Chapter 03.5 : The Cloudsdale Raid

The first year following Twilight Sparkle's rise to power was one of the most violent chapters in Equestria's history. The country was divided ; the newly crowned princess had stated, as she ascended to the throne, that the former regent had killed her own sister, in cold blood, in an attempt to have the country all for herself, proclaiming herself to be a goddess, and it was with great pain that Twilight was forced to hunt her down, for the sake of Equestria.

But many citizens didn't believe this, as they had known and cherished their solar princess. In order to assert herself as the one and unique ruler, Twilight decided that the best way to make her subjects respect her was to instill fear in them. This was achieved with violent raids in numerous Equestrian cities. With no one left to protect them, the citizens were at the mercy of their princess's newly founded order of savage unicorns and pegasi, who decided of their fate. If a pony looked too much like a traitor, he was seized. If he knew a traitor, he was taken away. If he had spoken, acted, thought like a traitor, no one would ever see him again. For a whole year, ponies lived in fear of their own neighbors, friends, families. Who knew how the army got their information ? How could you ever trust someone again, if they could be the ones that would denounce you ?

Six months after Twilight's Sparkle coronation, a raid was launched on Cloudsdale. But the pegasi were tenacious, and their resistance inspired thousands of ponies to seek their true regent, the Princess Celestia, to come to her aid. The raid of Cloudsdale was the start of Celestia's rebellion.

***

Eyes closed, Thunderlane felt the air whipping her face, slipping into his mane which fluttered like a flag, flowing down his sides, intruding between each of his hairs. Speeding through the clouds, he tried to think of nothing. The speed usually brought him his share of happiness ; but not today. Not since six months.

Thunderlane opened his eyes. The winged pony turned his attention to the other pegasi located not far behind him. The Wonderbolts, or what they used to be called. They were referred as the Wings of Dusk now, along with other winged soldiers. They were a whole army corps now, and Thunderlane's days of aerobatics seemed very, very far away.

He didn't have a choice in joining this military corp. After all, he was a Wonderbolt ; and he had followed his leader and colleagues, not imagining what madness they would participate in. He gazed ahead ; flying at high speed, leading the troop, was Spitfire. Oh, Spitfire. Thunderlane remembered the happy times they shared together, drinking with friends, laughing at the Wonderbolt base, training rookies, organizing the shows... Those were far behind now, and he barely recognized his leader anymore.

"Where are we ?" shouted Spitfire, looking behind her.

"We arrive on the objective in ten minutes, m'am," answered an officer near Thunderlane.

"Good," she said. "Everyone in combat position."

Thunderlane was fighting his own battle in his head. Everything changed with the war, and with it, everyone also changed. Friends became foes, lovers became traitors, sisters and brothers became estranged. He followed his leader when she claimed that the Wonderbolts had to put themselves to the new Princess's service. He followed when they traded show costumes for military uniform. He didn't complain when they first put a knife in his hoof, and he never even said a thing when he saw his brothers and sisters butchering other ponies, just for the fun of it.

Because that was what those raids were for the pegasus ; fun. Excitement. The thrill of hunting powerless, innocent victims. And Thunderlane couldn't stand it. He couldn't recognize anyone, he felt like a stranger to those he had once shared laughs with. But now, they were going to raid Cloudsdale. His home, their home. How could they be so cold to the fact that they were about to destroy their own home ?
Spitfire turned her attention behing again, and looked at Thunderlane. With a nod, she gestured for him to join her.

"Everything's good, Thunderlane ?" she asked, when her comrade reached her.

"Yes," he confidently said, even though he knew it was a lie.

"Are you excited ?" she sneered.

"Why would I be ? I mean, it's... It's work, you know."

"Work's supposed to be fun. I wanna have fun when I work, I want to feel fantastic, doing what I do best. Oh man, doing aerobatics with dangerous stunts was something alright, but this... This is making me live again. This is fucking incredible."

Thunderlane wanted to throw up. Instead, he forced himself to smile, and nodded. He was disgusted with himself.

***

Lightning Dust turned over in her bed. She was unable to fall asleep, again. The lack of a day and moon cycle had inpacted everypony in Equestria, and few were the ones that managed to soundly sleep for more than a few hours without feeling terribly uneasy. She opened her eyes, renouncing to the idea of resting. The pegasus softly smiled as she looked at her partner, soundly sleeping in their bed. Lightning gently patted him on the head, being careful not to wake him up.

A thud. Her ears perked up, alert. Her heart beating at a fast pace, Lightning Dust checked her surroundings ; nothing unusual. Another thud. This time, she got up, and hurried to the nearest window.

"Babe," softly uttered Velvet Swirl, Lightning's coltfriend. "Come back to bed."

"Something's happening," whispered Lightning.

Velvet blinked a few times, the time to understand the severity of the situation. As he got up, Lightning suddenly threw herself on the ground, looking at him with wide, terrified eyes ;

"Get down !"

Velvet went down on the ground, and then, he heard it. A cacophony of screams and shouts, screeching and discord filling the streets of Cloudsdale. Both pegasi knew what this meant : the army had come to Cloudsdale. And they were out for blood. As discreetely as possible, Lightning grabbed a bag, and started to hastily throw some of her belongings in it, as Velvet approached her, looking worried.

"What are you doing ?" said Velvet under his breath.

"We're leaving. Now," mumbled Lightning, in a hurry. "Before they come for us."

"We can't abandon Cloudsdale !" protested her coltfriend, gesturing at her. "And what about our... Oh god, what about our friends ? Or family ?"

"They'll be fine, they're smart enough to know to run away," reassured Lightning, also trying to convince herself of this.

Velvet peeked at the window, ignoring his partner's complaints. As he watched, his eyes grew wider and wider, and he put a hoof on his mouth, trembling.

"The city," he stammered. "It's... It's on fire."

As he said that, Lightning screamed. Velvet galloped to her and grabbed her, quickly flying out of their house, breaking the roof with his front hooves. The army had thrown torches and grenades on the houses, coloring the sky with fiery, terrifying hues of red, orange and black, the smoke swirling in and irritating Velvet's eyes. He coughed, as he tried to find a safe spot, as he flew over Cloudsdale. But he was blind in these thick, poisonous fumes, and he eventually had to plunge back down again. Landing on a cloud, Lightning fell off of his hooves, and she looked at her city.

The fire had swallowed everything. Around them, a hundred pegasi had ripped through the clouds, and were coming at the citizens with bewildering speed, surely bringing death with them. A bullet passed near Lightning. She felt its breath pass near her, the hiss of the projectile, and then heard a small cry behind her, followed by a sound of falling. She turned around, and saw that a filly that just happened to be standing there had been shot in the forehead, and had died the momets its body touched the cloudy floor. In a state of shock, Lightning was unable to move. Once again, Velvet grabbed her, but she was as still as a rock.

"Fuck, come on, let's go !" he hurried his partner. "We have to find our friends, we have to escape with them."

"It's over," quietly sobbed Lightning. "Oh god, they've come for us. They'll murder all of us."

In the background, they heard a high-pitched mare squealing hysterically before stopping abruptly. Then, Velvet saw a shadow taking shape in the smoke. As the shadow got closer, Velvet stepped in front of his partner, intending to protect her with his body if it came to that. Cold sweat dripping from his temple, he spread his wings wide, trying to seem more menacing than he actually was. An officer emerged from the fumes, and approached the two pegasi. Despite the chaos around him, the screams and shouts, the military agent seemed awfully calm, and peaceful. His eyes showed no signs of worry, and he even sported a faint grin. This vision made Velvet's blood boil.

"Identify yourselves !" ordonned the winged soldier.

"Velvet Swirl, worker at the weather report committee of Cloudsdale," answered Velvet, trying to hide his shaky breath. "This is Lightning Dust, an aerobatic apprentice. We've got no weapons, we're completely unnarmed !"

"Ah, that's good, that's good... But, you see, i'm currently facing a serious issue."

The winged soldier started pacing around the pair of pegasi, and Velvet stood still. He stared at the two of them, with a mocking look painted on his ugly face.

"We have orders to raid this city and take out all the traitors we find. Thing is, I have no clue who is a traitor, or who is innocent. So, I have found quite the elegant solution..."

Velvet was preparing himself for the impact. He knew it was coming. He contracted his muscles, ready to protect his partner.

"I'll just assume everypony that I come across is a traitor to Equestria."

In a sprint, the soldier plunged on Velvet, but he quickly dodged. Both of them dashed into the crimson sky, and Velvet's opponent quickly pulled out a knife, with which he plunged at the pegasus. He tried to block the attack, but could only deflect the blade which planted itself in his shoulder. Velvet wanted to cry out in pain, but he didn't. He didn't want Lightning to hear him like this. He would be strong, for her. The soldier grabbed Velvet by one leg, and went to stab him again. Velvet tried to dodge, but the officer's grip was too strong, and he gasped at the pain of the blade penetrating his flesh. He wasn't a fighter, let alone a good acrobat. There was no way he was going to win or escape this fight.

Lightning Dust observed the battle, powerless. She couldn't feel her legs anymore, and her heart pounded so hard she felt it was about to rip out of her chest. She tried to call out for her partner's name, but she couldn't. All she could do was watch. And she watched, as the soldier struck him again, in the muzzle, and again, knocking the pegasus's head back. And in a terrifying cracking sound, she heard his neck snap. Then, she saw the blood splatter down, like a rainfall, as the officer crushed Velvet's head between his hooves. Lightning Dust eyes widened, and in a moment of folly, she screamed and rushed into the air, to the soldier. She didn't even look at her partner's body as it fell on the ground ; instead, she focused on her target.

The flying mare was closing in at a speed that could kill her on impact, but she didn't betray the slightest hesitation in her eyes. She was going straight ahead, determined. She crashed into the officer's body, and headbutted him with all her might, breaking his nose in an awful cracking sound. Before he could even react, Lightning Dust grabbed his throat with one hoof, and restrained his armed member with the other. He was trapped, and before long, he breathed his last breath in a gurgle. Lightning dropped him. But she didn't look down. She didn't want to see Velvet's body, mangled and torn apart. She refused to remember him like this. Instead, she decided to do the right thing, what he would've wanted her to do ; she was going to save everypony.

Lightnig was rushing into every soldier she came across, unafraid, making them taste their own blood as they choked under her might. Lightning Dust turned her head to see a civilian pegasus falling into a spin, blood coming out of its bashed head. She looked away, and focused on her descent, his instinct open to whatever information her senses were throwing at her. The change in pressure, the direction of the wind, the temperature, her pegasus blood was boiling. And her anger was boiling too. She was a pegasus. And she was going to exterminate everyone that came in her way.

***

Thunderlane had hid himself into a corner. Incontrollably shaking, he desperately tried to catch his breath, praying that no pony would happen to stumble into him. He was frozen in place, sitting in a ball, rocking himself back and forth. In front of him, a body. Dead. A death that he had caused. But not a citizen, no. Thunderlane didn't harm any that day, he couldn't bring himself to do it. No, a fellow comrade. Blaze.

He panicked. He stabbed her, when she confonted him about his pasiveness in the battle. Asked him to prove to her he wasn't a traitor. But he couldn't do it. So he stabbed her, again, and again, and again, until she was nothing more than a corpse. She was his colleague, his friend, his comrade. And he had killed her. Thunderlane wanted to burry his head in his hooves, but the sight of Blaze's blood made him puke.

Something passed in front of him. Thunderlane widened his eyes ; a flash ? An explosion ? No, a thunderbolt streak, just like he had seen Rainbow Dash do. But it was turquoise and gold. Thunderlane got up, and without even thinking, started following the streak. It was a pegasus mare, rushing on his fellow comrades, throwing herself onto them like nothing mattered. As he saw her fighting for her life, Thunderlane had a revelation. He didn't have to murder innocents, he didn't have to follow a Tyrant's orders. He had to follow his heart, his head. And his head was screaming at him to help the people of this city, of his city. Thunderlane ripped off his uniform.

***
The smoke had disappeared and the fire had gone out. As the dust cleared out, the sea of corpses became visible to the survivors. But, contrary to the armie's plans, the survivors were not few. They were many, and the cadavers lying on the floor sported military uniforms. And looking down at them, was Lightning Dust. Other pegasi were flying around her, blood on their hooves and cuts on their faces. They had been beat, but not beaten. They won. This raid was a failure, and the survivors were now turning to the mare that had organized the resistance, the pegasus that had avenged her partner. They all turned to Lightning Dust.

"What are wo to do now ?"

"The army will come back for us." claimed Lightning Dust. "If we stay here, we'll be exterminated."

"But... We have nowhere to go. There's not a place in Equestria that is safe now."

Lightning Dust was speechless, as she looked into the pained, tired eyes of her fellow comrades. They looked dreadful, the shimmer in their eyes had disappeared, and all that was left was a dead stare, longing for safety. But Lighting Dust couldn't help those pegasi. Truth was, she couldn't help anyone. She had fought because she couldn't think of anything else to do, and never even expected a victory. But now, the victory had happened, and they had to do something. She had to do something, anything... Suddenly, her eyes crossed Thunderlane's. In the end, he had helped the city. He had helped them. And there was hope shimmering in his eyes, a hope that inspired Lightning Dust to finally speak up.

"Everypony ! We have all witnessed the horros of the Tyrant's, Twilight Sparkle, regime's. We will not be the victims of this impostor anymore ! She's not our princess, she never will be, and we will not bow down to someone who uses violence as discipline. We are pegasi ! We don't take order from anyone but those we respect and that respect us ! We are not puppets you can play around with, victims you can dispose off ! We are the fire, the strength, the heart of Equestria ! And we will not let the Tyrant turn this place to dust !"

The pegasi shouted in agreement. Lightning Dust softly smiled.

"We will not find shelter in Equestria. However, we know that somewhere, is hidden our true leader, the only one that tried to protect us from Sparkle's madness, our sun princess, the Princess Celestia ! She has not abandoned us. She'll come to our aid, I know it. She's our leader. Our princess. Equestria isn't safe anymore, but we know where she has gone. We know the Crystal Empire will provide us shelter, just like they have provided her shelter. Everypony...
We, the pegasi of Equestria, will fight and take this land back !
We are the wings of hope and freedom !
We... Are the Airborns !"

Author's Note

I had this idea of making small chapters between the bigger ones, re telling some important events of the war to add better context. I hope you liked it.
Thank you for reading this chapter. As always ; english isn't my first language, so do tell me if there are any mistakes I can fix, i'll gladly take any advice. Hope you enjoyed your read !