"Get down!"

A beam the size of a boulder shot above them, glowing neon green as it zoomed pass, incinerating grass blades into dust in an instant. Thankfully, the pair had ducked down just in time to see a large explosion shake the battlefield and explode behind them in a large crater, taking out their fellow comrades. The two who had avoided the blast in question were crouched behind a dirt slope, deadly firepower passing by them by the second.

"Don't poke your head up like that, Rainbow, you're going to get us killed! Are you okay?" one of them asked. And upon looking closer, you could see that it was Twilight Sparkle, student of the Princess Celestia who had studied under her personally, gaining important and forbidden skills and knowledge related to battle. Her coat was a shade of purple, usually quite vibrant, but now covered by the mud from their environment. Her mane was about the same, a violet color that also had a stripe of magenta imbedded in the middle of her mane. She was a unicorn mage, trained for battle from a distance, casting spells to aid her allies in battle. And while your average mage would hang out near the back, her extra experience from training under Celestia brought her an advantage that allowed her to traverse closer to the enemy, leading to some potentially game-changing acts.

Being close up had its advantages. For one, you could hit targets easier, obviously. But you can surprise them. You can attack them physically with weapons, too, not just magic. And this made them a more dangerous threat than the others. However, it also had its disadvantages. You were an easy target and you were also aimed at first. If one of the enemy was given a choice to shoot someone close up or hit someone in the back, 9 times out of 10, they'd aim for the close up pony. Though, they were smarter than that. And it showed. Along their bodies were streaks of red stains from the blood of their enemies.

The one traveling with Twilight Sparkle was another skilled fighter, trained from birth to become an expert in her field. Her name was Rainbow Dash. She had a cyan coat with a rainbow mane, hence her name. She was a pegasus, meaning she had to get up close and personal to deal with her enemies, and because of this, she had even more bloodstains than her partner, most particularly in her hooves and legs. There was so much blood that at some point she didn't even bother to wipe it off as it would take up valuable time, leaving a constant taste of iron in her mouth.

The pair were considered the top fighters in Equestria, excluding Celestia, of course. They were in a group of six ponies, where their other companions were named Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. Applejack was an orange mare with a blonde ponytail, specializing in hoof-to-hoof combat. Rarity was an expert mage with a white coat and purple mane with slightly less combat experience than Twilight. Fluttershy was a pegasus nurse on the battlefield with yellow fur and pink hair. And finally Pinkie Pie, a weapons expert whose coat and mane matched her name.

The six of them worked best as a team, however, Rainbow and Twilight had been assigned a specific mission to take down an enemy base while the others worked on other missions available. Of course, the two of them were more than enough.

However, that didn't stop the job from being difficult. "Are you okay?" Twilight asked again, noticing Rainbow's unresponsiveness.

She quickly shook her head violently side to side before refocusing her gaze on Twilight. "Y-Yeah, I'm good!" she said, causing Twilight to sigh in relief.

"Okay. Well, obviously they don't want us going over there," she paused for a moment, viewing their surroundings before spotting something in the distance. She nudged Dash. "Over there. I see an entrance."

Rainbow looked to where Twilight's eyes were viewing and saw a lump of dirt slightly higher than the surrounding area, connecting to a trench, presumably where enemy lines were.

“What? How are we going to get there without getting spotted? We’d need to exit the tunnel to even go there!”

Twilight smirked. “Watch this,” she said, closing her eyes as her horn glowed a soft magenta. A few seconds later, she vanished.

“.. Twilight?” she said, dumbfounded.

“Boo!” the mare reappeared an inch away from her face, causing her to yelp slightly and stumble backwards.

“Don’t do that!” Rainbow exclaimed, calming her breathing to an even and steady pace. “Wait, so we can just go invisible? Why didn’t we do that before?”

“Good question. It’s because any mage that is even somewhat experienced can sense magic in an area, effectively deeming it useless,” she explained.

Rainbow stared blankly at her. “Then why even bother telling me about it in the first place?!”

“Well, it’s because it’s not completely ineffective. Sure, they’ll be able to sense us, but we would be harder to spot. For them, it’d be like a feeling that somepony’s there. It would be less obvious than if we just walked out of the trench. We’d get shot down almost immediately. Hopefully, this should give us enough time to find cover.” She tried to peak over the ledge again, but couldn’t get a good view. “Rainbow, you poked your head over. Do you remember seeing a bush or something? Or a good rock we can hide behind?”

The pegasus squinted her eyes before responding, “Uh… yeah, I think I remember seeing a bush. It’s like slightly to our right around there.” She pointed through the dirt wall.

“Alright, got it. Okay, when I make us invisible, we should still be able to see each other, okay? When I say go, we book it there and hide immediately. Stay as low as you can. It’s risky, but I think it’ll work.”

“Alright, got it.”

“Okay…” Twilight muttered to herself, closing her eyes and squinting in concentration. “Now! Go, go, go!”

They scrambled on top of the dirt and dove for the nearest bush, staying as flat as possible and slightly digging themselves into the ground. Twilight made them visible again.

“What?! Why did you make us visible? Turn it back on!” Rainbow panicked.

“No! Didn’t you hear what I said earlier? They can sense the magic! We need to use the spell in short bursts in order to not be detected.”

“But! I thought you said we would- we- that... fine.”

Twilight chuckled lightly before refocusing on the mission. “Okay, see if you can see anything. Try looking under the bush.”

“Got it.”

The shrub barely kept them hidden and they were able to spot the next area, a well-sized boulder. It should be perfect. Then after that, it was just a straight shot to the enemy’s trench. The rest was easy.

“I think I see where to go,” Rainbow spoke quietly. “Over there.”

Twilight squinted in the direction Dash pointed in. “Got it.” She closed her eyes again. “Okay… 3.. 2.. 1.. Go!”

They jogged over to the boulder. Run too fast and the enemy would see the dirt flinging into the air with each step. Once they got there, Twilight immediately shut off the spell again. “Last one,” she spoke. “Go!”

Quickly, they dived over the wall and fell into the middle of the lane, thankfully not running into anypony. They then soon got up and ran into the entrance, hiding behind the door frame.

They released the breath they didn’t even realize they had held.

“Okay. Let’s go before anypony shows up,” Twilight said.

After a bit of walking, they went through a large metal door which opened up to a large underground area filled with tons of ponies, some guards, but most just chilling. Eating food, laughing with friends. Rainbow barely walked into the room before she was tackled by Twilight, shoving her into a nearby bathroom.

“There’s more of them than I thought,” Twilight said after shutting the door. “This is going to be difficult.

Then, a groan of annoyance was heard from a nearby stall. “Ugh, why can’t ponies read signs? Hey! You two! Get the hell out of here! The bathroom’s occupied! Didn’t you read the si-” he paused mid-sentence as he strolled out of his stall. “Code re-!”

Twilight shot him in the face, knocking him out cold.

“Thunder Wing!” a feminine voice shouted from within the stall the colt just walked out of. “You pieces of shit! I’ll kill you bot-” She met a similar fate.

Rainbow whistled. “Damn, Twi, that was quick.” She walked over to the two slumped over bodies. “What in Tartarus were they even doing in there- what?! Ew! Gross! Why a bathroom?! Go find a damn room!”

“Rainbow! Focus!” Twilight shouted quietly. “Quick, grab his clothes. We need to disguise ourselves. Hurry, before somepony else comes around!”

“What? But they were just going at it! Their clothes are probably covered in all kinds of-”

“Since when has that mattered? We’re covered in dirt and shit anyways, now put it on!”

After they put on the quite dirt suits, much to Rainbow’s complaining, they wiped the mud off of their coats with the help of Twilight’s expansive knowledge of spells and tidied themselves up, throwing the two sleeping ponies into the stall.

“Okay, they’ll probably still recognize us out there, so we need to change our manes. Thankfully, I’ve got just the spell for that,” Twilight said, casting a spell on herself and turning her mane into the same shades, just in different shades of blue this time. “What color do you want?” she asked. “Hurry, though.”

“Um… Blue! Wait, no, my coat is blue, that’d look weird. Uh… Red? No... Green?” Rainbow smiled sheepishly.

The unicorn facehoofed. “You’re getting purple.”

A few moments later, a cyan blue head with a purple-shaded mane popped out from the bathroom door before the entire body made its way out. Following her was a purple unicorn with a blue mane.

“Okay, act natural,” Twilight muttered to Rainbow, walking past her and taking the lead. “Don’t make eye contact with anypony.”

“Uh, okay.”

Slowly, they walked through the cafeteria and made their way towards an exit. With each step, the pair got increasingly nervous as sweat started dripping down their faces, dampening their stolen uniforms. They nearly made it to the exit when one of the guards standing near called out to them.

“Hey!” a blue stallion said. “What’s with all the sweating? You two somewhere you’re not supposed to be?”

“Uh…” Rainbow barely let out.

“I’m joking! It’s hella hot in here! They really need to install a new AC unit since the last one broke, you know what I’m saying? Hah, of course you do, you two are sweating up a pool!” he laughed to himself.

“Anyways, don’t mind me. It just gets boring sitting around here all day, y’know? Not much to do. I want to go outside, experience some action. Then, I’d actually get some fresh air and not melt down here. But, yeah, go on ahead...” He looked at their name tags. “..Thunder, Violet. You two have a good day. Be safe out there!”

“..Y-Yeah… You too… Night Specter,” Rainbow spoke nervously before quickly rushing out of the room, Twilight closely following behind.

As they left the room, the guard spoke to himself quietly, amused. “Those two don’t get out often, huh? I remember those days.”

As the pair closed the door behind them, they each let out a breath of relief. “That was nerve racking,” Twilight spoke. “Okay, let’s continue.”

As they continued to trek down the path, the floor began to slope upwards and led to a city, directly behind enemy walls. It was Manehattan, a city they had been trying to overtake for years. Now, it would finally be their territory. Hopefully it would be enough to progress in the war.

They walked through the street, making their way towards the center of the city where the leader would probably be held. Not many ponies were around. Most were indoors. Those that were outdoors were only there either because they were being forced out of their homes, or because they themselves were soldiers. The once vibrant streets were now a dull gray. Even just standing there they felt depressed.

“Alright. We’re almost there. Just one more step and this city is ours. Then we can get to repairing this city. Celestia knows it needs it,” Twilight quietly spoke to herself. “Come on, Rainbow.”

After much uneventful walking, they finally arrived at the center building, which was surprisingly not surrounded by guards. “Well, that makes this easy,” Rainbow spoke. “Alright, let's just barge in there and take him out. Should be simple enough.”

“Okay. Although, try to make it so he isn’t expecting it, if possible? I don’t want the entire city on us.”

“It’ll be fiiiine. What’s the worst that can happen?” Rainbow spoke plainly as she marched on into the building, the door automatically opening for her when she approached. Twilight rolled her eyes and followed.

The room was quite dark. They could barely see a few meters in front of them, let alone the entire room. The only things they could see were a couple of boxes lining the walls or an occasional lamp that was turned off.

“Why is it so dark?” Rainbow whispered to Twilight.

“I don’t know,” she whispered back. “Maybe they’re not here?”

“Well, shit.” She continued to walk around the room.

Twilight stood there and pondered as to why the room was dark and why it was presumably empty. Then, she lit her horn up and scanned the room. Her eyes widened. “Rainbow stop!”

The lights turned on.

In an instant, Rainbow was tackled to the floor by three guards hidden behind a wall. Twilight charged her horn and blasted them off of her before being tackled herself.

“Twilight!” She flew over and kicked the attacker off of her friend, fending off the other five guards surrounding them. Thankfully, she was skilled in melee combat, giving her the upper hoof.

She made quick work of them, blocking an incoming strike from one and breaking the leg of another. And within thirty seconds, they were all on the floor.

“Twilight!” she said again, this time able to help her friend up and dust her off.

The unicorn coughed as she spit up blood. Her eyes widened when she looked towards Dash. “Rainbow, look out!”

“What-?” She was cut off as blood spewed out of her mouth in replace of her voice. She looked down and saw a large blade imbedded in her chest. She looked back up at Twilight and tried to call her name, only ending up as a garbled mess of sounds as her mouth was drowned with blood.

Soon, the blade was retracted and she fell to the floor, staring up at her attacker. It was the one they were sent to kill. A pegasus currently equipped with a wing blade.

Her vision started to blur. Her ears began to ring.

She heard a faint scream as Twilight blasted the general away, him blocking and getting flung into the wall, stunning him. And with a swift motion, Twilight’s magic ripped off the wing equipped with the weapon and shot a beam of energy straight through his head, killing him instantly.

Twilight rushed towards Dash, though now only a purple haze in front of her. She was lifted up into Twilight’s hooves as she saw blurry eyes staring into hers. Something wet dripped onto her face, probably tears, as her vision slowly faded away until it eventually turned black and her body went completely limp.

Rainbow gasped as she awoke, bolting straight out of her bed. Wait, bed? She groaned loudly as she put a hoof to her forehead, her skull throbbing in pain. I thought I was dead? She looked around the room and saw Celestia smiling at her. Oh.

“Agh,” she grunted. “Thanks, Princess.” She moaned in pain once more. “How’d you heal me this time?”

Celestia simply gave her a small smile before responding, “You don’t need to worry about that, little one. How are you feeling?”

Rainbow sat up out of bed. “Much better.” She started to walk around. “Hey, do you know where Twilight is?”

“Twilight…” she spoke hesitantly. “Yes, she brought you here. She was worried sick. She’s waiting outside with your other friends.”

“Thanks.”

“There is no need to thank me,” she said, watching as Rainbow walked out of the room. “It is you I have to thank,” she said to herself as Rainbow completely left the room, out of sight.

Author's Note

I have decided to come back to this story for a little bit. This is a complete rewrite of the prologue, so you don't need to read the other one. I have decided to keep it up just cause, in case you guys want to read it for some reason. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

As always, feedback is wanted and welcome!

Chapter History:
V1.0 - Wrote the chapter for the first time as a preview/ trailer for the story.
V2.0 - Rewrote it to be more like what I imagined.