"Duh-duhduhduh daaaa! This is Radio Free Equestria and we're coming at you live from a sewer pipe in the middle of nowhere! Hey these aren't fancy digs but I'll take anything that's not a changeling P.O.W. camp you get me? Whooo it stinks! But you know what doesn't stink? News!

"The changelings still can't find our pegasi friends in the Hightower. I guess clouds are pretty hard to make out against even more clouds. Make sure to give your local changeling jackboot an encouraging bump to the noggin if they look like they're sad about it!

"Let's see...ooh, seems like a certain cell out there is prepping to make a serious move. Stay safe out there ponies! Don't do anything I wouldn't do!

"Make sure to stay tuned here for updates about the resistance. Try to kick me off the air now bugs I dare you! In fact, the only thing kicking me off the air is that if I run the generator for too long I'll suffocate. Before I see you again, this is Torchlight with R.F.E. I'll always be your light in the darkness, Equestria! Stay safe out there, everypony. If you're in trouble, look to your friends and comrades. Remember that you aren't in this alone! And if you don't have any of those, you have me! So keep fighting, you hear me!? Don't give up yet! Equestria needs you!"

-R.F.E. Broadcast Records, Canterlot Public Library

An overcast day is a pleasant morning for the soldiers of the Equestrian Liberation Front. That held true for every cell-- but here in the acornage Hightower it was especially true. Overcast and fog concealed nimble pegasi stolen away in a cloudy skyscape camp, hidden from the changeling Jaegers who’d tried so hard to find it.

Rainbow Dash was especially proud of it. She’d managed to keep her little slice of heaven cut off and spirited away from the rest of Equestria. She stood on the highest cloud of the Hightower, bedecked in her old combat uniform. It was tattered and dirty. The armor broke and chipped-- the sleeves frayed and frail, but like her and all her pegasi it had endured everything the changeling war machine threw at them and it was still intact.

The wind whipped through her dirty rainbow mane as her ears strained to it. Up here, the voices and laughter from the camp were drowned out by the ever flowing sounds of the natural world. Winds, birdsong and the distant rumble of thunder…and nothing else.

She smirked.

“It’s been awhile since one’s flown by.” Beside her, Spitfire dropped from flight and trotted along the cloud surface. “Days now, isn’t it?” She continued. Dash glanced over her shoulder. Spitfire threw her own uniform away for civvies awhile back, but the old flexible armor still crossed her chest and hooves. Right now it draped over workponies’ clothes.

“Almost a week. There’s no reason why they wouldn’t patrol unless they couldn’t for some reason. I’m telling you, they’re out of fuel!” Rainbow laid on the cloud’s surface, resting her cheek on her forehooves as she spoke. “I’m just saying-- we know where they keep a lot of supplies we could use…”

“You’re about to suggest the Acornage supply depot again.” Spitfire accused, correctly-- given Rainbow’s pout and pursed lips.

“It’s SO helpless! I’m telling you it’s begging to be raided.” Rainbow pleaded, her pouting eyes widening with excess. She jumped up into a hover as she spoke-- the beat of her wings increasing in speed as her excitement rose. Spitfire rolled her eyes. “My guys have been watching it-- they got conscripts to guard it. Untrained conscripts! Give us an afternoon and we’ll fly the whole thing back here and we’ll be set for months!”

Spitfire pursed her lips and looked like she was about to lay into Rainbow for being reckless again. Instead, she paused. “Well,” the pegasus bit the inside of her lip and grimaced, staring into the distance as she pondered. She’d heard of the supply issues the changelings were having from the Manehatten cell, corroborated by the Fillydelphia cell, and now the element of loyalty herself was saying they were out of fuel.

She trusted Rainbow Dash’s judgment. In matters of aviation, the cyan mare was practically omniscient. Her eyes narrowed. “Fine.”

Rainbow jumped skyward and pumped a hoof in celebration. “Yes! Oh, you won’t regret this ma’am. By tomorrow we’ll have enough guns and food to last us till--”

“But,” Spitfire interjected. “You have one night. No casualties. Quick and dirty-- hit them hard, leave before they respond, and none of our guys get hurt. And if it looks like it’s going south…”

“We hightail it out of there faster than they can respond. We’ll be fine, Spitfire.” Rainbow waved a hoof dismissively as she landed back on the cloud. “Come on-- it’s me. Invented the rainboom-- speed record holder. You know. What could go wrong?”

“Confidence is good, Dash.” Spitfire shook her head. “But bravado…”

“Bravado gets soldiers killed.” Rainbow Dash retorted softly, a look of incredulity on her face. “How’s my record again?”

“No failed missions yet.” Spitfire chuckled. “Alright. Take your colts with you-- be back before morning or I’m sending everyone out to get you.”

Rainbow Dash saluted with the largest grin on her face she’d worn since the war ended. Then again, as long as ponies were still around to fight, had it ever really ended?

Sundancer took an indulgent drag off a pilfered cigarette. He offered it to his comrades in arms. Daisy Chain had never smoked. Her snout wrinkled as she declined the acrid offer. Silver Spirit, however, greedily took it in hoof. “So what are we here for?” Sundancer, a yellowish-red pegasus with wings that looked like, what else, dancing flames, questioned the other ponies. They were cramped inside of a small cloud-tent.

The other stallion shrugged. “Boss Lady just said ‘c'mere,’ so I ‘c’thered.’” Silver handed the cigarette back to the other stallion, passing it over the head of the small mare between them. The smoke wafted from his silver mane which almost seemed reflective in the dull lamplight of the tent. He was as his name implied-- silver of fur, of mane, and of eye. Daisy had privately thought he could have been a model once upon a time, if he ever cleaned out the dirt and grime from his mane.

“I’m sure she’ll pop in when she’s ready.” Daisy Chain, a soft cream pegasus, tactically slid out from between the two stallions and sat her radio pack up on the ground. She began to give it another check just to make sure everything was working right. Of course she'd checked it a thousand times already but it was a nice excuse not to get cigarette smoke in her face.

Sundancer snickered. “Yeah, she could tell you to jump off a cliff and you’d ‘c’there.” He snorted derisively. His tone mock-prodding, but said with a bit more venom than he’d meant to.

“Yeah,” Silver agreed. “Then I’d fly back up and ask what else she wanted me to do. Show more respect, she’s the--”

“Don’t lecture me on respect.” Sundancer’s voice peaked. “A real soldier thinks for themselves-- takes initiative, not-”

“Oh my Celestia not again!” Daisy’s hooves shot up to her ears. “I’m not listening to this for however long it takes Ardy to get here!” She threw her head back in exasperation and pursed her lips, glaring at the two stallions.

Both immediately deflated. “Ah, don’t mean anything Daisy, I'm just annoying him.” Sundancer shrugged. “You know I’d die for you both. And give you my cigs.”

“Yeah-- we’re buddies, stallions just do this sometimes. No drama, feller.” Silver gave an apologetic shrug even so. One could hear a very subtle southern accent when Silver spoke.

Daisy did not understand stallions. Daisy understood radios, electronics, and the best way to get a signal when you were having trouble. How these two could be at one another’s throat one second and then swap to being BFFs the very next was the absolute height of insanity. Luckily, she didn’t have long to contemplate it.

Rainbow Dash slid the tent door open and flew in quietly. She sat down in front of the trio, and smiled. Each immediately knew what it meant.

“Finally?” Sundancer was the one to ask.

“Yup!” Rainbow grinned. “Tonight we’re hitting the Acornage supply depot. Now, I don’t need to tell you-- it holds enough supplies to keep us stocked for months, and it’s underponied, underprepared, and completely defenseless.”

“Alright!” Sundancer leaped skyward and pumped his hoof in eagerness. “Time to bust some heads, fillies!”

“We’ve been planning this for a while.” Silver’s hoof shot to his chin and he nodded in thought. “It’s almost a crime not to hit it after all this work I put in scouting.”

“Oh- also,” Daisy Chain spoke up. “Given the elevation they’d have a really tough time putting any serious defenses around it. I’m surprised they’re even holding it.”

“Yeah- it was an old pegasus courier post before the war. My aunt worked there- it wasn’t even built for earth ponies to get to, they put it in the mountains. It’s perfect for us!” Sundancer was quick to add, and the trio nodded in unison.

“Grab your gear and meet me in the clouds over Acornage at 22:00.” Rainbow Dash ordered. Her team saluted respectfully.

Rainbow looked them over one more time. She’d been with these stallions since the start of the war, and they’d pseudo-adopted Daisy into their group after they rescued her from an overzealous love-hungry Jaeger.

The ‘colts’ as Spitfire called them, Sundancer and Silver Spirit, were the fastest and most decorated pegasi in Equestria’s military besides herself. She’d trust either of them with her life, but Daisy was special.

Daisy was the glue that held them all together. She served a dual-role, both as team medic and radio operator. She wasn’t quite as fast as the other flyers but she was also carrying another half-ponies’ weight of equipment on her back at all times. Rainbow had to lug her onto her back a couple times before and she probably would again, but she didn’t mind. Without Daisy they’d have broken apart a long time ago. In a way, Rainbow supposed she was like the little sister of the group. Besides that, Daisy was a friend.

With these ponies at her back, Rainbow Dash could take on the world. Given how the war went, she would probably have to.

The Acornage depot was tucked into a mountainside so high up it was covered in a layer of snow. It was an industrial looking building, red brick walls with a couple smokestacks grasping skyward like the frozen talons of a griffon. It was built into a piece of land that looked almost carved into the mountain, with sheer rock walls on all sides except for above it and straight in front. They were going in from above.

“So what’s even the use of building a supply point all the way up here anyway?” Sundancer landed on the cloud Daisy was using to set up her little radio base. The antenna was a dark green and pointed skyward doing little to camouflage itself into the grays of the cloud. “Wouldn’t they be better off putting it-- I dunno, in the city?”

“The way I hear it, an officer got this little stash all to himself,” Daisy responded. “He’s hoarding it all for some reason. Maybe to sell after the war?” She worked on her radio as she spoke, one ear pressed to her headphones and one listening to her comrades.

Sundancer scoffed. “So what you’re saying- we’re taking from the rich and giving to the poor. Like real heroes.”

Rainbow Dash snickered. “You got a funny way of looking at things, big guy.” She nudged Silver Spirit with her wing.

The stallion adjusted his scope. He was leaning over the cloud with a ‘borrowed’ Stalliongradian sniper rifle. “Looks like…nope, they’re still there. Shift should be changing soon though. Maybe the new guys are late.”

“Well it can’t take too long.” Dash interjected. “Remember-- we’re to be back by morning or Spitfire is coming to get us, and I really don’t want her to yell. She’ll alert the whole changeling air force dressing us down.” The trio snickered along and settled in for a night of waiting.

“Oop! Gottem.” Daisy Chain piped up, excitement almost tangible. “I found the frequency the changelings are using. 144.75! Ooh and I hear them talking too!” She leaned into her headphones, a wide and happy smile on her face.

Rainbow stood up and stretched. “Good work, Daze. How's your changeling?”

She wavered a hoof in a so-so gesture. “It’s hard with just the books-- ummm,” she bit her lower lip. “Oh-- there it is, the shift change! I recognize that! The shift is changing, Silver!”

The pony leapt into action, jumping forward to grab his rifle he’d left resting against the cloud wall. “Let’s see-- yep there it is.” He drew the scope over a pair of uniformed heer guards, turning to walk to the cliff edge. There they met two more who saluted one another and began a conversation. Silver could see them laughing. “Ugh, they’re having a chat. I don’t know how long this will take.”

Rainbow checked her watch. They still had some hours left. “Well-- even if we only have time to pull half the storage, that's still a lot of goodies. Let’s wait til they leave-- then we ambush this shift and get out before the next one comes.”

The three nodded in agreement. Sundancer stood and slung his stolen mp-10 across his chest. “I say we just go down there and take em all out. We can do it.” He stood on the clouds’ edge, flanking Rainbow from one side as Silver Spirit took the other.

“Spitfire said no risks.” She chided the eager stallion, whose ears lowered. “Just be patient. I can’t risk someone we don’t see getting away and calling in reinforcements.”

Sundancer’s wings had already extended in readiness, even so. “Aw come on-- say the word and the whole mountain is ours.” He nearly begged, but a glare from Rainbow caused him to bite his inner lip. “Fine.” He whined, rolling his eyes good naturedly.

“Wait a minute-- Ardy, guys, something's…weird.” Daisy Chain piped up and Rainbow pricked up her ear.

“Weird…how?” Rainbow and the stallions glanced quizzically back at Daisy, who had her headphones on and her hooves pressed tightly to it, almost shoving the things into her ears.

“There’s a weird amount of talking.” She thrummed her hooves against her ears as she tried to focus. Her eyes closed. “Like there’s a weirdly high amount of changelings talking. I think there’s ones here we don’t see-- I wish, I wish I could understand it…”

Sundancer was the first to speak up. “Have they seen us?!”

“No…at least, I don’t think so. They’re not angry, it's just casual chatter. I can only understand a few words.” She tapped her hoof against her headphones. “I’m sorry I wish I knew.”

“Well maybe they’re having a laugh like these guys.” Silver Spirit kept his scope trained on the four changelings talking by the cliff edge. “Seems to be a pretty relaxed group.”

Rainbow glanced back at the storage building below them. They were directly above the roof- and the one place no changeling ever looked was straight up. They had the height advantage and the element of surprise, so what could a few extra changelings even do?

Still, why not be a little cautious? Rainbow cleared her throat. “Alright. We’re splitting up- Silver, Daisy, you’re on lookout. Anything look off? Give us a yell.”

“Roger,” Silver still had his scope on the talking changelings.

“Yes, Ma’am.” Daisy was eager.

Dash continued. “Sundancer, you and I are taking the top floor. We each go in from a window on one side-- I take the left, you take the right. We meet in the center and work our way down.”

“Hell yeah!” He racked his wing over his submachine gun. “Let’s party!”

Rainbow cleared her throat. Here comes her favorite part. Each pegasus, excepting Daisy, lined up at the cloud’s edge. The trio stood with their hooves an inch from oblivion “Now,” She smiled. “Who does Equestria trust the most?”

Each pegasus, even Daisy chanted in unison. “The Pegasi!”

Rainbow returned, her voice rising to a fever pitch. “Who do the stallions and mares love the most!?”

The statement was answered by a similar chant in raising tension. “The Pegasi!!”

Rainbow bared her teeth. “And who do the changelings fear the most!?”

They all chanted in unison. “The Pegasi!!” Threatening to alert the guards with their sheer zeal.

“For Equestria!” Rainbow shouted, and the three leapt into the endless expanse of blue she called her home.

For six glorious seconds Rainbow Dash flew in tight formation with her friends again, as she’d done with the Wonderbolts in the years before the war. Wind whipped her mane and snow flurries trailed along her fur as she and her comrades plummeted downwards like the sword of god herself into these witless invaders. Her at the front, her comrades at either side. This is what she lived for.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. She glanced at Silver Spirit, who gave her a quick mid-fly hoof salute, before he broke off to find a sniping position.

The remaining two pegasi, Rainbow and Sundancer, formed a double helix with their movements. Like a descending strand of DNA they crossed back and forth over one another, their speed gradually increasing before the mid-air dance of pegasi reached a crescendo with the sudden lurch sideways just before hitting the roof-- and back under as each pegasus slammed through a window on either side of the depot.

Shattering glass mixed with reflecting snow flurries as Rainbow barreled onto a metallic catwalk. Her maw drew a dagger from its sheath as she locked eyes with the most terrified Changeling invader she’d ever seen, and grinned.

A pair of binoculars coloured cloudy white peaked from a dirty gray snow cloud. A changeling watched a trio of pegasi break off and execute one of the most perfect combat landings he’d ever seen, and his snout wrinkled. These were professionals. “Adler to Kardinal. Adler to Kardinal.” He spoke softly. He rolled over onto his back, stretching as he stood up and gripped his portable radio in a magical green aura.

“Go, Adler.” Came a response from the other end.

“Got some here. Mark Acornage as active. Only three but one of them’s ‘Her’.” His eyes, cloudy blue and lacking pupils, narrowed. “Engaging.”

“‘Der Blaue Teufel’? Negative. Do not engage- we’re too far away to support.” The voice on the other end pleaded. “You can’t take her on your own. Don’t engage. Adler!”

Adler shut his radio off and licked his fangs. “Teufel” He growled, his voice a mockery of Kardinal as the black-armoured changeling slipped back into his cloud. He’d see for himself if she truly was a devil soon enough.

“Bitte nein!” The changeling managed to cry out in shock. He scrambled backwards, dropping his gun in shock and fear. He dropped to his hooves, lifting them skyward. “Bitte!”

Rainbow dug her dagger into the shocked changeling's throat before he could utter a further sound. Her hoof jumped to his mouth-- silencing his scream until it turned to a low gurgling on his own blood, and then silence. The pegasus withdrew her hoof and wiped the fresh crimson on the unlucky ‘lings uniform. “Gross,” she grimaced-- then rolled her eyes at her own hesitance. How had she not gotten used to this by now?

A quick glance around confirmed she was alone on this side of the building. She turned on her hooves and swiftly followed the catwalk around the room, sparing a glance for her comrade across the open warehouse. She watched as Sundancer wrapped his hooves around a changeling's neck and twisted-- snapping it in one practiced motion.

“Hilfe!”

A guttural voice called. A changeling posted down below had seen the shattering glass and was posturing his machine gun- aiming right at Sundancer. Dash moved on instinct. She leapt from the catwalk and lanced downwards into the monster, augmenting her flight speed with gravity to land a solid, violent hoof-blow square into his jaw from a story up. He was sent reeling onto the cold concrete floor, thrown sideways, and knocked out in one hit.

“Daaamn,” Sundancer leapt downwards, bringing himself to a hover in the center of the room. “Glad I’m not that guy.”

She shrugged. “Is that all of them?”

Suddenly, with a loud ‘crack!’ from up high in the clouds, a sniper rifle answered. Rainbow heard a yell in that strange changeling language, and a body fell into the snow outside.

Well, If the changelings didn’t know they were here before they certainly did now.

Silver Spirit racked the bolt of his rifle, and drew the scope to the other two running changelings. They’d turned tail and sprinted to the outskirts of the depot, trying to hide themselves among the snowdrifts. These two weren’t really threats anymore, shattered and terrified as they were-- but better safe than sorry.

He focused on controlling his breathing, slowing his heart rate, and the feel of the wooden stock in his hooves. There was only him and the target in front of him. The changeling was panicking, running back and forth-- he didn’t know where to go, he didn’t know where Silver was. This gave him pause for a moment. These aren’t veteran soldiers of the Heer, this was a conscript. Barely more than a child and with the discipline to match.

Still, such thoughts had no place on the battlefield.

Silver exhaled, and squeezed the trigger. With a crack like thunder, and the recoil of his rifle shuddering his shoulder, the changeling fell dead in the snow with a splash of deep crimson red on a white background. That one would not be calling for help. The pegasus racked the bolt and smirked.

Then, he drew the scope over the other changeling. This one had his head buried in the snow, perhaps trying to play dead. It was almost pathetic. Almost too easy. His scope drew over the ‘dead’ changelings’ head, he exhaled, and-

“Silver!” Daisy’s voice cut through his portable radio. “Behind-”

Silver Spirit’s chest exploded in agony as a changeling dagger ran through it. The pain was immense. He couldn’t even scream as the words caught in his throat. He managed only a soft whimper, his voice harsh and breathless, as the dagger drew from his back.

He fell forward, coughing, as a hoof kicked him onto his back. His eyes went wide with fear as he beheld a changeling soldier, bedecked in black armor, standing above him and waving a dagger about in magical grip. It was…bloody. That was his blood. His blood? His hoof brushed across the wound in his chest. He couldn’t breathe. Did it get his lung?

The changeling stood over him, his fangs flashed in a dark grin. “Never turn your back to the enemy, rebel.” The changeling accused, jamming his hoof into Silver’s chest wound. His eyes closed-- he cried out.

“Fuck you,” he spat the words, gurgling on his own blood. Silver glared into the pupil less eyes of the changeling above him.

Adler paused. He shouldn’t play with his food-- not while the devil was about, there would be time to play with her when she was at his mercy like this. In answer to Silver’s defiance, Adler drew his pistol and shoved it into the pony's mouth.

The pegasus bit down on the barrel and glared, his flat white teeth braced against the gun, daring Adler to pull the trigger.

The back of the sniper’s head exploded in a gunshot as a deafening ‘snap’ muffled by Silver Spirit’s throat, echoed around the crater. Fresh bloody ichor mixed with the soft white of a snowcloud.

Rainbow Dash jammed a crowbar against the lid of a crate, and with both her and Sundancer’s weight, pressed downwards on it hard enough to snap open the lid. “Little more!” She egged her comrade on- and a sudden ‘snap’ from outside caught her attention. Rainbow jumped back and glanced at Sundancer.

He was already drawing his submachine gun. “That wasn’t a rifle bullet…” his ears drooped as he glanced upwards. “Do you think--?”

“Ardy!” A voice cut through her portable radio. Daisy’s voice. “Silver’s hurt!” The pair of pegasi exchanged a look-- a silent nodding agreement that right now, nothing else mattered. Both pairs of wings extended, and both shot skyward, leaving through one another’s windows and finding home in the sky once more.

“Eleven high!” The guiding voice came through Rainbow’s radio, and she pointed with her hoof. Her and Sundancer swiftly found the cloud-nest Silver’d been using-- and the shining dark red that painted it.

Rainbow’s wings beat fast enough she was in danger of causing another rainboom. Pure adrenaline and fear, for the first time since the war, fueled the pegasus. “Silver!” Rainbow landed first, calling helplessly to the prone form of her friend. “Silver!!” She called louder, sprinting to his side-- but it was no use.

The stallion lay prone against the cloud, his rifle slung to the side. His head hung limply over the side, dripping crimson drops into the snow below. “Damnit!” Sundancer landed next, baring his teeth. “Goddamnit!” he punched the cloud surface next to the corpse-- next to Silver’s body. Sundancer started, fury in his eyes-- and then he turned to Rainbow Dash.

The sight of her friend’s lifeless body made her feel like she was looking at something forbidden. She felt dirty-- wrong, like she just…shouldn’t be here, like she shouldn’t be seeing this. Rainbow’s breath caught in her throat and she locked eyes with her friend-- no, with the corpse. His eyes were still upon, fear and anger writ upon them like a bloodstained scroll.

Her fault.

“Why did you tell us to split up!?” He accused, his face an inch from fashes, fury in his blazing eyes. “Why did you let him go off on his own!?” He shoved his hoof into Rainbow’s chest.

She stammered, helpless. “I- I-” Rainbow tried to find the words, but nothing she could think to say would help. Sundancer was right, and she knew it. She made the call to split up- this was her fault. His death was her fault.

“Guys,” Daisy’s voice on the radio cut through once more. “Whoever killed Silver is still there. We can’t be fighting amongst ourselves right now.”

Rainbow’s hoof found her radio, a silent thank-you, and nodded. “She’s right. We-- we need to--.”

“Good.” Sundancer racked the bolt on his machine gun. “Saves us the trouble.”

“No,” Rainbow countered quickly. “He’s probably going after Daisy right now. He’s picking off the ones that are alone. I want you to find her and take her back to the Hightower.” Despite the situation, Rainbow Dash found herself remarkably calm and collected.

“What? Run away?” Sundancer glared, baring his teeth. “After they killed--”

“Yes.” She glared, her eyes locked with Sundancer’s own.

His own rolled. “And what are you gonna do?”

Rainbow Dash softly exhaled. She glanced down to the corpse of her friend- the corpse of one of the stallions she’d ridden through this hell of a war with, and back up to the one she could still protect. “I’m going to give him a target.”

The back of the depot was an open white field- surrounded by rocky walls on all sides, save the sheer brick wall of the building itself. Dash sat in the center and waited. No pegasus would ever refuse such a blatant challenge like this-- and she hoped the changeling wouldn’t either.

A sudden wind whipped through the snowy field that carried with it a flurry of thicker than usual snowfall. As it blew through the haunted depot building, she could hear it whistle through the shattered windows and battle scars. Some broken metal piece of roofing thrashed into another with each gust. One didn’t have to be a weather pony to tell a storm was coming.

Rainbow didn’t have to wait long for it. In front of her landed a tall, slender changeling and the pegasus stood to meet him. He was a lanky sort-- but his armor was unlike any she’d ever seen. It seemed to mimic her own. Built for function in the air- plates of kevlar wrapped around the chest and legs, but light for swift movements. Most striking of all-- a shining emblem on his right leg, dark red. A pegasi wing over crossed bones. Rainbow’s nostrils flared in anger involuntarily.

“Brave.” He spoke softly, drawing his dagger from its sheath. He gripped it magically-- swirling it about above his head, a dull green on the handle twirling it to and fro. “How’d you know I wouldn’t just shoot you?”

“I didn’t.” Rainbow glared, her legs spread in a combat stance. She stared into the changelings’ eyes, fury on her face.

The flying dagger tapped against the changelings’ chin. “I see. You’re here to cover for your retreating comrades. There’s a pegasus worth her wings.” He bowed his head respectfully. “I almost wish I didn’t have to kill you-- but you did kill alot of my people…”

“And you, mine.” Rainbow countered without missing a beat.

He shrugged. “True enough.” Noticing her eyes lingering on his dancing dagger, he drew it over his emblem. The wing on crossed bones. “Do you know what this means?” He posited, taking Rainbow’s silence as an answer. “It marks a member of the Pegasosjagdgruppe. You get it after your fifth kill.”

“Pegasus hunters?” Rainbow retorted, her tail twitching as her legs braced in the snow. Her eyes locked on his dagger, tension in her bones.

“So you do speak a little of my language. You really are a cut above the usual rabble.” The changeling’s dagger danced in the air above his horn, it bounced up and down, mimicking a toss upwards and then a catch.

Rainbow’s eyes never left his blade. “I know the important bits.” She spoke simply. “Enough with the small talk. I’m not letting you leave here alive, monster.” Rainbow declared, drawing her own combat knife into her teeth.

“Monster…?” The changeling leaned back against the wall of the depot, grazing his blade along the brick. It made an ominous scraping noise. “Typical Equestrian moral grandstanding. Tell me-- that first changeling you killed today, do you know what he said?”

Rainbow’s silence was his answer. She thought back to the changeling screaming something in their language. Probably a warning to his comrades.

“He said, ‘please don’t kill me.’”

Rainbow’s eyes went wide. She stammered, “H-he,” cutting herself off as her first instinct was to apologize to the demon staring her down, but that can’t be right. The changeling must be lying to throw her off.

As Rainbow scrambled to justify herself, the changeling moved with the speed of lightning. He dashed through the snow, his dancing blade thrown forward, slicing snow flurries in a lancing motion. She could only just react. Rainbow threw herself to the side with an inch to spare. She could swear she felt the side of the blade rest against her throat for a nanosecond.

The knife drew back through the air as the changeling charged. Put off balance by the movement, Rainbow left herself open- he twisted and threw the blade in a sideways motion, bringing it up- aimed square at her throat.

Rainbow Dash was only just fast enough. She leapt skyward, following the motion of the blade until she was hovering an inch from the point. Now, she was in the air. Now, she could finally move.

She twisted sideways, letting the blade sail harmlessly above her head as she plunged downwards, hoof extended in a gravity-augmented jab. The changeling danced sideways, evading her attack with effortless grace. His blade flew back into a resting position just above his horn, and he gave a respectful nod of his head, and a cheeky little bow.

Dash gritted her teeth. This was a game to him? Fine, she’d play it on her terms.

Dash charged forward and missed-- but she wasn’t aiming for the changeling. Banking left, she picked up speed, her wings catching a swirling air current she herself was producing. The changeling braced still-- his chitin hooves jammed into the snow. Then, the product of Dash’s movements became clear. A small tornado of snow, blurring and obscuring vision twirled about the depot field and threw flurries into the air like a frozen flashbang.

Glancing through her little tornado-- Dash saw the changeling’s forehoof rise to cover his eyes, he was being buffeted by snow on all sides. She charged, like a lance through the rising frost, and cut through the blizzard. He didn’t have time to react. Her hoof landed square on the changeling’s side and she felt something crack. He was thrown clear of the snow-devil, and dash smirked. She stepped beyond the bounds of the frost-swirl as it began to dissipate and looked over her fallen adversary.

Only-- he was smirking, and his dagger wasn’t hovering above his horn.

Pegasi have an advantage over changelings in the air. Their wings are extraordinarily sensitive to air currents-- even the smallest change or movement tickles the feathers. Experienced pegasi can read their feathers and essentially see movement in a 360-degree field around themselves. It was this that allowed Rainbow to catch the dagger plummeting towards her back at lightning speed.

She dived sideways-- but she wasn’t fast enough. The dagger caught something. She felt it rip into her withers, a gash of red and searing pain. She cried out. Reflexively flexing her wing to make sure it was still here-- it was. Rainbow felt hot liquid flow down her back as she locked eyes with the prone changeling.

“You’re the first to survive that move.” He stood with a limp, his forehoof dipping inwards to caress his broken rib. He spat on the ground- shining red in his saliva. “I must say,” he spoke with effort- his voice strained. “You are a worthy foe.” He brought his flying dagger up in front of his throat, a defensive posture, Dash recognized.

She didn’t give him time to use it. Despite her wound-- she held the speed advantage still, and she capitalized. She leapt forward, pushing from the ground with both her wings and hooves, and her own blade bared.

He caught it with his, and the pair traded blows. Each thrust of Rainbow’s blade was expertly parried with a flash of steel on steel. She cut through his guard time and again, flying above, around- behind. Each thrust was caught by his dancing blade and his expert predicting of her movements. Both combatants were slowing- but he was slowing more so.

Rainbow debated keeping up the assault and simply wearing him out-- but she couldn’t chance him getting the better of her. He would expect that.

Instead, in a swift flutter back, she threw her wing in the snow and lurched it forward. Snow exploded upwards. It only gave her a half second of cover but that was all she needed. His blade was too slow to catch her next thrust. Dash ducked under his knife, and slammed her head forwards. She caught him mid-parry, her blade slicing square across his throat. Then- her hoof braced against his chest and shoved him back. Off balance, he tumbled, and his magical grip faltered. The blade that claimed the lives of so many pegasi fell, hapless, in the snow.

The changeling’s hoof went to his throat. He tried to cover it-- to stop the bleeding. It was in vane, Rainbow Dash knew. She also knew that a combatant that wasn’t dead was still a threat. So, she hovered still in the air, her eyes locked both on the blade and on the changeling’s hooves=- he might have another weapon on his person, after all.

He could see what she was thinking. He probably would have done the exact same in her position. As the changeling died, his hooves covered in his own blood, Rainbow Dash caught a strange look in his eye. He smiled…and then his eyes shut. She had watched him die.

Rainbow drew up her dagger and made sure they’d never open again.

“Would somepony like to tell me where the hell Rainbow Dash and Silver Spirit are!?” Spitfire stormed through the Hightower, anger blazing in her eyes as she beheld the exhausted forms of both Sundancer and Daisy Chain. The pair had swiftly retreated into the colts’ tent upon returning, carrying nothing but their own equipment, and lacking two other pegasi.

Sundancer turned away, shaking his head solemnly. Daisy caught their commander’s gaze. “Silver…didn’t make it.” She subtly teared up, brushing her sadness away with a hoof. “There were complications. Dash--”

“Complications?!” Spitfire’s voice was carrying across the entire camp with the sheer volume. “A complication, soldier, is when you trip on your rifle and slam your head into the dirt. Not when you lose two of the most decorated soldiers in Equestria! Private First Class Daisy Chain- since Corporal Sundancer appears to have had his tongue cut out, what happened?!”

Sundancer didn’t have time to retort. “An ambush happened.” Rainbow Dash appeared at the tent flap as if in answer. Her body was covered in bruises and blood, feathers torn and ripped. It was like she just walked out of a haunted house in a bad slasher movie.

“Ardy!” Daisy Chain leapt forward, her hooves immediately finding the worst of the cuts- that deep wound across her withers. “Oh Celestia, oh no.” She fussed. “Please lay down-- no, go to the medic-- no, no time I have to do it here!” She became suddenly pushy, all but shoving Rainbow aside and onto one of the small benches. The briefing tent was hardly medically sterile but it would have to do.

“You should see the other guy.” She attempted levity but the dark stares of the other pegasi quickly dissuaded her. Rainbow Dash was further ‘suggested,’ despite her protests, to lay on her chest as Daisy began stitching and bandaging up her back.

The ranking pegasus visibly grimaced. Dash thought she caught a flash of sympathy in her typical iron-pony facade. “Rainbow-” Spitfire spoke, but Dash cut her off.

“I know. You were right and I was wrong.” She interjected, with something between resignation and anger. “Silver Spirit died a hero- protecting his comrades. And I was the one that got him killed.”

A silence befell the tent. For a time the only sound was Daisy’s sutures working along Rainbow’s back, and the cyan pegasus’s own soft pained grunts.

“I know you don’t wanna hear this right now,” Spitfire continued on, her voice gentle-- despite it all. “But we’re going to have to move The Hightower. They know we’re here now.”

“Yeah.” Dash sighed. “Sorry.”

“Bad calls happen.” Spitfire shook her head, turning to leave. Silently, Rainbow noted she wasn’t getting the verbal thrashing she’d planned on getting. “We’re going to join up with the Albion Cell. It’ll be a hell of an effort to move us that far. I need our best weather-pony at her best.” With that, Spitfire stepped beyond the bounds of the tent and out of sight. From her tone, it was both an order and a request.

After a few minutes of Daisy’s silent stitching, Sundancer took a seat by the pair. He sighed loudly. “It wasn’t your fault, Dash.”

Rainbow shook her head swiftly. “I’m not accepting that.” Was her plain and perfunctory answer. “I gave the order-- it’s my responsibility.”

“Responsibility sure-- but not your fault.” He emphasized that last word, almost violently, with a noted increase in volume. “He was loyal, Rainbow. If you’d asked him to die to protect us I know he would have done it without a second thought. That’s why I know he’s not…” He lifted his hoof to his forehead, tapping it, as if trying to draw out the words physically. “You know. He wouldn’t be sad about this. He wouldn’t mind dying like this. He was a soldier. It’s what we do. I suck at this but-- ugh, you know what I mean?”

The two mares both glanced at Sundancer with something approaching genuine awe. They held their stares for a solid three seconds. “What?” He shrugged. “I’m right.”

“Y-yeah, I just…wasn’t expecting you to say that,” Daisy was quick to pipe up.

“I appreciate the thought, Sundancer, even if I don’t…even if the wound is still fresh, you know?” Rainbow shrugged, causing a subtle ‘hiss’ from Daisy as she tried to stop her shoulders moving.

“I know…” he sighed, and the trio sat together in silence. It was hard to enjoy the company of one’s friends when one was missing.

“Daisy?” Rainbow queried suddenly, breaking the silence.

“Mm?” she responded quietly, obviously focused on the sutures.

“What does bit-a-nein mean? In the Changeling language?”

“Umm,” she hummed in thought. “‘Please…do not’? Or don’t. No it’s ‘please no’. Something like that. Why?”

Rainbow swallowed. Her face crossed with a distant stare as her eyes beheld the dull green tent flaps, staring intently into them as if the very mysteries of the universe were written in the fabric.

“...No reason.” She lied.

Author's Note

Took awhile to get this one out. Hope the extra length makes up for it.