn't know exactly why, but she couldn't find any rage towards this mare across her any longer.”Hey! I said I surrendered!”
“Had to make sure..but now we're even” Rainbow dash chuckled, sitting herself beside her newfound commander with her back resting against the well.
“You're definitely stubborn” That wasn't exactly the word Rainbow Dash had been expecting, slowly turning to look directly at Pinkie Pie. She inched back a little bit due to how far the mare leaned over towards her, not liking the sudden closeness.”You will do whatever it takes to win, even if it means resorting to unwholesome methods. You're a remarkable pony” The pegasus didn't find herself listening to these words, her gaze instead drawn to what lay around the mares neck.

After a moment, she nodded her head towards it.
“What is that thing?” The earth pony blinked for a moment, turning her gaze downwards to the piece of jewellery. She gently ran her hoof over the bauble, smiling down at it as if it were just a small child.
“It's called a Behelit” She moved to grasp the edges of the makeshift necklace, removing it from her neck.”An old fortune teller gave this to me when I was still very young..” She was silent for a moment, off in thought about something that was so very far away.”I never knew my parents, at-least not really, but I was lucky enough to be taken in by some kindly old bakers that raised me as their own. We never had much, usually just scraping by with whatever we could earn from sales, so I never could expect anything extravagant for a birthday. But, there was one thing my adopted family used to do” She smiled fondly.”They used to take me to see the castle: My adoptive father used to work there and knew how to sneak into the castle grounds so I could take a look around, and he used to do that every birthday..it wasn't much, I know, but it was something I enjoyed. But, on one of my birthdays as we went to go to the castle I ran across an old fortune teller in the street and she just handed me this” She chuckled.”It was odd, but she said that 'who ever wears this will rule the world'. I never quite figured out how to get it to work though..” She suddenly blinked in surprise, looking right at the pegasus with an almost unreadable expression before laughing.”It's strange, i've never told that story to anyone but..here I am telling you, a pony I have known for only a week all about me”
“Can I?”The pegasus held out one of her hooves, naturally wishing to look closer at the item in question. With a simple nod of her head, Pinkie handed her the item with a great degree of care, the pegasus holding it up to her face to get a better look at it.

This Behelit was definitely an odd but ugly thing, circular in shape like an egg and coloured red as though it were an organ. It was a solid object, but she couldn't shake the feeling that it was alive in some way, getting a great sense of unease whenever she stared down at it. It looked as though somebody had taken parts of a face and rearranged it onto a sphere. A closed eye was up on the top left of the bauble, while another was down on the bottom right. On the right side of the sphere was what looked like a closed mouth, whilst in the centre was..what looked like a nose. She could tell from the nostril holes when she tilted it downwards that it was meant to be one but, it didn't look like one any pony would have. It looked like something that would belong to a totally different species, but not one that the pegasus was familiar with.
As she completed turning it over in her hooves, she noticed it shift in some way: One of the eyes suddenly opened, revealing it to be bloodshot and narrowed in a slight glare. The retina was colored a dark blue whilst the sclera while still white also seemed to have a dulled yellow tinge to it. The action resulted in a quick scream to escape the pegasus' lips, launching the Behelit up into the air while she suddenly moved backwards to put some distance between her and the item.

By luck, Pinkie Pie caught the piece of Jewellery as it fell, looking at Rainbow Dash with a curious expression.
“Keep that thing away from me!” She roared out, making an amused smirk cross Pinkie Pie's face as she waved the item out infront of her. The eye had long since closed again.
“Be afraid, the Behelit is coming for you!” She waved the jewellery infront of Rainbow Dash's face, letting out a low sounding 'woo' as if pretending to be a ghost before the pegasus finally got sick of this subject and opted to change it.
“Why did you come back to save my life last night in the forest?” She found it strange that a commander would so willingly risk themselves to save a common troop, especially one she had known for such a short time.
“I wasn't about to let a warrior like you die in such an insignificant fight, especially after I put so much work into obtaining you” Pinkie Pie replied, getting to her feet.”Dash, you must believe me, we've only just begun. Us, The Band of the Phoenix, victory in several battles..but this is only the beginning for us” She turned to look directly down at the pegasus, her gaze one of self-assured confidence.”I will have my own kingdom Rainbow Dash. You will fight for me, because you are now mine. And as such, I will decide when and where you will ultimately die” The way she spoke almost made it sound like it was fact rather then just possibility. They hadn't even earned a single title, and yet she sounded so confident that she could rise up to become ruler of a kingdom, just as that fortune teller had told her.

“Oh, that reminds me, why I asked you here today” Pinkie Pie suddenly returned to her more bubbly self.”I was really impressed with how you took out all those ponies back there and protected so many of us. So, I'm making you our Commander of the Raiders” The pegasus was speechless, surprised at this very sudden and rapid promotion to a position of responsibility: She was a warrior, not a leader!
“P-Pinkie, I-”
“Oh you'll be fine! Now go and tell everyone silly, and don't let them forget you're COMMANDER Dash now Alright?” She giggled, the certainty of their last conversation all but forgotten as the pegasus found her feet again, just nodding and turning to leave, still surprised by the sudden turn of events.

Three Years Later: Beginning of the Golden Age

Three Years Later

Rainbow Dash

The pegasus could only watch the battle that unfolded before her eyes with a growing sense of embarassment and annoyance. The sweltering heat was bad enough, the mare feeling herself cooking inside of even her light armor and helmet as the sun burned brightly up above her. The hill she stood on overlooked the large open field, grass and dust kicked up as the ponies below scrambled to try to get into battle. Or rather, escape from the black armored squadron that was slicing through the center of the field as though the armored ponies were nothing but leaves against their steel.
Worse still was the thundering of the cannons that seemed to be directed at the poor souls that tried to get out of range, the metal raining down sending entire throngs of soldiers flying in all directions upon impact. More dirt was sent flying into the air to rain down on the souls, along with varying body parts and fluids that remained of those unfortunate enough to have been hit directly by the projectiles.

The pegasus could have taken these armored bastards down with ease, and here she stood above because of her commanders orders: On the signal, she and her raiders would swoop down to lead a charge against the black armored foes. They were the Black Horned Manticore Heavy cavalry, among one of the best warriors that the kingdom of Cavolia had to offer and also had been responsible for devastating the last two forces that were sent to impede their efforts to get closer to Canterlot. But, to the pegasus their victories meant nothing, it was the fact that their heads were her paycheck. If it wasn't for orders, she would have already swooped down into this field of death and despair to do what she did best.
But, she had not only her orders to follow, but also her own raiders to worry about. She disliked placing them in danger needlessly even if they were regularly front line fighters for the Phoenixes and a main fighting force. It was why she was biting down the urge to charge down into the chaos that unfolded below and fight in a battle that, as far as she could tell, her benefactors were losing quite badly.

“In the name of Cavolia, we will have the kings head!” The pegasus was surprised to hear the roar of the black devils themselves, but something that should have been painfully obvious to her became apparent: There were no more ponies being crushed by cannonball or skewered by horns, no more dead lay in there way and no more ponies stood between the hill to the north that held their benefactor and the rapidly advancing force of black clad ponies.
“That's it!” Rainbow Dash declared, noticing movement of surprise from the large body of her fellow phoenix soldiers that stood behind her.
“C-commander Dash, we were told to wait for the order to charge” One of her raiders explained, making her eyes narrow in his direction.
“Then stay here! I'll take care of this” She stepped forwards, flexing her wings out slowly. She knew she should have stretched a bit this morning before the battle, but she doubted it would have made much difference: She hadn't even drawn her sword once throughout the course of this ambush, and with the time wasted up on the hill she knew that even if she had prepared herself for the fight it would have done nothing in the long run with all the waiting.
“Dash. Don't you dare!” The voice of Fluttershy from behind him and the sound of footsteps approaching made her roll her eyes. As always, blindly loyal to their commander and incapable of doing anything outside of breathing unless she was ordered. But, she half expected she likely wouldn't go to the bathroom unless she had been ordered to before a battle. And it was on this amusing thought that she leapt down from the edge of the hill and spread her wings, drawing her sword as she made a beeline towards the enemies that had started making their way towards the hill of the king.

The aroma's overwhelmed her senses the second that she flew over the carnage that was below. The smell of blood, of soiled armor, of sweat and of fear. It was the nostalgic scent of death, the smell of war and suffering that the pegasus had breathed almost everyday since she could walk. Even at the mercenary camps she had been unable to escape this smell despite it being obscured by the other smells that usually were found in such places. It had become apart of her life over the years, but even now the pegasus found herself wondering if she actually enjoyed the smell the assaulted her senses as she charged. It was one she had grown used to during her career, true, but she didn't know if she really liked it as she did other things such as flying.
Flight had been an instrumental part of her life that she knew she wouldn't be able to live without: If it wasn't enjoying flights during off days and the freedom of soaring through the clouds, it was the advantages it gave her on the battlefield. It would have taken her far longer to reach her enemies if she had tried to attack by foot and she would have definitely been spotted much sooner had she not been flying above her foes.
They never look up. Their loss She quickly diverted her trajectory to move directly down once she overtook the enemy force below. Her timing her to be just right for this: To soon and she would fly just over their heads and possibly leave herself open to retaliation, to late and she would end up faceplanting into the ground that was now soaked in the blood of ally and enemy alike. She took a breath, holding it as she continued her free fall to the ground below.
“Sir! Up there!”
Apart from the declaration that she had been spotted what caught her attention was the slowing down of the gallop from the Black Manticore troopers, her eyes turning to see the one directly at the front decorated in black armor that, upon getting closer, had a golden trim to it. All of them wore helmets in the shape of a lions head, albeit with the mouth piece constructed in the manner of a snarling lion jaw. The shoulderguards were in the design of a scorpions sharpened tail tip, looking equally as sharp as the horns they had been using. The foreleg armor seemed to have a more reptilian look to it as though trying to pass them off as scorpion tails, which made it seem very out of place when compared to the rest of the plated armor that the advancing force wore.
Interestingly the entire squadron was made up of unicorns, which wasn't so strange when she finally got a look at them. From the center where their horns would be allowed to stick through their helmets was a metalic horn guard. It was an inch longer then most horns, sharpened at the tip to allow for the horn to not only be covered but to be used to devastating effect. All the army really had to do was charge in with their heads low and, if they had enough momentum, could devastate a battlefield just as they had been doing.
The only one that stood out amongst them was the one at the head of the force who wore a long cloak of red and dark crimson. Upon inspection, it seemed to have been decorated in color to resemble a bats wing, just like the legendary creatures themselves that had been lost to time.
“He thinks he can fight us all by himself?” He chuckled, picking up his pace to make a charge towards her during the fall as if to skewer her.”As you wish, prepare to be crushed into dust!” She continued to fall, finally exhaling as she neared the end of her fall.
Now! As the knight neared her and the ground closed in, she stretched her wings outwards and moved her sword back to prepare for a slash. Her fall quickly became a swoop, moving herself upwards in a glide just as the caped soldier neared her. As she did this, she swung her sword up as she moved, creating an upwards slash that sliced through her enemy and sent him flying high into the air with the pegasus. The edge of her sword made contact with the leaders chin, managing to penetrate the armor and dig into the jaw of her enemy through the helmet. If the trauma of the blow hadn't killed her enemy, the sickening snap she heard as her enemies head was suddenly sent backwards indicated she had broken his neck and killed the colt herself.
She managed to regain control as she dived downwards again, the slain colts body crashing into another of the black armored soldiers below.
“He killed General Gian! And with just one swing!” It appeared the soldiers had yet to figure out her gender, but given the speed she had travelled at and the armor she wore, she couldn't blame them for the misconception. Not that it was going to matter in the next few moments.

Flying down in another pass she brought her greatsword by in another cleaving swing, severing one of the confused and halted soldiers heads in the process. She followed up by parrying a blow from another attacker before slicing through his chest in an upward arc, bringing her blade down on another charging attackers head before propelling herself upwards as she noticed one of the enemies charging her from the side. Looking down, she allowed a small smirk to cross her face when she saw the attacker skewer his ally and be sent tumbling in confusion whilst she hovered above. They had no ranged capabilities, and she had a whole days worth of energy to burn: She could take them, with that she was confident.
“Form up! He's only one soldier, he's gonna have a hard time getting us if we all stand together!” One of the soldiers declared, trying to create order amongst the troops despite the loss of their general.
“But-” An arrow through the neck silenced the colt which heralded the arrival of a large volley of the projectiles raining down on them from above, something which the pegasus moved to quickly dodge and weave as a gleam of white from the hill behind caught her attention.

“We're being flanked!” The soldier roared, soon standing still.”That...white armor. Is that the Band of the Phoenix?”

Fluttershy

Yet again she hadn't followed orders, had acted recklessly despite orders to stay put. She swore the other pegasus did this to her on purpose: Her “Comrade” was nothing if not full of blood lust, and while that helped in making sure the front lines were often cleared it meant that they regularly had to put up with many 'spur of the moment' charges into the thick of the enemy force. It was frustrating her beyond belief that Rainbow Dash was so reckless and absorbed in her ego, but right now they had a battle to focus on.

Whilst the raiders charged from the front alongside Pinkie Pie, the pegasus soon found herself raising herself into the air and taking flight. She drew her sword and kept a steady pace behind their commander and the raider forces that were leading the charge. Such a shame their commander had abandoned them yet again, but they didn't care as they found themselves locked in combat against the confused forces.
Their leader moved gracefully and quickly through the enemy ranks, aiming for the necks and exposed cracks in the armor but there was something she always noticed in her commanders eyes as she fought: Joy. She didn't act as though she was fighting in a fierce battlefield where her benefactors force was being devastated, but rather seeming to move with a playful spring and appeared as though she wasn't so much fighting as playing at war. Applejack remained back with Applebloom, using crossbows to pick off stragglers and lay down a supporting fire. The two acted in a calculated motion: As one fired, the other reloaded. It was simple, but it proved to be effective. Macintosh simply ran passed, swinging his axe from one side of himself to the other as he lead a force to attack the other enemy forces that they were flanking outside of the Black Manticores. Rarity she had half expected to stay to the flank or stay at a range, but she appeared to be having one of those rare moments she felt a need to contribute. She was leading her small group along the borders to attack the cannons and the crews manning them: She seemed to stay at a range for the most part, stabbing and skewering at some of the retreating cannon crew from a distance with a spear while the rest of her force seemed to get to work on sabotaging the canons to stop them firing. Rarity was clumsy and often times very sloppy in how she fought, lacking any of the grace she or Pinkie had, and didn't have the sheer physical power that Macintosh or Rainbow Dash possesed. She didn't even have the combat versatility that Applejack had, being rather lacking in most regards. Still, she wasn't necessarily bad as a fighter, but she had nothing that defined her.

The pegasus swooped down, cutting through one of the black manticores necks as she passed him by before landing in what she assumed to be clear ground. However, upon quickly surveying, she noticed that there were warriors rushing from the sides to try to skewer her with their armored horns, the female quickly launching herself up into the air to avoid the innevitable death that would have awaited her had she remained there. While most of them collapsed into one another or skwered each-other, one of the six managed to come to a hault just short of the collapsed heap that his allies had become, letting out a sharp exhale of relief that he had been able to stop. Unfortunately, the pegasus had other plans as she turned her swords blade down and allowed herself to fall from above. By the time the Unicorn had looked up, she had already stabbed her sword through the colts back, the male falling on his face from both the weight and the pain that now swamped his body. She wriggled the blade until it came free, only to find some blood splatter up into her face from the trauma, making her wince and shake her head in order to recover quickly.
She jumped from the colts back, looking up to find another of the black armored soldiers make a lunge towards her with his horn. She moved herself to the side, drawing her blade back before lunging fourth at her assailant. The blade hit home, lodging itself right in the center of the soldiers eyes and through his head. A loud gallop soon caught her attention, the mare drawing the bloodied sword from the skull of her foe to parry another incoming lunge, redirecting it slightly to her left. As her opponent stumbled, she turned her body and blade, stabbing the tip of her sword through the back of her new enemies neck, her foe letting out a choked gargle as his blood flowed freely from the wound.
“The Grim Reapers of the battlefield. Why....why are they fighting for Canterlot!?” One of the soldiers muttered in shock just as the orders to retreat reached his ears, quickly turning tail to run alongside his comrades. The pegasus let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding before flicking the blood from her sword, once more taking to the skies so as to avoid being toppled or trampled.

The Royal Knights

“Cavolia's forces are retreating” One of the knights to the left of the king spoke, an elderly colt that looked as though he had seen his share of battles throughout the years.
“Absurd! You honestly think that group of common rabble were what changed the course of that battle?” A grey unicorn with black hair hissed from the right of the elderly knight, seeming none to pleased at his companions choice of words.
“These Phoenixes are they really so strong?” The king, a white unicorn dressed in plated armor with a royal blue cloak. Underneath the chainmail helm he wore, strands of blonde hair peeked out messily whilst on his head remained a small crown he wore even now.
“Yes, they were well worth the price my prince-” The dark grey pegasus to the right of the king cut himself off as he noticed the kings eyes narrow, immediately clearing his throat.”Apologies, my King Blueblood”
“All they did was pull off a simple ambush! You shouldn't praise them so highly!” The unicorn to the left argued, making the pegasus chuckle.
“The fact remains that they defeated the Black Manticores while our forces struggled to even scratch them”
“They executed the attack flawlessly. And the way their leader anticipated the enemy with such skill...why I say it even rivals that of some of our best knights!” The elderly colt spoke, sparking a silence between the high class ponies.

The four of them surveyed the mercenaries below, cheering and congregating together before beginning to make their way back towards the camp they had made. Some stayed behind to help the surviving troops or collect their own fallen allies, but all of them made their way from the battlefield within a similar time frame to one another.
“Tell me, who leads these mercenaries?” The king inquired, leading to the dark grey pegasus to his right to turn to address him.
“The leader is called Pinkie Pie, it's strange to see a mare like her leading them so competently”
“And that's just further insult. Mares have no place on the battlefield, that is for us Colts. The fact they are sullying our fields with their presence sickens me more then their common status ever could” The unicorn grumbled, but the king didn't seem to notice.
“Pinkie Pie...”He murmured to himself, eventually turning to the pegasus to his left.”Tell her I wish to speak to her the moment we return to the capital”

How things have changed and stayed the same

Rainbow Dash

The battle had long since ended, and yet the Pegasus still felt the rush of excitement. The thrill she felt as her blade made contact with flesh, ending lives in the field of death that she had spent her whole life meandering through. Dodging and weaving from incoming attacks, either from an arrow or from another’s blade, escaping with her life through just her willpower and luck, the adrenaline knowing she had bested the odds fate had thrown against her. It was all as natural as breathing for her, to the point she couldn't see herself doing anything else. Well, except for one thing: Flying.

She had departed from the body of soldiers as they made their way back from the battle to the camp and flown off into the sky above. She felt at peace in the sky, soaring through the blue expanse that seemed so divorced from the land that lay below her hooves. It was like a whole other world up here, unbound by the tenuous and complicated affairs that went on below. Sometimes she enjoyed flying at high speeds, having taken to it like a fish to water the first time she had spread her wings. It was natural to her, as though something in her mind told her the motions for this. But, there were times where, such as today, she just wished to relax and take it at a pace after the battle.
It was more like floating then flying given how slowly she was going in the air, turning herself around in a slow circle as she flew on her back. She reached a hoof out to run through a passing cloud, observing the white mist as it dispersed around her. She sighed, content with herself as she lazed amongst the clouds.
She had once thought the clouds to be solid and soft, due to how they had looked like balls of cotton from the ground. She had always had the urge to jump on top of one of them, to rest on it as though it was a bed. But, she had found herself with a rude awakening when, after her first attempt, she had fallen right through. She still recalled the fear she had felt at what she thought was solid ground giving away beneath her, and also the later disappointment once she had remembered to spread her wings and glide to safety. But, apart from that one sour experience, she loved flying as much as she loved to do battle.

The feeling wind brushing passed her soothed her soul as well as the swinging of a blade, and the weightless descent of free-fall was as euphoric to her as when she had sent that unicorn commander flying with a swing of her sword. No, this was more powerful to her then just that. This was safe, it was calming, but above all it was freedom.
Freedom, it was something she hadn't truly had ever since that day: Since she had met Pinkie Pie.
“I will have my own kingdom Rainbow Dash. You will fight for me, because you are now mine. And as such, I will decide when and where you will ultimately die”
Pinkie Pies words rang through her mind once again, reminding her that her will was no longer her own. And yet, in a way, she found she didn't care. She had purpose here, and she had even found herself forming bonds with the ponies under her command along with other members of the band. Even Pinkie, the one responsible for her servitude, she felt no ill will towards. She had become a friend rather then an enemy, and she could always rely on her to watch her back. And, in turn, the Pegasus was devoted to watching hers. It had been that way ever since she had risked herself in the forest for her, the night her own strength had almost failed her.
But, even as she had grown to appreciate her new companions she still found herself relying on her sword and flight as she always had. Not that the pegasus could imagine it being any different. Her wings were more apart of her then her sword, and her sword was her most prized possession, to be without either was something alien to her. But, her wings and this wonderful freedom of flight was something she couldn't dream of living without.

“Rainbow Dash!” The annoyed tone of voice that still carried a hint of authority was unmistakable to the Pegasus.”Can I speak to you?”
“You already are” She yawned in a lazy manner, already feeling like falling asleep thanks to Fluttershy. She'd even done so once, although the yellow mare hadn't been to happy about it.
“I meant on the ground” Rainbow Dash was about to object when she noticed how serious Fluttershy's expression was, figuring it was better to comply then supply more ammunition for another nagging session.

Fluttershy

She knew Rainbow Dash would be here, it was where she usually was whenever free time became available to her. Sometimes she was practising with her sword on the outskirts, sometimes keeping to herself in the camps and those rare occasions she chose to socialise with others outside of her unit with Pinkie or the other Lieutenants. But, if all of those failed she was always to be found in the clouds and sky. She failed to see what was so special about the sky, she had seen it so many times before and it wasn't about to change.
She had considered just talking with her fellow pegasus in the air but she remembered the last time that happened, Rainbow Dash had fallen asleep and ignored all of what she had to say. Since then, any time she had to speak to the pegasus it was always on the ground. Besides, she liked the security of having her feet planted firmly on the ground.

“What's the problem now?” Rainbow dash grumbled, landing lazily on the grassy hill on the outskirts of the camp, everyone having long since returned from the battle to relax.
“What were you thinking!?”
She saw Rainbow Dash's eyebrow raise, her expression communicating that she didn't know what she was talking about. It was the sort of thing a foal would do to look cute, but on the pegasus it just came across as irritating.
“What are you on about?”
The second in command was finding that she was already beginning to feel her patience waning, but inhaled sharply to stop herself from succumbing to rage then and there.
“Don't try to act so dumb! Our orders were to wait until the right time to launch the ambush, Pinkie Pie was supposed to tell us when to attack” She had this problem with the raider commander in almost every single battle: Disregarding all orders and just doing as she pleased. She at first thought it was because she didn't understand that responsibilities came with being a leader, but now she was starting to get suspicious of that being the case.
“I don't see the problem, we won the fight didn't we?”
“We won, but what the problem happens to be is that you seem to interpret that as 'I have to charge them all head on like I'm some kind of hero!'” The use of sarcasm during her sentence didn't go amiss as the pegasus looked back at her from the sunset she had been staring at.
“Sarcasm doesn't suit you” She replied dryly, making the yellow pegasus clench her teeth.
“That's not my point! The point is you can't just keep running off like that. Because if you don't watch it, that ego of yours will put all of the Phoenixes in serious danger, put Pinkie Pie in danger”.
“I'm sorry, it won't happen again” She literally felt the lack of care and tone in Rainbow Dash's as much as she heard them. She had always tried to make some attempt to come across as serious or at-least pretend she was listening, but this time she wasn't even bothering to pretend!
She felt whatever patience she had break at that point, and just allowed her rage to channel through, building up with every word she said.
“You always say that! God, I have never met someone so insincere as you!” She screamed in anger, making Rainbow Dash flinch in surprise. There was some iota of satisfaction at that sight, but it didn't stop her building anger for long.”We've all tried to accommodate you, we've tried to get to know you and yet you haven’t changed one bit in the last three years I’ve known you! You...you haven’t even made an attempt to fit in!” She pointed her hoof in accusation, her anger that had been streaming out so readily now reaching it's peak as she found herself glaring at the pegasus in-front of her with all her might as though it would somehow make a difference.”All you care about is swinging that stupid sword of yours around against anything that gets in your way. You don't care about anybody here. We could all die one by one in-front of you and you still wouldn't give a damn about it as long as you get to kill something: YOU'RE NOTHING MORE THEN A MAD DOG!”

As soon as the last accusation had left the pegasus' mouth she immediately felt the air be pushed from her lungs from being slammed backwards. She winced, feeling her back make contact with a nearby large rock that sat beside them. It was quite painful and uncomfortable, especially due to her wings being forcibly squashed up against her back whilst she was stuck staring into the expression of pure rage of her fellow pegasus. Her eyes were narrowed in a glare, her mouth curled into a fierce snarl, and yet for all her rage she sensed a sadness. Had she really been so hurt by what she said earlier?
“You're wrong...I changed. I'm not like I used to be..” As with her expression, the pink haired pegasus could hear and undercurrent of sadness from Rainbow Dash.”I...I Care about the Phoenixes...I..I do!”
“That's enough!”

Rainbow Dash

Pinkie Pie's voice distracted her enough to turn from the second in command she had pinned to the rock side, looking around to spot the still armoured mare walking towards her. She would have assumed she had just gotten off of the battlefield if not for the lack of helmet on her head.
“Rainbow Dash please unhand Fluttershy” Her words were calm but carried a tone of authority, her eyes narrowing just slightly to get the point across. And, like a Foal getting scolded by it's parent, she did as was asked and lessened the grasp she held on the pegasus before stepping backwards. After this, Pinkie turned to Fluttershy as she started to walk over.”Fluttershy, let me speak to Rainbow Dash alone. Please, go check on the dogs..they seem to be quite troubled with all the noise back at camp”

Time froze for those few seconds before the other pegasus nodded, slowly making her way over the hill and back to camp. She thought she heard muttering about “being to soft on her” but she chose to ignore it given the more pressing matter before her.
“Ai yai yai yai yai yai yai!” Pinkie spoke softly with a sigh, shaking her head before stopping to sit beside the pegasus.”You're both still fighting like cats and dogs!” Even as she spoke, the earth pony had her gaze fixed on the setting sun.
“Give me a break. Fluttershy's the one who won't get off my back” She grumbled, sitting down beside her commander and the one who held her life in her hooves.
“Fighting side by side for three years and it still seems no different then the day you two first met” Pinkie let out another sigh of disappointment, making realisation hit the pegasus like a tonne of bricks.
“Three years..”She was amazed at how the time had gone by so quickly, as though it was still only the day after that first battle through the forest.”Has it really been that long?”
Pinkie Pie nodded in reply.”Yes, it's been three years since the day I won you” She smiled that almost infectious smile of hers, but her expression was one of distance and the past, appearing to be reliving the fond memory.”That was quite a fight we had. I still remember it like it was yesterday, almost every detail is clear in my mind..It was perfect”
“For you maybe, I think you're forgetting I had a dislocated shoulder to deal with for a week!” Rainbow Dash laughed, earning a small hit to that very shoulder from her commander. But, from how weak the blow was and the smile on her face she knew it was just in jest.
“I told you one day we'd look back on it and laugh!” The jovial earth pony chuckled, the pegasus simply grinning like an idiot.
“Yeah..I guess you were right about that as well” She saw the earth pony stand once more, watching as she extended a hoof out to help the pegasus to her feet. Rainbow Dash smiled, grabbing it and pulling herself up.
“Come on, let's get back to Camp” As the two walked side by side, Rainbow Dash found herself slowing.

“Pinkie....” The pink pony in-front of her slowed down, looking back at her with a curious gaze.”About the battle. I'm sorry I charged off like that”
Pinkie didn't look at her with anger or with frustration, but simply smiled as she always appeared to.
“When you fight and how you fight is all for me, remember?” She chuckled, reaching out to ruffle up the pegasus' mane. Normally, she would have loathed anyone doing this but, in the case of Pinkie, she found it oddly comforting.”Besides, I took the liberty of drawing up those battle plans with you in mind”
The words soothed her soul almost immediately, glad to know that her friend wasn't troubled by this. Wait, friend? Was that even the right word for this? Yes, the pegasus knew it was. She always felt at ease around Pinkie, and she knew Pinkie always felt the same around her. They laughed, joked, and fought side by side with one another. It was what friends did.

“I'm lucky to have a friend as great as her” She thought with a smile whilst continuing to walk alongside her.

The camp was already bursting with life once they arrived back, the two soon diverting down separate paths. Pinkie made mention she had to see to other things, but recommended that Rainbow Dash spend some time with her comrades as many had been asking after her. Along the way she noticed Fluttershy petting some of the guard dogs they had at the camp, but aside from a brief moment of eye contact the two didn't say a word.
“Dash!” A familiar young fillies voice reached her ears, soon followed by the footfalls of countless other armoured figures. Looking up, she saw the all too familiar flash of a purple mane before the young orange pegasus, Scootaloo, was standing before her.”That was amazing back there Captain you took them all in one charge!” She was still quite young and hadn't learned how to fully use her wings yet, but she had a certain amount of luck and was very good on her feet, making her good in a fight. Sometimes she could be quite annoying, but the pegasus had a soft spot for her and had taken her under her wing. Even now, she was mentally groaning at that pun.
Meanwhile, Scootaloo busied herself by zooming around her in a dramatic manner, striking all manner of poses and making odd sound effects with her mouth in a manner to retell what she saw take place.”Charging the whole army head on, taking the general out in one swing, striking down hundreds of thousands in slice after slice!” The pegasus didn't know whether to feel embarrassed, flattered or some mix of both by how much the little pegasus was talking her up.”Still, nothing less from the commander of the Phoenix raiders!” She declared with pride, even moving to salute her alongside the rest of the raiders that had gathered around.
“Damn right!”
“Here here!”
“Those Cavolian bastards didn't know what they were getting into!” The cheers of her raiders brought a small smile to her face as she started to walk through the camp, gesturing the others to follow.
“You did good out there today. If I got a little bit carried away in the fight today guys, I apologise”
“Oh, she's sorry. Don't worry, we accept your apology..'Captain'”Rarity spoke from beside them, her tone laced with sarcasm. She appeared to be busy at work at creating a sort of makeshift structure with the piles of bits she had with her, slowly and tenderly raising her hoof up to place what looked to be the last of them up onto the top of the miniature structure.
“See Captain? Nobody's upset, so no need to apologise. Plus, now we get to brag about you to everyone else!” Scootaloo stated as she attempted to leap over the pile of bits set up on the small table. Unfortunately, whilst she cleared the table fine, she ended up running her forelegs into the structure, sending bits flying everywhere as she propelled herself over. With a pout as she landed, not even regarding the shocked expression of Rarity, she moved to try to catch up.”Aww Damnit! I thought I’d be able to clear that!”

Rarity meanwhile appeared frozen in a state of complete horror, looking around at the bits that had scattered before starting to try to gather them all up again. She begun screaming out incomprehensibly at their backs, the pegasus hearing something about 'over an hour' and 'tanning your hides' but otherwise made no note of it as she made her way towards the scout siblings.
“Well, look who finally went an' tore herself away from chattin' to all them birds!” Applejack spoke in jest, holding up a small wooden box which the pegasus knew contained a deck of cards.”Feel like playin' a game? I just got this lot so I could replace tha ones I lost back durin' that bandit raid” Hearing the rest of her company beg her for her company, the raid commander just gave a nod of her head.”Glad ta hear it! Think we'll need all the relaxin' we can get!”
“Why's that?” Rainbow Dash asked as they made their way towards the open tent.
“'Cause if what Applebloom heard is correct, we're gonna be up against much more then just ambushin' knights and raiding camps” She sat down, beginning to deal out the cards.”We're gonna be raidin' a Castle!”

Knighthood

Minister Whooves
It had been a long time since the throne room had seen any use for a ceremony such as this. The plain and rather bare marble room was only brought to life by the red carpet running down it's center, bringing to light the only other feature of the room: the golden steps and platform that held the throne of the king. The windows were plain glass, the sunlight shining through to illuminate the room and signify the coming of the sun's apex at the middle of the day. It was when all knights were dubbed, the mid-day sun was significant of reaching new heights and achieving great things, a sign of being risen up to greatness. It had been that way ever since the splitting of the kingdoms at the end of the rule of the Great Princess: There had once been many stained glass murals in this hall depicting the heroes and great deeds of an age long since passed. A world where a great monster ushered in an era of chaos, of battles between goddess' of night and day and finally of a princess that had brought together all the world to form one empire. It was strange how the legends referred to her as a princess and not as a queen or empress, but the texts told that it was to show she was not above her subjects. In the end, it had all fallen apart and the kingdom had fractured into several. But this castle, which later formed the center of the empire of Canterlot, was where the great princess once ruled from and had been the capital of the once great empire.
However, much like the era's the windows had once shown they too had fallen prey to time. The earth pony still remembered his sorrow when a peasant revolt had broken out and they had attacked by throwing rocks through the windows: All of the history they told, all the stories they had contained and even the beauty they held was destroyed in a single night. It still weighed heavily on the ministers heart to know the windows had been lost to time: Even if the legends had been silly, they were still a crucial part of history and the windows were no less important. Besides, the clear glass just made the atmosphere of the throne room depressing. He had even tried a few times to see if they could be remade, but each time the king had expressed disdain and believed there were better places to spend bits. The newly appointed king didn't have the same historical interest as himself, but the minister still wandered if he could persuade him next time he was able to get ahold of the kings ear.

The various knights and lords that existed only to serve their king, or like the minister their own ambitions, had all gathered neatly on both sides of the room. Some shifted uncomfortably to create some more space between them, others tried to move their weight from one hoof due to having to stand for so long. The minister was close to the front of his row, standing in the middle on the left row of ponies that surrounded him. They all wore varying expressions of disgust, embarassment or, much like the minister, utter indifference. Oh, it was a truly despicable event happening and the precedence it would set was equally as horrifying. But, the pony had learned long ago that it was best to treat ones face as a mask to conceal ones emotions rather then reveal them.
“This is absolutely absurd! A rogue mercenary being knighted, a rogue MARE mercenary no less!” An elderly unicorn knight to the ministers left spoke quietly under his breath.”And she's receiving a noble title too...absurd! This is absurd!”
“What is the king thinking? Allowing common rabble into our court: It's unheard of!” Another to the ministers right, a younger pegasus knight spoke quietly in reply.
“But, on the battlefield the Phoenix soldiers were a great help to us” Another pegasus spoke, smirking slightly.”Besides, this is all just a way for our king to keep them loyal to us: It's like what you do with any mercenary, beat the price of your competitor. And if we give them a title...then it means they won't go gallavanting off to fight for our enemies”
“That's my point! Mercenaries are no different from bandits. We shouldn't be doing this for a commoner, not when there isn't even a war on!”
“Still, it's best to keep our assets close to home is it not? Better they serve for us then against us, wouldn't you say minister?”

Realising he was being addressed, whooves turned his head slightly to see the three knights now staring at him. It was as if they were hoping to have him sort this argument out for them, to act as a referee in the gossip of children. And whilst he had his own opinions on this matter, he felt it would be better to keep his cards close to his chest for now.
“I think it would be better if we left such talk until after the ceremony. Gossiping like this in the middle of a knighthood ceremony isn't what knights do, wouldn't you agree?”

Rarity

“In the name of God and the holy spirit, I make you a knight. Be courageous, be courteous and be faithful to god and to the kingdom-”

The mare was grinning like an idiot, unable to contain her joy at what was happening: All of those years they spent clamouring across battlefields, risking their necks in the dirt and mud, going from place to place with only a tent and bed roll to call home. All of it was, finally, coming to an end.
The sight of Pinkie Pie kneeling before the king, who gently rested the flat edge of his sword upon the mares left shoulder was something she had been hoping to see. Sure, she was envious that it wasn't herself in Pinkie's place but the sight was a joy all the same.
Looking down to her left she noticed Applebloom standing there, the younger mare looking quite happy with the ceremony.

Out of all of the Phoenix soldiers in the room, the young applebloom had been the most awestruck by the throne room. Sure, it was a bit sparsely decorated but it was still a throne room: Commoners like them were lucky to enter a palace even once in their lifetime, so to be allowed into the throne room was nothing short of remarkable.
“This is it, we can finally kiss this wretched mercenary business good-bye. Say hello to life in the regular army!”
“R-really?” Appleblooms shock just made Rarity's smile all the wider.
“Yes! You see, Pinkie isn't just receiving the title of Knight but also Viscount. That means, while we don't get any noble titles we are all considered apart of the regular army under Pinkie's command” The unicorn reached up to brush back some of her hair that had gotten in her face, pushing back some of the greasy and uneven strands from her face.”Now, even the lords have no choice but to acknowledge our value!” She let out a slightly louder then normal chuckle, only to find the air swiftly lost from her lungs and a pain in her side.

“Now that we're apart of the army, you should learn when to be quiet Rarity. We're going to be judged from now on by our actions, and those actions will effect Pinkie Pies reputation. And I won't have you embarrass her at her own ceremony” Fluttershy's stern voice was still no less irritating at a moment like this. Could she even go one minute in her life without having to adhere to her personal code for Pinkie? The unicorn started to think not. Fluttershy's life had been tied to this band since the day she had joined it, a day Rarity had been present to see. She had watched her grow as a warrior, but also in how she had taken to following the earth pony down to the letter. If Pinkie was to disappear out of thin air, the unicorn doubted the pegasus would be able to last more then a second before losing her cool.
Not that she didn't appreciate the loyalty or having her with them, but it was frustrating to deal with even on a good day. Besides, couldn't she tell that she was explaining something important to Applebloom?
“Yes, I know Darling” Rarity huffed.”Honestly, you have to stop getting yourself wound up over every little thing. I already have one mother, I don't need another. I don't need a replacement for my overbearing younger sibling either..”
Once more, Rarity found Fluttershy upon her. Grabbing a hoof-full of her plate armor, the unicorn felt the normally quiet pegasus drag her close until their foreheads almost touched. She normally would have jested about being so close like this, but the glare in the aerial warriors eyes made her reconsider.
“What was that!?” Her voices volume raised noticeably. It was thankfully not enough to draw too much attention, still keeping to a reasonable enough volume to not disrupt the-
“Ceremony! Ceremony! Ceremony! CEREMONY!” Rarity desperately hissed, attempting vainly to calm the pegasus before she embarassed herself and the unicorn. As much as she hated to admit it, Fluttershy was right about one thing: They couldn't disrupt the ceremony, especially not when their leaders future reputation was now at stake.

As if sensing this, Fluttershy unhanded the still shocked unicorn, who quickly surveyed the room around her. Thankfully, aside from one or two knights glancing back, nobody had cared to notice them. The ceremony still continued on.
“Hey, uh...where's Dash?” Applebloom's query made the previously calmed Pegasus' wings twitch, the unicorn noticing her furrowed brows. It was the look someone gave if they wished a violent fate on something, or in this case someone. Not that she could blame Fluttershy for this, her own expression quickly sinking at the mere mention of their....'Comrade'.
“Where do you think she is? Same place as always...” Rarity grumbled, taking a sideways glance out of a nearby window.

In the furthest corner of the courtyard, between two small tree's was an all to familiar blue shape. She moved in a single motion each time, striking the air from above with her sword. The familiar two handed blade let off a glint of light whenever it was raised, the sun catching the edge and reflecting itself off of the surface to any who bore witness.
Why would she waste her time swinging at the air? This was a major event in their careers, the start of their new lives in the royal court: Sure, they weren't lords but when compared to three years earlier they had gained so much more then any of them had ever hoped to be able to achieve. And she chose to do something that she could do whenever she pleased. Or rather, something that she had done without fail every single day for the past three years? It was truly despicable!

“Arise, Sir Firehawk”
The words of the king made the mare remember why they had all gathered, turning her gaze back to the center of the room to see Pinkie rise to her feet. Their commander turned with her usual smile, inclining her head in a respectful manner to all present.

Silence hung in the room for some time, many of the lords appearing to take some time to register that the ceremony had ended, obviously lost in their own thoughts as the unicorn had been. But, with a quick clearing of the kings throat, the whole room slowly burst into applause. It was a slow clap, gradually spreading along the columns, the lords and knights at the back of the room beginning the applause first before it made it's way to the front. It was an odd phenomena, but the unicorn found herself caught up in it anyway.
Before long, everypony in the room had begun to clap. She could tell most of the nobility was far from happy about their raised status, a fact that Rarity was all to pleased to see on the depressed or angered expressions of numerous ponies around the room. It brought that malicious and smug smirk right back onto her face, instantly negating any of the bad feelings she felt prior. The unicorn would normally have tried to get Pinkie and the others together for a party, but if what they had heard on their way back to the palace was correct they couldn't afford to. There was an old keep that Cavolian troops had long held during this centuries war. All other forces sent to the old keep hadn't survived, and then there was the rumors of a demon killing canterlot troops in the area...

She quickly disregarded the last part. Demons? There was no such thing! It was likely just some units excuse to try to explain away their failings, which wouldn't be the case this time. After all, with pinkie leading them, this was bound to be as simple as the time they held that fort.
“Demons? Hah! Honestly who do they think we are, Foals?”