“Duh-duhduhduh daaaa! This is Radio Free Equestria and that was me making noises with my mouth because they can't give me anypony to make an intro tune. I’m coming at you live from E.L.F. H.Q. somewhere in who-knows-where!

“First off, a message to active cells. Not all your dogs are barking. Repeating. Not all your dogs are barking.

“Now that’s out of the way so let’s get to the news huh? I have it on good authority our buddies from the Hightower managed to link up with us here at Stonewall. You know what that means? That means a lot of pegasi and a lot of regulars in the same place. That sounds to me like things are about to get reeeaallly interesting! I wouldn’t wanna be a changeling in who-knows-where right about now I’ll tell you that!

“But, that comes with some bad news. Seems like a cell acting independently tried to attack Canterlot all on their own with predictable results. Our sources say the cell commander was killed in the attack. We mourn their loss but extend our welcome here at Stonewall to any survivors. If you can link up with us, we’ll help you in any way we can.

“That’s about the long and short of it so far. But, lemme go on a tangent here. Celestia, you know something? I always hated the Equestrian Broadcast Authority. Free speech is like ninety percent of what makes Equestria awesome so why am I not allowed to say bad words on the air?

“Well let me make use of my newfound freedoms, so granted by our ‘loving and benevolent’ queen. Hey, Queen Chrysalis? From all of Equestria, and everypony living in it, I have a message just for you!

“Fuck you.

“This wonderful message brought to you by me, Torchlight, and the lovely ponies at Stonewall for keeping me fed and housed. Now, big mean and green here is glaring at me so I think they want the radio back. I gotta go!

“Until next time. If you’re ever lost? If you ever need a light in the darkness? I’ll always be here for you. I love you, Equestria, and I’ll never give up on you!”

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

‘Stonewall’

That was the name given to the hundred tent camp slipped between a mountainside valley and a thick, lush forest deep in rural Albion. Right now it was absurdly packed with well over ten ponies to a tent, not to mention the amount of pegasi camping out in the clouds above. A big, white, fluffy cloud formation bolted together with smaller, tighter fluffy cloud formations.

From down here, Hightower reminded Rainbow Dash of one of the rumoured changeling zeppelins. The formation cast a long shadow over the ground force below, keeping the ponies in perpetual shade.

Beneath the Hightower, sheltered in Stonewall, Rainbow Dash had lived the past several months. Ever since the disastrous outing back at Acornage, she and her team had been on semi-permanent ‘sit down and wait’ orders. So, they’d sit around all day, bored out of their minds, doing whatever menial task the higher ups graced them with to keep them busy.

She and ‘Team Rainbow’ were in that wonderful gray area of ‘too valuable to risk’ but ‘not valuable enough to be given important briefings.’ So, on most days, they would wait for somepony more important to tell them what to do. Today was not most days.

Today Rainbow Dash was falling.

Her head hit the grass with a shuddering jolt as she quickly leapt back up just as an armored hoof fell into the imprint her snout left. She scrambled to fly, leaping upwards, hooves catching air as her wings beat rapidly. A sudden force gripped her by the tail. Pain shot through her spine as it turned up and cracked her whole body like a whip. She was thrown back down into the dirt.

“Guh-uck!” She spat. While her adversary caught her breath, she braced her forehooves on the ground and bucked her hind legs back with all the force she could muster. It made a satisfying ‘thunk’ as it connected with lamellar armour plates. She heard a cough and a few hoofsteps of stumbling and took advantage.

She was up again and turning on her hooves. The pegasus dropped into a combat stance, legs braced, as she and her opponent caught their breath.

A dull olive green muzzle with similarly coloured eyes met her stare. “Not bad.” Said the pony before her, digging at her herbivorous teeth with a hoof. She made a show of dragging out a few strands of rainbow tail hair and spitting it onto the ground. “But I thought you were supposed to be fast?”

She had seen big ponies before. The closest she could liken Olive Drab to was Applejack’s brother Big Macintosh. Olive Drab was not simply ‘big.’ Olive Drab was a monster that positively towered over everypony else. Over Rainbow Dash she had a full extra head of height and width to match. She was not a fat pony, she bristled with muscles from head to hindleg. If she put on a fur coat, Rainbow could easily mistake her for a bear.

On her olive green flank, proudly shown off, she had a bright metal star cutie mark.

Rainbow Dash bore her teeth like fangs and leapt skyward. She wanted fast? She’d get fast. Her wings caught a current and she angled them like blades. The pony in front of her dropped low, sweeping a hind leg back and bracing her fores together. Then, wearing a smirk, she upturned a forehoof and beckoned.

The pegasus growled in fury. She angled a sharp hoof downwards, augmenting her natural speed with a dive into gravity.

She’d realized too late that she’d done exactly as expected. With surprising dexterity for an earthpony, the mare beneath her jumped onto her forehooves, balanced expertly on them for a half second, then leapt upwards.

Rainbow Dash tried to stop. Her wings wouldn’t turn, her speed and momentum fought against her desire to move, to just get an inch out of the way. Like in a train crash, she could do nothing but close her eyes.

The immovable object of an earthpony met her unstoppable force with a swift and skillful airborne buck, slamming into her chest plate with such force her ribs would have broken were the armour not there to dissipate the blow. She was vaguely aware of a chorus of gasps and ‘eughs’ around her as she cried out in agony, the force of the blow knocking the wind out of her. Rainbow Dash lost control and fell into the ground.

She lay in a broken heap. Her wings wouldn’t move, every flutter denied by the sharp pains rocketing across the bones, crawling down into her chest like spreading veins. She tried to stand only to get the same result. Her body just wouldn’t move.

A hoof tapped into her side and rolled her over as she let out a pained yawp. “That’s it.” Rainbow lifted a forehoof in surrender, voice cracking in agony. “I’m done.” Then, the prodding hoof upturned and beckoned her again. Rainbow took it.

She couldn’t stand without help, so Rainbow found herself hoisted up onto the back of the other mare. Still, her pride wouldn’t let her be dragged away from this. Instead, she slid back down and hooked a forehoof around the earthpony, breathing in ragged pants. “Tough son of a bitch.” She heard Olive compliment and Rainbow chuckled despite the pain.

“Damnit!” Sundancer shouted. She caught sight of him out of the corner of her eye passing a hooffull of bits to a smirking earth pony soldier.

Finally, she looked out to the gathered crowd of the three pony tribes, who immediately broke out into raucous cheers. At some point during the fight they’d gathered into a full circle around the mares. It looked like it ended up being quite the spectacle.

“Alright! Alright! Show’s over! Lock it up!” The greenish mare threw her hoof up and shooed everypony away. “Get back to working instead of gawking!” A few murmurs of discontent whined above the crowd as the gathered masses began to break apart and flit back into the camp, no doubt preparing to gossip about this for days.

After all, it wasn’t often the single most skilled pegasus challenges the only Equestrian general left to a hoof-fight. It was even less often that she accepts.

“Guess you weren’t kidding.” Dash chuckled despite her pain. “Here I thought you were just blowing hot air.”

The mare shrugged. “Eh. And I thought you were just a hotshot young idiot. I’ve wiped out a few of those in my time but you actually got a few good licks in.” She shuffled, hovering a hoof over her chest. “I thought bucking was an earthpony thing. Who knew you turkeys could kick like that?”

Rainbow slid back down, feeling comfortable enough to walk again, albeit on shaky legs. “I actually used to help out on an apple orchard sometimes! I can buck with the professionals.” She said, snout upturned in a prideful smile.

“Oh yeah?” The other mare returned, eyeridge raised in interest.

Rainbow Dash steadied her breathing. The pain from her chest was coming in waves and softly petering to more of a dull aching throb. “But I’m more curious about what you did there-- I’ve never seen somepony counter a dive like that.”

“Anti-jaeger move.” She smirked. “Gotta have a backup plan for when the flyers can’t cover us.” Then, she bumped her flank into Rainbow’s. “Can you walk?”

Although she stumbled, the pegasus softly nodded.

“Then, walk with me would you? I got something I wanna talk to you about.” With that, she turned and beckoned with a casual looking tail flick.

Rainbow did her best to keep up, slipping into a half-trot just to keep pace with the larger earth ponies’ gargantuan steps. Still, there was something about being under the gaze of a direct superior that made you simply want to be better. Even without thinking about it she found herself pushing the pain out of her mind. It was there, still, but she wouldn’t let it bother her.

They’d scarcely made it a few feet before a familiar yellow pegasus glided down onto the grass in front of them. With hoofsteps like rolling thunder she marched up to the pair. Anger snorting through her nostrils, she spared Dash a single glance, before her gaze turned back to her escort.

“Commander Spitfire.” Said the earthpony, saluting, completely nonplussed regarding her fierce bearing.

“Major General Olive Drab.” Spitfire returned it quickly. “Would you mind telling me why you are engaging one of my wonderbolts in a hoof-to-hoof fight in the middle of our headquarters?” She gritted her teeth as she spoke.

“‘Our headquarters?’” Drab hooked one of her heavy hooves behind Dash’s neck and held her. “It’s my army, Commander. You’re just in it. That makes this pegasus, and the HQ,” Rainbow Dash felt herself being tugged into the earth pony. She met Spitfire’s eyes with a wordless, apologetic shrug. “...mine.” The big mare grinned.

“You agreed…” Spitfire’s hoof found her temple for a brief moment. “We agreed,” she corrected herself, “that I would command any pegasi remnants. If Rainbow Dash has made a mistake requiring punishment, it falls under my purview and not yours, to--”

“Mistake? Hah!” The big mare’s hoof rubbed Rainbow’s mane in the same type of cheeky noogie she’d once done to Scootaloo. “She didn’t do anything worth punishing. That was just a way to blow off steam. Don’t worry about it. See, look! Nopony got hurt, right? Did you get hurt, Dashie?”

Unable to properly vocalize the sheer ‘uncomfortable’ she was feeling Dash could only lamely shake her head ‘no’, still pressed onto the bigger mare’s hoof by what felt like a muscle made of solid iron.

“See? All good. No worries, everypony is fine.” Finally, she let Dash go, and the pegasus caught her breath. “Now, go on back to your little hideaway in the clouds, Spitfire. The real mares need to get down to business.”

If Olive’s tone got to her, Spitfire didn’t let it show. Her commander looked at Dash for just a second with an unreadable expression,before she turned back to Olive and gave a nod. Spitfire’s wings extended and she rocketed into the sky.

The pair watched her catch a tail wind and zip into the clouds. “Celestia, I hate her.” Heartily chuckling, she flank-bumped Rainbow and took the lead, trotting in front of her. “You know, back during the war, probably would have won it if not for ponies like her. Hemming and hawing about losing too many soldiers when our numbers were the only advantage we had. Of course, no, I didn’t get my way. Played war with filly’s gloves and look where it got us.” She sneered.

Rainbow Dash had absolutely no idea how to respond to that. In her mind, a few mini calculations tripped over one another. She wondered if she should tell the general what she wanted to hear or just stay silent. Because she knew if she told Olive Drab exactly what she thought about her callous disregard of pony lives she’d probably be court martialed.

“I’m--” Rainbow started. “Well, I think that maybe--”

“Do you know what I hate more than anything, Rainbow Dash?” Olive Drab turned, jabbing her heavy forehoof square into Rainbow’s chest. The fresh bruised pain shot through her like a tiny lightning bolt. She grimaced. “Out of everything in the world, the one single thing I hate the most?”

Rainbow thought for a moment. If there was one thing it made any sense for a mare like Olive to really, truly hate. ”Changelings, ma’am?”

The larger pony’s eyes went wide and she smiled. “Yes!” She shouted loud enough to cause some traffic in the camp to turn and look quizzically at the pair. “Yes! Celestia, yes. For the love of the sun and moon, yes!” She threw her head back and stepped right in Rainbow’s face. She looked positively manic.

“Do you know how many ponies I ask that question to and they say something like ‘the war’ or ‘the death’ or ‘the sadness’ blah blah blah. Goddess! That’s so, just. Refreshingly simple. No.” Then, Olive Drab sat back on her haunches and smiled. “I really hate changelings, Rainbow Dash.”

The silence that followed gave Rainbow the idea she was expected to reply. “I do too.” She raised an eyebrow, feeling more like she was navigating a minefield with explicit right and wrong directions to turn, than an actual conversation.

“Do ya?” The larger mare said. “Whyssat?”

“Uh--” The answer should have been obvious, but…saying that didn’t seem like the right move right now. Still, it was the only one she had. “Because they invaded my country, ma’am?”

“Mmm-- not quite what I’m looking for.” Olive tapped her hooves into the dirt. “I was thinking more along the lines of what they did to Silver Spirit.”

Rainbow felt her breath catch. “They--” She swallowed. She had been trying to forget, to push the memory out of her head. “I--”

“They killed your friend, Rainbow.” The larger mare smiled comfortingly, though the way her teeth flashed like a tiger did not engender comfort. “It’s okay to be angry about that. You don’t have to push your feelings down just because some idiot pegasus thinks fighting angry isn’t proper for an army.”

“No, I--” The truth was, Rainbow Dash didn’t have it in her to hate an entire species. She despised the changeling government true enough. She would say she hated Queen Chrysalis, even. But every single one…there were the Thoraxians, before Chrysalis ended that rebellion. She’d have loved to meet Thorax.

“I heard about that mission.” Olive cut her off. “Lost a soldier, shame about that. But how many changelings did you kill?”

“Personally?” She hadn’t been keeping count. She’d stopped counting a long time ago. It was easier to sleep that way. “About…five. Sundancer had some. Silver, too.”

Olive wavered her hoof. “Say you all had about five each then? Rough guess.” She shrugged. “You know what that tells me? That tells me you can kill a fucklot of changelings and take very minor casualties doing it. That tells me you’re perfect for the little job I got.”

“A mission?” Dash perked up. “Should we inform Commander Spitfire first?”

“No. I don’t need a pegasus platoon, I need a small squad of elite flyers. I need you Dash. You and yours.” Smirking, she added. “And I thought you might like the chance for some revenge.”

Rainbow Dash’s ears twitched. “Oh I’m game,” she grinned. “But I really feel like we should tell--”

“Perfect!” The larger mare gave her a good-nature shove with a single, heavy forehoof. “So, here’s the rub…”

Sundancer and Daisy Chain had stuck together like glue ever since Silver’s death. As Rainbow Dash snouted open the greenish earth pony tent, she was unsurprised to see the pair of them chatting.

“Ack-tongue.” Sundancer was sitting at a plastic table, his mp-10 slung over it in parts. He was running his wing over the barrel, cleaning it expertly.

“Achtung.” Daisy corrected, which Rainbow Dash immediately recognized as the changeling language. “Attention. Atten-hut. Like that.” Daisy had taken it upon herself to become the army’s dedicated radio repair pony. On her bunk and underneath it sat various hulks and wrecks of damaged radio equipment in various stages of repair. Right now she was balancing three different really small screwdrivers in one wing and had the guts of an old short range transceiver strewn about the tent.

Sundancer sighed, leaned back and threw his hooves his head in a stretch. “Stupid language.” He complained. “I dunno how one word can mean four different things.”

“Well, ‘kind’ can mean an element of harmony or a different category of thing. Different ‘kinds’ of words.” She chuckled to herself. The pony was engrossed in her work, expertly flipping one type of screwdriver for another. Rainbow’s eyes went cross simply to imagine the sheer amount of different sizes and types of screws.

Rainbow announced herself with a slip into the tent, letting the shadow of the setting sun behind her wash over the two working ponies. “Hey, there’s our favorite loser.” Sundancer chided, albeit good-naturedly. “I coulda bought dinner with that dosh.”

“How was I supposed to know she could do a flying ninja buck?” Dash sneered back. She made her way into her own bunk, letting herself fall heavily into it with an audible ‘fwoomp’. “Celestia, it was like being kicked by a freight train.”

Rainbow spared a glance to the fourth bunk in the tent. Empty, save the radio parts that now occupied it. Then, she resolved not to look at it again.

“I meant to ask how you were,” Daisy suddenly turned after carefully arranging her collection of screws and tools upon her cot. “That looked pretty rough.”

“Eh,” Dash shrugged. “Bruised ribs. I’ll live. Probably would have broken one if not for the old gear.” Her hoof fell upon her chest armour and tapped it audibly. “Still works even after all this time.”

A sudden silence fell on the tent as both other ponies gave simple nods and grunts of acknowledgement, focusing on their individual tasks. She hooked her forehooves behind her head and let out a long, solemn sigh. “So. General Drab wants us to do something for her. I’ll be honest, I’m not a hundred percent on it.”

“A mission?” Sundancer perked up immediately. He flipped in his chair, leaning up with one hoof over the table. “When do we leave? Goddess, I’m so tired of being cooped up in this hellhole waiting on other ponies to fight my battles.”

Daisy, more cautious, could read Rainbow’s hesitance like an open book. “She wants us to do it against Spitfire’s orders.”

“Got it in one.” Rainbow sighed again, tapping her forehead with a hoof. “Technically, she does outrank Spitfire. Also technically, we’re not really an army anymore. Also technically, Spitfire never told us not to follow her orders. Also technically, Drab told me not to inform the Commander at all.”

Just like that, Sundancer had deflated, his ears falling back down against his skull. “Well shit.” He eloquently put it.

“Those two are at each other’s throats like dogs,” Daisy growled. “Now they’re roping us into politicking?”

The cyan pegasus clicked her tongue. “I dunno about any of that stuff,” Dash brushed the thought aside, moving a forehoof horizontally in front of her like she was physically moving it away. “Let’s focus on the problem right in front of us. That being, I don’t know what to do.

“And there’s another ‘complication’ as Drab put it.” She continued, and Sundancer groaned. “Apparently, this time there’s a pony volunteer regiment guarding the place.”

“So we’d be fighting other ponies.” Daisy clicked her tongue and groaned. “Nothing’s ever simple, is it?”

Dash sat up on her cot, forehooves sat between her hinds. “Like I said, I don’t know what to do. Olive says that everypony who willingly joins up with the changelings are traitors, and…we know what happens to traitors.”

The trio shared a wordless nod.

“Tartarus,” Sundancer cursed. “I signed up to fight the changelings and now they’re telling us to strafe our own kin?”

“That’s not even the worst part.” Daisy added. “How do we know these ‘volunteers’ weren’t just forced to volunteer? They could have been random ponies they plucked off the street and shoved into the military to pad a quota? Or-- or ponies who needed a job and had nowhere else to go? Celestia…” The soft cream pegasus’ voice shuddered.

“Daze.” Dash’s voice, strong and commanding, silenced her. “You can’t get caught up thinking like that, I told you. You just gotta put it out of your mind.”

The smaller pegasi’s forehooves clinked together nervously. “I know,” she said, though her voice lacked any conviction.

Rainbow cleared her throat, hooves tapping the metal cot edge. “Look, I think I’m gonna do this. But I’m not telling you to follow me. I’m not gonna ask you to kill other ponies just because Olive Drab says so. I can do this by myself.”

At that, Sundancer nickered. “Like we’d let you do it alone?” His wings rose and fell in a shrug. “If we’re going through Hell, Dash? We’re going together.”

Daisy nodded. “I wouldn’t let you go alone. Even if I don’t agree with the objective.” She spoke nervously, running her forehooves through her mane. “I just hope we get finished quickly.”

Rainbow forced a smile. While at any other time the camaraderie her friends showed would be heartwarming, now it just felt like she was manipulating them. Then again, she supposed, orders were orders.

Thunder rolled down the mountainside as Rainbow Dash lay upon a rocky outcrop. She brought a pair of binoculars up to her eyes and tried to focus through the rain, which fell like a curtain. Far, far below her a pair of pony guards in changeling grey uniforms chatted and smoked upon a concrete roof. They were sheltering in a small tin shack, glass windows, likely purpose built to look out for pegasi.

“Guess it was too much to hope they’d all be out to lunch.” Sundancer said next to her, tossing his own pair back behind him..

Dash didn’t reply. Instead, her eyes wandered the building itself. It was the biggest concrete eyesore around. It was the eye of a hurricane of steel transformers and power lines. Down in there was the target. “Security is lacking.” She said, loud enough for Daisy to hear. “Are there any surprises to worry about?”

The mare had set up her equipment back from the ledge, a transceiver and antenna hidden by rocky-camouflaged tarping which did little to abate the sideways and stinging rainfall. “This is a pretty small substation, all things considered. They might not think it’s worth devoting a lot of resources!” She had to shout over the rainfall. Then, she picked up her headset and gave a hoofs-up.

Nodding, Dash tapped Sundancer on the shoulder and beckoned him back. The trio huddled together under the tarp. “Let’s go over this one more time,” She said..

“Oh come on, I paid attention!” Sundancer smirked, rolling his eyes good naturedly.

“Even so!” Dash chided. “It’s simple in theory. According to General Drab, there’s a pipeline of natural gas running through the building. We break in, get down to the basement, and break it. Smash a valve or cut it open or something. Then, we get outside, chuck a grenade in through a window, and kaboom.”

“I got it! Kaboom bad ponies, easy enough.” Sundancer rolled his eyes.

Daisy wavered a hoof in his face. “It’s not that simple!” She lectured. “Once you open the valve, any spark you set off down there will send the whole building up. That means you if you’re still in it!”

Rainbow hooked a forehoof around his withers. “So, no gunshots or explosions until we’re clear from the building. Understood?”

Sundancer nodded, a bit reluctantly. “So we do things like you? Up close and personal?”

“Something like that!” Dash agreed. “Let’s try and keep things quiet until we’re ready to bail.”

“Roger that, ma’am.” The stallion nodded, his gaze turning back out to the buffeting rain. On instinct, he moved to shield the mares behind him with an outstretched wing. “We’re lucky for the weather. It’ll mask our hoofsteps.”

“Luck had nothing to do with it!” Rainbow answered. Her eyes fell to Sundancer’s wings for just a flash. Though she thought the gesture a bit silly, she made no effort to step beyond the wing-cover. “The general’s been planning this for weeks. I’m pretty sure our ponies made half those clouds!”

“You guys should get going!” Daisy interjected. “It’s not gonna last forever. Strike while the iron’s hot!”

Rainbow and Sundancer shared a nod. “Alright. S.O.P. from here on,” Dash commanded. “Daisy, you’re gonna have to be on overwatch this time. Can you listen to the radio and watch out for us?”

“You can count on me!” She gave another hoof up and a smile. “But, seriously guys, Sundancer, Ardy. Be careful okay?”

“I’m not planning on dying today, Squirt.” The stallion chuckled and patted her on the head.

In agreement, Rainbow extended her wings. “Not this time,” she promised. “We’re all leaving tonight, I swear.”

Sundancer’s hooves slammed into the rock in a pony clap. “Fuck yes we are!” He agreed wholeheartedly. “If I have to drag both of you out of here, we’re all leaving together.”

“Alright, alright, we love each other!” Rainbow interjected, her eyes flitting up to the overhead cloud cover. Rain came down in torrential waves, hard enough it stung her vision to look up. “Synchronize your watches on my mark, everypony!”

Under her breath, Rainbow Dash heard Daisy mutter something. “On sable wings, black as her purpose, did the night resemble…”

“Three…” Rainbow Dash and Sundancer lined up by the cliff edge. Far below, the little specks of light on the rooftop, the ponies in that tin shack laughed and joked with one another. Right now, they were playing a card game.

“Moonlit flame caught light, and She, lain low, brought down. Reckoning, absolute.”

“Two…” Both pegasi extended their wings. The rain buffeted the pair of them, their coats the only insulation against a liquid torrent. Rainbow felt the wind catch her wings. An invisible hoof, urging her to fall into the sky.

“Chaos and discord reign. From change springs the nightmare once more, raven wings ablaze in majestic light.”

“One…” Rainbow Dash had a fleeting thought. Were those ponies gamblers? Maybe they had cutie marks related to cards? Maybe they’d have been friends, if they hadn’t…No-- no, she pushed the thought aside. Just push it aside. Don’t think about it.

“Mark!” Everypony’s watch clicked in sync.

Rainbow Dash and Sundancer leapt from the ledge. Dash tapped her barrel with a forehoof, calling the stallion over. They flew wing-by-wing close enough that a less experienced pony might crash. “So listen!” She shouted over the rain. “I’m thinking we drop low in the transformers and advance in defilade from the ground! I don’t want those lookouts seeing us backlit by lightning!”

Sundancer gave an acknowledging wing shrug and flipped his wings up. His descent slowed, and he fell into formation at Rainbow’s back left.

The pair touched down in a field of metal and concrete. Rainbow hit the ground running, slamming into one of the transformers as Sundancer fell into step beside her. It was large enough to conceal them from the main building. Up close, they looked like giant metal crates. Dash’s hoof fell to her radio. “Are we good so far?”

The answer came back, garbled and staticky, but audible. “No movement yet. I’m only seeing the two guards on the roof.”

That’s good, thought rainbow, maybe they’d be able to do this without running into any ponies at all. “Copy.” She returned, flicking an ear towards Sundancer, who nodded his assent. As if putting a point on it, Rainbow Dash felt her fur stand on end and a subtle rumble of thunder. Then, hell answered from the sky as a massive rolling ‘boom’ echoed across the field. Loud enough that Rainbow felt the urge to dig a hoof into her ear at the ringing.

Just as quickly, lighting arced between the clouds above her, and the field of metal was lit in ghostly white for a nanosecond. At least they weren’t in danger of being heard.

The sheer force of that recent thunderclap caused Sperber’s desk to rattle. She arched an eyeridge, glancing up at the pony before her, who himself had turned to look out the nearby window as a flash of lightning lit a field of transformers in a flash of electric sun. Sperber had never liked storms --in fact, they nearly terrified her!-- but she put on a brave face for the pony in front of her.

“It’s just the storm, Wild. Calm down.” She spoke casually, omitting the fact that heavy storms like these were used to conceal pegasi ambushes in the war. A fact she’d learned, and been victim to, repeatedly over the years. As if to prove how nonchalant she was, the changeling reached her forehooves up and stretched skyward in a yawn. This seemed to put the pony at ease.

The earth pony’s jaw trembled, but he nodded, taking the more appropriate stance of being at attention.

“Now, what’s this about a ‘transfer?’ Sperber levitated the papers in question out onto her desk. “Let’s see…Canterlot, eh? You have a taste for high society, Gefreiter?” Smiling, she flipped them around in her magic, making a show of arching an eyeridge.

“No, kommandant.” He dipped his head. “I have family there. I want to be closer to my family.”

Sperber didn’t need to be a licensed psychologist to know a practised line when she heard it. “Do you now? That’s funny, I seem to remember a blurb in your file about having ‘no family at all.’ And while we’re at it, what’s the reason you came to me with this instead of your actual commander?”

The pony bit his inner lip. He seemed to shrink down. Perhaps this was a bit mean, but then again, he did try to lie to her. Still, deeming him sufficiently punished, she decided to lighten the mood a bit. “Was it because he is a pony hating jackass who thinks more about what looks good for him than what looks good for the Heer, by any chance?”

Not entirely off guard, the pony shrugged his withers. “He had made it quite clear I would stay exactly where I am, and his personal servant, until he said I could go.” There was a couple seconds of silence before, with a cautious smile, he added. “I don’t think he ever planned on letting me go.”

“Oh of course!” The changeling rolled her eyes. “If too many ponies put in for transfers out of his command, then he looks like an idiot who can’t command.” She took the papers in hoof, her magic gripping a pen, and quickly signed her name to them. “Well, I’d like to see him complain about it to me. I’ll kick him right in the flank.”

Taking the offered paper in hoof, Wild held it close to his chest. “Thank you so much.” He exhaled softly, seeming on the verge of tears, like he’d been holding that one in since he joined the Albionian Volunteers. “I can’t take it here anymore. He’d harvest me, then kick me out to go--”

“Excuse me?” She cut in. “I’m sorry-- he did what!? Service grants you exemption from the love harvest. Damnit.” She slumped back in her chair, forehoof coming to rest up to her temple. “I knew it was bad here, but I didn’t know how--”

Another heavy crack of thunder rattled the entire building. Sperber grabbed a pen in her magic as the vibrations threatened to send it careening down onto the wooden floor of the office. Then, she heard something else. Right at the height of the ‘boom’ a sound like…

“Did you hear…?” She didn’t have to ask. The pony’s ears flicked in the direction of the sound and he couldn’t stop himself from looking backwards.

“Shattering glass…” Both of them said in unison.

Rainbow dragged a rock over the windowsill, clearing the shards which poked dangerously upwards. It was one of those small half windows which lead right to a basement. They’d gotten lucky. She and Sundancer shared a quick nod. He turned to watch over her, and she tucked her wings in and crawled through.

She dropped onto a metal stairwell leading upwards further into the building and downwards towards her prize. A quick glance around and she beckoned silently with a hoof. Then, Sundancer slid in beside her. Both pegasi landed soft on the metal, using their wings to slow their descent.

This room was filled with machines and control panel gizmos Rainbow Dash could not make heads nor tails of beyond it looking vaguely important, lit by dull yellow overhead lights softly flickering in the storm. In here there was a constant, low hum of machinery. “It’s strange, it's so underponied…” She posted up on the stairs, drawing her knife and fixing her gaze upwards.

The stallion gave a half-hearted shrug. “Maybe they’re all asleep?” Silently, Sundancer glode downwards, flitting between metal turbines and other machinery. He called back. “Alright, we’re clear down here. You wanna just…?”

“Faster the better.” Dash nodded, reluctantly taking her eyes off the stairs and trotting into the main machine room. “We’re looking for some big pipe. Should have big ‘flammable’ warnings on it.”

Sundancer nickered. “Think I already found it,” he gestured with a wing. Upon the far wall was indeed a rather large natural gas pipe, roughly pony sized. Most telling of all, there was a big shining red band across its midsection with a burning fire symbol.

“Yep, that'll do it.” Dash cheerfully opined. “So, how do we do this? Do I just like…?” Gripping her knife in the mouth, she mimed stabbing it into the pipe. “That’s not gonna blow us all up in flames, is it?” She spoke through the grip.

Sundancer shrugged his wings. “I thought you talked this out with Drab?” He whispered in a hushed and hurried voice. “I mean, I didn’t bring any time bombs.”

“Fuck it.” She said with an eyeroll, and jammed her knife forward in a swift stabbing motion. It made a loud ‘clang!’ as her blade rebounded.

“Celestia, Dash!” Sundancer chided, glancing over his shoulder and confirming they were still, for now, unspotted.

She made little headway, so instead she went about using the back edge to saw her way through. “Should have brought a hacksaw…” she complained. This, at least, made some progress but was slow going. Still, after a couple minutes of brutally sawing her way through, she began to catch the faint scent of gas in the air.

A subtle rumble of another wave of thunder began and Rainbow could hear the entire building above her shake when a violent weather ‘crash!’ rumbled the floor beneath her hooves. She did not hear the sound of glass shattering at the apex of the thundercrack.

Sperber withdrew her hoof from the mirror, shucking shards of glass onto her office floor. “There’s definitely somepony down there,” she told the earth pony, who knelt down by the side of her door. The poor thing was clearly terrified, but she gave him the calming smile of a leader.

“R-rebels, ma’am?” His voice wavered as his hoof brushed his submachine gun. A changeling mp-10 was slung across his chest, though Sperber doubted how useful it’d be, being shot through a shuddering conscript’s mouth grip.

“Probably.” She said, with the casualness of one deciding what they’d have for dinner. She kinetically gripped her door and stepped into the open, training a hoof-gun on the stairs leading downwards. Her mauser gleamed, gunmetal in rainwater. “I’m gonna go take a look. I want you to grab everypony we got and take positions covering the basement staircase. Can you do that?”

The earth pony nodded. “All of us, ma’am?”

“Everypony we got.” She returned, grimly. “And let’s hope they’re as underprepared as we are.”

“Ja Fräu Kommandant“ A quick hoof-salute, and he slipped beyond the door, sneaking his way to the upper floors.

Using her wings, Sperber brought herself to a quiet stand, the insectoid beating quiet in the heavy patter of rain. In her mouth, she held a small shard of mirror. As the changeling neared the stairwell, she caught the sound of violent sawing. Metal on metal. Well, she thought, they must be either amateurs or supremely confident.

She stood directly over the stairwell, and, taking the shard of mirror in its very tip so that the green glow did not show upon the entire object, she dangled it over the side. There, reflected in the mirror, was the reason they were so confident.

Rainbow Dash; the element of loyalty, Adler’s assassin, the blue devil. Her breath caught in her throat and she felt her whole body seize up. If Rainbow Dash was here, then her little garrison had no chance whatsoever. If she could kill Adler, then…

Sperber had entertained elaborate revenge fantasies regarding Rainbow Dash. She’d imagined a dramatic duel, the pair of them in a field of white flowers, staining the petals red with each knife swipe where she would eventually come out on top. She would kill the pony that had herself killed so many changelings and from beyond the grave Adler would smile. But that was just a fantasy.

This was real. There was no mistaking that mane.

Sperber was going to die here.

Then, a strange feeling of zen came over her. Her duty was to the mission, but against Rainbow Dash it was doomed. Her duty instead then went to the soldiers under her charge, the ponies behind her. She glanced over her shoulder. Wild had succeeded in gathering the four left here. They’d all taken positions, each one with guns pointing at the stairs, waiting for her to lead them.

Outnumbering Rainbow Dash three to one wouldn’t be enough. If that pony beside her was even half as good as she was, it’d just be a matter of time before they…

Slowly, she hovered the shard of mirror back up, and set it softly upon the metal flooring beside her. Kardinal had taught her one thing above all else. Not every fight could be won.

She just hoped ponies hadn’t lost their sense of mercy. With another look over her shoulder, she locked sad eyes with the earth pony she’d just been talking to. Then, she turned back to the stairs and shouted down them.

“Rainbow Dash!” She heard them scramble down there, taking defensive positions. “We surrender!”

Rainbow Dash would consider herself a veteran soldier. She had fought in many battles, she had killed many more changelings. She did not think even she would be able to convince an entire squad to surrender just by showing up.

Maybe that’s why Olive Drab picked her.

Four pony soldiers. One pegasus, one unicorn, two earth. Two of them, she recognized, were the pair who’d gotten shack guarding duty. All four were lined up against the main building’s wall, drenched in rain and disarmed. One of the earth ponies was clutching a piece of paper to his breast, shielding it from the rain. She ignored that for now.

“I don’t believe you,” Sundancer prodded the changeling with the barrel of his submachine gun, all but shoving her into the wall. “There should be way more soldiers than this defending a power station. Unless you bugs really are that stupid?”

“I put in for reinforcements thrice in the past week!” She answered, rubbing her side with a hoof. “Every time I was ignored and this is what happens. Believe me, Equestrian, I am even less enthused than you.” She stood apart from the ponies, all but forcing attention to be on her. Where they cowered against the wall, she stood proudly out, daring the pair of pegasi to keep their eyes on her.

She was wearing a uniform like the last pegasus hunter, minus the armour plates. This must be the non combat outfit. Blacked out for shock value with that same blood red emblem on her right leg. A pegasus wing over crossed bones.

“I recognize that patch you’re wearing.” Dash spoke up, nudging Sundancer out of the way. “Pegasus hunter.”

“And I recognize you,” she didn’t seem perturbed that Rainbow had just noticed her gear marked her as responsible for the slaughter of at least five ponies. “Butcher. Slaughterer. Killer. Monster.”

Sundancer’s gun thwacked hard into the back of the changeling’s neck. She cried out and stumbled, lurching forward to brace a hoof against the wall. “Oh spare us the ‘we’re not so different you and I’ bullshit! How about instead we just skip to the part where you tell us everything we wanna know and I don’t cut out your fangs and wear 'em like jewelry.”

That got to her. She visibly gulped, her forehoof travelling upwards to press upon her fangs. Rainbow Dash could see her shiver.

“We’re giving you everything you want, rebel!” One of the earth ponies yelled over the storm. “You don’t have to--”

“Shut the hell up!” Sundancer drew up his submachine gun and racked the bolt. The barrel hovered over the line of ponies. Rainbow saw sheer terror in their eyes. One of them whimpered. “You fucking traitors are lucky you aren’t in bodybags right now-- not another word!”

Rainbow Dash was reminded of something from a long time ago. Back in the start of the war, a line of pony soldiers against a wall, bullet holes above the corpses. “Sundancer,” she spoke softly. “We already won. Relax.”

“Relax!?” He turned to her, a twitch in his snout. “We’re out here working our flanks off trying to save these ponies, and they go around and join with the bugs and fight against us, and you want me to ‘relax!?’ His eyes rolled. “Let’s just kill them all and be done with it.”

“Don’t!” The changeling called over her shoulder, her voice raising a few octaves. “These ponies are conscripts. These ponies are conscripts! They didn’t choose to be here, but I did. If you’re killing anyling it should be me.”

“We’re not killing anypony!” Dash nearly shouted. “Gun down, Sundancer. We don’t kill surrendering combatants.”

“The changelings did.”

“Are you a changeling, Sundancer!?”

The stallion’s gun wavered. Finally, he looked back to Rainbow Dash, whose magenta eyes were burning with conviction stronger than he’d seen in months. “No…?” He said, although with the waver in his voice, he sounded unsure.

“Well don’t turn into one!.” Dash put her hoof on the barrel of his gun and pushed it down. He wavered it there, momentarily, before letting it drop with Dash’s hoof. Huffing, he shoved his mp-10 back up to his chest, and threw it over his wing.

Sundancer’s wings flicked rainwater onto the ground. “You say that. Then next week, we learn this one wiped out a couple more of our ponies. It ain’t gonna be my fault.” Snorting, he turned and trotted a circle into the forest of metal crate transformers.

Dash turned back to the line. The farthest left was the changeling, the only one brave enough to look over her shoulder at her. Despite herself, Rainbow felt a begrudging respect. Anypony willing to die for the soldiers under her command is worthy of it. Still, she had questions, and this changeling had answers. In her buglike eyes she read a quiet thankfulness. Dash nodded. “He does raise a good point,” she dipped her snout into black of night Sundancer had trotted off into. “What’s a pegasus hunter doing all the way out here? Are you looking for us?”

“No,” She answered. Rainbow watched her closely, alert for any sign of dishonesty. “I…had some disagreements with the way the Albion garrison is running things. They stuck me out here so I wouldn’t bother the higher ups anymore,” she snickered. “Hell, maybe they stuck me out here cause they wanted you to kill me.”

Unable to detect anything, Dash watched the changeling like a hawk. She didn’t see any obvious signs of deception. “One more question. Why surrender?”

At this, the changeling closed her eyes. “I’m afraid of you,” she breathlessly answered, finally. “I know what you are. I know we’re in no shape to fight you. I know if I tried, you’d very likely win, and then you’d kill every last pony under my command, like you did to Adler. I’m not gonna waste their lives for my revenge.”

“Adler…” She tested the word. “The other hunter?”

“Yes, a friend.”

“...I’m sorry.” Rainbow, for some reason, felt the urge to say. “But he killed one of mine. I wasn’t going to let him get away with it.”

The changeling turned back to the wall. Her forehead, or rather her exoskeleton, tapped into the brickwork. It echoed, which Rainbow for some reason found kind of funny. “I’m sorry.” She returned, and Rainbow Dash was struck with the sheer absurdity of this situation.

Two creatures, on opposite sides of the war, apologizing to one another for killing each other's friends. If Twilight were here she’d probably liken this to a divine comedy.

“Alright so here’s what’s gonna happen,” the pegasus spoke, tone commanding and sure. “We’re gonna blow this building sky high. You guys,” she pointed behind her, “are gonna go stand well over there. You’re gonna lay down on the ground. You’re gonna shove your face in your forehooves, and you are not gonna look up until the whole damn building burned down. I’ve got a pony up there watching you, and if I think for a second you might have seen where we ran off to…” She let the implication hang in the air, which got a series of nervous nods from her captives.

“One more thing, changeling?” Dash commanded suddenly. “I need to speak to you privately.”

Although curious, said changeling gave a quiet nod. “It’s Sperber,” she replied. “Sparrow Hawk, in your language.”

Rolling her eyes, Rainbow Dash beckoned her to follow, stepping a good twenty or feet into the darkness of the night. “I think you were right earlier. I’m pretty sure somepony set you up.”

“Set me up?” She hovered on the leeward of one of the big metal crates. Rainbow did know they were transformers, but they just looked like crates to her.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Look, I’m not an expert. But, they put you out here with a hooffull of rookies, in an area they know the E.L.F. are operating in, guarding an important power station. With your small unit size and lack of reinforcements, it all fits. Not to mention we had intel on exactly where to go to blow you guys up.”

The changeling, or Sparrow, considered this. Her hoof tapped at the bottom of her chin. “Why are you…telling me this?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I figure if you pissed off a changeling officer you must be worth keeping around.” Then, she shook her head. “I don’t know. Consider it repayment for not making me kill anypony today.”

Sparrow faced away from Rainbow, leaning against the transformer. She sighed softly and looked over her ponies. Normally, she’d be hyper-aware of putting her back to the enemy like this, but by now she’d just stopped caring. “I’m not gonna give you anything in return for this,” she warned. “If you want me to give you intel on my allies, you can forget it.”

Rainbow’s wings shrugged. “Like I said, repayment. We’re square now.” Sighing, the pegasus stretched her wings. “Sundancer!” She called over the rain. “Time to go!” in the distance she heard an annoyed and stallionish grunt of acknowledgement. It seemed he was still in a pissy mood.

As Rainbow’s Wings extended, Sparrow spoke up again. “If I ever have the chance, Ms Dash, I will repay your mercy here.”

The pegasus smirked. “Just make sure you have a chance to. Don’t be too busy looking at us that some changeling shoots you in the back.” She gave a hoof salute and took to the sky.

Rainbow hovered above the field, watching to make sure the line of ponies moved to where she’d indicated. Then, she zipped back down to the broken window, pulled the pin on a frag grenade and chucked it in.

It was very rare for Rainbow Dash that she got to leave a mission smiling. But, as she dropped by Daisy’s ledge, sat next to her and Sundancer, and watched as that changeling power station exploded from its base and caught fire, she found herself smiling.

“I’m sorry.” Sundancer’s voice carried. He sighed indulgently and rubbed his forehead with a wing. “Out of line, I know. Questioning orders.”

“I would have thought you’d be happy, Sunny.” Daisy jostled him. “We completed the mission and none of us got hurt. That’s all that matters, right?”

“Y-yeah, I just.” He rolled his wings. “I dunno. That was our chance to get a super dangerous changeling flyer and we just…let it slip by.” He leaned back from the ledge, sighing upwards into the rain. “What happens if, tomorrow, she decides she needs to regain her honor by murdering one of our patrols? If she’s anything like that other one she could probably do that alone.”

“I think I have to answer that question with a question.” Dash thoughtfully returned. “If you’d gunned down defenseless ponies, would you be happier right now?”

Sundancer was quiet for a couple seconds. “...point.” He admitted, begrudgingly. “Ah, fuck this shit’s hard. This was alot easier when we just shot the bugs.”

Daisy quickly cut in. “It’s a good fireworks show, Ardy, but we really should go. They’ll be sending reinforcements soon.”

Nodding, Dash agreed to both of her friends. “Yeah,” she stood and let her wings extend. “Let’s go see if the Major General had any luck with her super secret mission.”

Stonewall was usually lit by the dull amber glow of ponies crowding around a myriad of little campfires. Though there was this general atmosphere of ‘this sucks’ there was a camaraderie in it. A sort of ‘at least we’re here together’ attitude. Ponies would sit with each other and laugh, they’d joke and tell war stories, and some of those stories would even be true.

From the sky tonight, the camp was dark, save for the headlights of a stolen changeling transport truck illuminating a bunch of figures lined up against the titular Stonewall. Part of an old equestrian temple, Dash assumed. Just some old ruins in the deep woods.

“Is that Drab?” From her back right, Sundancer shouted over the stinging rain. “What’s she up to?”

Rainbow squinted. Atop the truck’s hood, although her coat and the darkness meant she was camouflaged against it, she could make out the general throwing her hooves around animatedly. “Some kinda speech I guess. Wanna say hi?”

“I think I’ll just turn in for the night!” Daisy called over, positioned back left. Her brow furrowed from the effort of ferrying her radio pack. “You guys have fun!” Daisy spoke a bit too quickly. Rainbow just chalked it up to fatigue.

Sundancer and Rainbow gave Daisy a goodbye hoof-salute and banked downwards to catch the tail end of the speech.

Rainbow immediately wished she’d gone with Daisy.

“Disloyal!”

The forming crowd, at least fifty earth and unicorn ponies chanted the word like a gathering storm. Atop the truck hood, Olive Drab threw her hoof in the air and pumped it. “Traitors!”

“Traitors!” Answered the crowd, the word spreading like a virus from one pony to the next.

Rainbow’s eyes finally fell upon the line of ponies and she felt her blood run cold. There were two lines of soldiers. One, holding machine guns, wearing old Equestrian uniforms, joining in the raucous chanting.

Another, eight changeling heer soldiers and pony conscripts, pressed into the unfeeling ruin walls. It was just like at the start of the war. She found herself slowing to a hover, watching, unable to tear her eyes away. She saw the faces of the prisoners. Their expressions ranged from terror, despair, and stoic acceptance, and Rainbow Dash hated it.

“Celestia…” Sundancer whispered beside her. “They’re not gonna…”

One of the ponies shouted above the rain. Rainbow Dash couldn’t quite make out what he was saying. It was a stallion in heer gray. He seemed to be pleading. Olive Drab wore a sick and twisted smile as she ordered one of her own pony soldiers to gun him down.

Lightning cracked across the sky and thunder screamed, drowning out the cry as machine gun fire ripped the stallion’s head in two. He fell back, bloody, crimson mixing with rainwater. The gathering crowd cheered.

“Celestia!” Sundancer growled, covering his eyes with a forehoof. “Dash!” He called over the storm. “What…what’s…we--”

Rainbow Dash shook her head wordlessly.

“But we have to do something! This isn’t-- you said we shouldn’t be like--” Another gunshot cut him off. This time it hit one of the changelings. Blood spattered on the ruin wall and his body fell into the mud.

Sundancer grabbed onto her withers as he floated in front of her, hovering wings “How are we gonna sit by and watch this!?”

“Everypony here was hurt by the changelings in some way.” Dash’s voice was resigned and quiet over the storm. If Sundancer hadn’t been hovering right in front of her he wouldn’t have heard her. “I guess this is how they celebrate a victory.”

“Celebrate!?” He bore his teeth. “But you just told me--”

“I’m not their flight lead, Sundancer. I can’t stop them.”

“But--”

The line of submachine guns began to sing an aria of mad violence. Changeling manufactured bullets ripped into the remaining disarmed and surrendered soldiers. Gunfire joined with thunder as bullets slammed into the wall, spent casings clattering to the ground beneath a torrent of fire. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes.

When she opened them again the heer gray uniforms were painted lines of deep, dark red. The rain pooled like an ocean of scarlet around the gathered bodies. Then, the crowd of ponies broke out into rowdy cheers.

“Goddess,” Sundancer choked. “It’s fucking Acornage all over again.”

Rainbow saw Olive Drab look up. “Daaaash!” Apparently the gunfire had thrown enough light over the camp to make her visible. “Get your flank down here you beautiful mare!”

“You should…tell Daisy. Tell her not to come outside for a bit.” Rainbow whispered apologetically. Sundancer nodded, quickly taking wing and zipping out of sight.

Then, Rainbow brought her hover lower until she thunked onto the truck’s hoof. “Ma’am.” She threw up a hoof salute.

Olive Drab practically hugged her, and very nearly heaved her off the hood with the force of her throwing her forehoof around her barrel. “This, everypony!” She shouted, bellowing the words, and the soldiers quieted down. “This is a hero!”

Another set of cheers began to sound before she quickly quieted it by shushing with a hoof. “Because of her blowing the hell out of the local substation, my colts got in and out with the bugs none the wiser. So I’m tellin’ you, you worthless grunts! It is because of Rainbow Dash that tonight, every single objective we set out to do was completed…with no casualties!”

Her expression darkened with a lick of her lips, and she threw a hoof over her shoulder towards the ruin wall. “And we even got a few prisoners!” This earned a bunch of chuckles from the crowd which Rainbow dropped her ears at.

The ‘celebrations’ continued long into the night after that. Defying the weather, Olive Drab ordered a party. They’d broken open the old wine casks in the ruin cellar and handed out aged ancient equestrian stouts. Music was being played, ponies were laughing, singing, and dancing. As if everypony just…didn’t bat an eye at executing surrendering soldiers.

Sundancer and Daisy Chain hadn’t returned. Dash understood, but as the mare of the hour, she had an obligation. They’d expect her to regale them with the tale of her heroic victory against insurmountable odds. Instead, she just lied. Rainbow Dash’s story was that they’d snuck in, cut open the gas valve, then blown it up without ever even personally dispatching a guard.

Olive had reassured her that surely she got a few in the explosion. Dash nodded and said “I hope so.”

It was one of the worst nights of her life. Being called a hero while being responsible for an atrocity was like a great cosmic joke. As if the clouds had parted and Celestia herself had ordained it.

Some time later, Dash had managed to sequester herself from the cheering crowd and had found a hidden corner between a couple lesser used supply tents. There, she sat upon an old ammo crate, and nursed her sorrows with a dusty bottle of wine. She’d never been much of a drinker but tonight the burn was a welcome distraction.

She’d just gotten comfortable when Olive Drab tracked her down. “Dash.” The voice was commanding, and she very nearly leapt to her hooves at attention. “Are you trying to hide from us?” It accused.

Dash didn’t have the energy left to deny it, though she wanted to. Instead, she drew her eyes up into the dark clouds of the Hightower, and let out a long sigh. “I just…” She wavered, second guessing herself-- but this is what makes Equestria great. They listen to ponies when they have problems. They try to fix them. “I feel bad about…those soldiers. They surrendered. That was a-- that was a war crime, ma’am! W-with respect.”

Rainbow expected anger, but Drab only smiled. “Fire with fire, Dash. You were at Acornage, right?” Glancing over her shoulder, the earth pony slipped in between the tents and sat in front of her. It was quite cramped. “I wasn’t. But I remember the headlines. I remember the pictures.”

Rainbow, holding a bottle in her wing, cradled it to her chest like a shield between her and her superior. “I-- I guess, but aren’t we supposed to be better than them?”

“Oh!” Olive chuckled heavily. “Boy, you wouldn’t believe how many times we had this argument back in Manehattan.” The earth pony got comfortable, laying on her side, tail flicking out. “Look, whenever we take Equestria back, I give you my word things will go back to the way they were. Harmony again, right? But for right now…we can’t afford to handle war with filly’s gloves. If we let those soldiers go, they could have reported our location, and then we’d all be wiped out.”

Dash tapped her bottle with a forehoof. “I…noticed you were enjoying it.” She admitted. “You were smiling.”

Her countenance was generally stern, unmoving, and supremely confident. Yet, at that, Rainbow saw a subtle flicker of annoyance cross her features. “I was.” She admitted, leaning back. “That’s not gonna satisfy you is it?”

Suddenly nervous, Dash shook her head.

“Alright. I’m gonna tell you a story,” She sat up and brushed her withers with a hoof. “And then you’re gonna go back out there and be treated like the hero you are.” She pressed said hoof to her throat, cleared it, and began her tale.

“I was assigned to the defense of Canterlot during the war. Shining Armour had been stationed in the Crystal Empire, so the honor fell upon me. For most of the war we did practise drills and broke up drunken bar fights between Canterlonian nobility.

“But the ponies there were good ponies. They were solid soldiers, some more concerned with the privileges of rank than the responsibility, but by and large we were all dedicated to Equestria. I got to know them really well during the war. I trusted them completely. I would have gone through tartarus and back for each buck under my command.”

She dug in the ground with her hoof, drawing a big horseshoe-like ‘U’ shape. “Then we got word the line was falling back to Canterlot. We learned we, the reserve division that was essentially a glorified police force,” she tapped the interior of the ‘U’ “was going to be the last stand of Equestria. We knew, if we fell, everypony behind us was doomed.”

Outside of the horseshoe, she drew a series of smaller circles, then from those circles she drew arrows encircling the city. “Then ponies got nervous. They got scared. Started looting, stealing. We couldn’t keep order. I had nobles demanding I put soldiers by their personal homes to guard them.” She bore her teeth at the idea.

“When the bugs finally got there, it was chaos.” She criss-crossed the arrows, over the mountains behind the city. “Surrounded us on all sides. Jaegers in the mountains, armour on the field. Cut us off from the army. They knew they couldn’t take the city, so they dug in and besieged us.” She sighed, looking skyward for the stars and being met only with the overhead clouds.

“Twilight Sparkle kept herself awake for seventeen days. Celestia, I don’t know how. Magic or willpower. Her shield was the only thing giving us hope. We were paranoid, shooting each other because somepony stepped outside for a piss and we were afraid he’d come back a changeling. But we looked up at that big purple shield, proof the princess was watching over us, and we knew we’d be alright.”

“Then it fell.” She crossed an ‘X’ over an empty space in the hoofshoe. “She tried. Celestia, she tried, but the bugs just never stopped shooting. Every hour of every day there were hundreds of artillery shells landing on it.”

“The bastards gave us an ultimatum then. They knew the princess was out of juice, and they knew that we knew we didn’t have a chance. The fucking-- that changeling bastard got up on a tank and shouted through a megaphone. Told us to surrender or else they’d ‘be forced to remove us’” She rolled her eyes. “Have you ever met me, Rainbow Dash? Do you think I’d surrender?”

The prismatic pegasus shook her head in the negative.

“That’s right. So, I order us to move our supplies; fuel, food and ammunition into the mines. The plan was to retreat into the mountains and come up from under them, use the mines and tunnels to launch guerilla raids.”

Then, her hoof swiped another ‘X’ across the big empty space in the center of the horseshoe. “They couldn’t reach our supplies, so instead, they started bombing civilians.” She tapped the ground, eyes closed and looking skyward. “Massed artillery fire on civilian targets. The entire eastern section of Canterlot was turned into rubble.”

Finally, Olive Drab met her eyes once more. “I stopped counting the dead after the fifth filly corpse.” She moved her hoof, brushing her map away into the wind. “Then we had a little mutiny. Half my ponies wanted to surrender in case they bombed the rest of the city. That side won.”

Rainbow Dash felt her head in a dull buzz. “I’m…sorry.” She managed

Then, she stood, flicking her mane. “And that, Rainbow Dash, is why I am going to kill every changeling in Equestria. That’s why I’m going to take Canterlot back. That’s why I’m going to rip that fucking bug right out of his shell when I find him. And that’s why you shouldn’t feel bad when I have the traitors who serve them executed.”

Rainbow knew it was selfish, but she couldn’t stop herself. Since the war, she’d put the thoughts out of her brain. She didn’t like to imagine all the horrible situations her friends could be in, but she could not stop. “Do you know what happened to Twilight?”

“Sorry.” Olive Drab shrugged. “You’d have to ask the bugs.”

Rainbow felt her teeth grind. “Which one?”

“The one that led the Canterlot attack would be a good start.” Olive Drab darkly smiled when she saw the rage in Rainbow Dash’s eyes. “Promise you’ll do this other job for me? I’ll tell you his name.”

Rainbow Dash stood up, hoof pressed to her heart. She braced her legs in the dirt. “I swear,” she growled. “I’ll do everything I can for you.”

“No matter what spitfire says?” Olive Drab had adopted a smug smile.

“As long as it gets Twilight back.” Her cheek twitched.

Olive trotted up to her, wrapped a forehoof around her withers, and gave her a comforting, friendly pat. She leaned into Dash’s ear, and whispered in a hiss reminiscent of a wild black viper.

“Generalmajor Jachs.”

Author's Note

You may have noticed some tune ups in the earlier chapters along with this one, the description, and a new title.

I wanted to call this Pax Chrysalia originally, but I felt like my idea wasn't worthy of it. Now, I've outlined the entire story. I have a good idea of what I want to do. And I like it. I've got a surprise coming with the next chapter for you too.

As always, comments and likes convince me put pen to paper extraordinarily effectively! Thank you for your support so far I hope you'll stay with me to the end.