Canceled for good: making new fic

The night was filled with fun and laughter as the CMC, now grown and tempered by the plains shared stories and tales of their encounters. Apple bloom and Sweetie Belle went with their sisters for the night, and Scootaloo was walking out the door. "Hey, kid!" Dash called after Scoot. Grown as she was, Dash couldn't help but look after the younger Pegasus. "you can crash with me tonight. I need to hit my watch duty for an hour, and I'll be back, but..." She looked around the room. "I think there's an extra bed in the back you can use." Scootaloo looked in that direction and nodded. "Thanks for lookin out for me. Can I tell you something I haven't told.... Anyone?" sgd asked, walking up to her. Dash cocked get head to one side. "Go ahead, kiddo. I'm all open." she said, giving her a gentle tap of thr wing, "Well, I font want this to sound awkward, but... You're the closest I've ever had to a parent, and I would... really like it if you..." She stopped. Scootaloo searched for a word, the last thing she wanted was to be stumped in front of the one true mentor she had ever had in her life. "Be your guardian...?" Dash filled in, cautiously. "Yes, essentially. I know that this is kinda strange, but... It would mean a lot to me.". Dash thought for a moment, pondering on what was said. "If course I will. Anything you need, I'll be here for you. And don't be shy  about telling me things... And with that said, I must ask: what happened to your wings?" Scoot hung her head, and exhaled. "Remember what happened to the Pegasus at the Ponyville chem drop?" She asked. Dash flashed back on the horror scene that unfolded that night. Any Pegasus who inhaled the gas has their wings bloated and bursted. "Oh Celestia... Sadly, yes." She responded. "Well, I got a tiny bit of it, and..." she stopped and looked at the stumps, bloody and bandaged. "But yeah, thats pretty much what I remember." Dash looked at them, tears forming on the edge of her eyes. "Did you ever actually learn to fly?" Dash asked, rubbing her nose. Scootaloo looked up to Dash, and her ears went down. "No, not.... not exactly. Buck it, not at all. Who am I kidding, no I didn't. It happened after Applebloom, Sweetiebelle and I escaped from the camp we were in. Dash looked at her for a moment. "What do you mean 'escaped'?" she asked suspiciously. "It was.... okay, it's a long story, but can it wait 'till tomorrow? My legs are killing me...

The cool midnight air was refreshing to Dash, as she sat on her perch, a watchful eye over the city. Tonight there was no wind, no dust: something that hardly ever happened. But when it did, it was one of the few times she actually enjoyed being up there. She sat back, in a perfect napping position, but had to be concious not to fall asleep there, as she had done so many times before. Then the clouds rolled in, blocking all the light from the moon, and she felt herself slip deeper and deeper into the trance of sleep. But in what seemed like just minutes, a rumbling sound filled her ears, and began shaking the entire tower on which she sat upon. She jerked up, and scanned the horizon. Nothing exept the dust clouds... But these clouds were moving. Thats when she saw them.

Tanks. Hundreds of them, closing in on all directions. She jumped from her perch, and flew through the town,  and activated the invasion siren. It rang through the entire town, and she darted aove to see the townpeople's lights come on. Ten seconds passed, no lights. Thats when a shell zipped by her, and she realized she couldnt stay up here much longer. In defence, she raced her way to one of the guns built into the wall, almost ground level. She loaded a shell, and aimed the gun dead at a tank. The pulled the trigger, and all sound in the world was sucked up, just a ringing was left. Off in the distance, a satisfactory explosion signaled one less threat. 'Okay, thats 1 out of 500...' she thought to herself, and loaded another shell, and fired. But thats when they shot back. Another shell hit the concrete wall, and blew out a support column. She saw the roof sag in slightly behind her, and clamored to get out of the turret. A tank fired, and a small speck of orange shot up. She finally got her leg unstuck, when the explosion threw her off balance again. The roof caved in, trapping her in a tiny box, filled with highly explosive shells. The tanks had stopped firing, but one in specific was drawing closer at a faster pace than the others.   She backed herself against the wall, bracing for a shell to slam through her body, an instant death. But the tank kept rolling, and she quickly realized it wasn't a shell that would hit her: It was a tank. Desperatley, she pushed against the rock wall teeming above her, but when she turned around, all she saw was the cloud of dust, rubble, and a tank hurdling towards her.

She sat up, straight as a board. The cold sweat had almost completley soaked her, and the coolth of the night didn't help. She looked around at the town, still intact. No tanks, no fires, no worries. She made her way back to her bed, tiphoofing through the hallway, and plopped down onto the mattress. The covers put up a good fight, but eventually (after much wrestling) Dash found her sweet spot, and the warm embrace of true sleep set in.