Chapters Once More unto the Breach
Once More unto the Breach Chapter 1
There was certainly nothing quite like it. What everypony was watching was not something that could not ordinarily be found in Equestria, because the pony it was happening to would was not usually put into this situation. Applejack was leaning over the railings of the ship, vomiting profusely, while Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie held onto her so that she wouldn’t fall into the water.
‘You know Dashie?’ Pinkie Pie asked. ‘We probably should have seen this coming’.
Rainbow Dash nodded her head in agreement.
‘Shuddup and keep holdin’ me!’ Applejack managed between rounds of vomiting. Thirty minutes later, and more than a hundred rounds of vomiting later, Applejack had finally emptied her stomach and Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie pulled her back over the railing. ‘Ah shouldn’t have eaten tha’ big breakfast’, Applejack mumbled as Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash set her down on the deck.
Rainbow Dash looked up into the air, the Equestrian steamship had already cleared the Fillydelphia harbour, and they were out in the open sea. The air was filled with the lapping of the giant paddle wheel at the stern of the ship. Looking up, the ship’s single, tall smoke stack was billowing a dark cloud of thick black smoke into the air. The deck was bustling with sailor ponies, going about their business. A few Pegasus ponies were in the process of hoisting the ship’s sails, intending to use the eastern wind for a little extra speed as the ship turned southeast, headed for port in Swan City, South Island. A journey that was due to take about twenty two days, not counting the scheduled stopover in Kaapstad, Zhosa-Borwa.
Rainbow Dash was a little disappointed that the trip was going to take that long, she liked going fast, and she could probably fly there in half that, maybe even less. Ships were hardly the fastest form of travel in the world, but there were some ships that were faster than others. That was what Rainbow Dash had liked about HMSIS Dash , the South Island corvette that had ferried Rainbow Dash and her friends, along with Fusilier Benjamin Willoughby to Trotterdam, though Rainbow Dash figured that they also weren’t going quite as far then, which is why that trip had only taken four days.
The ship that they were one now, the Canterlot , was an Equestrian registered steamship, normally ferrying cargo and things between ports, they had already been headed for South Island when Princess Luna had requested that they come along. Captain Farragut could hardly say no, and the steamship had taken on passengers.
Applejack was lying on her back on a chair trying not to look out at the open ocean; Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow in confusion.
‘Hey, AJ? What’s the matter? I didn’t think you were afraid of water or anything’.
‘It ain’t tha water, tha water’s fine, i’s tha lack o’ land fer hundred o’ kilometres’, Applejack said.
‘Hundreds? AJ, you’ve got no sense of scale. It’ll be thousands!’ Rainbow Dash said. She realised instantly that probably wasn’t going to help.
‘Th... thousands?’ Applejack said as she sat up, she looked out at the ocean, the Equestrian coast line was already behind the horizon and no longer visible. Applejack became incredibly dizzy and passed out on the deck chair.
Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but feel guilty about it and left Applejack alone. Rainbow Dash had already screwed things up between her friends enough.
Rarity and Fluttershy had taken to sitting on the forward deck watching as the Canterlot cut through the water, Fluttershy however, quickly became distracted and turned her head towards the smoke stack, becoming concerned that the smoke from the smoke stack wasn’t helping the environment, and likely would have entered a full on panic had Rarity not reminded her that, if anything, the carbon dioxide that the smoke stack was pumping out would be recycled into oxygen by the world’s population of trees. Fluttershy’s panic quickly subsided and she became adamant that she would plant several trees when getting home.
Pinkie Pie had taken a place on the aft deck, wishing that Twilight Sparkle were here to join them. Twilight had always talked about how she wanted to go to South Island one day, and here they were, bound for Swan City to meet up with Vinyl Scratch, Surprise, and Whirlwind. Pinkie Pie couldn’t help but feel sad, she wished Twilight was here.
Pinkie Pie’s mane and tail had still yet to return to its normal curly mess. Her mane and tail were still straighter than straight since that night Twilight had hit her. Pinkie Pie had seen what had happened to Twilight first-hoof. They needed to save her from the Tome of Alhazred and the sooner the better. Pinkie Pie couldn’t help but wonder what if they couldn’t save her? What if Twilight would never be able to go back to normal?
Pinkie Pie shook those thoughts from her head, she needed to stay positive... stay positive... stay positive... staying positive had never been so hard for the pink party pony. Pinkie Pie couldn’t get Twilight Sparkle out of her mind, and she hoped that Twilight would be okay.
Things got easier for Applejack after four days into the journey. She was able to look out onto the horizon without getting seasick.
And on the fifth day, it began to rain.
‘Ohhh... I say! Whose idea was it to schedule a storm in our path while we’re sailing!?’ Rarity cried out in frustration as she scampered about the deck holding her comically large sunhat down with her magic, lest it get blown off by the wind.
‘Weather doesn’t get managed this far out, we’ll just have to keep on trucking and ride it out!’ one of the Pegasus sailors, a white coated, grey maned Pegasus named Fairfeathers said as he and some of the other sailors pulled down the sails. The sails of the Canterlot were successfully stowed, and the crew and her passengers scampered down into the lower decks into the crew quarters at the forefront of the ship.
It was about this time when Pinkie Pie noticed, they were missing one, Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be found, Pinkie Pie attached an umbrella to her back and trotted back up to the deck. Low and behold, she discovered Rainbow Dash was sitting on the forward deck.
Pinkie Pie trotted over to her and extended the umbrella over her friend’s head. ‘Dashie? What are you doing up here?! Aren’t you cold?’ Pinkie Pie asked.
Rainbow Dash turned to Pinkie Pie and shook her head in the negative. ‘No, I’m fine! Really! I... just... I’ve just been thinking that’s all’.
Pinkie Pie sat down next to Rainbow Dash and adjusted the umbrella in a vain attempt to keep the both of them dry, eventually, Pinkie Pie gave up and did away with the umbrella all together. ‘What’s going on Dashie?’
‘It’s... about what happened with me and Twilight’, Rainbow Dash said.
‘Dashie! It wasn’t your fault! The book tricked you! You didn’t cheat on Twilight’, Pinkie Pie said, putting her hoof around her friend. ‘Stop beating yourself up! It’s not your fault!’
‘It is though Pinkie!’ Rainbow Dash said. ‘Don’t you get it? Yeah, it wasn’t real, but I would have done the exact same thing if it had been real. That book used how I felt about Whirlwind against me... and now Twilight... Twilight’s gone, it’s still my fault’.
Pinkie Pie couldn’t help but frown. ‘Dashie...’
‘So I’ve been thinking, even when... if... we save Twilight from that book, I’m pretty sure she and I are done’, Rainbow Dash said with a frown, Pinkie Pie could tell that Rainbow Dash was beginning to cry, despite the fact that rain water was splashing against her face. ‘I... Pinkie, I know how you feel about Twilight, so when we get her back... if you want to go for her, I won’t mind. You’ll be good to her, I know you will, you’ll be what she needs’.
‘Dashie! Don’t say that! You still have a chance, once she knows the truth about what happened... she’ll take you back! I know she will’ Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
Rainbow Dash turned and looked Pinkie Pie right in the eyes and frowned. ‘I don’t want her to take me back Pinkie... here’s the thing, let’s say that roles were reversed, you were Twilight’s marefriend, and you cheated on her. I wouldn’t have been able to be there for her like you were, I couldn’t have been. I’m... I’m not cut out for that kind of thing Pinkie; I wouldn’t know what to do... When me and Twilight first got together, I wasn’t looking for a relationship, neither was she, it just sort of fell onto us, and I can’t be the one she needs in that situation... so Pinkie Pie, I need you to take good care of Twilight when we get her back... okay?’
Pinkie Pie didn’t get a chance to respond, the entire ship leached, they hit something, and it sent the ship rocking. Pinkie Pie lost her balance and slid along the deck of the ship and tumbled over the railing and head first into the dark water.
‘Pinkie!’ Rainbow Dash cried out. ‘Pinkie!’ she called again. Rainbow Dash couldn’t see her, it was too dark. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw something pink bobbing in the water. Pinkie Pie surfaced and was struggling to keep her head above the rough water. ‘Hang on Pinkie! I’m coming!’
Rainbow Dash spread her wings and leapt over the side of the ship, making her way to Pinkie Pie’s struggling figure in the dark water. That was when Rainbow Dash saw what they had hit. It was an iceberg; the head of it just barely sticking out of the water, there was no way that any of them would have been able to see it before. It had torn a gash into the starboard side of the ship. Rainbow Dash reached Pinkie Pie and grabbed her with her forelegs.
‘Dashie!’ Pinkie Pie cried out.
‘Pinkie Pie! On three, I need you to kick as hard as you can, you hear me?’ Rainbow Dash cried out. Pinkie Pie nodded in affirmation. ‘On three... one... two... three!’ Rainbow Dash began to flap her wings as hard as she could, and Pinkie Pie kicked her legs as hard as she could, the two mares rocketed out of the water and into the air. Rainbow Dash set them down on the deck, when they noticed that the ship was listing.
‘We’re sinking!’ Rainbow Dash cried out. ‘Come on! We have to get everypony out of the lower decks!’
The two mares raced over to the access port for the lower decks and threw open the doors. Much to their dismay, the compartment below had already filled up with water.
The Canterlot had three compartments, the forward compartment was crew quarters, the middle was cargo and deck access, the aft was the engine room. The middle compartment was flooded with water, and they had no way of getting the trapped crew and their friends out.
‘We’ve got to do something!’ Rainbow Dash cried out and raced back to the forward deck of the ship and started pounding on the deck, hoping to break through, but getting nowhere at the same time.
Pinkie Pie began to smile. ‘Dashie! Stop! Wait right there!’ She cried out and scampered off to the aft end of the ship, returning only a moment later with a leather briefcase.
‘Pinkie Pie... this is no time to screw around!’ Rainbow Dash cried out at her. Pinkie Pie opened up the brief case to reveal what looked to be dynamite in the shape of bricks. ‘Pinkie Pie!? What are you doing with those!?’
‘Hey?! What was I supposed to do if I needed to throw an impromptu party on this trip!?’ Pinkie Pie reasoned. Rainbow Dash merely facehoofed.
‘Pinkie Pie! I applaud you for your thinking, but it’s pouring down rain out here! You can’t light a fuse for that dynamite here!’ Rainbow Dash said.
‘You’re right!’ Pinkie Pie said cheerfully. ‘But this isn’t dynamite! This is something I like to call, Composition B!’ Pinkie Pie took two bricks of the stuff and began to flatten it onto the deck in a wide enough pattern to blow open a whole.
‘Pinkie Pie!?’ Rainbow Dash cried out. ‘Is that safe?!’ Rainbow Dash cried out.
‘Sure is!’ Pinkie Pie said. ‘It’s totally safe; it won’t blow up until it gets charged with electricity! Then we can save everypony!’ Pinkie Pie cried out with enthusiasm. Her plan was solid, she was going to save everypony below deck and she knew it. Pinkie Pie’s mane and tail poofed back into their normal shape. Pinkie Pie felt it and smiled brightly.
‘Okay... but where are we going to get electricity to blow it up!?’ Rainbow Dash asked.
‘I... don’t know’, Pinkie Pie admitted nervously. A bolt of lightning cracked through the sky, followed by a quick burst of thunder, the two mares looked at each other and began to grin brightly. They had an idea. Pinkie Pie dug through the case with her explosives and brought out a spool of wire and stuck one end in the explosive that she’d stuck to the deck and gave the spool to Rainbow Dash. ‘Take this up to the top of the smoke stack and make sure the metal bits are touching metal. We can use the smoke stack as a giant lightning rod!’
‘I’m on it!’ Rainbow Dash cried out as she flew up to the top of the smoke stack. She got to the end of the spool and bit off the rubber coating at the end of the wires and began to wrap it to one of the smoke stack’s rivets. She weaved to Pinkie Pie that she had gotten it set up, Pinkie Pie waved back in acknowledgement that Rainbow Dash could come down.
No sooner than that did Lightning strike the smoke stack. The plan worked, the electric current travelled down through the wiring and blew open a hole in the deck. Pinkie Pie smiled brightly, but that was when her tail began to twitch. Something was falling from the sky.
Pinkie Pie looked up to see that Rainbow Dash was falling, she must have been too close to the hit when it happened and sent her tumbling. Pinkie Pie leapt into action, literally leaping into the air and catching Rainbow Dash on her back.
‘Pinkie!’ Rainbow Dash cried out in a sigh of relief. ‘You saved me!’
‘Uh huh!’ Pinkie Pie said brightly. ‘Now let’s save everypony!’
The two mares trotted back over to the hole that they opened up and looked inside, the entire crew, along with Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Spike, and Princess Luna were all standing in the centre of the room, which was knee deep in water.
‘Come on everypony! The ship’s sinking! Let’s get to the lifeboats!’ Pinkie Pie called out.
They needed no encouragement, one at a time they all filed out of the room and onto the deck, the crew rushed to get the lifeboats ready for launch. Rarity and Fluttershy leapt at Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash for saving them, giving them tight hugs.
‘Quickly! To the lifeboats!’ Fairfeathers cried out.
Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and the rest of their friends quickly piled into one lifeboat as the crew lowered it into the water. Princess Luna and Rarity took the oars in their magic and began to row away from the sinking Canterlot . They could only watch in horror as the ship continued to sink, eventually slipping under the water completely, never to be seen again.
‘Do you see any of the other lifeboats!?’ Rarity cried out.
‘Nope! Not a one!’ Applejack cried out as she looked around.
They all huddled together, holding onto each other as if their lives depended on it. Soon enough, the storm subsided, and the boat of ponies began to drift away into the night.
Once More unto the Breach
Chapter 2
The lifeboat drifted for most of the night, the rain didn’t let up for what felt like days. Eventually, however, the rain subsided, and passengers of the sole lifeboat considered themselves lucky that they were all still together and safe.
‘Does anypony see any of the other lifeboats?’ Rarity asked as she poked her head up and looked out into the open ocean. All of them looked around and were not able to see anything.
‘Oh I hope that they’re all right!’ Fluttershy said.
‘They’ll be fine, we went down near a busy local shipping lane, and they’ll get picked up by someone’, Princess Luna reassured her. ‘It won’t be long until we get picked up as well, I would suggest that we all try to get some sleep, we will need our strength in the morning’.
Everypony nodded and did their best to go to sleep.
Princess Luna frowned, she didn’t like lying to her friends, but the last thing they needed right now was a panic. Luna had no idea where they were, she couldn’t see the sky through the thick cloud cover, and she needed to see the stars in order to determine where she was. This wasn’t Equestria, there were no pegasi keeping the skies clear for such this purpose. Their best hope was that the currents would take them into the path of a patrolling Cheval warship; they were closer to their land at this point than anyone else.
Princess Luna sat down in the boat and spread her wings over the lifeboat to keep everypony warm, and soon enough found herself drifting off to sleep.
...
Everypony in the lifeboat was shaken awake at the loud crunching sound as the lifeboat came to a violent stop. They all sat up and discovered that they had run aground on an island beach. Everypony quickly climbed out of the lifeboat and drug it up onto the shore. Applejack in particular, was happy to be on dry land again, but the sudden transition from water to land was mildly disorienting for the earth pony, and she felt incredibly dizzy upon making land fall.
Applejack quickly recovered and shook the disorientation from her. ‘Okay! At leas’ we’re not gonna drown’, Applejack said, she looked around, all of her friends were wearing saddlebags which were mostly full. ‘Okay, everypony, dump out yer saddlebags, let’s see wot we gots ta work with here’.
They all walked up the beach, away from the tides as they crashed upon the shore and dumped out their saddlebags into a pile.
Applejack sorted through the pile and began looking at what they had, most of it was junk, there were a few scraps of food, three water bottles, Pinkie Pie’s briefcase full of explosives, a compass, and... ‘Okay, Ah gots ta ask, who does tha machete belong ta?’ Applejack asked, taking the long knife in her teeth.
Everypony looked around each other, they all were ignorant of who the machete belonged to, until Fluttershy raised a hoof. ‘It’s mine’.
Everypony raised an eyebrow at Fluttershy, who was the last pony they expected to own a tool like this. ‘Fluttershy? Why do ya have a machete?’ Applejack asked.
‘Sometimes, I need to go out into help a sick or hurt animal, and sometimes I need to cut through thick foliage! Uh... though, you all can use it if you want to...’ Fluttershy said meekly.
Pinkie Pie leaned close to Rainbow Dash. ‘Does it bother you that Fluttershy owns a machete?’ she asked.
‘More than you will ever know’, Rainbow Dash returned.
The hubbub about the machete died back down, and Applejack went back to sorting the useful from the not useful. Pinkie Pie looked up to see that Princess Luna was standing by herself looking up into the sky at the edge of the water. Pinkie Pie trotted over to her and sat down next to the Princess of the Night, offering her a pleasant smile.
‘Hi!’ Pinkie Pie said cheerfully. Princess Luna glanced at her for a moment before offering a response.
‘Hello’, Princess Luna said plainly.
‘Watcha doing?’ Pinkie Pie asked.
‘Well, I was trying to determine where we were... but that is proving to be futile, the clouds are thick, and I can’t even see the sun to know which direction is what’, Princess Luna said.
‘Oh! Okay...’ Pinkie Pie said.
Luna said nothing in response, Pinkie Pie waited a few moments before speaking again.
‘You’re... you’re not still mad at that whole Nightmare Night thing, are you?’ Pinkie Pie asked.
‘Of course not, I was never mad; I was simply putting on a show, doing what would be expected of one in my position, none of you remembered yet, after all’, Luna said, and lowered her voice slightly, more complaining to herself than to Pinkie Pie. ‘That, and Tia failed to understand that I was in the middle of something, “Luna! Get out more”, and “Luna! Ponyville is celebrating Nightmare Night, go have fun!” and “If you do not leave this castle of your own volition, I am throwing you from the top of the tower and locking the windows behind you, you have wings, you will be fine”’.
Pinkie Pie wasn’t sure how to respond to that, and instead, changed the subject.
‘Well, if you want to know the direction? Why don’t you use the compass that we have?’ Pinkie Pie asked.
‘Ahh... yes, the compass... well, see, if we are where I think we are... it would be best if you looked at the compass yourself’, Luna said. Pinkie Pie was more than a little confused, but turned to Applejack and called out to her to toss the compass over. Applejack obliged her and Pinkie Pie spread out her forelegs and caught the device expertly, she prodded at it, opening it and taking a close look. The compass was spinning around and around, Pinkie Pie watched it for a few minutes before she started to feel dizzy and quickly closed it and looked back to Princess Luna. ‘Now you see the dilemma’, she said. Pinkie Pie nodded, and got up to follow Princess Luna as she trotted back over to the rest of the group.
‘Everypony’, Princess Luna said, calling attention to the group who was still sorting through supplies. ‘Divide yourselves up into teams, we need to focus on the essentials, food, drinking water, and shelter, I will be back here tomorrow morning’.
‘Hey!’ Rainbow Dash cried out. ‘Where are you going?’
Princess Luna pointed a hoof upwards. ‘Up there’, she said, everypony turned and looked to discover a tall mountain in the background. ‘I am going to climb up the mountain, I should reach there by nightfall, and then I can use the positions of the stars to determine where exactly we are’.
‘Climb?’ Rainbow Dash asked. ‘You’ve got wings! You’re going to WALK?’
‘Yes’, Princess Luna said. ‘If we are, where I think we are, the last thing any of us will want to do is fly’, Princess Luna turned and looked directly at Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. ‘This goes for both of you; I want you to keep your hooves planted firmly on the ground until I return’.
‘What? Why? What’s so special about this island that we can’t fly?’ Rainbow Dash asked.
‘I do not want you all to get worked up if it turns out I am wrong...’ Princess Luna said, quickly being interrupted by Rainbow Dash.
‘Aww... come on!’ Rainbow Dash said.
‘Rainbow Dash’, Princess Luna said, her voice growing stern. ‘I am asking you, not as your princess and ruler, but as your friend, I need you to trust me. Please, do not fly, for any reason, not until I return’.
Rainbow Dash frowned at Princess Luna but eventually gave her a huffy ‘fine’, and turned her attention back to the supplies. Applejack started to divvy out the work amongst the group as Luna trotted away from their crowd and towards the jungle. Pinkie Pie chased after her and quickly caught up.
‘You want somepony to go with you?’ Pinkie Pie asked.
‘No’, Luna said. ‘That’s quite all right, I will be faster on my own, and the others could use your help here’.
‘But... won’t you get lonely?’ Pinkie Pie asked with a frown.
Princess Luna turned to her and offered her a smile. ‘Pinkie Pie, I thank you for your concern, however, I will be fine, I have endured not only one exile upon the moon, but two. Once in the old world, and once in the new, if anything, I am used to being alone’.
Pinkie Pie frowned. ‘That’s exactly the reason why you shouldn’t go by yourself now! You don’t have to be by yourself! You’ve got your friends with you!’
Princess Luna studied the pink party pony for a moment. ‘You are just going to follow me even if I tell you not to, aren’t you?’
‘Yep!’ Pinkie Pie proclaimed cheerfully.
‘Fine...’ Luna said, eventually giving in.
‘YAY!’ Pinkie Pie called out. ‘Everypony, I’m going with Princess Luna to climb the mountain!’
Applejack nodded her head at Pinkie Pie, and the pink party pony turned back to Princess Luna and offered her a bright smile. ‘Let’s go!’
Princess Luna nodded, and the princess and the pink party pony both disappeared into the jungle.
Once More unto the Breach
Chapter 3
Applejack took a deep breath, turned on her heels and kicked a bamboo plant as hard as she could, to send the plant toppling to the ground. Rarity caught the plant in her magic and she dragged it down to the beach where Rainbow Dash, machete in teeth was chopping it into manageable bits.
Rarity was beginning to get upset, the reality of their situation was beginning to set in. ‘What if nopony knows that we’re missing! I’m sure nopony thought to send out a cry for help over the wireless before the ship sank! What if nopony ever finds us!? What if we’re trapped on this island forever?! I don’t think I could stand it!’
This went on for a couple of minutes or so, and while Rarity didn’t actually stop working, and her incessant panicking didn’t really affect her work, it was starting to get on Applejack’s nerves.
‘RARITY!’ Applejack cried out to her. ‘Calm down will ya! We’re gonna be fine, so quit yer whining!’
Rarity glanced at Applejack with annoyance. ‘I am not whining! I am worrying! You want to see whining?’ Rarity asked, changing the pitch of her voice several octaves higher. ‘Thissssss is whining! Oh my Celesttttiiiaaaa! We’re going to be stuck on this island foreverrrrr! Somepony dooo somethingggggg!’
Applejack was beginning to get frustration, and Rainbow Dash quickly moved in between the two of them. ‘Okayyy... Hey, Rarity? How about you take Fluttershy and Spike and go look for some food? I know I’m getting pretty hungry, AJ and I can manage here for a while’.
‘Ah can’t think o’ a better idea’, Applejack said sarcastically as she turned around and brought another bamboo plant to the ground.
‘All right, we won’t go far’, Rarity said. She waved to Fluttershy and Spike and the trio trotted off into the jungle. ‘Oh... Applejack gets me all hot and bothered sometimes, that uncouth excuse for a mare! Somepony needs to teach her a thing or too’.
‘Don’t let her bother you Rarity’, Spike said as he kept pace along side. ‘We’re all under stress, once we get a roof over our heads and some food in our bellies, we’ll be a lot better off’.
‘Oh, I hope so’, Rarity said, looking up into the trees, her expression turned bright and she smiled at Fluttershy and Spike. ‘Look! Food!’
...
Rainbow Dash and Applejack had nearly completed work on their shelter, they’d gathered enough bamboo, and Rainbow Dash was finishing it cutting them up, while Applejack was tying them together. Rainbow Dash swung the machete hard, embedding it in the bamboo and looking up to Applejack.
‘Hey AJ? I know you and Rarity like to butt heads every now and then, but you think you can try to put it aside? It’s not helping, we’re all worried about being stuck here, and fighting isn’t going to make it any better’, Rainbow Dash said.
Applejack raised an eyebrow. ‘Since when did ya become tha voice o’ reason?’ she asked.
‘Heh, yeah, I know right? You know things are tough when I’m the voice of reason around here’, Rainbow Dash said with a chuckle. In the distance, they heard a twig snap and they turned to the jungle. ‘You came back awfully quick Rarity; I hope you got plenty of food!’ Rainbow Dash cried out, the Pegasus mare was more than just a little hungry, she was starving. Damn her pegasi metabolism! Rainbow Dash didn’t get a response. ‘Rarity?’ Rainbow Dash asked again, trotting over to the edge of the jungle and peering in. ‘Rarity? Where are you?’
Rainbow Dash was caught off guard when the wind rushed in her face as a gunny sack was forced over her head. Rainbow Dash cried out in surprise, but felt something kick her in the side.
Applejack let out a scream, Rainbow Dash could only imagine that something similar was happening to her. Rainbow Dash struggled to get free, but whoever this was was prepared, Rainbow Dash felt a rope being tightened around her neck and another being coiled around her wings. Whoever was on the other side of the hessian cloth gave the rope around Rainbow Dash’s neck a hard tug, partially closing off the pegasi’s airway and making it difficult for her to breath. The rope tugged again, slightly more gently this time; obviously, their captors meant them to walk. Not seeing much of a choice, Rainbow Dash went along with it; she did intend to kick the flanks of whoever it was.
...
Princess Luna and Pinkie Pie had taken a five minute rest, they’d been walking for several hours at this point and both of them were more than a little tired. They had all slept poorly last night while drifting in the lifeboat.
Pinkie Pie was hungry, more than anything else, she’d been keeping an eye out for any tropical fruits that she could eat, but so far, had yet to find anything, making matters worse, the further along they went the jungle seemed to get thinner. Made sense, she supposed, there wasn’t a lot of room for a jungle to grow on the side of a mountain. Pinkie Pie looked back over to Princess Luna, the royal mare was glancing around cautiously at their surroundings, like she was expecting someone, or something to come.
‘Princess Luna?’ Pinkie Pie asked. ‘Where is it that you think we are?’
‘I...’ Princess Luna began, her voice beginning to trail off. ‘I don’t know... Pinkie Pie, you have to understand, I’m a princess, I’m your ruler, I have to act like I know what I’m doing even when I don’t! Keeping morale up is very important if we’re going to survive here. If it looked like, even for a second, that I was losing hope, it would be detrimental to the well being of our friends...’ Luna said. ‘I expect that you’ll be keeping this a secret’.
Pinkie Pie nodded, dragging her left hoof across her mouth, flicking her wrist gently she then got to her hooves and began to drag her hooves back and forth against the ground. She touched her nose to the spot on the ground, and began to rub her hooves back over the spot again, she than sat down on the spot and drew a box with a point at the top around herself in the air.
‘So... does that mean you won’t be telling the others?’
‘Uh, yeah! Obviously that's why I... zipped my mouth closed, then locked it with a key, then dug a hole, then buried the key, then built the house up top of the hole where I buried the key, and then moved into the house on top of the hole!’ Pinkie Pie said offering the princess a bright smile.
‘Obviously...’ Princess Luna said, rolling her eyes slightly and beckoning for Pinkie Pie to follow.
Pinkie Pie respected Princess Luna’s request, and did not ask any more of it. She did know, however, that there was more to it than what Princess Luna was telling her. Pinkie Pie knew she was holding something back, but Princess Luna was not only the leader of her country, but also her friend, she would respect her friend’s wishes. A couple hours later, and still a long way to go, Pinkie Pie had become distracted, she was so hungry and looking around for anything that she could eat. Princess Luna trotted on in front, seemingly undaunted by any sort of physical or mental hindrances, like hunger.
Pinkie Pie trotted along behind at a somewhat slower pace. She was so hungry, and she had yet to notice that she was falling behind. Then, out of the corner of Pinkie Pie’s eye, she spotted something white lying on the ground. Pinkie Pie turned to look. Her eyes widened with joy and her belly rumbled again with hunger. Mushrooms! There were white mushrooms growing on the island! Pinkie Pie was so hungry that she trotted over to the mushrooms and picked one, taking it into her mouth without a second though and chewing it up for a few moments, savouring the delicious taste of the mushroom, eventually swallowing it.
It was so good that Pinkie Pie picked another one, and gave it the same treatment, and another one after that, and another one, and another one, and another one.
‘Pinkie Pie! Where are you? Come along now! Please, we’re almost there and we can’t afford to get separated in the dark!’ Princess Luna called out to her.
Pinkie Pie frowned, but picked one last mushroom, giving it a quick chew and swallow before bouncing back into Princess Luna’s view.
‘There you are!’ Princess Luna said. ‘I know you’re hungry, and I have some good news! I found a pear tree, I’ve got one here for me, and another for you, if you’d like’.
‘Oh! No thank you, I’m actually not all that hungry anymore, you can go ahead and eat both!’ Pinkie Pie said with a smile.
Princess Luna raised an eyebrow. ‘Are you sure?’ she asked.
Pinkie Pie nodded again in affirmation, causing Princess Luna to shrug, but regardless, she took a bite into the pear and the two continued along their way up the mountain.
Once More unto the Breach
Chapter 4
Rarity looked up into the trees above to the most wonderful sight. A tropical pear tree filled with nearly twenty of the most delicious looking fruit that they had ever seen. Sweet Apple Acres, eat your heart out. Rarity was grinning brightly and giggling madly with glee. Food! They were all so hungry, and here it was right before them. Rarity reached out with her magic, enveloping one of the fruits and giving it a tug.
Much to her surprise, it did not budge; Rarity gave another tug, still nothing. Rarity's stuck her lower lip out, making a quiet noise of frustration. 'It won't budge!' Rarity pouted. The effectiveness of her magic must have waned from being hungry. 'Ohhh Spikey-wikey!' Rarity sang as she turned to the baby dragon that was looking up into the tree, mesmerised by the pears.
'Huh?' Spike asked, having his attention broken and turned to Rarity. 'Y... yes Rarity?'
'Be a dear, climb up into that tree and get some of those pears down for us', Rarity said, batting her eyelashes at the baby dragon and giving him a warm smile. 'Pretty please?'
'Oh! Of course I will Rarity! Give me just a tick!' Spike said as he got a running start, he jumped into the air and grabbed a hold of the pear tree, climbing up into the thick leaves and out of the mare's view.
'Um... Rarity? I don't think Applejack even likes pears', Fluttershy said.
'Applejack doesn't like anything that isn't an apple!' Rarity said. 'She'll get over it if she's hungry enough... I know I am...'
A twig snapped behind them. Rarity and Fluttershy jumped slightly, and turned to look at the source of the sound. To their surprise there was a person behind them.
Behind them was a grey coated Pegasus mare, looking to be about the same age as Rarity, her eyes were a deep blue, and her mane was a brilliant emerald. She had no cutie mark, but was perhaps the most noticeable feature about her was the fact that she was wearing a schäferhund storm harness with a rifle clipped into it. The look in her eyes was one of shock; clearly she'd been trying to take them by surprise.
The Pegasus mare began to shout at them. At first it was not clear what she was saying, Rarity cocked her head in confusion, and then she realised that the mare was speaking in another language.
'Qui êtes-vous? Comment avez-vous arrivé ici?!' She cried out to them.
Rarity recognised the language as cheval, though that didn't really help them. Because neither she nor Fluttershy knew a few words in it, but they weren't very good, and not enough for them to understand what she was saying. 'Uh... Nous... Amiez... Vous?' Rarity tried, knowing full well that she had butchered the language into practical gibberish.
The mare was beginning to get frustrated, she gestured forward, the storm harness automatically cocked the rifle and brought it to bear on them. 'Débiles! Vous avez besoin de courir! J'essaie de vous aider!'
'Uh... Rarity?' Fluttershy asked. She was beginning to panic.
'I tried to tell her we're friendly!' Rarity said, beginning to get just as hysterical. 'Clearly it didn't work'.
Far off into the distance, they heard muffled shouting in cheval. The Pegasus mare face turned to panic. 'Les prisonniers!' she cried out, turning back to Rarity and Fluttershy, pointing her rifle directly at them. 'Marche!' she cried out.
Rarity and Fluttershy understood that perfectly. The mare began running toward them, and Rarity and Fluttershy took off in front of her.
Spike poked his head below the tree cover, he was holding an armful of pears, and he climbed down from the tree only to discover that he was alone. ‘Uh? Rarity? Fluttershy? Where did you go?’
Spike shrugged; maybe they had gone on to find more food? Spike didn’t know he figured it would be best to head back to camp with what he had; it wasn’t like he could carry any more than he already had to begin with.
...
Princess Luna was beginning to get annoyed with Pinkie Pie; the pink party pony wasn’t even trying to keep up anymore. She was lagging behind stopping to ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ at everything. Princess Luna half considered leaving her behind. She quickly shook the thought from her mind. She was frustrated, frustrated at the situation, not at Pinkie Pie. Being frustrated at the situation didn’t give her the right to be mean to Pinkie Pie. Princess Luna turned back to Pinkie Pie. The pink party pony was swaying gently back and forth looking up at the sky and smiling brightly.
‘Pinkie Pie?’ Princess Luna asked.
Pinkie Pie didn’t respond, instead she let out a scream and dove to the ground. ‘BATS! Get them away from me!’
Luna didn’t understand, there was nothing there.
Pinkie Pie lay on the ground wildly swinging her hooves, from her point of view, hundreds of brightly coloured bats were flying at her, she did everything she could to try and shoo them away, but they just kept coming. What made matters worse, closing her eyes didn’t seem to help. She could still see the bats plain as day even with her eyes closed. Pinkie Pie began to cry, she wanted it to stop.
‘Pinkie Pie! There are no bats!’ Princess Luna called out to her,
Pinkie Pie opened her eyes back up and discovered that this was in fact the truth; bats were no longer flying at her. Instead, a giant sewing need fell from the sky impacting the ground right next to Pinkie Pie’s head. Pinkie Pie watched as it sank into the ground and disappeared; she turned her head back up to discover another one coming right for her. Pinkie Pie rolled out of the way and the needle just barely missed her. Soon afterwards, another came, and another, and another, and Pinkie Pie began rolling around on the ground, fighting for her very life itself, in her mind, a hit from just one of these needles was sure to spell death to her. Pinkie Pie accidentally rolled into the path of one of the needles; it went right through her and kept on going. Pinkie Pie let out a scream, not in pain, but in surprise. The act had not actually hurt her, but the pink party pony was frightened none the less.
Tree roots sprouted out of the ground. Wrapping around her fore and hind legs and pinning her to the ground. Pinkie Pie struggled to free herself but the roots wouldn’t budge, there was a flash of bright light in the distance, and Pinkie Pie noticed a figure walking towards her. It was a pony, but unlike any normal pony in the world. This pony was three metres tall, a unicorn’s horn, and wings. The wings were unfolded, with a span of about five metres.
Pinkie Pie looked up at the creature as it closed on her. She noticed more features about it. The Alicorn before her had a grey coat, and an equally grey mane, cropped short, but what was the most noticeable feature was the eyes. They were blood red.
‘Overdrive’, Pinkie Pie cried quietly, trying to shield herself from him, but she was unable to look away, the tree roots were still holding.
Overdrive’s piercing red eyes bored through the pink party pony and he gave her a sadistic sneer. ‘You belong to me now!’ he said.
Pinkie Pie screamed and knew nothing more.
...
Princess Luna stood over Pinkie Pie, holding her down to keep her from struggling as she pressed her horn to the pink party pony’s head, sending her to sleep. She couldn’t stand to see her in the state she was in. Pinkie Pie was clearly hallucinating, but what had caused it?
Princess Luna looked to Pinkie Pie’s fallen saddlebags, and opened them up. She discovered the culprit instantly. With her magic, she pulled it out and examined it closely. A sole, white mushroom of the hallucinogenic kind, Pinkie Pie must have eaten some of them not realising what they were. Princess Luna put all her magical might into the mushroom and tossed it into the air, but found herself taken by surprise with what happened when she did.
...
Applejack and Rainbow Dash had been on their forced march for a good ten minutes before they came to a halt. Rainbow Dash felt someone push her down to the ground. The gunny sack was ripped off her face and she looked up to discover her captors were... ponies?
Not just any kind of ponies, but Pegasus ponies. Rainbow Dash looked up at her captor in confusion. The Pegasus before her had a pitch black coat, his mane was the colour of steel, he had no cutie mark, and Rainbow Dash, upon glancing round discovered that none of her captors did. The group of nine were all pegasi, and all blank flanks.
But what Rainbow Dash noticed about this Pegasus before her more than anything else were his eyes. They were bright amber, and they were full of hate. He smiled at her, but this smile was a cruel one and it made Rainbow Dash shudder. ‘Welcome’, the Pegasus pony said in an odd accent. ‘Welcome travellers misbegotten. You have picked a wonderful day to come to hell’.
‘Who... who are you?’ Rainbow Dash asked.
‘My name is Duval, I am being in charge of this place’, Duval said. ‘Bienvenue à l'île-prison de Sainte-Hélène, you’re going to be here a very, very long time’.
‘This island is a prison?’ Rainbow Dash asked.
‘Yes, that is what I just said. Did I not?’ Duval asked, rolling his eyes in annoyance.
‘Well, forgive me for asking a dumb question, you’re all pegasi, why don’t you just leave? You can fly!’ Rainbow Dash asked.
Duval and the rest of the pegasi prisoners broke into laughter. ‘Oh, ma chérie, do you not think that if we could, we would?’
Rainbow Dash nodded.
One of the other prisoners pointed out something that was flying into the air. Duval smiled at his good fortune. ‘Ma chérie. Watch, you are about to discover what happens when you fly’.
Rainbow Dash listened closely, and heard a high pitched whirring noise, followed by a series of shots.
Pom Pom Pom!
Light flashed and whatever had been flying through the air exploded violently.
‘What... what was that?’ Rainbow Dash asked.
‘That, is a canon d’HÉLIX’, Duval said. ‘Le quatrième République cheval uses it to keep us here. And now it keeps you here as well.’
Once More unto the Breach
Chapter 5
‘Rarity?!’ Fluttershy called out to her friend. ‘What are we running from?’
‘I’m not exactly sure, Fluttershy, but I don’t intend to stop and ask our new friend’, Rarity said, glancing back at the grey Pegasus mare that was running not far behind them.
‘Stop! Alto!’ The grey Pegasus mare cried out. Rarity and Fluttershy did as they were told and skidded to a halt. The grey Pegasus mare was looking at the ground, and reached down and grabbed something with her teeth, pulling on it to reveal a trap door. The Pegasus mare pointed to the opening repeatedly, indicating that she wanted Fluttershy and Rarity to get in.
They were in no position to argue, and did as she asked. The two leapt into the hole in the ground, and their pegasi friend dove in after them, and slammed the trapdoor shut behind them. She took her foreleg and brought it up pressing it to her lips, she wanted them to be quiet, and once again, Rarity and Fluttershy were in no position to argue.
They heard hoof steps above them; faint conversation, Fluttershy almost let out a cry in fear, but Rarity pulled the canary yellow Pegasus into her shoulder to keep her quiet and eventually the voices passed and everything went silent once again.
The grey Pegasus mare sighed in relief, and unclipped the rifle out of the Schäferhund Storm Harness and set it down on a table. Rarity took a look at her surroundings to discover that there was more to their hiding place than just a hole in the ground. It was a room that had been dug out, complete with a bed, a table with a wireless receiver on it. Rarity’s eyes light up. A radio! They could call for help!
Rarity stood up, forgetting entirely the events that lead her here and took several steps towards it before a grey foreleg extended in front of her, blocking her from taking any steps further. The grey Pegasus mare was giving her a death stare.
Rarity chuckled nervously. ‘I... uh, don’t suppose you would be willing to let us use your radio?’ Rarity asked.
‘Not a chance Wallish’, the Pegasus mare said, causing Rarity to take a step back in surprise, she didn’t think that the Pegasus mare had spoken their language.
‘You... you speak our language?’ Rarity asked.
‘Of course I do Wallish’, the Pegasus mare said, rolling her eyes. ‘What idiot doesn’t learn the languages of their neighbours?’ The Pegasus mare lowered her foreleg and went back to what she was doing; she was opening up a crate and pulled out a submachine gun of cheval origin, clipping it into her storm harness. ‘Come, we’re leaving’.
‘Leaving?’ Rarity asked. ‘What? I’m not leaving until’
‘Take a look around you’, the Pegasus said simply. ‘I guess if you want to stay... I can’t stop you’.
Rarity looked around and discovered that the entirety of the hole home was wired with bricks of explosives not unlike the ones that Pinkie Pie had brought with her. Rarity chuckled nervously. ‘No no no! I’ll go! Yes, let’s go! Let’s go now...’ Rarity said as her chuckles turned into coughs of uneasiness. The grey Pegasus smiled, clearly amused at Rarity’s nervousness, she picked up the rifle on the table in her teeth and handed it over to Rarity, who merely looked at it in confusion.
‘Take it!’ the Pegasus mare said.
Rarity did as she was told looking at it for a moment before looking back at the Pegasus mare. ‘I... I don’t know how to use this!’
The Pegasus mare rolled her eyes and pushed open the trap door and climbed out. Rarity and Fluttershy looked at each other for a moment before following. What had they gotten themselves into? The Pegasus mare looked up into the trees, discovering more pears and picked up a rock and used it to knock down one of them. She picked it up in her teeth, holding out her hoof and balancing it on it. She slid the pear onto the top of her head and looked directly at Rarity. Rarity looked back at her, not understanding in the slightest. The Pegasus mare rolled her eyes. ‘Well?’ she asked.
Rarity began to put two and two together. The rifle, the pear on her head... she didn’t... she couldn’t... ‘You don’t want me to shoot that pear do you?’ Rarity asked.
‘You’re brilliant, Wallish’, she said, rolling her eyes.
Rarity was starting to get annoyed with her. ‘First off, we are not wallish. We are Equestrians! Second off my name is Rarity, and I wish to be addressed as such!’
‘Sure, whatever Wallish’, the mare said. She couldn’t help but let out a smirk as she thought about what Rarity had just told her. ‘Equestrian, huh? Well makes sense, considering you were dumb enough to come here. You want respect? You have to earn it, you’re already dumb enough’.
‘We didn’t choose to come here! We shipwrecked!’ Rarity cried out.
‘Uh... Rarity?’ Fluttershy asked, but Rarity was too angry to pay attention, and promptly ignored her.
‘Likely story, you’re all words and no action anyway’, the Pegasus said.
‘Uh... Rarity?’ Fluttershy asked again.
‘Oh? You want to see action is it? I’ll show you action!’ Rarity cried out, ignoring Fluttershy again, she brought the rifle to bear.
‘Um...RARITY!’ Fluttershy cried out.
‘I am waiting...’ the mare said with a yawn.
Rarity looked down the rifle’s aperture sights and pulled the trigger with her magic.
‘RARITY!’ Fluttershy shouted at her.
The bullet from the rifle impacted the pear on the Pegasus mare’s head, causing it to explode and sending the chunks of the fruit off in random directions. The Pegasus mare began to smile. ‘You do have guts Wallish’, she said.
The realisation of what Rarity had just done began to sink in; she couldn’t believe she had just done that. Fluttershy had hit the ground, covering her ears and shivering in fear.
The Pegasus mare walked up to her, continuing to smile. ‘My name is Danielle, Danielle Voltaire, and we are going to get off this island. Together’.
...
Pinkie Pie’s eyes began to open, it was dark outside. Her head was killing her and she felt as if she’d just come out of surgery. She also discovered that the ground was moving. Pinkie Pie looked up to discover that she was laying on Princess Luna’s back, the sun had set, and they were almost at the top of the mountain.
‘Princess Luna?’ Pinkie Pie asked.
‘Oh... good, you are awake, how do you feel?’ Princess Luna said.
‘Not so good... I... It was the mushrooms, wasn’t it? Had to be’, Pinkie Pie said. Princess Luna nodded her head in agreement, causing Pinkie Pie to groan. ‘I was just... so hungry, I saw one and I couldn’t stop... Princess Luna I was so scared!’ Pinkie Pie cried out, tears began to flow from her eyes and they splashed down silently on the ground. ‘He came back for me’.
‘Who?’ Princess Luna asked. ‘Who did you see Pinkie Pie?’
‘Overdrive... I saw Overdrive’, Pinkie Pie whimpered, causing Princess Luna to frown.
‘Yes... I imagine it was very frightening; my brother had that effect on others’, Princess Luna said. ‘He was never the most pleasant of ponies when we were young’.
‘What happened, I mean, you’re a good princess!’ Pinkie Pie said. ‘Princess Celestia’s okay too, I guess, how did Overdrive and the Siblings Nightmare get so bad?’
Princess Luna frowned at the question. ‘I do not exactly know, I was the youngest of us, nearly three thousand years separates myself from Celestia, Zephyr, that was the name Overdrive went by back then and Maelstrom, the name the Siblings Nightmare went by had a deep seeded hatred for one another by the time I was born’.
‘What do you think happened?’ Pinkie Pie asked.
‘My guess? Their feud began over something small, petty. Zephyr probably broke one of Maelstrom’s toys. He would have responded by breaking something that belonged to Zephyr, the two would go back and forth, pulling pranks, things that would have been harmless at the time... however, as time went on their one-upmanship got worse and worse, eventually, they started manipulating others into doing their dirty work for them. They hated each other, but they couldn’t get rid of the other, it was against the rules’, Princess Luna said.
‘The rules?’ Pinkie Pie asked.
‘I cannot talk about them’, Luna said. ‘Sorry, that is one of the rules, and the only one you are allowed to know’.
Pinkie Pie shrugged and said nothing more of it, soon enough, the two reached the top of the mountain, and the sky was clear and the stars shone brightly in the sky. Luna studied them for a moment and frowned.
‘What is it?’ Pinkie Pie asked.
‘Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is we are not where I thought we are’, Luna said.
‘What’s the bad news?’ Pinkie Pie asked.
Princess Luna looked at her friend and frowned. ‘This place is worse’.
Once More unto the Breach
Chapter 6
Rainbow Dash awoke to find herself tied down to the floor, her first instinct was to free herself. She struggled, pulling and tugging at the ropes that bound each of her legs to the floor. She pulled hard, grunting loud in frustration, but they refused to budge.
‘Is no use, Sugercube, Ah already tried’, said a voice from the corner, Rainbow Dash looked around to discover that Applejack was lying on the floor, tied up in the exact same way that Rainbow Dash was. ‘These convicts got some good rope, ain’t gonna budge, an’ tha more ya struggle... well...’ Applejack raised her leg up and showed it to Rainbow Dash, multiple rope burn and constriction marks littered it.
‘Are you okay, Applejack?’ Rainbow Dash asked.
‘Ah’m fine, Sugarcube’, Applejack said calmly. ‘We’re just not gonna be gettin’ outta here with brute strength is all’.
Rainbow Dash frowned; there was defeat in Applejack’s voice. While Applejack had yet to be fully demoralised, she was close to giving up hope. If they had any chance of escape, they needed to get free and get free now.
‘Ah been thinkin’ and thinkin’ tryin' ta find a way outta here... Ah got nuthin though, Ah ain’t that smart, so Ah was waitin’ fer ya ta wake up’, Applejack said.
‘Why didn’t you try to wake me up!?’ Rainbow Dash asked.
‘Ah did, Ah called out ta ya in yer sleep, ya didn’t even budge’, Applejack said her lips began to curl into a small smile. ‘Is a wonder ya get anythin’ done at all fer how much ya sleep’.
Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but chuckle, and then began to look around the room that they were in. They were tied down, but their ropes did have a significant bit of slack in them, not enough to go very far, but they could pace around a little ways. The building that they were locked in was some kind of workshop, or tool shed. There were a good number of sharp objects that they could use, both as a method of freeing themselves, and as weapons to be used against the prisoners. The only problem was getting to them. The two mares were tied up in the centre of the room. Rainbow Dash got to her hooves and began walking towards the wall. Unsurprisingly, the ropes stopped her before she got within a metre of the wall. These may have been convicts, but they clearly weren’t stupid.
Rainbow Dash looked around to see what she could use that was in her radius, there was a mop and bucket, and that was about it. Then the idea hit her. Rainbow Dash grabbed the mop in her teeth and extended it towards the wall. To her upmost glee, the mop was able to touch the wall. To her disdain, the door of the shed opened up and in walked one of the prisoners that Rainbow Dash had seen while talking to Duval. He was carrying a tray of food in his teeth, but immediately dropped it and began shouting at Rainbow Dash in cheval. Rainbow Dash dropped the mop in surprise and the prisoner came over to her and picked it up in his teeth, he whipped around and struck Rainbow Dash hard in the face with it, sending the Pegasus mare toppling over and onto the ground.
‘Rainbow Dash!’ Applejack called out to her.
The prisoner looked up to Applejack, he tossed the mop back into the far corner out of Rainbow Dash’s reach and turned around and left the two mares alone. Slamming the door to the shed shut behind him.
‘Rainbow? Ya’ll okay?’ Applejack asked her.
Rainbow Dash placed a hoof on her face, clutching her head in pain. It wasn’t bad, she wasn’t bleeding or anything, but her face stung like no other. ‘Yeah, I’m fine’, Rainbow Dash said as she looked back over to the mop, extremely disappointed because it was far out of her reach. She looked over at Applejack, who was clearly thinking very, very hard. ‘Try not to pop a neuron, Applejack’, Rainbow Dash said with a smirk.
‘A what?’ Applejack asked looking up.
Rainbow Dash would have face hoofed if she could, and she did try, however, the ropes tying her down didn’t extend far enough to reach her face. ‘Never mind’, she said in annoyance. Now she knew how Twilight felt.
The thought of Twilight Sparkle felt to Rainbow Dash as if she’d just been shot in the heart Rainbow Dash slumped to the ground and buried her head in her foreleg, doing her best to keep from crying. She couldn’t let Applejack see. She could only wonder where Twilight was now, but she figured that she was off somewhere, cold, and alone, that stupid book pulling her strings and forcing her to do its work. She wished Twilight were here right now, she would have put her foreleg around Rainbow Dash and told her that everything would be fine, then she’d come up with a plan and then they could escape, beat up Duval, and get off the island and go home.
‘Sugarcube?’ Applejack asked her. Rainbow Dash turned and looked at Applejack, she was grinning like a madmare. ‘Ah think Ah gots an idea!’
...
‘L’île-prison de Sainte-Hélène’, Princess Luna said. ‘Established 200 years ago as a prison by the Second Cheval Empire for some of the most dangerous criminals, the Cheval have this island under close supervision at all times... and they need to’.
Pinkie Pie turned to look at Princess Luna as they began their walk down the mountain back towards their camp. ‘Why’s that?’
‘The cheval are pegasi’, Princess Luna said. ‘In the past, the cheval kept their prisoners on the island by clipping their wings to keep them from flying away, but there was much outcry against it, cruel treatment, they said. So the Second Empire started shooting anypony that tried to fly away’.
Pinkie Pie let out a gasp. ‘Where they okay with that?’ she asked.
‘Not at first, but then the Second Empire reminded them that these were the most violent of violent criminals, and if they could just fly, then they’d come back to their home towns. There were no further arguments after that’, Luna said.
Pinkie Pie wasn’t sure if she liked that, but she also knew that things weren’t always so bright and sunny and cheery. There were bad peoples in the world; Pinkie Pie understood that now more than most ponies. The more she thought about it, the harder it was for her to stay positive. What was the point?
Princess Luna could definitely tell that Pinkie Pie was getting discouraged; she stopped and put a hoof on Pinkie Pie’s shoulder. ‘I know it is hard when everything seems to be getting you down, but just because the world is not the bright place you thought it was growing up, does not mean you cannot make it a nice place’.
‘I know’, Pinkie Pie said with a smile. ‘I know...’
The two of them walked deep into the night making a good pace towards their camp. Pinkie Pie was beginning to get tired thought Princess Luna was, if anything, filled with a new sense of energy. Princess of the Night indeed, Pinkie Pie thought to herself. They stopped only once. Princess Luna spotted another pear tree and used her magic to pick a few for her and Pinkie Pie to eat.
‘Here, have something that is actually safe for you to eat this time’, Princess Luna said with a smile as she gave over the pear to the pink party pony. Pinkie Pie took it graciously and bit into it, savouring every delicious bite. The fruit tasted so good, though she would never tell Applejack that she thought it was better than a Sweet Apple Acres apple. Pinkie Pie liked having her head attached to the rest of her body, after all.
‘Heh, I wonder what Applejack thinks of all these pears?’ Pinkie Pie asked.
‘She will eat them if she is hungry enough’, Princess Luna said, a small smile forming on her face. ‘Even though she will hate herself so much for it’.
Pinkie Pie couldn’t help but giggle, and they reached the camp site at the break of dawn, only to find it deserted, and the shelter that Rainbow Dash and Applejack had been building only half completed. Something was wrong and they knew it in an instant.
‘Applejack!? Rainbow Dash!?’ Pinkie Pie called out.
Princess Luna too looked around. ‘FLUTTERSHY!? RARITY?’ She called out, using her magic to amplify the sound of her voice.
The pile of their half built shelter shook. Pinkie Pie and Princess Luna jumped and turned to it.
‘WE COMMAND THEE TO SHOW THYSELF!’ Princess Luna called out instinctively.
Spike pushed his way out from under the pile ‘Hey! Lay off the Royal Canterlot Voice would you? I was asleep!’ Spike said.
‘Spike?’ Pinkie Pie said.
‘Oh... sorry’, Princess Luna said looking slightly embarrassed. ‘Spike? Where is everypony?’
‘I dunno...’ Spike said. ‘Rarity and Fluttershy disappeared, so I came back here with all the food we got, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were both gone too. I hid under the shelter and fell asleep... do you know where they are?’
Princess Luna and Pinkie Pie looked at each other and frowned. ‘I think we do, and it is not good’.
Once More unto the Breach
Chapter 7
‘This is not going to work’, Rainbow Dash said plainly.
Applejack said nothing and continued to look the other way.
‘I said... this is not going to work!’ Rainbow Dash cried out again.
‘Ah heard ya tha firs’ time!’ Applejack snapped back at her. ‘Ah don’t see ya’ll comin’ up with any escape plans! May not work, but ‘least we tried! Took me forever ta get these ropes off...’ Applejack’s voice trailed off her face formed into a smile as she raised a tied up foreleg and winked at Rainbow Dash.
No later than a minute later did the door burst open and a single cheval with a knife in his teeth ran through. Rainbow Dash turned and planted her hooves in his chest, knocking him out and causing him to instinctively spit the knife out. It clattered on the floor and slid right next to Applejack’s hooves. The earth pony took the knife in her teeth and cut her bonds, quickly moving to cut Rainbow Dash’s.
Rainbow Dash grinned, after the last interruption, she had guessed that the prisoners had been listening in on them. How else would the convenient interruption of the last visit make sense?
Now the two of them were free. Applejack kept the knife in her teeth, while she was not ordinarily a violent pony, these were not ordinary times these ‘ponies’ were all a band of violent criminals. Murderers, rapists, arsonists, Rainbow Dash had caught several of them staring at her arse sizing her up for the tricks of their trade. If they were to get their way, it would be one party for them that not even Pinkie Pie would want to attend. Rainbow Dash and Applejack rushed out the door of the tool shed; they were in the far end of the prisoners’ camp. Which held a number of brick and mortar buildings, clearly, they were inside the actual prison itself. Random buildings scattered throughout the complex. Rainbow Dash and Applejack knew that fighting their way out was out of the question, these were a band of all the wrong sort, Duval de Cheval, the prisoner’s leader and their chief captor had bragged that the prisoners had revolted, killed all the guards and took over the island for themselves. They were going to have to be smart, sneak their way out if this place in one piece.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack ducked behind a building, it wasn’t going to be long before the prisoners noticed that they were gone. Somepony had to have heard them escape over whatever listening device had been placed into the tool shed. Rainbow Dash and Applejack ducked into the closest building; to their luck it was abandoned. The only thing in the building at all was a small table with a radio set on it, a microphone and headset lying on the table next to it. ‘Hey!’ Rainbow Dash said with a grin, she trotted over to it and pulled the headset over her ears and began adjusting the dials and switches on the radio until she heard talking.
‘Rainbow! What’re ya doin’?’ Applejack hissed at her.
Rainbow Dash raised a hoof to silence her, and listened in.
‘... understood Renault, you just let us know where you need us and where. SINSAC out ’
Rainbow Dash was more than a little confused. ‘Uh... hello?’ she asked.
At first there was nothing, and then Rainbow Dash asked again.
‘Who is this!? Cease broadcasting on this channel!’ the voice snapped back at her.
‘No wait! Please! You have to help us!’ Rainbow Dash cried out. ‘My name is Rainbow Dash! I’m an equestrian pony and one of the survivors of the Steamship Canterlot , we were bound for Swan City, South Island when we hit an iceberg in bad weather and the ship went under. We all made it off the ship but me and my friends got separated from the crew! Please you have to help us!’
‘...where are you?’ the voice asked again.
‘I’m broadcasting from Sainte-Hélène, our lifeboat washed up on the shore... please! You have to help us!’ Rainbow Dash pleaded.
‘Sainte-Hélène?’ the voice questioned. ‘Albert! Start triangulating, I need to confirm that’, A muffled voice in the background acknowledged the order, and in a few seconds gave an affirmation.
‘Who are you?’ Rainbow Dash asked. ‘I told you who I was! Now tell me who you are!’
‘... this is Lef-tenant Commander Thaddeus Braxton, aboard the HMSIS Sinsac, don’t bother with the name, you can just call me the Op’.
‘Sinsac?’ Rainbow Dash asked. ‘What kind of name is that?’
‘If you must know... it stands for “South Island and New Seeland Army Corps”, what is that, you might ask? Not important for you right now. You are on Sainte-Hélène, which means that if you have wireless access, that you are not in a safe place. The Sinsac and the cheval battleship Renault are turning and making for the island at flank speed, sit tight Rainbow Dash, the kangaroo cavalry is coming!’
Rainbow Dash turned off the radio and pulled the headset off her head.
‘Can we go?’ Applejack asked.
‘Yeah! Come on! Let’s go!’ Rainbow Dash said.
Applejack nodded and the two pushed open the door to the radio room. Only to discover Duval de Cheval and a group of prisoners armed with submachine guns standing outside them.
‘Well this sucks’, Rainbow Dash said.
‘Don’ worry sugarcube, Ah gots a plan’, Applejack said.
‘Run like scared little fillies?’ Rainbow Dash asked.
‘As a matter o’ fact...’ Applejack began; the two ducked in between the building and the one next to it and dashed off around the corner.
‘AFTER THEM!’ Duval shouted. ‘MARCHE! TRÉS RAPIDE!’
Applejack and Rainbow Dash made their way through the maze of buildings, ducking in and out trying to keep Duval and his group from catching them, much to their dismay, the quickly ran out of buildings and found themselves in the open.
Another prisoner, this one armed with a light machine gun caught them in the open and opened fire on them. Both ponies were running on pure adrenalin as they ran through the front of the compound and into the jungle, not stopping for several hundred metres.
‘R... Rainbow Dash? Ah think one nicked me’, Applejack said.
Rainbow Dash turned around to look at her friend, her eyes widened, Applejack’s flanks were ridden with bullet holes. Applejack collapsed onto the ground.
‘Applejack!’ Rainbow Dash called out to her. Rainbow Dash picked the mare up in her forelegs and held her close.
‘Ah... ah shouldn’t ‘ave left tha farm...’ Applejack said quietly, her voice trailed off and her eyes rolled past Rainbow Dash, and she faded away.
‘A... Applejack?’ Rainbow Dash asked.
No answer.
‘Applejack!’ Rainbow Dash said again, this time speaking louder and gently shaking her friend.
No answer.
‘APPLEJACK!’ Rainbow Dash cried out hysterically, shaking her friend roughly, trying to get her to wake up. It was futile, however, Applejack was gone, and Rainbow Dash knew it. She set Applejack down on the ground gently, taking off the mare’s hat and resting on her belly, wrapping her forelegs around it. Rainbow Dash slid Applejack’s eyes closed, and couldn’t help but notice how peaceful she looked. She could have been sleeping. Rainbow Dash half expected Applejack to sit back up and stretch out, yawn loudly as she was waking up from a nap.
Rainbow Dash waited, and waited for a moment before realising it was a pipe dream. Rainbow Dash lost it. Applejack was dead. She buried her head into Applejack’s body and cried. She cried and cried and cried and cried until no more tears could come. Rainbow Dash’s sadness turned to anger. This was not what Applejack deserved. She knew what she had to do.
She was going to kill every last one of the prisoners on the island. Rainbow Dash got up and took a look around at where she was, she would need to remember how to get back here later... so that she could bury Applejack. It hurt Rainbow Dash to know that she couldn’t give her friend the proper burial that she deserved to get. The scum of the planet had taken that away from her, and Rainbow Dash knew at this moment, that there was only one way that this could end, and that was with Duval de Cheval and the rest of his band of marauders lying together as a pile of corpses in an unmarked mass grave somewhere on this island.
Rainbow Dash was going to kill them all.
She was about to turn and leave when something caught her eye. She could have... no... she was seeing things, her mind was telling her what she wanted to hear... but then she saw it again.
Applejack twitched. Once, twice, and then, suddenly without warning, Applejack’s eyes shot open and she let out a huge gasp for air. She sprung to her hooves in confusion, looking around, and then at Rainbow Dash.
‘Rainbow Dash?’ Applejack asked. ‘What the hey just happened?’
Rainbow Dash did not have an answer.
Once More unto the Breach
Chapter 8
Fluttershy trailed cautiously behind Rarity and their new friend, Danielle Voltaire. She kept her ears open, and noticed that it was remarkably quiet for the wilderness. Many a pony always associated the wilderness with peace and quiet, but this was hardly the case.
For anypony that payed attention, the wilderness was just as bustling and busy as towns were. Birds would be chirping, bees buzzing, bunnies tearing through underbrush as they hopped about their business. It was a different kind of hustle and bustle, it wasn’t as loud as civilisation, but it was still there. As Fluttershy listened, however, things were horribly and uncharacteristically quiet for such an environment. They were in the middle of a jungle, they should be hearing tropical birds, or snakes, or something! But there was nothing, only the sounds of hoof steps made by her, Rarity, and Danielle.
Fluttershy looked up at Danielle; she wasn’t sure how she felt about the Pegasus mare. She’d never met a cheval before, she assumed that they would be a pleasant enough people, but her... it was clear that Danielle was the type to resort to violence as a first measure, Fluttershy found it difficult to be comfortable around somepony like that. She was helping them, sure, but that only went so far. Fluttershy abhorred violence. It was never the answer!
Fluttershy had remembered reading a few books about the other nations in the world, and how very few of them got along with each other. Historically, Welara and the Cheval had been long hated enemies. Though relations between the current Fourth Republic and the Kingdom of United Welara were warmer, likewise, relations between the Cheval Fourth Republic and Bundesrepublik Schäferhund were often described as ice cold. Though not cold enough for them to fight with each other, due to the Schäferhund’s main export, the Storm Harness, a tool of war used by all races that walked on all fours. Then there were the gryphons, who no one in the world liked, and likewise, the gryphons didn’t like anyone else.
It disgusted Fluttershy to no end. Or at least, as much as she could be disgusted by something, and as a result, Fluttershy disapproved of most of the other governments in the world. Not that her opinion mattered to them, of course. She wasn’t a citizen of any of them.
The more Fluttershy thought about it though, the more she realised that she barely knew how her own government worked, let alone how any of the other ones did. She figured it might be worth looking into if they were ever to get off this cursed island.
That brought Fluttershy’s thoughts back to their current situation. She looked up to notice that Danielle and Rarity had stopped, and as a result Fluttershy stopped too. ‘What’s going on?’ Fluttershy asked.
Danielle hushed her. ‘I am not sure, stay here; I am going to take a look ahead’.
Rarity and Fluttershy nodded and Danielle disappeared into the thick foliage of the jungle.
‘Rarity?’ Fluttershy asked. ‘I’ve been thinking...’
‘Yes? Fluttershy?’ Rarity said turning to her friend.
‘I’m not sure I trust Danielle...’ Fluttershy said with a frown.
‘Fluttershy! I am surprised at you! Danielle has done nothing but help us and wants nothing more than to get off this island, and can you blame her? All those uncouth ruffians running around?’ Rarity said shuddering to herself.
‘That’s just it Rarity’, Fluttershy said with a frown. ‘I mean, let’s stop and think about it for a moment. This island is controlled by the Cheval Fourth Republic, as a prison for its most dangerous criminals’.
‘Yes...’ Rarity said nodded her head.
‘Well, the cheval are all pegasi right?’ Fluttershy said. ‘They can’t fly away because of that big cannon that’s keeping them all trapped here’.
‘Yes...’ Rarity said, nodding her head again, unsure of where Fluttershy was going with this.
‘Well... Danielle is cheval... and she’s here, on the island’, Fluttershy said.
‘Yes...’ Rarity said as she was starting to understand what Fluttershy was getting at.
‘So... what is she doing on the island?’ Fluttershy asked.
Rarity swallowed hard, they heard rustling in the bushed behind her, and Rarity slowly turned to see Danielle standing behind them, looking incredibly angry. ‘Couldn’t leave well enough alone could you?’
Rarity drew the rifle and pointed it at Danielle. ‘St... stay back!’ she cried out. Danielle took a step forward, undaunted by Rarity, who, as intimidating as she was trying to be, was not working out very well for the unicorn mare. Rarity pulled the trigger of the rifle with her magic.
click!
‘Wha!?’ Rarity cried out, pulling the trigger again.
click!
‘Do you think I would be stupid enough to give you a fully loaded weapon?’ Danielle sneered, she reared up and swung her hind legs, landing a blow into Rarity’s face and sending her toppling to the ground. ‘I would have taken you with me when I got off the island! I would have let you go! But you couldn’t just leave well enough alone!’
Fluttershy froze, slowly backing away from the enraged Pegasus mare.
‘Mon Dieu! Five years! Five years of my life, wasted on this island! I will be free, and you will not stop me!’ Danielle sneered.
Fluttershy backed into a tree root, tripping over it and falling onto the ground. Danielle moved in and stood over her, pointing her submachine guns at Fluttershy menacingly. ‘P... please don’t hurt me!’ Fluttershy cried out.
‘Hurt you?’ Danielle asked. ‘You say that like I was not sent here for murder...’ she said adding a grin, she kicked her left leg outward, the storm harness’ levers went to work and slid a new magazine into her submachine guns. ‘Can’t exactly let you tell anyone who I am and what I did...’ Danielle took the storm harness’s control yoke in her teeth, cocking the weapon. Fluttershy covered her eyes, she couldn’t bear to watch.
There was a loud crack! Fluttershy’s heart stopped.
Or at least she had thought it did. Fluttershy was surprised to discover that her heart was not only still beating, and she was still breathing. She peered out from behind her hooves to discover that Rarity was standing over her, holding the end of the cheval rifle like a club, the stock of the rifle was covered in blood. Fluttershy looked to discover that Danielle was laying on the ground, unconscious, her head split open and a trickle of blood rolling down her face from where Rarity had hit her.
Rarity tossed the useless rifle aside, and enveloped her magic in the submachine guns that adorned Danielle’s flanks, wrenching them free, not caring in the slightest that she had damaged the storm harness permanently inoperable.
‘Fluttershy? We really should be leaving now’, Rarity said, hoisting the submachine gun above her head. Fluttershy looked up to discover that Rarity too was bleeding, a light trickle that rain down from her forehead, staining her pristine coat.
‘Rarity... you’re hurt!’ Fluttershy squeaked.
‘That’s not important right now Fluttershy, it’s superficial’, Rarity said. ‘Now come! Before she wakes up!’
Fluttershy nodded and got to her hooves and the two mares ran into the jungle, neither of them entirely sure where they were going, but it was a lot better than being here.
...
Danielle’s eyes popped open, and she rolled over onto her back, her head was killing her, she took a hoof and felt her head, a sharp stinging sensation ran throughout her entire body. She looked at her hoof, there was blood on it.
Blood... blood was a fickle thing; she had many memories of blood. She’d been imprisoned on this forsaken island for murder.
Five years ago. She had been raped at knife point. After the event was over, Danielle should have gone to the Gendarmerie Nationale, she should have reported it, and there would have been enough evidence to convict him. He would have been sent to Sainte-Hélène, but no. Danielle was ashamed, she hid the event from everyone, she was embarrassed, she wanted to just forget, but she couldn’t. She never could.
Her shame turned to anger. It wasn’t her fault, she hadn’t asked for it. And soon enough, her thoughts turned only to revenge. She sought out a schäferhund that dealt weapons on the black market, and purchased a storm harness, which were illegal to own in the Fourth Republic without being registered, along with a single schäferhund MP9 submachine gun and a single magazine of 9x19 ammunition, costing her nearly a thousand cheval francs most of her life savings. She spent several weeks hunting her rapist and found him pretty much as she expected she would, raping another mare.
Danielle has swooped down upon him and filled him full of lead. The other mare had been less than thankful and ran off without even so much as a ‘merci’. It wasn’t long before the Gendarmerie Nationale showed up, and she was arrested, charged with murder, and sent off to this island. All evidence that she had been raped was gone; she couldn’t even use that in her defence anymore.
Danielle had since vowed that she would escape, and she wasn’t about to let Rarity and Fluttershy take that away from her.
Her ears began to twitch, off in the distance; there was a quiet booming noise. Danielle was confused as to what it was, it sounded familiar, but she couldn’t put her hoof on it.
Then she had the thought, she knew what it was. Cheval naval guns, the fourth republic’s navy had shown up and they were shelling the island.
Took them long enough.
Danielle looked up and saw an object cut across the sun. That would be the first shot.
It landed on top of her.
Once More unto the Breach
Chapter 9
Rainbow Dash had no idea what to think of this. Applejack had died. Rainbow Dash had watched her die. She had checked her vitals, they weren’t there! Applejack had died!
And yet, here she was standing before her, looking as if she was about ready to break down. Rainbow Dash knew what it was like. She had died once too, the difference being, Rainbow Dash hadn’t gotten right back up after her death.
‘Rainbow Dash... please, tell me ya know somethin’!’ Applejack said weakly, her voice was beginning to tremble.
‘I... I...’ Rainbow Dash said, searching her brain for anything that she could to explain the situation. She heard an explosion off in the distance, and turned her head towards it. Quickly followed by another, and another. ‘That’s got to be the Sinsac! they’re bombarding the island!’ Rainbow Dash turned back to Applejack, who was still more than a little confused about the situation and frowned at her. ‘I don’t know how either Applejack... but I promise, we’ll find out. We need to go!’
Applejack nodded her head slowly, she straightened her hat, and then a small smile formed on her face. ‘Race ya to the beach?’ she asked.
Rainbow Dash grinned back at her. ‘Last one there’s a rotten egg!’
...
Pinkie Pie, Princess Luna, and Spike took cover in the trees the when they heard the shelling start. They didn’t take their eyes off the beach for a single second, of course, the problem with staring at a single spot for so long is that you end up developing tunnel vision, all three in the group jumped in surprise when a boat slammed against the shore, the boat in question looked something like an open topped shipping container, a large metal door opened on the front, allowing it’s occupant to exit.
They had been expecting people; this however, was a tank, and not just any kind of tank. This was a monster of a tank, a Mark IV Spencer Infantry tank, named after Welaran Prime Minister Leonard Spencer, the tank roared to life as it slowly and deliberately rolled off the boat and up onto the beach towards the jungle.
During their trip to Trotterdam, Benjamin Willoughby had described these tanks to Pinkie Pie and the rest of their friends, along with several others; he had not done them justice. The tank rolled up to the edge of the jungle and stopped. Pinkie Pie realised that they had no way of getting through the thick foliage, they’d need a plough or something to keep the thick underbrush from getting caught up in the treads.
Fire burst from the Spencer, a flame thrower attached to the front hull of the tank spat fire out into the jungle burning itself a path through the thick foliage and continued to roll on.
More boats landed on the beach, these ones containing a mix of kangaroo infantry and more Spencer tanks.
‘Get those Spencer Crocodiles up and in front! First section, fall in behind me’, a kangaroo wearing a red beret and holding a submachine gun cried out as he hopped around from boat to boat, shouting out his orders. The kangaroo’s head turned, and his eyes fell right on them. He rose up his submachine gun and hopped right towards them. ‘All right you lot! Out of those trees and into the open where I can see you’.
Pinkie Pie, Luna, and Spike were hardly in a position to argue, and slowly stepped out of the trees, Spike went as far as raising his hands in the air in surrender. The kangaroo looked at them in confusion. ‘You’re not cheval...’ he said, and then looked down at Spike. ‘And I don’t even know what you are’.
‘I’m a dragon’, Spike said in a huff.
‘Yeah, sure, and I’m the bloody Queen of Welara’, the kangaroo said, rolling his eyes, and taking his attention back to Luna and Pinkie Pie. ‘So then, who are you lot? One of you the... oh... what was it? The “Rainbow Dash” we were told about?’
‘Rainbow Dash? I... no, I’m Pinkie Pie!’ Pinkie Pie said, and then introduced Spike and Luna to the kangaroo. ‘We’re friends with Rainbow Dash though... how do you know her?’
‘I don’t, your friend called us, we didn’t call her’, he said with a shrug. ‘I’m First Lef-tenant William Cutting, Royal South Island Regiment, now, how about you step aside and let my jacks do their bleeding jobs, eh what? You can wait on the boat’.
‘But... our friends...’ Pinkie Pie began to protest, only for Cutting to silence her.
‘We’ll bring them back, they shouldn’t be too hard to spot, assuming that they’re like you and are candy-coloured marshmallow horses’, Cutting said, and pointed to the boat he’d came on. ‘March, it’s for your own safety, we’re professionals’.
Pinkie Pie looked to Luna. Luna looked back to Pinkie Pie. Cutting did have a point, they may not have liked it, but he did have a point, and the two of them, alongside Spike, hesitantly trotted over to the boat and stepped on it. Their part was over, now it was nothing more than a waiting game.
...
Rainbow Dash and Applejack kept running, out of all their friends, they were the most athletic, and were in the best shape, and although they’d been running non-stop for the last ten minutes, both of them felt as if they could continue all the way back home to Equestria. They only stopped, however when they heard a low flying rumble from above them. The two mares looked up and what looked like several large, metal, bird-like creatures swarmed over their heads, nearly touching the tallest trees in the jungle. Rainbow Dash and Applejack watched as the zoomed off by them, and began to climb up.
‘The hay they doin’?’ Applejack asked. ‘They gotta know about that gun in the jungle! It’s gonna kill ‘em!’
‘I’m sure the kangaroos know what they’re doing, Applejack’, Rainbow Dash reassured her; they wouldn’t be doing it otherwise.
Pom pom pom! Pom pom pom!
They heard the roar of the Canon d’HÉLIX off in the background and the two of them looked at each other nervously.
‘They’re fine right?’ Applejack asked.
‘Yeah...’ Rainbow Dash said, swallowing hard, as much trying to convince herself that they would be fine.
It wasn’t like the kangaroos had waded into a death trap to help them or anything. Rainbow Dash thought to herself sarcastically. It wasn’t helping, and she knew already, that if any one of their saviours died here today, it was going to be her fault.
...
Rarity and Fluttershy kept running, Fluttershy was struggling to breath, her breaths were short, her body ached, her legs felt like they were on fire, the meek Pegasus had never put this much strain on body before and didn’t know how much more she had in her. Her mind was telling her to stop, take a deep breath, rest for a moment, and regain her composure.
Her legs, on the other hoof, clearly had differing ideas, and as much as her mind wanted to stop, they did not. Fluttershy kept running, staying no more than a metre behind Rarity at all times, were they to get separated... Fluttershy didn’t want to think about it.
Rarity too, was in a similar situation, her mind too, wanted her legs to stop, and they burned like she’d been banished to the sun for the creation of several awful dresses for the princesses. Rarity shut her eyes tight and gritted her teeth. She would not stop, she could not stop, their lives depended on the fact that they could and would continue to move their legs, no matter how much the rest of their bodies hated them for it. They couldn’t stop until they got to the beach, and, Celestia as her witness, Rarity was getting herself and Fluttershy there.
Or was so the plan, until Rarity opened her eyes again and found herself colliding head on with another individual, causing her to drop the MAE-28 Submachine gun that she was carrying in surprise. Rarity raised a hoof to her head and began to rub it gently, it was throbbing in pain. She opened her eyes again, and blinked several times before looking at who she had run into. ‘Rainbow Dash?’ Rarity asked in surprise. ‘Applejack?’
Low and behold, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were both lying on the ground in front of them, each clutching their foreheads for running into Rarity and Fluttershy respectively.
‘Rarity?’ Rainbow Dash asked. ‘You’re all right!’
‘We’re fine, we’re both fine’, Rarity said with a smile. ‘We just want off this island’.
‘Ya’ll and me both’, Applejack said with a nod.
They heard a rustle through the bushes, and the four of them looked up, through the bushes hulked the figure of a Pegasus before them, he had a pitch black coat, his mane was the colour of steel, he had no cutie mark. Most importantly, however were his eyes, the bright, but cold amber, full of hate towards them, he was clad in a storm harness, and clipped into it was a light machine gun. Duval de Cheval himself, breathing heavily and madder than the collective force of hell itself.
He said nothing, instead he leaned his head forward and grabbed the storm harness’ control yoke and bit down on the chomp trigger.
The four mares heard nothing but gunshots.
Once More unto the Breach
Epilogue
They were dead. They were all dead, they had to be dead. Rainbow Dash knew that they were all dead. However, when she opened her eyes and looked around, she realised that she was still in the jungle.
Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy were all lying next to her, their eyes shut up tight, but still very much all alive. She looked towards their assailant, and discovered that the same could not be said of Duval de Cheval, who was slumped on the ground in front of them... and missing his head. Rainbow Dash blinked a few times, not understanding, and then turned around to look behind them, a bright smile appeared on her face. She let out a chuckle. ‘You follow us everywhere we go?’
‘Well somebody needs to make sure you don’t get yourselves killed’, Benjamin Willoughby said with a chuckle as he lowered his Emerald Rifle and hopped towards them.
‘What are you doing here Benny?’ Rainbow Dash asked as Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy all uncovered their eyes and turned to look at their saviour.
‘We were already on our way here when the Op heard your cry for help over the wireless’, Willoughby said. ‘The Cheval Fourth Republic asked for our help in retaking Sainte-Hélène after a prison revolt put the island in the hands... er... hooves, rather, of the prison population. Elements of the Royal South Island Regiment and the Royal Kingsland Fusiliers assaulted the island by land, while the Cheval Aéronavale hit the island from air’.
Rainbow Dash looked back up at the sky, and watched as the aeroplanes darted about through the sky. ‘Those are cheval? But... their Pegasus ponies aren’t they? Why do they need aeroplanes?’
‘Increases their combat effectiveness, the planes are little more than an extension of their own flying ability, and as a result. The cheval Armée de l’Air and Aéronavale are some of the best fliers in the world’.
‘Pff, I could take ‘em’ Rainbow Dash said as she rolled her eyes.
‘Sure ya could Rainbow Dash’, Willoughby said rolling his eyes back at her. ‘Well come on you little ponies, let’s get you off this island before you get into more trouble’.
Willoughby led the way back to the boats where the group were reunited with Pinkie Pie, Princess Luna, and Spike. They boarded the boat and sailed away from the island, where they had no intention of ever coming back.
Rainbow Dash looked over to Applejack, who had set herself down in the far corner away from everyone else. She trotted up to the apple bucker and gave her a smile. ‘Hey, AJ? Don’t worry about it, we’re going to figure everything out, I promise’.
Applejack looked up to Rainbow Dash and smiled. ‘Thanks Rainbow’.
...
‘Today’s the day girls! We’re gonna earn our cutie marks as... Cutie Mark Crusader Saleponies!’ Apple Bloom cried out to her friends as they all stood in front of the stand they had set up in the centre of town, right where everypony in Ponyville was going to be walking.
They stood looking enthusiastically, waiting for everyone to go to lunch so that they could start selling. That was when two ponies trotted into view. Carrot Top and Caramel.
‘Well howdy Miss Carrot Top!’ Apple Bloom called out to her, waving her hoof ecstatically. Carrot Top waved back and trotted over to them.
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle grinned, they were about to get their first sale.
‘Good Morning girls’, Carrot Top said with a smile. ‘What are you doing?’
‘We’re salesponies!’ Scootaloo cried out.
‘I see... what are you selling?’ Carrot Top asked.
‘Toasters!’ Sweetie Belle cried out excitedly.
‘Toasters?’ Carrot Top asked.
‘Toasters!’ Sweetie Belle repeated.
‘Exactly!’ Apple Bloom said, pointing at the sign that they had made.
Carrot Top took a look at it, but was able to make it out despite the crusaders messy mouthwriting. ‘“Introducing the Toaster... from FutureTec...?” What’s FutureTec?’ Carrot Top asked.
‘Oh! They the ones that actually make the toasters’, Apple Bloom said. ‘We’re jus’ sellin’ em! Watch!’
Carrot Top watched as Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle pulled out some bread and a small metal box and placed it on the table. Scootaloo placed the bread into the top of the box and Sweetie Belle pushed on a little lever. The bread went inside and about a minute later popped up again, having been darkened by the device.
Sweetie Belle pulled the toast out of the toaster and offered it to Carrot Top, who took it and took a bite. It wasn’t half bad.
‘Ya see, tha FutureTec Toaster is a completely self contained, self powered unit, that’s guaranteed ta work ferever! In fact, buy one now, and you’ll not only get a wonderful toaster, but a guarantee that it’ll never break! And if for some inexplicable reason that it does break... you’ll get yer money back! And then FutureTec will fix it for free!’ Apple Bloom said.
‘Well I will say this’, Carrot Top said with a smile. ‘You’re certainly making a good pitch, how much?’
’10 shillings!’ Apple Bloom said.
Carrot Top mulled it over in her head for a moment, but then gave the filly a smile. ‘I’ll take one!’ she said, promptly handing over the money, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle handed over a toaster to Carrot Top. Thanking her for her business as the earth pony walked away.
The three fillies grinned at each other, the day was young, and if this kept up. The bosses at FutureTec were going to be very... very happy with them.
Once More unto the Breach
Stop! You are reading the second story in the Ashes to Ashes series which in turn is a sequel series to the All Good Things and Bonds of Eternity Series. PLEASE look at the table of contents and read the series in order.
FAILURE TO READ THE PREVIOUS STORIES WITH RESULT IN YOU BEING EXTREMELY CONFUSED, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
REPEATEDLY.