Days of Ruin

by Elite Minor

Chapters

Morale
Memory
The Valley
Starting Blocks (Part 1)
Starting Blocks (Part 2)
Ambush

Morale

Morale****When history witnesses a great change,

The Elements are lost.

While the world is being rearranged,

Ponies must feel the cost.

Until demons of the sky endure the race,

Only then will the world repair.

For one shall suffer death’s embrace,

And recall the Elements to end despair.

****

The wind whistled.

The sand blew.

There was no life left here.

No hope.

It was dark, the sun unable to pierce through the blanket of ash that colored the gloomy sky above. Whatever sunlight that had made it through, it wasn’t enough. The sky displayed the illusion of late evening by broadcasting a dark orange across the land, even though it was supposed to be just past noon.

Formidable black mountains towered over the distant background, warning any intruders of the consequences that lied beyond their peaks. Their shadows were cast over the darkly colored flat lands below, marking Equestria’s graveyard. The land itself was a dull brown, so lifeless that it almost looked gray. There were still spots of black dotted across what used to be plains, a grim reminder of what had happened here.

A barren and empty landscape.

A dead world.

It still made Twilight’s stomach churn, even after being exposed to this scenery for the past five years. The wind blew by her face and across her body, further damaging her dry and cracked skin underneath her coat. She sifted through the soft, grainy soil below her as she scooped up a hoofful and lifted the miniature mound in front of her face.

“This is Equestria.”

A stray tear ran down her cheek at she stared at the pile of soil.

****

“Twilight, come on. The resupply is done. We’ve got to take off before we get ambushed again. I don’t trust these locals here.”

The voice from behind her made her jump in surprise while dropping the pile of sand back into the dirt. She inconspicuously wiped her cheek and eyes with a quick swipe of her hoof and looked over her shoulder to see Rainbow Dash hovering in the air behind her. The biting wind flowed through both of their manes, causing them to sway like a flag on a flagpole.

“Applejack and the others have already boarded. Let’s go,” she said as she blew a strand of orange hair from her eyes.

Rainbow motioned with a hoof to follow her and turned around, heading back towards the airship. She was wearing tattered combat fatigues with a white and light blue camouflage pattern and a Stahlhelm with the same pattern on her head. On the front of her helmet and each of her collars, a single silver bar was visible.

Twilight started to follow but after a couple of steps, she froze to stare at her friend. She looked into the magenta eyes of Rainbow Dash and saw what she always saw. The eyes of a pony that never gives in, no matter what. A loyal pony that would gladly follow her to Tartarus and back. A determined and fighting spirit.

But Twilight had always seen that in Rainbow Dash.

Even before the invasion.

Now Twilight saw more in that pegasus’s eyes. She really wished that she couldn’t.

She saw the pain and stress of living in a destroyed world for years, living off of limited supplies and always on the move. She saw the fatigue and exhaustion of the rough, draining lifestyle of a traveler and soldier constantly fighting off bandits and rogue militias to keep her friends safe. She saw the guilt and trauma of a first lieutenant that had watched as her entire battalion was torn to pieces and obliterated in front of her helpless eyes.

“This is Rainbow Dash.”

The sound of Rainbow’s voice broke her train of thought.

“You alright Twi? Is there someone behind me?”

Rainbow asked as she looked over her shoulder and saw nothing but a large black airship parked next to a small town. The town itself looked like a tornado had smashed its way through, leaving very little standing. Buildings, the ones that were left anyway, had entire chunks torn out. She even saw one building that had lost its entire second floor, swept away by a powerful force. It was obvious that many of the foundations of the remaining buildings had been crumbling for some time.

Applejack was seen carrying boxes of food on her back, walking up the metal walkway that extended from the ship to the ground. It was leading her to the cargo hold. A few ponies dressed in white camouflage and some in solid black uniforms were assisting her in lifting the supplies into the ship while a few other uniformed ponies and a green uniformed griffon with a red beret stood guard.

The ponies that occupied the town were nowhere to be seen. Rainbow thought this was strange, considering that they had just purchased supplies a mere few minutes ago. This action put her on edge, if ponies were hiding, it was for a reason.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow in concern as she glided down toward her friend.

“You blanked out there for a second.”

As her hooves touched the ground, she could feel the shell casing from a Pressure rifle contact her hooves with an icy touch. Rainbow kicked it away as she trotted up to Twilight and rested a hoof on her friend's shoulder. She brought herself face to face with the unicorn.

“Uh…you okay there Twilight?”

The steel black door hissed open and hit the side of the ship with a loud thud. A white unicorn mare wearing a purple scarf and sunglasses stepped out and waved to them, oozing with giddiness.

“Rainbow dear! Are we ready to cast off? I’d like to leave before any of those nasty vagabonds get any ideas!”

Rainbow turned back to Twilight with a smirk.

“So how about we fly this rectangle? What do ya say?”

Twilight gave her a weak smile and passively trotted past her friend to board the ship.

Rainbow glared at Twilight as she passed.

“What is wrong with that girl?”

****

One of the hallway lights flickered for a split second, causing Twilight to blink in discomfort as her eyes adjusted to the artificial light. Her hooves clanged against the metal floor as she followed Rainbow and Rarity through the ship. She swiveled her head side to side, taking in everything that was going on around her.

The engines hummed loudly in this section of the ship, and the dark walls were covered in a tangled mess of wiring and control panels. The corridor was small but not cramped, large enough for a pony to walk through without touching the side rails. As the walkway led near the kitchen and dayroom, they bypassed several doors, most of them living quarters and bathrooms. Behind them, the engine, electrical and the magical fuel room were positioned, the humming of the destroyer’s powerful engine filling Twilight’s ears.

The Aurora was a magically-powered warship. The unicorns within the crew would periodically have to dump some magic into the fuel cells and also the powder magazine for ammunition. This Sky Destroyer was a sleek and fast forty-gun ship of the line and equipped with advanced Karalian technology. Twilight couldn’t help but to be impressed with being able to keep this thing in the air without a single aerial sailor onboard.

They'd had aerial sailors...

She followed Rarity’s white form as they navigated the ship from pure memory. Voices could be heard from some of the civilians mingling with the soldiers, their conversations nearly drowned out by rumble and squelches of the engines. Twilight tossed all of these trivial observations from her mind as she continued to follow her friends through the corridors.

****

Two wounded soldiers were sitting with their backs against the wall outside of the dayroom. They were dressed in solid black uniforms and armor, one wearing the same Stalhelm that Rainbow Dash donned on her head. The other had her steel helmet placed on the ground next to her. Her head was wrapped in a bloodied white bandage that covered one of her eyes, as was one of her forelegs. Her partner wasn’t in a much better plight. The entire right side of his torso was exposed and covered in bandages, small bloody dots around his ribs and chest. One of his backlegs was also dressed.

Both faces betrayed exhaustion and lifelessness.

Twilight pitied the sight of them. They looked undeniably miserable. She had no doubt that these two had been wounded during their last engagement with a rogue army unit a few days ago.

That was awfully strange. After five years one wouldn’t think any of those factions still existed. They would usually have wiped each other out by now.

But this last group…they were determined.

The unit that these soldiers fought was different from previous enemies. Those ponies launched a vicious and coordinated attack, not the usual suicide charge out of desperation that many starving enemies resorted to. Also, this last opponent was a disciplined military unit, not a disorganized rabble of civilian militia.

Very strange.

Twilight made a mental note to study into that tonight, when she would have some time alone to look into some records. She watched as Pinkie Pie swooped in from seemingly nowhere, and landed in front of the wounded ponies, failing to break them out of a thousand yard stare. She beamed a wide toothy smile and a tray of cupcakes in one of her forehooves.

“C’mon ponies! Turn those frownies upside downies! Here! Have a cupcake! It always helps me when I’m feeling blue!” the pink pony beamed as she held the plate out to the wounded troops.

“But WAIT! I’m pink, so that means I can’t be blue but maybe I can be both at the same time. Wouldn’t that make me cotton candy? That would be great because I LOVE cotton candy. Except when it gets all sticky on your hooves but then you can just lick-”

They didn’t even acknowledge Pinkie’s existence as the Karalian ponies easily retained their stoic and emotionless expressions. The soldier with the chest and rib wounds was hacking at random intervals. Twilight would have been heartbroken at the amount of pain the two were in, but years of exposure had desensitized her somewhat. She wondered if she was starting to lose herself or at least a part of the old her.

She needed to stop tagging along with the assault teams.

“Pinkie,” Twilight called out.

The party pony was finished explaining the science of winged cashews before Twilight yelled at her to stop.

“Pinkie!”

“Yes Twilight?” Pinkie responded, fluttering her eyelashes.

“…Don’t. Leave them alone.”

“But-”

“Pinkie,” Twilight repeated like a stern mother.

“Fine.”

Pinkie’s ears drooped as she lowered her head. She turned to the wounded ponies one last time and held the tray out to them.

“Are…are you sure you don’t want a cupcake?” Pinkie asked with a heavy frown.

One of the soldiers shook his head sadly and the other simply stared at the metal floor.

Pinkie walked away with a sigh and she also let her head down.

“This is bad. Not even Pinkie could rally them. It looks like those two have given up all hope. The situation must be sapping their morale and wearing them down. Five years is a long time.”

Twilight then thought for a second about her own feelings. She clenched her eyes closed and replayed some of the images of what they have gone through. She remembered all the death and destruction she and the others had witnessed throughout the last few years. Unfortunately, there were too many instances to count.

Watching that family she tried to save getting roasted by napalm. The sight of that young Equestrian soldier getting beheaded by an artillery shell…

“And I can’t say I blame them.”

****

The command room at the front of the ship was filled with unicorns. Twilight watched as the unicorns twisted dials and pushed buttons with their magic. Blinking lights and illuminated words lined the walls of the room with the familiar cold and metallic floor on her hooves as well. The room was well-lit and filled with the sounds of hooves clopping on the metallic floor.

It appeared that all of the unicorns were hard at work, moving to and fro to different consoles and instruments. The dits and dashes of Horse Code added continuous beeping to the background noise as a couple of civilian analysts were sending a message to the next town, alerting them of their arrival, or just trying to contact any survivors that needed help, Twilight assumed.

In the center of the room, sat the map table. Rarity was standing next to it, levitating a piping cup of coffee as she studied the holographic map.

She could see a rainbow-colored tail sticking out of the co-pilot’s seat, the owner staring out the wide window at the front of the ship. Twilight saw clouds pass by and the mountains in the distance. The window covered almost three-fourths of that wall, allowing for a great view of the outside world. Not like anypony would like to see that world anyway…

By this time, Rarity had spotted her and waved a hoof in Twilight’s direction.

“Over here darling!”

Twilight approached her and let eyes fall on the glowing map in front of her. She could see landmarks and squares that represented towns and cities.

…Or what used to be towns and cities at least.

“Where are we headed?” Twilight asked robotically.

Rarity coughed and took a sip of her coffee. It tasted rather mediocre today. She decided that she would have a word with one of the aides about this later.

“Well dear, first we will past this mountain range here,” Rarity pointed a hoof at a group of brown triangles on the map.

“Then, we will fly over a hundred and fifty miles over the wastelands and stop at this town here and resupply,” Rarity explained.

“And what town is that?” Twilight asked.

Rarity scrunched her eyebrows at she looked closer at the map.

“I believe that Versay is the name of the town,” Rarity answered.

Twilight raised an eyebrow at the name.

“Versay? That doesn’t sound Equestrian.”

“Yes dear, once we cross that mountain range will be going from southern Equestria to northern Karalia again.”

Twilight groaned. They were never going to find them flying around randomly like this and the ship’s magical radar wasn’t helping either. Still, they couldn’t give up. They had to try. No matter how bleak things may seem, there is always hope.

But recently, Twilight had felt that kind of drive slipping away for her. Day by day, misery was slowly eating at her spirit from the inside out like a parasprite. She blamed the gloomy atmosphere, and the troop morale was hanging on by a thread. Internal depression was sucking away her spirits, energy, and eventually it’ll come for her sanity. Soon, she would be hollow. Just like those wounded soldiers sitting outside the dayroom.

“Maybe I should go talk to them. You know, maybe we can relate.”

Twilight chuckled darkly at the thought.

“Twilight, is everything alright?” Rarity asked, concerned for her friend’s strange behavior.

After hearing this, Rainbow Dash looked over her co-pilot seat in curiosity. Twilight shook her head rapidly to snap herself out of it again.

“Yes. I’m fine.”

Twilight took a deep breath with both Rarity and Rainbow eyeing her with worried glances.

“So, how big is our crew?” Twilight asked, hoping to change the subject.

Rarity gawked at her for a few more seconds before answering. Rainbow turned back into her chair and continued flying the ship.

“Twenty-three Karalian ponies, sixteen of them soldiers. Nineteen Equestrian ponies, seven of them soldiers, counting Rainbow Dash of course…”

As Rarity rambled on, the ship shook slightly as it hit some turbulence.

“… Two Leasathian griffons, both of them soldiers. And I believe we just picked up three new civilians. One was an engineer before the invasion. He might be useful,” Rarity finished as she took another sip of her coffee.

“Good, we’ll continue to pick up more as we land at towns. We enough supplies for about a month, I think.”

Twilight left the command room as soon as she finished speaking, the automatic door shutting behind her.

“I need some sleep.”

****

As the automatic door slammed shut behind Twilight, Rainbow Dash turned back over her chair to face Rarity.

"Did that just happen?" she asked, a wide, worried look in her eyes.

Rarity nodded slowly.

"Yes, I'm afraid I saw it as well. I'm worried about her. She's been out of sorts lately."

"...Yeah," Rainbow whispered as she stared at the metallic silver of the floor, letting her mane fall over her eyes.

****

As Twilight went back towards the dayroom, to get to her quarters, she noticed that both of the soldiers were still sitting against the wall, moaning in pain. A few civilians had tried to help them by passing out blankets but it was easy to see that none of them had been doctors or nurses before the cataclysm.

As the saddened civilian ponies left the room, Fluttershy and two more Karalian soldiers entered the room. The yellow pegasus held a white box with a red cross in her mouth. As she reached the wounded ponies, she dropped the medical kit, a metallic clang was heard as it hit the floor. Fluttershy flipped it open and retrieved the contents.

Twilight watched as her friend continued to care for their wounds, and offered them both water. Fluttershy smiled as both ponies accepted this with robotic gratitude. But it didn't matter, Fluttershy was happy that they showed any gratitude at all.Twilight also noticed that the Karalians that entered the room with her were both lieutenants, judging by the silver bar on the front of one’s helmet and a gold bar on the other’s. Working with soldiers for a while, she had learned enough to get by.

Well, that was one thing that never changed about her.

Twilight Sparkle, ever the student.

“Checker, Niki. You ponies doing okay? Do you need anything?” the first lieutenant asked his wounded subordinates.

Neither responded.

The lieutenant frowned at the lack of liveliness in their expressions.

The first lieutenant was a rather young earthpony, maybe two years younger than her, Twilight guessed. He was short, skinny colt with a brown coat and mane that complemented his green eyes well. Twilight remembered that his cutie mark was what looked like a broken heart with a pencil stabbed through it. She couldn’t see it now because he was still in uniform and the pants covered his flanks. He was the commander of the Karalian military contingent onboard the ship.

“Captain,” he acknowledged, spotting Twilight.

His triangular brown bangs were slightly covering one of his eyes as he tried to give Twilight a smile.

Twilight frowned.

“I’m a civilian Blaze. You know that.”

He raised an eyebrow as he took his place beside her.

“You’re the leader of this ship, are you not?”

“Well…yeah.”

“Then you’re Captain.”

He grinned in victory as he sprung his trap. Twilight merely rolled her eyes at this.

Idiot.

She watched the second lieutenant turn away to assist Fluttershy in treating the wounded ponies. This other Karalian officer was helping Fluttershy rebandage some of the wounds on the poor ponies, gauze in his teeth. Twilight didn’t know much about this pony, except that his name was Thunder Coy and that he was even younger than Blaze.

The yellow unicorn was about to say something to Fluttershy when Applejack and Rainbow Dash entered the room, Dash still wearing her combat uniform.

"Both of them are Karalians huh?" Dash asked as her wings flared as she trotted over to Twilight and Blaze.

Blaze responded and he swung his head in the direction of the wounded ponies.

"Yeah, Checker and Niki from Drossel Team. Did any of your Dragoons get hit during that firefight? I didn't notice any," he asked, concerned.

Rainbow shook her head as her gaze rested on Fluttershy and the admirable medical work of her oldest friend. Applejack walked past towards the kitchen, giving them a nod as trotted by and straightening her hat.

"No. Who were those guys anyway? I mean, they were wearing both of our uniforms, Karalian and Equestrian. And when they retreated, we checked the dead they left behind and couldn't any military ID's or anything like that," Rainbow Dash said, puzzled.

"Renegades, probably. I hate the type. Traitors."

Before they could continue, Fluttershy approached them somberly. Her head was down and she looked like she was going to choke up. All three ponies turned their attention to her immediately, they could feel the dread emanating from her demeanor. She stuttered with her words as she tried to speak, all three ponies clearly seeing the water form on the edge of one of her eyes.

"I-I just noticed something about Checker's wound that I haven't seen before," her head dropped as she struggled to break the news.

They all moved their heads in closer.

"As you know, he was shot in the ribs with a magical charge from a Pressure rifle. Well um...when I was looking over him, I noticed that the bleeding in his side had increased recently. I thought that I just had to replaced the bandages so I did so but when I looked into his wound I saw..."

Fluttershy had to stop and take an uneasy deep breath before continuing, leaving her friends in suspense.

"The magical charge pierced his lungs. I hoped that the heat from the charge would cauterize the wound but the bleeding told me otherwise. He is bleeding internally, slowly but surely. Blood has been slowly seeping into his lungs, drowning him. That would explain his hacking and coughing."

Blaze looked from his wounded soldier back to Fluttershy.

"What can we do?"

She turned to him and shook her head. Blaze could see the dry tears that stained her face. Poor thing.

"We don't have the equipment on board to help him. If we don't get him to a proper hospital soon..."

Blaze turned to Rainbow Dash and Twilight.

"Did we pick any doctors at the last town?" he asked hopefully.

Twilight shook her head, her eyes blank.

"No."

Blaze bit his lip as he took his black helmet off his head and stormed out of the room. After the automatic door shut behind him, they could hear a frustrated growl.

They listened to the metallic crash of his helmet being flung into the side of the wall.

"As for Niki, she will be fine in a week," Fluttershy added as an afterthought.

She trotted away with her head down as Rainbow and Twilight where left alone in the room with Lieutenant Coy and the two wounded soldiers. Coy was continuing to treat both of the wounded ponies.

"I need to get back to the front deck. You should get some rest Twi. I'll fly her for tonight and you take it tomorrow night, k?"

Twilight nodded stoically.

Memory

Memory

****When history witnesses a great change,

The Elements are lost.

While the world is being rearranged,

Ponies must feel the cost.

Until demons of the sky endure the race,

Only then will the world repair.

For one shall suffer death’s embrace,

And recall the Elements to end despair.

****

“Twilight, hurry!”

She could barely hear Applejack’s plea because her ears were filled with the painful whine of the air raid sirens. The shaking and rattling of the buildings and the ground itself made it seem as though an earthquake had hit Ponyville. Loud booms began to sound in the distance, almost powerful enough to drown out the screams and yells of the local ponies that were panicking and trying to escape. It seemed that with each boom, the frequency in the quaking ground and buildings intensified.

Equestrian regulars and Royal Guards alike were trying their best to rally the citizens and to reduce the panic as much as possible. It worked to a certain extent; they had managed to herd some of the citizenry towards the two aerial warships that had arrived minutes before. Both ships were parked on the edge of town and were taking in as many civilian ponies as they could.

The town was a flurry of frantic confusion.

“Everypony keep it together! The Borealis will be taking off soon enough! We can fit maybe fifty more ponies in there!” a Royal Guard advised, waving towards the entrance of the heavy cruiser.

Twilight noticed that there were too many ponies bunching up near the airships, they were scuffling and trying to fight their way onboard. She saw foals crying and looking for their parents that they got separated from in the confusion. All the while, the ear-shattering explosions in the distance were getting ominously louder. Soldiers and Guards were trying to retain order for the evacuation but didn’t have the numbers to quell the crazed citizenry.

The entire situation was utter chaos.

Twilight still had no idea where Applejack was taking her and her friends. After navigating through the unpredictable crowd of ponies, they finally happened upon a smaller ship than the Borealis that had only started to board ponies.

“Here we are gals. We better get aboard before it fills up!” Applejack said between gasps.

The cowpony wiped the sweat from her brow as she got in line for boarding. It wasn’t much of an actual line, Twilight noticed, but it would have to do. The rest of her friends filed in behind Applejack and tried their best to keep calm.

Tried…

“What is happening!? Has anypony seen Sweetie Belle!?” Rarity cried out, the situation setting her nerves on end.

“It’s all right sugar, Big Mac has already gotten all three of them on board. My poor brother, he’s tryin’ his best to get as many foals on the ships as possible, but I don’t know if he’ll be able to get on himself.”

Applejack began to tear up a little before Fluttershy comforted her by wrapping a wing around her. Equestrian fighter jets roared overhead, flying in formations towards the west. Twilight noticed that they were in a steep climb, which was unusual behavior for scrambled fighters.

“It’s okay. I’m sure everything will be fine. Besides, there are always the bunkers too.”

Twilight stepped up.

“She’s right Applejack, Mac knows what he’s doing. He’ll be fine,” the unicorn reassured.

Pinkie Pie grabbed and shook Twilight’s shoulders.

“But what about Dashie!?” she cried.

“She’s on the front lines! Probably scared and lonely! And you heard those explosions, they’re WAY too close! Has she already been hit?!”

Pinkie was frantic and nearly reduced to tears, worried about her best friend’s well-being.

Twilight couldn’t help but to feel the same way. Was Rainbow Dash okay? Most likely, whatever was causing these explosions had hit the warzones first. And Spike was still in Canterlot, but the princesses would protect him, right?

Twilight started losing her cool. Her eyes darted around the crowd, trying to understand what exactly was happening. The booms were getting even louder now, so loud that she almost didn’t pick up a conversation between two of the regulars.

“What were they thinking!? Launching an untested weapon that those idiots can’t control!? Is there any logic down there!?” one soldier complained.

“Something must have happened in the south, those ponies usually aren’t that stupid,” his comrade defended.

The two soldiers continued to talk but another explosion drowned out the contents. She looked up and saw pulsing purple lights in the distant sky, followed by large clouds of orange. The unicorn guessed that was what was causing the booms and all this panic. Another loud thundering after the orange cloud appeared confirmed her suspicion. She frowned as she saw another purple pulsing light streak across the sky, originating from the east, just like the last one.

“Whatever that is, it can’t be good. I hope we can take off soon.”

Twilight’s prayers seemed to have been answered as she was yanked away by Pinkie Pie.

“C’mon Twilight! We have to get on the flying black thingy! Applejack said so!” Pinkie exclaimed, Twilight’s ear in her mouth.

Being dragged by the ear was painful and annoying so the bookworm got up herself and followed her friends onto the destroyer. The clanging from dozens of hooves hitting the metal walkway was almost loud enough to overpower the ever-audible explosions in the background. Ponies flooded onto the walkways, soldiers ushering the civilians onboard. A couple of Royal Guards were stationed by the doors, most likely to keep order.

Twilight was about to pass through the door when she stopped. She turned around and got one last look at the place that had become her home. She witnessed the colorful and inviting buildings and the peaceful and innocent atmosphere that used to be here, drowned out by the constant booms and screams of ponies attempting to escape this beautiful place. She watched a posse of butterflies fluttering in the wind across her vision, oblivious to the plight of the ponies.

Twilight began to tear up.

She began to choke as an intense sadness swept over her. She couldn’t believe that she was leaving it. That colorful and joy-giving town, the peaceful nights of reading by the fire, the protective treehouse that she had grown to love, Sugarcube Corner, Carousel Boutique, Sweet Apple Acres, and the adventures that she had with her friends in that wonderful place, in this wonderful land…

And now she was leaving it all behind.

Her old life was over.

The gravity of those words had finally hit her. As her friends pulled her away from the entrance and into the ship so that other refugees could enter, she fell to the cold, unforgiving metal floor of the warship. She sobbed as she buried her head in her hooves as her friends looked on, tears in their eyes as well.

They all bore the expressions of understanding. After all, Twilight wasn’t the only one having her world ripped away from her. At least she could take comfort in knowing that she wasn’t alone, that her friends would be by her side.

"Why? Why is this happening? What am I supposed to do now?" she thought, wrapped in a cocoon of despair.

All of them.

All of them stood her up and embraced her, showering Twilight with the love of their unbreakable friendship in an effort to console her and themselves. They hugged and wiped away each other's tears and the doors began to close as the ship was filled to the maximum capacity for ponies. As the ship began to take off, they broke their embrace and smiled at each other. They were weak smiles, filled with a mix of sadness and hope.

Reality had returned as they felt the craft lift into the air and the military radio chatter that had been failed to be silenced, sounding over the intercom. Ponies began to gather their families and friends to explore the ship, military personnel guiding them the entire way. The engines began to rumble and the ponies felt the g-forces of the ship taking to the sky. The booms now sounded slightly muffled through the ship's walls.

The intercom beeped and static was audible for a moment before a crisp, professional voice spoke.

"This is your Captain speaking. Attention all passengers, crew, and air-defense fighters. Passengers, you are onboard the Equestrian Sky Destroyer Aurora and we have been informed that a weapon has been fired. We do not know what it is or what exactly happened but Equestria has been urged by our southern allies to take evasive action immediately. This is what's been relayed to us."

A renewed panic swept through the entire ship as the bad news came through the intercom. It was obvious that even though the captain was trying to be calm and keep his voice from quivering, he was rattled as well.

"Everypony is to either seek shelter in a magically reinforced concrete bunker or climb to an altitude above ten thousand feet."

All four of her friends looked to Twilight for guidance. She frowned as she saw their faces, and wished that this whole fiasco was just a vivid nightmare. She couldn't help them and it made her feel useless in this. But what could she do? She was a powerful unicorn but something like this was way above her.

Another boom sounded, this one sounding much closer.

Too close.

The rumbling shook with intensity as the floor shook, causing a few ponies to slip and fall.

Twilight stumbled around the open room and fell towards a black pegasus stallion looking around nervously.

"Ahh!" she called out to him.

He jumped at her voice, his eyes wide. The stallion looked confused and distressed, which in a situation like this, was not unusual. After fidgeting for a bit, he finally turned to Twilight and acknowledged her.

"Oh sorry!" he apologized as he caught her.

As she made herself stable she muttered a 'thank you' and started to return to her friends when he stopped her.

"You heard those booms out there right?" Thunderlane asked her.

"What about them?"

Thunderlane sighed, and then solemnly looked up at her.

"This just might be a rumor but..." he drifted off, not sure if he could say what he was about to say.

He bit his lip and turned away.

"What? Do you know anything?" she asked urgently, leaning in towards him.

"...Those were the sounds of Cloudsdale being destroyed."

Twilight froze. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. An entire city gone, just after a few blasts? All those who couldn't evacuate lost? So many thousands of lives...

...Gone, just like that.

"Impossible."

The airship seemed to be picking up speed as the intercom cracked again.

The captain sounded frantic this time.

"Ballistic shell incoming! It fires multiple warheads that separate in mid-air! All aircraft above Ponyville, get your altitude above ten thousand feet! Borealis, you're at five thousand feet! Ascend!" the captain yelled urgently into his radio.

The crew still had forgotten to disconnect the radio chatter from the intercom system.

"Currently at three thousand feet!" a pilot cried over the radio.

"Man, there's no way I can make ten thousand feet," griped another pilot.

Another explosion sounded, causing the ship's interior to rattle once again. Thankfully, this one was weaker than the last for unknown reasons. Ponies inside the ship all held their breath as they listened intently to the radio chatter.

"Ballistic shell strike in ten, nine..." the captain began to count down.

"Come on! Come on! Pull up! Pull up!"

"Borealis, you're at seven thousand feet! You need to climb NOW!"

Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing. It didn't seem real at all. It felt too much like a dream. Everything seemed to be happening so fast that she couldn't comprehend what exactly was going on. Her mind felt cloudy and numb. Her senses dulled, it was like she couldn't function right now. So she had no choice but to helplessly listen to the situation as best she could.

"Everypony, grab on to something!" a soldier in the room with them yelled.

This feeling...it wasn't right. Adding the chaos of the chatter just aggravated it. It was almost alien. She knew right then that she never wanted to have this sensation again.

"...three, two, impact, now!"

Right on cue, a brief screeching roared through the air so loud that it made the previous explosions seem tame. Directly after the screeching was the explosion. The bang tore through the entire ship, just the sound wave making ponies cry out in pain as they did their best to protect their ears. Ponies were tossed to the floor, some trying to dodge loose equipment that was skidding around. Pressure rifles were scattered across the metallic tiles as well, soldiers losing their weapons and helmets.

Twilight and her friends hit the deck immediately, covering their ears with their hooves as the unicorn instinctively formed a enchanted forcefield around her and her friends. She realized that it was harder for her to channel her magic now, which was not good. She never felt safe when her magic was affected negatively by anything, whether it was an external or internal cause. Hopefully the shield would hold.

She heard Pressure rifles clatter to the floor as the bodies of ponies soon followed. She heard many yelps and cries before a ringing in her ears took over her hearing. Twilight cursed silently as she covered them with her hooves, annoyed at the possible hearing damage. Boxes filled with small mechanical parts and tools where thrown to the floor as the ship began to tilt the ship ever-so slightly towards the front of the aerial giant.

The roar of the burst subsided after a few seconds. To Twilight, it had felt like hours had passed.

When she got up, she realized that the Aurora was largely undamaged, from the inside at least. Ponies, weapons, and equipment was scattered all across the silvery metal floor. Most of the occupants were trying to get back on their hooves, some assisting others, and dozens of conversations began to fill the room. The foals were crying again. She turned to look behind her and confirmed that her friends were fine.

Applejack had already started picking Rarity off the floor and Pinkie had done the same with Fluttershy. Both Pinkie and Fluttershy were both close to bursting out in sobs now, she could see the tears welling up in their eyes.

She sighed in relief.

Another cracking sound.

"Gah! I've been hit!"

"I just lost the guy on my six!"

"Strikehoof three, respond!"

"What the hay was that attack? It was like molten steel raining down on us!"

"Allied squadron wiped out! What happened!?"

"The Borealis just burst into flames! She's taken severe damage!"

The ponies in the open room all glanced at each other in shock. All of her friends trotting up to her and hugged her tightly as they could. Applejack's face was dropped in disdain, while Rarity held a hoof to her chest in sorrow. She could feel Pinkie Pie shivering through Fluttershy's body. The shy pony was visibly crying now as she nuzzled Twilight's neck.

"I-I'm scared Twi-light. I really a-am," she sputtered out as the pegasus choked on her tears.

A set of tears went down both of her purple cheeks.

"Me too girls. Me too," she whispered in reply.

Twilight pulled them in closer, squeezed them even tighter. The collective body warmth soothed and reassured her. It felt like a protective cocoon of love had surrounded her, promising to keep her safe from the cruel world outside. She didn't want to leave it. Who would have? If she was going to get through this, she had to depend on them, just as they depended on her. She knew that she had to do everything she could for them, and provide them with everything she could possibly offer.

And that's why she broke the hug and galloped away.

"Second ballistic shell incoming! Borealis! Evasive action!"

Twilight scurried towards the upper decks, climbing a flight of stairs, her hooves clanging against the metal surface. Her friends all glanced at each other with mystified expressions.

"What's gotten in to her?" Applejack asked, pointing a hoof up at the hallway entrance that the stairs led to and that the unicorn had just vanished into.

Twilight had to know.

She had to see what was happening with her own eyes. There had to be a window in the command room. She had to see, not just for herself but for everypony else as well. They had to know what was really happening here. She owed it to them.

Twilight tapped a magical radar spell to learn the layout of the ship. The magic was coming in fuzzy again. She didn't understand why. Perhaps it was the stress or the emotional shock that she was going through.

Or maybe it was just a broken heart...

Her mind clicked in a familiar understanding immediately when she got the usual feeling that a spell had been successful. She now had a map in her head of the ship's infrastructure that would certainly help her locate the command room. When she saw the layout, she was momentarily surprised at the complexity and scale of the warship. But now wasn't the time for this. She sent her petty curiosities packing as she scanned the mental map for the command room. She gave a smug smile when she found it.

"The front of the ship! Of course!"

"Ten, nine, eight..."

Her hooves skidded across the floor as she almost slipped and fell while turning a corner. After Twilight recovered, she dodged regulars as her way to the command room. Two aerial sailors shouted at her to halt but she paid no heed. Most of the personnel only saw a flash of purple rapidly zip by them in the hallways. She darted through hallway after hallway, navigating the corridors like a maze.

"...Three, two, impact, now!"

The screeching returned again, this time giving off a dreadful siren-like effect. The detonation of the shell couldn't have been to far away as its power was felt within the Aurora once more. It was like an earthquake had taken within the craft itself. Everything was shaking, and there was a deep rumbling sound emanating from the warship.

Twilight was thrown off of her hooves, her body going airborne until it violently slammed into the side of a wall. The sensation of being flung into the air almost felt like she was flying. The pain in her side was sharp as it hit the wall, causing her to let out a yelp. The metal interior rattled as the shockwave from the burst shell reverberated throughout the entire sky destroyer. The lights above flickered and the vibrations from the strike drowned out the yelps of the crew that had lost their footing once more.

"-the captain of the Borealis! This is my last order! Abandon ship!"

Twilight threw herself up immediately, galloping to her destination like a crazed maniac. She had to know the truth. She had to make sure that her friends knew the truth. She had to see what was happening to Ponyville with her own eyes.

After traversing several hallways and automatic doors, she finally had come to what looked like just another door.

The mare burst through the door, shocking some of the personnel inside. She opened her eyes and saw a huge display of consoles and information systems decked on each side of the walls. The captain was frantically addressing his subordinate officers over a holographic map table in the center of the room, the only ones who were too locked in discussion to notice Twilight Sparkle bursting through the entrance.

But that was nothing compared to what she had come here for.

A wide window, at the end of the room, gave an excellent bird's eye view of what had transpired outside.

Twilight broke into a quick gallop, teleporting past a couple of guards that tried to block her way, and rushed up the window and immediately cast her gaze downward, onto her home below.

She gasped.

****

Beyond the pillar of smoke, was not her hometown but a pit in flames.

There was no town.

There was just a massive fire.

She could see the few skeletons of what had once been homes and businesses, surrounded by an inferno of death. Orange flickering spots were visible all across the outskirts of the town. Nothing living was visible. Flames filled the newly-made crater.

All of those ponies, still trapped in that town...

The attack came without warning, there was no way they could have gotten to the bunkers that fast.

Through her watery eyes, she could see the Borealis off to the left. It was significantly lower than the Aurora and was descending fast. It was trailing smoke with embers jutting out of its black armor. Twisted metal and loose parts were hanging precariously from the main body and it was at this moment when Twilight realized that the Borealis had nearly been split in half. Chunks of the once-mighty heavy cruiser were falling to the scorched landscape below as the destroyer's sister ship was losing its integrity.

Then, an explosion ripped through the entire vessel as a fire had struck the magic-filled powder magazine. The ball of fire ripped through steel and gave off a bluish sparkle. The raw magically energy tore through what was left of the structure, effectively slicing the cruiser in two. Both pieces nosedived and let gravity take hold as they plummeted to the earth below.

The shortness of breath had started to make her huff as her chest tightened up. It felt like a towel that was being wringed out. Her thoughts became scrambled and incoherent as she felt nothing when her body dropped to the ground with a loud thud.

Her supercomputer brain was unable to process anything. Her magic felt almost nonexistent. She couldn't even hear herself wail and scream in despair. She had never felt so alone.

Truly and utterly broken.

****

Twilight gasped awake.

Her breathing was out of control and her head was pounding. Her coat was covered in sweat, and she felt sticky.

She threw off her blankets and sat up on her haunches, planting her flank on the soaked bedsheets under her. After a couple of seconds of slow, deliberate deep breaths, she regained control of her psyche.

Or at least Twilight hoped she had.

She sat there in the darkness for a few seconds, her mind blank and clear. The metronome of the clock on the wall ticking had settled her nerves. She could hear muffled speech and laughter from the other side of her door across from her bed. She looked down and noticed the only source of light besides her alarm clock, funneling in through the crack below the door. The inside of the captain's quarters was built and designed like an ordinary bedroom, or at least, as close as they could get it.

An eerie bluish glow enveloped the entire room, thanks to her digital alarm clock. It was making the normally white walls appear like...

Well she didn't know exactly, but this atmosphere did wonders calming her down.

Always has.

This was the third time she had had that dreadful nightmare, every encounter exactly the same, so vivid.

She sighed as her gut wrenched.

She knew that was because it wasn't a nightmare, although she had wished with all her heart that it was.

It was a memory.

The Valley

The Valley

****

When history witnesses a great change,

The Elements are lost.

While the world is being rearranged,

Ponies must feel the cost.

Until demons of the sky endure the race,

Only then will the world repair.

For one shall suffer death’s embrace,

And recall the Elements to end despair.

****

The vessel's monotonous humming exemplified the boredom within the destroyer. Most of the occupants were either still asleep or passing the time with card games and conversation.

Blaze was sitting at a circular table by himself, sipping on a mug of the hot chocolate that Fluttershy had found in the last supply shipment. A boombox playing music from a Karalian rock CD was placed on a table next to his, in the middle of a song that he had enjoyed even before the war. He was mildly annoyed that much of the music was being drowned out by laughter, conversation, and the occasional dinging of silverware.

It was then when Coy approached the table and sat across from him, a plate of lasagna enveloped in his light blue magic. The yellow unicorn flashed Blaze a nod and a smile before digging into his lunch. As far as Blaze knew, Thunder was a stallion of few words, even though he was hardly old enough to be considered a stallion.

"Damn foal conscription."

That was one thing that they both had in common.

The Republic of Karalia liked to keep at least four regiments comprised of foal conscripts, for the sole purpose of officer cadet training. Most Karalian officers were foal conscripts while the enlisted were usually volunteers, which in Blaze's opinion, was a very screwed up system. These young ponies were literally ripped away from their mothers at the ripe age of five and thrown into circulation by the government. He could still remember crying for his mama as they dragged him away.

But that's what Karalia prided themselves on, Equestria had the princesses and the Elements of Harmony, Karalia had technology and bragged the finest armies in the world. They were the war ponies, not the Equestrians. Sharing their border with changelings, zebras, and the Saddle Arabians, they had to be.

Karalian national pride...very powerful, if a little arrogant.

Rainbow Dash interrupted his thoughts by bumping into the table and spilling Coy's orange soda, earning her a glare from the unicorn.

"Whoops! Sorry Coy, getting Pinkie to chill isn't easy," she apologized sheepishly.

Blaze looked past her and noticed Pinkie Pie gnawing on a rubber chicken while swinging her head back and forth. She seemed to be pleasing a crowd of giggling foals. He chuckled a bit as well, there was no pony like Pinkie that could score smiles.

"Hey Blaze," Rainbow Dash called out, a glass of soda in her hoof.

"Yeah?"

"There's something about you and Coy that I have been meaning to ask about," Rainbow squeaked out awkwardly.

"As long as its not creepy, ask away."

Blaze looked back towards Pinkie, only to find in dismay that she had replaced the rock song with one of 'Pinkie's Classics' as she called them. As the chipper tune began to play, the foals were giggling madly, some even trying to dance. Well, at least somepony was enjoying it.

Rainbow rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"You see...its just that..." she trailed off.

"This is going to be creepy, isn't it?"

Rainbow scoffed at his joke as she rolled her eyes.

"Your name is Blaze, and his name is Thunder Coy," she pointed out, jabbing a hoof at the disgruntled, orange soda-less unicorn.

"Wow! It only took you four years to learn our names! Great job Rainbow, I'll make sure to get you a sticker later."

"Not diggin' the sarcasm bro."

A couple of the foals fell on their faces trying to dance and began to cry. He thought it was hilarious when he noticed Pinkie mouth 'uh oh' with fear in her eyes.

"Anyway, those are both pegasi names. Yet you're an earth pony and he's a unicorn. I don't get it."

Rainbow took another sip of her cola.

"My dad wanted a pegasus. As for Coy, he won't even tell me."

He took the cup of hot chocolate in his hooves, and took a large gulp, risking to burn his tongue. It didn't matter though, the rich taste and warm was reward enough. Hot chocolate was a lot harder to come by nowadays.

"So your dad really gave you a pegasus name even though you're an earth pony? What a douche."

Blaze looked back up at her and shrugged.

"He didn't know. He was killed before I was born. Then my mother kept his name for me, and that was that, I guess."

Rainbow opened her mouth to say something when the intercom interrupted her with a loud, scratchy crack. She looked up at the intercom and listened as Rarity's refined voice was relaying a message. Pinkie, realizing what was going on and knowing better, shut off her music and told the foals to quiet down for a second. Every last one listened to their Auntie Pinkie Pie.

"Attention darlings! We have picked up a signature on our magical radar. It is giving off a marvelous signal that is coming from the valley below us. Please be patient as we land to investigate. All military personnel, report to the lower decks and Armory to prepare for deployment. Automated turrets are to be activated for artillery support, the command room will receive requests for strikes via radio. Any idle ponies willing to help may occupy one of the eight manual anti-air turrets we have on board, in case we get bounced from above. Thank you so much for your cooperation dears."

Rarity finished her announcement, a slight accent could be heard at the end of it.

Rainbow Dash sighed.

"Looks like I better get the Dragoons."

With that she flew off, Blaze watching her as she turned a corner, out of sight.

The brown earth pony then turned to his fellow Karalian officer.

"Coy, you're in charge of Drossel Team, I'll take Gorizont."

The younger yellow pony just nodded in confirmation as he took one last bite of his lasagna. Coy got up from the table as he used his magic to jab the fork into the remainder of his meal and left the room.

Blaze followed.

****

The landscape in the valley was bare and dirt brown. It was littered with the skeletons of dead trees and large rocks. Large black mountains surrounded the dirt plain on all sides. There was a light breeze coming in from the south, the ponies could feel it brushing up against their skin, being a light annoyance. Evening light shined through the gaps in the clouds, no pegasi caring and tending to them anymore.

The ship was still moving, giving the ponies watching the illusion that the landscape passing by the Aurora and not the other way around. This semi-powerful vessel, a black rectangle in the air...built for a war that was already lost. Yet, here it is, still flying in this lonely dark sky.

Rainbow Dash looked down at the earth from the hangar opening in the rear of the ship, ready to drop with her Dragoons behind her. She could the mountains in front of her, and clouds slightly above. The wind blew through her rainbow-colored mane, causing her to have to blow a strand away from her eyes.

She glanced back behind her to see six Dragoons, standing in two lines of three, waiting for their lieutenant to give them the order. All of these cavalry pegasi were Equestrian Airborne Infantry, just like her. All but two of them were veterans, though most of them served in different regiments during the war. They all donned the snow camouflage uniforms of the Pegacav Dragoons, complete with the allied Stahlhelm, and holes for their wings.

The two Leasathian griffons were behind them, loading their Pressure rifles and speaking to each other in a foreign tongue. They were wearing solid green uniforms and had red berets placed on their heads. How those berets never came off during a drop, Dash would never find out.

The red light behind them flashed green, signaling that they were clear to drop.

Rainbow Dash saw this and yanked back the collapsible stock for her submachinegun. She adjusted the light blue armband on her right foreleg, making sure it fit snug and wouldn't come off. It had her rank stitched into it, a single silver bar. It was one of Rarity's creations that was made for her as parting gift before Rainbow left for cadet training, all those years ago. The rank had been added when she reunited with her friends. She tapped her the front of her helmet to make sure that her night vision goggles were still there, in case they had to enter any caves. It would also be night soon.

That was one thing that Rainbow Dash could never figure out. If Celestia and Luna were destroyed and dead like every pony claimed they were, how were the sun and moon able to continue their normal cycles? Sure, whenever it was daytime, the sun could only give evening light, which was hard to see through the cloud cover. And they could no longer see the sun or the stars and moon, but still. Something had to be controlling those celestial bodies, right?

But what?

Quickly, Rainbow Dash snapped herself out of it, this was not the time for that.

It was time to drop.

"Dragoons! Lock and load!" she yelled with a smirk.

She grabbed a banana-shaped stick magazine from her pouch and shoved it into the magazine well. When she heard the distinct click that let her know that it was seated properly, she slapped down the bolt with a quick swipe of her hoof. After she was done, she listened to the echoing clicks of her Dragoons loading their own submachineguns.

After spending the next minute checking each other's equipment, Dash decided that they were ready.

The plan was simple, the Dragoons would land and set up a perimeter around a flat area where the Aurora could land. They would hold this defensive position until the warship could land and drop off their Karalian allies. All of them would rendezvous and begin their patrols from there, guided by the unicorns giving command and control from the Aurora.

Hopefully, they could find what they were looking for this time.

And hopefully, Twilight wouldn't tag along with the Karalians again.

"Dragoons! Are you hungry!?" Rainbow yelled over the wind and sounds of the engines.

"Sky demons on the prowl!" they cried in unison.

Rainbow Dash loved hearing that before every drop. They sounded just as enthusiastic as they did every time.

As one, pegasus and griffons wings flared open. Rainbow turned her attention forward and pawed at the metal floor in anticipation. With a jolt from her wings, she took off, flying through the opening at the end of the hangar, her Dragoons and the northern griffons trailing her.

****

The ship rumbled as the engines prepared for a landing. The ship hit more turbulence on the way down, causing Twilight's body to shake. Applejack was standing next to her, pressing down on her Stetson, trying not to lose it. Blaze was standing on the other side of Twilight, doing the same with his black Stahlhelm. Coy was next to him, holding his pressure rifle in his magic, looking it over.

The hallway that led to the large door was crammed with ponies in solid black uniforms. The ship bucked and rattled, requiring everypony to either hold onto something or use each other for support. The Pressure rifle that was slung over Applejack's back swung and smacked a Karalian soldier in the face.

The aqua mare glared at her.

"Control your weapon, Equestrian!" she barked.

"I'm mighty sorry."

Applejack frowned sympathetically at the other mare.

The Karalian pony gave a swift and curt nod, accepting her apology with a hesitant stare.

Twilight bore her eyes into the door, not knowing what to expect on the other side of that door. This could really be the first time that they found something. Or it could be another pointless and bloody endeavor, just like all of the other drops. But still. This could be it. After all of these years, what they were looking for could very well be in their grasp.

Blaze turned back to address his troops, rapidly tapping his sheathed Karalian officer saber. It was a nervous quirk that Twilight had picked up on in the last couple of drops.

"Alright! Me, Coy, and Twilight are the first to step off the ship and the last to get on. NCOs and Corporals, you know what to do if Coy and I get wiped..."

Twilight haven't even thought of charging her horn yet, her mind was still enveloped in the fact that the could be very close to the first step of repairing this damaged world. She didn't carry a magical gun on her, with magical power of her caliber, she didn't need to.

It has been such a long time. Remembering the world before the wasteland was hard to do for her. Not only because of the pain she suffered from the loss of her family, many of her friend and her princesses...but also because it was literally hard for her to remember the world of the past.

The feel of the soft and dewy green grass against her hooves, the soft breeze kissing her coat with pure and untainted air. The ambient peaceful feeling that the land of Equestria itself seemed to emanate, making everything in its presence became breathtaking and full of life. The infectious happiness that came with every day in Ponyville.

All of it was fading from her mind. Her memories of some of the best days of her life were becoming blurry. Those sweet moments of her life. She was losing it all slowly to time. And she hated it.

The only thing that reminded her of it briefly was one particular nightmare...

"Twilight? Are you okay?"

Twilight blinked out her thousand yard stare. Blaze's green eyes were staring back at hers with concern. Twilight shook her head voiced a quick apology. Thunder Coy was watching from behind Blaze and frowned in response.

"I've been picking up familiar vibes from you lately, Captain," Blaze said, being straightforward.

"Vibes that I don't like and have seen far too often. Are you sure that you want to come with us again?" he queried.

Twilight turned to him, suddenly feeling sheepish.

"Uh, yes. I'm fine," she assured with an unconfident smile.

Blaze, Coy, and now Applejack looked at her warily.

"If you say so, Sugarcube..."

But now, there was an opportunity to right all of the wrongs. To bring back all of those precious memories that she was losing.

And she was still here, alive.

With her friends as well, the ponies that cared about her and loved her. Not just her old friends, but her new ones as well. As long as they were alive, they still had a fighting chance. They would never give up on the mission, and mostly importantly her. So she couldn't give up on them, right? Even though the odds were dreadfully against them, here they were, five years later and still had the fight in them to continue on. No matter how bleak and dark the circumstances were, as long these great ponies that she was with had the spirit, all was not lost. She felt honored to be with them all.

If there was life, there was hope.

****

Rainbow Dash's hooves slammed into the dirt-covered earth, kicking up a dust cloud that surrounded her and almost hid her presence. Her Dragoons and the two griffons followed close behind, kick up dust of their own. After they all recovered from the shock of hitting the ground at the speed they had been going, all of them fanned out with their weapons drawn, ready to engage anything that wasn't friendly. They spread out and formed a perimeter around the Aurora's drop zone taking cover among a small formation of rocks nearby.

The valley was dark, as was expected, the light piercing through the dark, gray clouds becoming weaker by the second.

The night vision goggles would be needed sooner than she thought.

The airborne soldiers there quietly for the next few minutes, awaiting the Aurora's arrival. That ship was fast in the air for its size, but sky vessels were always known to be slow landers. Rainbow Dash sighed and groaned with impatience, leaning against the rock she was using for cover. She slid her body to the ground, her back rubbing up against the rock. Soon, she was in a sitting position, her submachinegun resting on her lap.

One of her Dragoons was standing on two hooves, something that pegasi were good at, leaning against her rock with a elbow and a bored expression. The yellow pegasus mare pulled out a stick of gum and rammed it into her mouth in frustration. She then produced a second stick out of her pouch and handed to the griffon sitting against the rock next to her. The griffon nodded his thanks and tossed it into his mouth.

The next few minutes was monotony and boredom, a dreadfully familiar feeling to any soldier that spent time out on the front lines. Many of them began small talk, many of them talking about life onboard the ship and the terrible cooking of that green unicorn mare that prepared their meals.

Many of them laughed and joked, reminiscing when Lyra had poured hot spaghetti all over herself and then proceeded to scream in terror, alerting half the ship. Many of the soldiers remembered thinking that it was a raid and had barged into the kitchen, weapons in hoof to fight off the intruding boarders, only to find the comical scene of a spaghetti-covered Lyra, running around in circles blind because of the noodles that got in her eyes.

These ponies knew that without the civilians on board to keep things interesting, they'd go absolutely insane.

After another minute, they heard the roar of the Sky Destroyer's engine getting closer. It wouldn't be long now. They all looked to the sky, hoping to catch a glimpse of the behemoth that carried their reinforcements.

An explosive boom of a magical charge burst the silence in the air, shocking all of them awake. Immediately, a green bolt of a deadly magical energy soared over the head of the blue-haired mare with the gum. She ducked immediately as the griffon stood up and peeked over the cover, rifle at the ready and still chewing his gum.

He provided cover fire, squeezing off single shots of purple magical charges at whatever was shooting at them. Soon, the entire team was involved. The Dragoons and griffons were taking cover behind the rocks and it was obvious that the enemy was doing the same on the other side. Green, blue and purple shots were exchanged across the rocks, some glancing off of the rugged landscape.

Rainbow Dash fired short bursts of her submachinegun, trying to adjust her aim according to what her blue magical shots were telling her. Magical charges made great tracer rounds. Above a rock across from her, she thought she saw a black figure just as it was ducking for cover. She tapped the hoof button to spray again, causing a few of the enemy combatants to take cover as her shots hit the rock below them in a straight line across.

The figure looked familiar to her for some reason. Rainbow frowned.

She didn't like this at all.

She waited until the changeling came up to fire from its horn again and let the creature have it. She squeezed off a longer burst that started off low and trailing up, hitting the rock below her target. Her magazine clicked empty as she watched the last three of her blue shots connect with the changeling's head. It gave a shrill cry, alerting and angering its comrades.

The purple bolts of the griffons' semi-automatic Pressure rifles hummed over her as she slid back down behind the rock to swap magazines.

"I think I hit one!" a Dragoon cried out.

"Méfiez-vous! Ils essaient de nous flanc!" a griffon warned.

Rainbow looked to the green pegasus mare taking cover next to her and grabbed one of her shoulders with a hoof.

"What did he say?"

"I don't know, something about flanking?" the mare answered unconfidently as she stood up to fire another burst, leaning on the rock for support.

After slapping down the bolt again, Rainbow popped back up to continue suppressive fire. Sure enough, a team of maybe five changelings were galloping and hopping across the rocks, extending their line in order to sweep Rainbow's left flank.

The first changeling to reveal itself got blasted full of even more holes by a hail of blue charges from several Dragoons right as it emerged from cover. The second changeling took a Pressure round to the hip in mid-hop and crashed to the rocky floor, wailing in intense pain. The third and fourth got away, while Rainbow Dash and one the griffons both gunned down the fifth one that made the mistake of running in the open.

Enemy fire was coming in from the front again, which Rainbow Dash assumed was poorly timed cover fire for the flankers.

Green bolts zipped over her head as she took cover once more.

"These changelings aren't the best fighters or even well-trained, but holy Celestia there is a lot of them!"

She sat back down, her eyes becoming blank. Most of her team was now redirecting their fire back to the front as the griffons stayed on the two surviving flankers. The sounds of small-arms fire and the yelling of allied soldiers filled her ears, as well as the pinging of shots ricocheting off the rocks. She saw changeling rounds kicking up some of the dirt in front of her and a few of her teammates.

She wasn't checking her magazine, like she had intended, but for a moment, she was frozen there. She idly watched as her friends and changelings exchanged fire, her mind shut down, if only for a split second. This wasn't the first she had been in a firefight like this, but it didn't matter. If there was anything she had learned over the years, it was that trauma didn't discriminate. When she recognized the trap, she shook her head furiously and banged a hoof against her helmet, making it look like she was trying to get water out her ears.

She couldn't break down, not now. Not in the middle of an engagement...not again.

A thunderous roaring was heard overhead as the big guns from the Aurora began providing fire support. The large purple streaks of magical artillery shells that were tipped with war magic rocketed towards their position. The ground rumbled as the first two shells hit their marks, the changelings that didn't get hit crying out as they realized that they were being shelled.

Rainbow watched in awe as the massive destroyer came in for a landing, showing its right side to them. Then, the remaining eighteen guns on the right let out a full-broadside, each gun firing after the other, the thunderous explosions causing the guns to recoil into the ship. Gray, sparkly magical smoke appeared to somewhat shroud the ship as it moved in above Dash's airborne infantry team.

Chunks of rock had been blown everywhere and what was left them were raining down onto the ponies and griffons as pebbles. Changelings wailed in pain everywhere, dead and wounded ones now littered the area.

Many of the pegasi shouted in triumph, pumping their hooves in the air before more green bolt fire shocked them into taking cover again. Rainbow popped up to reengaged and spotted a changeling standing on top of a rock and dropped him with a quick burst to the chest.

"Idiot."

The ship touched down, green bolts bouncing off the black metal armor on the exterior. A small door opened and ponies flooded out of the ship and spread themselves out across the position. Blaze and Thunder Coy came out roaring with murderous war cries that would only be necessary for a bayonet charge, making the shouts seem out of place in this setting. Twilight and Applejack followed, Twilight with her horn charged with war magic and Applejack with her Pressure rifle smacking against her body. Twelve Karalian soldiers followed, trying to keep up with their officers. They galloped down the metal bridge that connected the door to the ground, their hooves clanging against it loudly.

Blaze began spitting out orders as soon as his hooves hit dirt. He turned to his silent best friend.

"Coy, you take Drossel team and support the griffons on the right. Applejack, go with him. I'll take Gorizont team and support Rainbow Dash in the center and left. Twilight, come with me."

Applejack nodded in affirmation, turning to Coy, only to find that he and the rest of Drossel team had already run off. She yelped in surprise and galloped off to catch up, holding her Stetson down. Twilight frowned at Applejack's shrinking form and turned back to Blaze.

"Are you sure that she should be doing this? Its her first time out here," Twilight yelled over the small-arms fire.

Green charges flew all around them, some soaring over their heads and hitting the ship, others punching into the dirt.

The younger brown pony glared at her. He didn't have time for this.

"Worried about her? Ironic, coming from you," he spat as he shoved past her.

Blaze waved a hoof signal to his team while holding his Pressure rifle in his other, and the Karalians took off to relieve the Dragoons. Blaze galloped after them, completely ignoring Twilight and giving her the cold shoulder. Twilight growled in annoyance and used her new-found anger to charge up her horn as she galloped after him.

****

Rarity watched the feed from the monitor, running her blue eyes over the rocky land below. She could see that Karalian soldiers had started to reinforce Rainbow Dash's troops against the rocks. She told the operator, a pink unicorn, to zoom in. She could see Blaze and Rainbow Dash barking out orders while Twilight fired charge after charge of her magic at the enemy positions, most of them missing. Blaze was jabbing his hoof at another attempt of a flanking maneuver by the changeling grunts.

Shots danced around the area and every once in a while, a changeling would drop from getting hit. It was relieving to see that none of the ponies or griffons were going down, she had enough of dealing with dead or wounded friends. Perhaps, it won't happen this time. She silent prayed to the goddesses to make it so.

The pink operator zoomed out and displayed the entire field below. Rarity could see the broadside that was fired earlier did tremendous damage to the enemy changelings, blowing holes in their defensive line. But it was what was past the line that captured her interest.

"Shallow Blossom, would you be a dear and please zoom in on that crater, it looks like many of the changelings are concentrated there," she said, pointing hoof behind the enemy lines.

"Yes ma'am," the unicorn answered and did what she was told.

The screen brought up a closer zoom, the feed slightly being distorted for a split second before coming into focus. It showed about twenty or so changelings forming a protective circle around a black-charred crater. They were all standing out in the open, fanned out in every direction. They looked like they were going to guard that crater with their lives. It became obvious to Rarity that these ones behaved like changeling militia. Poorly trained and not the best shots, but they used overwhelming numbers to spam and swarm the enemy.

Fortunately, this militia unit was horribly depleted, the unicorn seeing that there were only maybe seventy or eighty changelings present here. The ones that the allied soldiers and artillery barrage killed included. The scarier ones actually used firearms while these ones were content with using their horns. Still, a second barrage might be in order. Even though the first one killed a lot of them, there was still more than forty-five changelings in the area.

"I want another twenty-gun barrage on the changelings. Full broadside, no mercy."

Rarity haughtily stuck her nose in the air while still eyeing the screen. This was the perfect role for her. Ground-fighting was dirty and grimy business, something that she wanted no part in. However, she still wanted to be helpful to her friends and assist in any way possible. This position gave her the opportunity to help fight skirmishes without having to actually fight and be present. Also, it put her in a command role, which, though stressful, was very satisfying for her.

Before the next broadside, Rarity could have sworn that she could have seen a glint of light in the center of the crater. What was it? A shiny metal object of some kind? Or worse, was it a beacon for reinforcements? Whatever it was, the changelings seemed apt with protecting it. She raised an eyebrow.

"Darling, zoom into the center of that crater," she ordered, squinting her eyes at the screen.

"Yes ma'am!" Shallow Blossom replied again.

The camera zoomed in even further, making the changelings larger and the mysterious object shine brighter.

Was that gold?

An enemy scooped up the object and screeched and squawked with its comrades, before breaking into a hasty retreat. The other changelings followed from the crater and the ones firing on her friends were gradually pulling themselves from the line. Rarity cursed, just when she was about to find what that item was, a pesky changeling takes off with it.

But of course.

"All guns are reloaded and ready to fire ma'am," Shallow said.

Rarity pursed her lip.

"Don't target the one leading their retreat, only hit the others."

The pink unicorn looked at her, dumbfounded.

Rarity glared at her.

"Well, do it!" she spat.

The mare gave the automated command and soon the rumbling from the guns was felt within the ship.

****

The cacophony of artillery shells exploding more screams from the changelings was interrupted by one of the Karalian soldiers.

"The enemy is retreating! Now what?" the black-clad mare asked.

Blaze gazed at the routing enemy with an angry yet hungry look in his eyes.

"It's been a while since I've killed a changeling up close...fix bayonets!" he ordered, shocking everypony around him.

Rainbow looked at him like he was insane. She could feel that something wasn't right with him.

"Blaze, what are you doing?" she demanded.

"Don't make the mistake I did, Blaze. I can't relive that again. I won't!"

The earth pony paid her no heed.

"Karalians, we are going to take this field and hunt down these vile creatures like the scum they are!" Blaze shouted with fiery passion, hooking a knife-like attachment to the end of the barrel of his Pressure rifle.

Rainbow Dash didn't like this one bit. Had he snapped?! The air now felt different around the young Karalian officer.

Darker.

"Prepare to charge! Send orders to Lieutenant Coy's element!" Blaze barked urgently to another Karalian pony.

In fact, she had felt it since Blaze had realized that the enemy were changelings. To her, this situation was almost like hitting the rewind button on her life, except that this time she wasn't the star of the show. She now saw the madness in his eyes...a madness that she was all too familiar with.

"CHAAARGE!" Blaze yelled, the look of a psychopath on his face, as he poised his bayonet and galloped through the rocks.

Gorizont followed behind him, giving a furious and intimidating yell as they surged forward. Rainbow looked off to her right and heard similar yells coming from Drossel team, Applejack charging with them. Both waves of Karalians disappeared amongst the rocks, chasing after their quarry.

What was he thinking?

"Those are Blaze's ponies...what are they doing!?" a Dragoon cried out, stupefied.

Twilight snapped her back into reality.

"Should I charge too?" Twilight asked curiously, almost all emotion void from her tone.

Her lack of emotion in her voice frightened Rainbow Dash.

"No! You stay here!" she said, turning to her purple friend.

"Dragoons! Covering fire!"

The Equestrians and griffons began blasting away at any changelings unlucky enough to catch their cross hairs. Beyond the rock formation, the dirt field was littered with smoking magical craters from the artillery and bodies of changelings.

Soon, the changelings had started to disappear from sight.

Might as well...

"Dragoons! Advance to new firing position on the other side of the rock formations! Twilight, follow us," she ordered as her wings flew open.

The others did so as well.

A griffon ran up in front of Twilight and bowed, allowing her to climb on his back. After she did, they took off, the rest of the flyers zooming to catch up.

The guns on the Aurora were now firing at will, taking shots at random.

Rainbow Dash felt the familiar pull of g-forces as she launched herself into the air, catching up with the others. The wind obscured her senses ever so slightly, but she was so used to it that it hardly had an affect. In the distance, she could see black geysers blasting out of the ground, the sight of friendly artillery ripping through the retreating enemy. Blowing strands of her mane away from her eyes, she could spot small black dots running from more small black dots that were getting closer to the escapees.

Blaze's Karalians.

Suddenly, green charge fire came in from twelve o'clock, the potshots missing. She veered left slightly to dodge an incoming bolt as she saw the enemy rear-guard in front of them. There were three of them, short work for the griffons and her team. She stopped to give them a burst and her magazine clicked empty again.

By the time she had slapped down the bolt to ready her fresh weapon, all three of the enemy had already been dispatch by her team, the last one by a powerful blast from Twilight's horn. The unicorn's stare was blank and unrevealing, which was standard nowadays. Rainbow Dash silently cursed at the thought.

She rallied them and continue to press on, swooping down closer to where the Karalian charge was. As she had gotten closer, Rainbow could see that melee fighting had broken out between the Karalians and changeling stragglers. She could see that the Karalians had gunned down about a dozen of them, shooting them in the backs, before engaging in melee with the survivors. As expected, the Karalians were devastating the enemy close up. To think that you could take a Karalian on hoof-to-hoof was insanity.

Rainbow Dash and her team stopped mid-flight, pumping magical charges into the changelings that were trying to get away. Many of the unfortunate love-eaters were shot in the back, more of them dropping across the open dirt field. After the ones that managed to escape faded from sight, Rainbow and her flying companions decided to join the Karalians to finish up this fight, even though it didn't look like the Karalians needed much help.

****

Twilight looked to the ground, charging her horn once again, looking for a clear shot. This whole killing was becoming mechanical for her, which was not good. Maybe, she would have to talk about her problems? But to who? Everypony in the crew, aside from some of the civilians were going through similar and even worse things than she was. She knew she couldn't let it keep bottling up but she couldn't get it out. Even if she actually tried to talk about her problems, she wouldn't know what to say. How could anypony help her now?

It was eating away at her all the same...was her situation as hopeless as this wasteland of a world?

She needed to believe, she wanted to believe, that there was hope for everypony. But every day that goes by, that feeling begins to rot with time and crack from more pain and misery. She knew she had to stop it...but could she? Was she that strong?

Reality called to her, revealing a scene of up close and chaotic melee fighting between her foreign friends and what was left of the changeling horde that jumped them. Applejack was in the mix, bucking a changeling's jaw open with her back legs and then finishing by swatting it across the face with the butt of the Pressure rifle in her teeth. The changeling was knocked unconscious but Applejack hesitated when it came to the final kill. Twilight noticed that as much as her friend tried, she couldn't bring herself to kill the changeling. Twilight then remembered that this was her first time fighting with the ground troops. A nearby Karalian pony had seen this and immediately stabbed the downed changeling, and then moving on to another to fight.

Coy rammed his bayonet into the gut of another changeling, only to retract it and thrust again into its throat. That changeling dropped dead immediately. Another Karalian stabbed a changeling in the chest and then let off a three-round burst of his Pressure rifle, killing it. It was becoming obvious that they were running out of enemies to fight.

Rainbow and the other flyers held their fire, mainly to prevent friendly casualties but still flew closer to join in. Only a few changelings were left now, and it had looked like the Karalians hadn't even taken any losses at all. Multiple Karalians were now free to gang-up on the doomed remaining love-eaters. As they got closer, Twilight could see the carnage even better.

Black bodies were shot to pieces, smoking with expended magical charge, while others were mangled from bayonets and clubbed to death. Sparkly, hazy smoke covered the air over the field, some of which Twilight began to smell. She covered her snout with a handkerchief, trying to keep from breathing in the fumes of the magical charge weapons. When she looked to the field below most of the fighting was over...except for one changeling.

Blaze was clubbing it to death with the butt of his rifle. He was standing over the final changeling, smacking it over and over again vigorously, his face half-crazed. He gripped his rifle in both hooves and rammed it down repeatedly on its head, growling like a maniac.

"You destroy my country! You kill my soldiers! Kill my friends! My family! You cheese-legged bastards deserve to die! All of you!" he seethed with rage as the head that he continued to club was reduced to a pulp.

The soldiers looked on, witnessing the brutality of the beating. The griffons twisted their faces in disgust. Applejack's eyes widened, her brain trying to process what she was seeing.

Rainbow Dash acted quickly, pulling him off of the changeling from behind. He struggled for a second and then threw his rifle to the ground, breaking down in her embrace. He sobbed into her blue armband, Rainbow stoking his mane as she pulled him down into a sitting position. Hot tears ran down his face, Rainbow trying to calm him down, shushing him. Tears were in her eyes as well.

Everyone else looked on, the two toughest lieutenants they had, crying in each other's arms. Rainbow Dash tried to comfort the younger pony like a soothing mother, and at the same time, deal with her own pain, which wasn't easy for her to do. Blaze had never snapped like that before, this was everyone's first time witnessing it, the first time it happened.

"I-I'm sorry. I'm so st-stupid! I should hav-ve never g-given that idiotic order! I don't k-know what came over me," he choked out between sobs and cursing himself with closed eyes.

"H-Hey man, you did gr-great! No pony was lost an-nd we won. D-Don't sweat it."

Rainbow Dash was sobbing as well, venting her own pain while trying to give Blaze a smile. Blaze continued sobbing, repeating his apology over and over again.

It was heartbreaking.

The ponies around them, Karalian and Equestrian alike, bore sorrowful looks mixed with sympathy. They had all felt this pain, they knew exactly what their commanders were going through. The gryphons nodding solemnly in understanding as they bowed their heads. Some of the other ponies began to tear up as well.

Applejack sighed, scratching her head and looking to the Aurora. She'd had enough new experiences for one day and didn't know if she could handle breaking down as well, so she did her best to keep her cool even though the atmosphere was bothering her. Aside from shooting down random jet fighters in the anti-air turrets onboard the ship, this was the first time she had killed a living pony, or in this case, a changeling. She had shot two of them. The farmer wondered if she would be able to forget their faces as she ended their lives. She looked on silently at the Sky Destroyer.

Twilight looked on, her heart aching in pain. This solidified that she wasn't alone. Perhaps she could confide in these ponies and receive help after all. Whether she was a lost cause or not, she did not know, but at least she wasn't alone. As she shed a single tear herself, a gripping thought had crossed her mind.

The ship's radar captured a strong signal in this valley. They had just happened to run into nearly a company's worth of changelings. This was a new question that needed answering.

Why were they here?

Starting Blocks (Part 1)

Starting Blocks****When history witnesses a great change,

The Elements are lost.

While the world is being rearranged,

Ponies must feel the cost.

Until demons of the sky endure the race,

Only then will the world repair.

For one shall suffer death’s embrace,

And recall the Elements to end despair.

****

The brown pony looked out into the night sky through the open balcony, the Aurora moving slow enough not to let the wind buffet him. He had ditched his most of his uniform but left on his helmet. It was sitting crooked on his head, a few of his bangs sticking out. He knew he should have left his uniform on. Despite the protection from the deflector shields, it was still cold out here.

He frowned as he stared out into the dead world of his homeland. Karalia was gone. Karmaden was gone.

Everything was gone.

But that was five years ago, he had to have coped with that by now, right? Apparently not, especially with the performance he had put on earlier. Losing everything was hard, but hadn't everypony else lost something too? He was in a position of command, he couldn't afford to lose his composure. He had to be the shining example to the enlisted. If he couldn't control himself, how could he expect his troops to?

Blaze silently cursed himself, he usually didn't let his command slip like that. Was he still fit to be a leader?

He downed another root beer bottle as he heard the door behind him open.

The purple unicorn stepped out onto the balcony, the wind nipping at her mane. Thankfully, the ship moved slowly enough to where they wouldn't fly off. That and the artificial gravity spell helped as well. The magical deflector shields that protected the ship prevented the harsh wind outside buffeting any ponies that wanted to stand outside for a minute. Instead, it watered down the deadly reality with a softer breeze.

Twilight stepped outside slowly, gently closing the door behind her. She looked at Blaze, struggling to find the words to say.

He was sitting alone on his haunches, looking out into the blackness of a night that was no longer Luna's.

He had the boombox with him, playing Karalian rock again. He was sipping the remnants of a root beer bottle before tossing it over the edge, watching it fall away. The deflector shield shimmered as the bottle left its protection. This always puzzled all of them. The deflector shields kept things out but wouldn't keep them in. The practicality of this was a godsend, but how did the unicorn engineers of the past manage to pull this off would probably always be a mystery, because all of those unicorns were most likely dead now.

"All of the unicorns are dumping magic into the powder magazine right now, you know, to replace the ammunition we used today..." Twilight began.

Blaze turned back to her, speechless.

"I-uh...I'm sorry. I haven't been myself lately," she explained meekly.

"I've noticed."

Twilight chuckled awkwardly.

"Ah...yeah."

An uneasy silence stirred between the two. If Pinkie Pie had walked in, she would have assumed that it was a staring contest.

"So...are you okay?" Twilight asked, killing the pause.

Now it was Blaze's turn to chuckle.

"Okay? Now look who's asking who's okay? The tables have turned I guess."

Twilight gazed out at the night sky before turning her attention back to him. She put a hoof on his shoulder and scanned his green eyes like she was looking for something.

"Blaze...what-was that back there?" she asked, restraining herself from wincing.

Blaze looked back, swallowing.

"Its fine."

Twilight sighed, shaking her head.

"Everything is not fine. I know that I've got some issues too and I'll get right on that but you...you completely snapped out there," she ended in a whisper.

"I guess I really don't like changelings," he quipped morbidly, letting his accent slip.

"Blaze..." Twilight spoke like a stern mother.

Blaze nodded.

"I said its fine. Every soldier who has seen combat tends to break down sooner or later, usually depending on the extent of their exposure and the contents of it. Some soldiers have to break down more than once, just to cope. I am one of those soldiers. This has happened to me before, so I am fine," he reasoned.

Twilight glared at him, shaking her head even more vigorously.

"I'm not buying that and neither should you. I know that I need help, okay? But I also know that you need it too, probably a lot more than I do."

Blaze sighed, refusing to answer as he stared back out at the night sky. A small break in the clouds let slivers of moonlight through the gray blanket. The slivers shone a bright white light, contrasting against the dark of the rest of the sky.

Twilight trotted up and sat down next to him, sighing as she plopped her rump on the balcony's metallic flooring. They both sat in silence for a few minutes, admiring what little moonlight that made it through the cloudy blockade.

"Where are you from?"

She wasn't prepared for that.

"Huh?"

Twilight responded with surprise as she was broken out of her trance that the atmosphere had placed her in.

"Tell me about it," Blaze droned, almost speaking robotically.

Twilight tore her gaze from him and back at the sky.

"Ponyville..."

Twilight sighed again, closing her eyes in remembrance.

"...It was my life."

"What do you mean by that?"

She looked down at the floor before recovering her gaze. Blaze flipped off the boombox.

"That was the place where I had met my friends. Where we had all of our adventures...where we discovered our destinies...when my life became...complete. Once I lost that place, I felt like I had lost a part of myself."

Blaze nodded quietly.

"You must know what that's like. The knowledge that, no matter how much you want to, you can never go back. Ever," she finished.

It was silent again.

The wind began picking up a bit.

Blaze cracked open another root beer. Twilight gazed down and saw four more of them sitting next to him. He offered one to Twilight but she refused.

"And you?"

Blaze looked at her blankly and chuckled.

"Karmaden? I don't remember too much of that city. Only spent my time as a foal there before I was conscripted. I went back occasionally to see my mother, but most of it was a blur to me."

Twilight frowned.

"But Coy's hometown, Aubrey...that place is a cozy winter paradise. Nice and secluded in a mountain valley."

The young Karalian smiled a bit at the memory.

Twilight winced at her thought before she asked.

"Is he mute?"

He shook his head in response.

"I don't know."

"You've known him your entire life, and he's never told you?"

"No."

With no more to say, Twilight picked herself up and nuzzled Blaze's cheek.

"I want to study the recent attacks on us in my quarters for the rest of the night. Especially the changeling one...it seemed a bit suspicious."

She rose an eyebrow at 'suspicious'.

"If you want to talk, come to me or my friends, we'll listen."

"What about you?" Blaze queried.

"Let me worry about that."

Blaze rolled his eyes and took another swig of his root beer. He heard the door shut behind him.

****

Rainbow Dash walked slowly down the corridors of the Aurora, leading her through most of the ship's interior. She wasn't much of a morning pony, anyone who had seen her nap constantly through the afternoon back in Ponyville knew that. Her mane was unkempt and she was out of uniform, which was fine, she only donned it when they dropped. She decided to head to the kitchen before her usual arrival at the bridge. If she was going to be up this early, then she needed some kind of fix.

She trotted into the kitchen, able to hear the bubbling of a coffee pot brewing and the laughter of Pinkie Pie and a younger mare sitting across from her.

Rainbow smiled as the younger orange pegasus noticed her.

"Squirt!" she announced, opening her forelegs to receive a hug.

Scootaloo dove into Dash's embrace.

"Rainbow Dash!"

They held each other for a good few seconds, Pinkie Pie smiling happily at the scene. It was moments like these that the pink pony lived for. She tried her best to just give those two their moment...it was so tempting to jump in. But Pinkie somehow managed to restrain herself.

As they broke out of their hug, Rainbow scruffed Scootaloo's purple mane.

"So, how's the training with Coy goin'? I haven't checked in on you for about a week now. Are you able to fire a Pressure rifle without taking Apple Bloom's head off yet?" she quipped.

Scootaloo winced, and glanced quickly at the metallic floor before shooting her eyes back up.

"Weeelllll, I kinda shot Coy's orange soda out of his grasp on Tuesday. It was during a session and he stopped to take a drink and uh...I kinda blasted it to pieces."

Rainbow Dash chuckled.

"Same old Squirt. Great fighting spirit...aim of a blind pony."

"He didn't take it too well. He pretty much threw me with his magic and he looked really angry. Blaze had to stop him."

Rainbow Dash brought a hoof to chin in thought as she glanced up at the ceiling behind her.

She was noticing a trend.

"What is with that pony and orange soda?"

"But when I get good enough, I wanna be an Equestrian Dragoon, just like you!" Scootaloo cheered rearing up hooves up with glee.

"Well Squirt, you better work on that aim 'cause every Dragoon is a shooter filly... or colt. While Republican Strike Commandos like Blaze and Coy are famous for their hoof-to-hoof skills, we Dragoons are notoriously good shots. You gonna have to really push yourself and focus if you want that Dragoon title..."

Scootaloo's face fell and her smaller orange wings fluttered in frustration.

Rainbow Dash frowned and lifted her chin with her snout.

"Hey Scoots, its cool. You just have to work at it more. I...wasn't exactly the best shot either when I joined. Back then, I only joined the Dragoons because of the two-year service requirement before you can be selected to be a Wonderbolt. I really didn't care much for the Dragoons then but I knew I had to be good at it if I ever wanted an inkling of a shot at the Wonderbolts. They only took the best Dragoons, ya know."

Scootaloo's face brightened.

"And then what happened?"

Rainbow Dash looked at Pinkie Pie, the two best friends smiling to each other.

"I practiced, put in the work, and I grew to love the Dragoons as a result."

Pinkie Pie got up from her seat, the chair legs scraping against the floor.

"You should have seen how proud Dashie was! We had a great graduation party afterward! Oh wait...that's right. You were there Scootaloo. I remember now," Pinkie Pie said.

"You'll get it Squirt." Rainbow Dash said as she scruffed Scootaloo's mane one last time.

Balancing two cups of fresh coffee on each of her outstretched wings, she trotted out of the kitchen.

****

Activity on the bridge was frantic.

Rainbow Dash gazed back and forth at the unicorns in the command room, shuffling around the room with papers in their magical grasps.

"Twilight must have found something last night," she thought as she headed towards her co-pilot's chair.

On her way, she bumped into a unicorn analyst. The light gray unicorn was rushing to her monitor carrying an impressive stack of what Dash assumed were intelligence reports. The unicorn fell and the documents scattered all over the floor. The mare groaned in annoyance before noticing Rainbow.

"Oh! Lieutenant Dash! You're just in time! We picked up some a signal on one of our channels," the intelligence analyst explained.

Rainbow eyed her warily as she set down the cups of coffee on a nearby table.

"Well...what was it?"

The other mare replied in a fast-speaking tone. This mare could give Pinkie Pie a run for her money.

"We have detected this signal in the Karalian town of Belossi. We don't know exactly where its coming from within the city but we have a pretty good idea. Miss Rarity is already organizing a drop to investigate."

"Do we know anything else?" Rainbow asked, cocking her eyebrow.

"Well...it's a different signal from yesterday, if that helps," the intelligence mare replied apprehensively.

Rainbow Dash now looked wide awake. Ponies were shuffling to and fro across the room, some shouting orders, others manning monitors. She saw Rarity wearing a headset from the other side of the room. Twilight was adjust the touchscreen of the holographic map table, appearing to be deep in thought.

"Thank you, carry on," Rainbow Dash addressed as she gave the mare a short bow and sent her on her way.

She trotted over to where Rarity and Twilight appeared to be organizing the plan of action. She was greeted with warm smiles from both her friends.

Rainbow Dash did a double-take.

"Is Twilight smiling? She's feeling better already? Well, I'm not gonna complain!"

"Morning, Rainbow Dash. How did you sleep?" Rarity inquired.

Rainbow blew her bangs away from her eyes.

"I'm still a little wiped from yesterday, but it's not I can't handle," the pegasus answered confidently.

Rarity nodded as she took a sip of coffee.

"Well good. Cause we're going to need you once again, Dear."

"I had a feeling you'd say that."

Rarity joined Twilight at the holographic map table and pulled up a zoomed in image of a destroyed town.

The land was barren and dirt brown. All that was left of the buildings were the skeletons of their framework and foundations. She was amazed that the hologram could even show the wind blowing dust down the vacant streets. The settlement looked like it had been abandoned for years, which didn't surprise Rainbow at all.

"It looks pretty standard, actually."

"We tracked another signal coming out of this ghost town. It's another strong signal and I have a feeling that we may find what we are looking for this time," Rarity's accent ringing in Rainbow Dash's ears.

Rainbow Dash realized how similar Rarity's accent sounded like Blaze's, although she knew for a fact that the Karalian soldier's Braytish accent was genuine.

She shook her head violently to recover from her thoughts, and forced herself to pay attention to Rarity's briefing.

"We couldn't pinpoint an exact location, but we have reason to believe that the epicenter is coming from this two-story house, a couple blocks from the town square. Blaze's Karalians will raid the residence, while your Dragoons provide top-cover for him. We have about an hour before we reach the town. Use that time to prepare."

Rainbow Dash gazed at the home that was showing up on the hologram. A part of the roof was chipped off, as if a monster took a bite out of it. The street looked as deserted as the rest of the settlement. Ghost town indeed. If what they were looking for was here, why would it be? How would it have gotten to a place like this?

She looked back up to her two unicorn friends, realizing that Twilight still hadn't said a word. What? Was she Thunder Coy now?

"As long as she lays off the creepy, I won't complain."

"So...when do I drop?"

Starting Blocks (Part 2)

Starting Blocks****When history witnesses a great change,

The Elements are lost.

While the world is being rearranged,

Ponies must feel the cost.

Until demons of the sky endure the race,

Only then will the world repair.

For one shall suffer death’s embrace,

And recall the Elements to end despair.

****

Blaze slashed downward, prompting Thunder Coy to block the attack with his own blade. The brown earth pony followed up with another slash at Coy's left side, which the yellow unicorn barely deflected in time. Blaze frowned as he parried a retaliatory slash from Coy, and blocked a thrust at his chest. The Karalian officer twirled his blade in his hoof, causing it to bat Coy's saber away. Blaze softly poked the point of his own saber at the chest of a now-disarmed Coy.

"We talked about this, Coy. You can't leave your flanks open like that. You need a tighter grip on your saber and when you commit to an attack, always have follow-up moves ready to go in case you are denied. I know its different for you because you use your magic to hold your saber but you'll have no choice but to adapt. The enemy won't wait around for you," Blaze lectured his closest friend.

Blaze sheathed his officer saber and turned his back to exit the sparring chamber. The sparring chamber was actually the Aurora's cafeteria, the two Karalians merely moved the furniture against the walls.

Thunder Coy frowned and used his magic to retrieve his bladed weapon and joined Blaze's side. Coy frowned in frustration as he stomped his boot-covered hooves angrily and wiggled his flank comically.

Blaze read the sign language perfectly from years of practice and time spent with his fellow Karalian friend.

"That's no excuse for you to lose! And besides, the only reason I am now the best duelist on the continent is because the Cross wiped out all of the better ones," he joked.

He laughed, although deep down he felt there might have been truth to that statement.

"I wouldn't be half as good if the legendary Colonel Razorfire didn't train me himself. Now that pony was a duelist. His changeling body count probably quadrupled mine back then. Probably still does now," Blaze reminisced.

Coy blinked both of his eyes one by one and stuck out his tongue.

Blaze grinned.

"Reputation? You should've fought alongside him like I did. That stallion was terrifying. If you think I'm good, he was able to dispatch of me in about twenty seconds during our sparring sessions. Just about everything I know from saber dueling, I learned from him. So what if I invented a few new tricks to make my own style...I still wouldn't be a match for him. Even now, if he was still alive of course."

Thunder Coy stopped and trotted around in a small circle. After he was done, he looked back at Blaze with one of his front hooves up at a point.

"Yes, Coy. Even if I dual-wielded," Blaze answered with a light-hearted chuckle.

"Although, if we both took him on together, we might have a chance. That is, if you would listen to me when I'm training you," he smirked at his friend.

Coy responded by rolling his eyes and blowing Blaze a raspberry, a little spittle getting on Blaze's face.

"Real classy, Thunder."

The automatic doors in front of them shifted suddenly, retracting into the walls to reveal an already-uniformed Rainbow Dash with Applejack standing next to her.

"You two colts having fun?" Rainbow inquired, glancing around at the rearranged tables and chairs that lined both ends of the cafeteria.

"Y'all were sparrin' again, huh?" Applejack added, grinning in amusement at the two saber-wielding stallions.

"So, what brings you two here?" Blaze smiled back at both of them.

Coy walked up and gleefully licked both mares on the face, inciting a nervous look from Rainbow Dash.

"Stop that ya little varmint," Applejack giggled playfully, pushing Coy off of her.

Rainbow Dash turned to Blaze.

"Our unicorn friends found another signal already. I know, two days, two signals. Weird right?" Rainbow Dash explained.

"Maybe things are finally turnin' around? At least I'd like to think so..." Applejack offered.

Coy returned to Blaze's side and looked at both mares with rapt attention.

"Are we dropping soon?" Blaze asked, knowing the answer.

"Yeah, in two hours actually. Same deal as always. My Dragoons clear a path, your troops swarm in to reinforce, and the Aurora flies top-cover," Rainbow said, uninterested.

"Pretty standard."

"Pretty boring!" Rainbow shot back at the Karalian pony.

Rainbow Dash groaned and rubbed her eyes.

"We should really change things up you know. We're becoming predictable. That's never good," Rainbow added.

Blaze nodded in agreement, Coy following suit.

"I'm aware of the consequences, but we'll worry about that later. For now, we have another drop to prepare for."

****

Dust blew through the abandoned town. Roofs were split and cracked. Walls were still in decay and were crumbling, pieces breaking off from time to time. No residents or any evidence of survivors were seen from the main street that ran down the entire length of the small settlement. The silence was almost eerie, the wind ominously whistling through the cracks of the structures. As with most of the Continental Wasteland, there were no plants, no signs of successful farming of crops.

The atmosphere sent shivers up Rainbow Dash's spine. She tried to distract herself from the creepiness by double-checking the bolt of her submachinegun and making sure that it was slapped down properly. The only sounds of anything living were coming from her and her Dragoons behind her. They slowly stalked through the main road, searching for anything useful...or hostile.

"Okay. You are only three blocks from the signal. We think it might be coming from a certain building but we can't pinpoint it just yet. The Karalians will meet you there at the designated block, and then the Aurora will provide you with artillery support as needed. Can you hear me?" Twilight asked through the Lieutenant's headset.

"Yeah, everything's fine here Twi. We're not dead yet, so I guess that's a plus," Rainbow morbidly quipped through the microphone attached to her helmet.

The Dragoons continued to move as silently as they could across the town. They turned the corner of another block and scanned the area for threats. Rainbow Dash peered down and noticed all of the broken glass on the street.

"Alright Dragoons, we're gonna have to glide over this one, our forehooves aren't exactly protected by boots," she said.

They all obliged and they all moved slowly as they hovered over the street. Rainbow Dash heard the unmistakable engine of the sky destroyer as it lowered itself in for a landing a couple of blocks away.

The Karalian ponies were dropping onto the site now.

"Okay. You're almost there, Rainbow Dash. Linking up is only a matter of time," Twilight said confidently over the communicator.

Rainbow Dash nodded in response, aware that her friend wouldn't be able to see it. She was glad that the drop point wasn't too far away. After all, clearing the town was an important job after all.

She let her mind wander.

What if this was the real deal? What if one of them were really here? It would be a start, but on the other hoof, there would still be a lot of work to do. The surveyed the town as she and her team scanned for nearby threats. This place was heartbreaking site to see. Shattered windows, caved in roofs and miscellaneous debris scattered everywhere. Deep down, she felt her forlorn heart drop into her chest, feeling sorry for the ponies that once lived here. Why would the Cross target this place? It was just a small settlement, nowhere near the size of Versay, and Versay was tiny.

She was taken out of her thoughts by another transmission through her communicator.

"Blaze and his ponies have dropped," Twilight stated.

Rainbow Dash realized that, in the time that she was lost in her thoughts, the Dragoons had nearly reached the target zone. After another minute, she was on the ground, standing in front of the ship's Karalian commander.

"Did you see anything noteworthy?" Blaze asked, Thunder and Applejack standing on either side of him.

She noticed that Twilight wasn't with them.

"Thank Celestia!" she thought in relief.

The Aurora rose into the sky once more, kicking up dust and throwing air into the grounded troopers. They all covered their faces as the wind blew by them.

"No, it's a complete ghost town," she replied.

Blaze nodded.

"Good, we can search this house then," he said, gesturing to the house in front of them.

As like the others, the windows had been blasted out for quite some time and Rainbow found the fact that they were boarded up interesting. Chunks of the walls were missing, and cracks could easily be seen from the old, chipped paint. Red paint, she noticed passively as she finished her running her eyes up and down the two-story home.

One of the Karalian ponies took point by the door, a second Karalian standing on the opposite side of her, flashbang grenade in his mouth. The Karalian mare quickly opened the door at a crack, enough to let the other pony jerk his head and toss the flashbang indoors.

Everypony covered their ears.

A loud bang from inside rocked the first floor. Blaze and Rainbow Dash were the first to recover.

"GO! Now!" Blaze urged.

All of the ponies entered the first floor, two at a time. They immediately spread out and scanned for hostiles. Rainbow's Dragoons flipped on the flashlights on their submachineguns while the Karalians activated the eyepieces attached to their helmets. Green lights from the Karalians and yellow lights from the Equestrians filled the entire floor. They entered the kitchen, living room, and even found the laundry room of the abandoned abode.

So far, they found nothing.

Rainbow Dash saw what she was expecting. Furniture turned over and knick-knacks littered the floors. Dust was layered everywhere. There were cracks in the walls, allowing the little light from outside seep in. Dishes were piled up in the sink, black mold happily growing on them.

Out in the living room, she noticed something strange. She smelled something. Something she was expecting from an uninhabited house. She followed her nose, leading her to the fireplace in the middle of the living room. When the other soldiers started reporting the smell as well, she knew her mind wasn't playing tricks on her.

The smell itself was sweet. Almost pleasant. If Rarity was here, she'd probably like it, Rainbow thought.

Blaze was already one step ahead of her. On top of the fireplace rested pictures of the ponies that had lived here. A unicorn family she saw. A mare and a stallion were holding and nuzzling their young foal, while the little pony had his forelegs stretched out, as if trying to grab the camera. Rainbow's heart wrenched. She quickly broke off her gaze. She didn't need to deal with that feeling right now.

Next to the pictures, was the item of interest. The item that was causing the smell. Blaze picking up the still-smoking stick and turned to the others.

"Incense...we're not alone here," he pointed out, throwing the expended stick to the ground.

Coy motioned for Drossel team to head upstairs, Applejack right behind him.

Single file, the Karalian team clopped up the stairs, Applejack and Blaze's Gorizont team following immediately afterwards. Rainbow and her team covered the rear of the advance.

When they reached the top of the stairs they swept each room. Everything seemed clear and the search was turning out to be fruitless. Not a soul other than the soldiers and Applejack were present.

"This is impossible! That incense was still burning! There has to be somepony here!" a Dragoon mare cried out.

"Maybe they stepped out?" A Karalian stallion offered, scratching his mane in bewilderment.

Both Blaze and Rainbow were standing in front of second-floor closet, trying to talk out the situation.

"Do you have any idea what's going on here?" Blaze asked her.

Rainbow groaned in disappointment.

"Somepony was here. But now they're not. My Dragoons scouted the entire city and found nothing! This doesn't make any sense," Rainbow said.

An adorable sneeze came from the closet, followed by frightened whimpers.

Blaze and Rainbow Dash both looked at each other and back at the closet door. Applejack slowly approached the door and opened it slowly, not exactly sure what to expect.

The apple farmer peered inside and gasped at what she saw.

****

"Derpy?" Rainbow said in confusion.

A gray mare with scrambled eyes stood protectively over a huddled group of whimpering foals, wings flared out as if offering a challenge. She glared at the newcomers as she tried to appear as intimidating as possible.

"You'll never take them, you evil raiders! Get back or else!" Derpy warned.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash were astonished.

They both had known this mare well back in Ponyville. What was she doing out here, in Karalia? This settlement had to be over five hundred miles from where Ponyville used to be. How had she gotten here in the first place?

Blaze trotted past them and offered a hoof to the blonde mare. Derpy backed up, her body poised to pounce, like a mother lion protecting her cubs.

"Hello there," he said with his accent.

"We are not raiders. I am a Karalian Army Officer. You can call me Blaze though. We're not going to hurt you but rather help you. We've got food, shelter, and protection. You can come with us and everything will be okay," he explained as best he could, moving his hoof closer to her.

Derpy swatted it away.

"How can I trust you? Some of those raiders wear the same uniform you do!" she pointed out.

It was then when Applejack and Rainbow Dash stepped in.

"Hey, Derps. Do you remember me? From Ponyville, remember?" Rainbow said.

Derpy stared at the Equestrian lieutenant as intently as she could, at first not being able to recognize her old friend in her uniform. After a few seconds, Derpy's wall eyes grew wide with realization.

"That voice...those eyes and especially that mane..."

"Rainbow Dash?" she cried with a mix of surprise and joy.

Derpy's eyes were filled with tears as she leaped into the arms of Applejack and Rainbow Dash. The gray mare silently wept into their shoulders as they both embraced her tightly.

Blaze smiled at the affectionate display. He turned to the little foals that Derpy was protecting. They were still visibly frightened, but were now a little more relaxed after witnessing Derpy's actions.

He offered his hoof to a light purple unicorn filly, wincing as he hoped for a better outcome this time.

"Hello there. My name is Blaze and you're safe now. What is your name?" he asked as gently as he could.

The filly uncomfortably gazed from side to side, her whole body shaking. She gazed at him apprehensively, looking at the Karalian as if he had two horns.

"I-I'm Dinky," she whispered, looking up at Blaze with fear evident in her eyes.

Blaze softly patted her on the head with hoof.

"There there little one. It's alright. I'm a friend," he assured, stroking her mane.

The other foals watched for another minute Dinky began to calm down in Blaze's grasp. Their frightened expressions became curious ones as they started to realize that these ponies were not there to hurt them. Soon, they all crowded around Blaze, looking up at him expectantly. Blaze watched on as they began to nuzzle and rub themselves on his legs, one filly going as far as to lick one of his hooves.

"Great. More Thunder Coys," he mused.

He turned his head to look back at his friends. Rainbow Dash seemed to be speaking to somepony in her microphone, Rarity or Twilight most likely. Derpy was giggling madly as Thunder Coy licked her face repeatedly with Applejack laughing as she looked on. He chuckled as he watched them get along, still running his hooves through Dinky's mane.

He felt something near Dinky's neck.

Curious he returned his gaze to her and took a good look at her.

Now that he focused on her more, he realized that the little filly was wearing a necklace.

Blaze's eyes grew wide in recognition.

"Lieutenant! I think you might want to see this!"

****

The operator sat nervously at her desk as Vice Captain Rarity peered over her shoulder. The monitor in front of them displayed four blips on the magical radar.

"Hmm...unknown aircraft. We haven't seen any of these in a while."

"Ma'am?" the unicorn operator asked, shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

Rarity pursed her lips and executed an about face. She walked over to Twilight, who speaking into the mic that was attached to her headphones. Rarity cleared her throat to get Twilight's attention.

"What is it Rarity?" Twilight asked, covering up the mic with a hoof.

"We've spotted aircraft on the radar. We have no idea who they are and they are approaching Aurora at over six hundred knots. Fast-movers. Fighter jets most likely."

Twilight scrunched her face.

"Fighter jets? We haven't seen those in a long time. Try to signal them. Maybe they can help. We do have a hangar in this ship after all."

****

"I can't believe we found it!" Rainbow Dash cheered ecstatically as she held it up for everypony to see.

What she held in her hoof was a gold necklace with a single purple diamond.

"This fillies and gentlecolts, is the treasure that we have been searching for! This will help repair our world but we still need the other five. I can't believe it...it's been five years..."

Rainbow Dash sighed heavily as the weight and meaning of the object she held took her breath away. Applejack and the other Equestrians were in a similar mood. The Karalians merely looked relieved, knowing that after years of hopeless wandering, they were finally one step closer at last.

"We need to tell the others, they'll freak!" Rainbow exclaimed with a squeal of delight.

"Finally some progress. Feels like a mighty big weight just got lifted off my shoulders," Applejack said.

All of the ponies, soldier and civilian, Equestrian and Karalian, all gathered around to see the fruit of their struggles. Just maybe, there could be hope now. Now that there was a purpose. A solid goal that was no longer entrusted with tainted faith anymore but now with concrete results.

It was tangible now.

It was real.

Hope was real.

****

"Ma'am! The unknown aircraft are spiking us!" the operator yelled frantically.

Her monitor flashed red while beeping steady. The beeps increased in frequency as the screen flashed:

[Warning]

[Missile Alert]

[Warning]

[Missile Alert]

Twilight tapped her microphone as it seemed to be shorting out. Rarity trotted back over the operator and saw the alerts flashing on the screen as the warning beeps from the system increased drastically. Another operator jumped out of his seat and galloped to Rarity. His face was sweaty and he appeared to be under a lot of stress.

"What is it?" she asked him.

He caught his breath.

"Ma'am, they've opened fire on us! Two air-to air missiles are incoming!" he relayed.

Rarity bit her lip.

"Blast! We can't catch a break, can we? I was hoping they were friendly...no matter, we can't be brooding over that right now. Concentrate magical deflector shields to starboard side! Get some ponies to man the anti-aircraft cannons!" she ordered, some of the unicorns shuffling into action after hearing her, papers flying in their wake.

She turned back to Twilight, who was still fiddling with the headset.

"Urg! Did they jam us or something?"

Twilight seemed ready to rip the headset off in frustration when she heard Rainbow Dash's voice.

"Hold on, I can get them now!" she sighed in relief.

Rarity turned back to the monitor. Two small lines indicating incoming missiles, grew closer and closer.

"It'll take more than two missiles to take down this ship," she stated confidently.

****

Rainbow Dash couldn't believe what Twilight was telling her. She didn't even get to tell Twilight about the Element of Generosity yet! She frowned as Twilight told her the full story. She sighed as she turned to the ponies around her, eagerly awaiting to hear what was going on.

"Bad news, guys. The Aurora just got bounced by enemy fighters."

"Dear Luna, it sounds even more ridiculous out loud," she thought.

All of the other ponies in the room looked to each other in shock. They haven't see a fighter jet in years. And now they decide to come out of hiding and attack? Right as they discover an Element of Harmony? A coincidence?

Blaze opened his mouth to say something when Rainbow headset crackled.

"This is Ofnir one. We have began engaging the target, Commander."

"Roger Ofnir Squadron. Blow that ship out of the sky."

All of the ponies listened to the captured transmission in bewilderment.

"That's the enemy's voice!" Applejack cried out.

"This is not good!" a Karalian mare said with a worried tone.

"Great! Now what do we do? We don't have any weapons to fight aircraft on us," Rainbow gritted her teeth.

The foals and Derpy looked around worriedly at the soldiers, picking up on the uneasiness that festered between them.

Blaze and Coy were both standing next to each other. Coy was whimpering like a scared puppy and Blaze was lost in thought.

"Ofnir...now I *know** I've heard that name before! And that commander's voice...it seems...so familiar..."*

Blaze tried to scramble his brain through his years of experience in the Karalian Army for answers.

His eyes popped open.

"Wait...of course! Ofnir!" he shouted in understanding.

Everypony in the room turned to him.

"Those were the Demons of the East! Rainbow, you gotta tell Twilight right now! Those were the deadliest pilots in the Karalian Air Force!"

Ambush

Ambush****When history witnesses a great change,

The Elements are lost.

While the world is being rearranged,

Ponies must feel the cost.

Until demons of the sky endure the race,

Only then will the world repair.

For one shall suffer death’s embrace,

And recall the Elements to end despair.

****

"Feast on their bones!" a gruff voice ordered through Rainbow's communicator.

She was still receiving enemy transmissions.

The soldiers inside the house took up defensive positions in the building. They could already hear the engines of vehicles rolling through the streets. From what Rainbow Dash could hear, it was a mix of various light vehicles.

"Raiders!" Derpy cried out.

All of the little foals cowered at her legs, many shaking uncontrollably and resisting the urge to scream. Troops scrambled into action while the three officers and Applejack tried to organize a plan.

"And now they have ground troops to close the trap? They were expecting us..." Blaze thought out loud.

"Of all the times!" Rainbow groaned in frustration as she punched a wall.

Blaze turned his attention to the soldiers, both his Karalians and Rainbow's Dragoons. They all stood by, awaiting the orders from their officers.

"I don't know why Ofnir is working with raiders," he addressed to them.

"And I'm positive that something is at work here, as this was obviously an ambush."

He didn't sugarcoat anything.

The Karalian told it how it was.

"But we can't dwell on that now. Let's turn this house into a fort!" he cried, inciting cheers from the soldiers.

Rainbow Dash nodded to him.

"That was a good speech."

"It was a speech? I was just speaking my mind."

She rolled her eyes at him.

"What's the plan?"

"What else? We fight to the last pony of course," he chuckled.

All of the soldiers moved to windows on both floors, waiting for the raiders to get closer before opening fire. They toppled over chairs and tables and stacked them against any entrances to prevent access, and windows to give the shooters some cover. The defense was orchestrated to have two ponies to a window, taking turns to fire. For every window they couldn't defend, they blocked it with various items found around the house. Rainbow Dash and Applejack had ushered Derpy and the foals back into the hallway closet, while Blaze and Coy organized the defense. Many of the foals were whimpering and sobbing by this point, trying to reach their little hooves out to both of them.

The yells and hoots of the raiders, the booms of distant explosions in the air, and the roar of engines filled their ears. The situation appeared to be absolute chaos. The foals were panicking, soldier ponies were in a frenzy to prepare for the upcoming firefight, the officers were struggling to maintain order, and the Aurora was under heavy attack from some of the best fighter pilots in the world.

All of this, taking place in an abandoned town of a destroyed land.

Applejack patted two distressed fillies on the heads and tried her best to shush them. Sobs and cries for their mommies were all she got as a response. Derpy attempted to assist in calming them, nuzzling as many of the young fillies and colts as she could. Applejack grabbed Dinky, who was wearing the Element of Generosity again.

The farm pony frowned at Dinky's expression.

"The poor little thing looks like she's gonna burst into tears."

She thought for a second and took a deep breath.

"Hey there little pardner. Do you wanna play a game with me?" she flashed as confident smile as she could muster.

The unicorn foal didn't respond, tears building up in her eyes like a dam that was about to burst.

"I want you and all of your friends to close your eyes and cover your ears as best you can. Then, I want you to take deep, slow breaths and imagine your favorite place to go. Do ya understand?"

Dinky nodded, wiping her eyes.

"Now, there's no cheatin', ya hear? Y'all are gonna play fair. No uncoverin' your ears and no opening your eyes. K?"

Many of the other foals had huddled together with Derpy, listening to Applejack's game.

"Just go to your happy place and stay there. Don't worry about nuthin' else," Applejack finished.

Derpy gazed into Applejack's eyes and nodded in understanding, her wall eyes masking her intelligence.

"Okay, little ponies. Let's play Applejack's game now," Derpy instructed.

At that, Applejack slowly closed the door and unslung her Pressure rifle from over her back. She saw Blaze and Rainbow Dash talking in the hallway, probably talking strategy, she assumed. Thunder Coy was checking up on the windows, making sure the defenses were ready to go.

She could her Rainbow Dash's communicator crackled and static from where she was standing. The gruff of voice of a raider was speaking again.

"Alright Swarmers! They're here! Just the boss said! Let's wipe 'em out and scavenge their goods! And then...we can enjoy our free meals! HAHA!"

The voice made Applejack shiver.

Something was not right with that raider pony.

"Free meals?"

She tossed the thought out of her head. Now was not the time for thoughts like that. She sighed as she regained her composure. She checked her Pressure rifle to make sure it was loaded, popping out the magazine. She inspected it and slapped it back in. A full twenty-round magazine ready to go. She hoped that the magical bullets would be able to protect her.

Despite her being able to keep a cool head, she was terrified.

"Now comes the hard part."

****

The Ofnir fighters swarmed around the Aurora, like a pack of wolves hunting a larger prey. The contrails of their fighters cut into the sky, explosions from missiles hitting the Sky Destroyer's magical shield causing balls of fire to dot the sky around them. Anti-aircraft fire from the ship's eight, double-barreled AA Cannons were lighting the sky up with shells, most of them using a spray and pray method to try and shoot down the nimble fighter jets of Ofnir.

"Pinkie Pie! Stop firing wildly! Pick out a target and only aim at that one!" Twilight called out through her communicator.

Pinkie Pie was sitting in the seat of one of the anti-aircraft cannons on the roof of the ship, her hooves pressed down on both buttons. Her double-barreled cannons was blasting away at the flight patterns of the elite Karalian fighter pilots, unable to land a single hit. Her circular turret threw up multi-colored, magical flak as she tried her best to track them.

"I'm sorry Twilight! But these guys are fast!"

"Use your Pinkie Sense!"

Pinkie Pie grunted as she fired magical shell after magical shell, her frustration growing as she witnessed the fighters managed to dodge her shots at seemingly the last second.

"I can't demand it, silly filly! The Pinkie Sense doesn't work like that!" her voice vibrating from her turret's recoil as she spoke.

"Fox Two!" an Ofnir pilot called out.

An explosion was felt from the Command Deck, shaking the entire room and knocking a few ponies off-balance. Twilight stumbled a bit before regaining her balance. She turned to a pony at a monitor as the chatter between the operators and whining of machines continued on.

"Did the ship take any damage from that?" she asked.

"No Ma'am. Our shields are still holding, although they are getting a bit depleted now. A few more missiles hits like that and the enemy will be able to break through it," the stallion reported to her from behind his desk.

Twilight turned to Rarity, who was at the radar screen orchestrating the artillery support for the troops trapped inside the house. From the chatter in her headset, she could hear a crazy raider stallion talking about...eating ponies?

Her stomach became queasy as she tried to rid the thought from her mind. The raider spoke vividly about killing Rainbow Dash's and Blaze's troops...and then eating the bodies.

She felt bile rise up in her throat but she fought it back down.

"How could a pony do that?"

She felt the rumble of the broadside guns firing salvo after salvo, hopefully ripping through the assaulting raiders.

"Alright, have all guns concentrate their fire on the enemy vehicles. The ground forces will appreciate us taking out those machine guns for them. Maybe if we stop the raider attack, the fighters will back off. I hope so at least," Rarity said, looking over the unicorn's shoulder while taking a sip of coffee.

The light from the radar screen reflected off her face as she gazed intently at the positioning of the red dots that signaled an enemy. The bigger red dots were the vehicles and the blue dots barricading the house were friendly troops. She was concerned about the recent attacks on them. The faulty coincidences and the impeccable timing and coordination of their most recent enemies.

Was it blind luck?

Or was somepony tracking them?

Rarity really hoped it wasn't the latter. That would be terrifying and frankly, a bit creepy. Her dismissed the thought as she continued directing the guns. She could feel the recoil and hear the booming of the Sky Destroyer's main guns as they pounded away at the attacking raider forces on the ground.

"Scootaloo! You're all over the place! Focus your fire!" Twilight called out, trying to drown out the sick dialogue of the raider pony.

"Darn it!" Scootaloo muttered.

Her cannon was in front of Pinkie's, firing around the sky at random. Not once did the younger filly come close to hitting one of the enemy fighter jets. She continued to curse under her breath. She would never be a Dragoon with aim like this.

More missile impacts shook the ship once more, throwing various items onto the metal floor.

"Try firing at one spot in that shield! If we do that, it might be enough to take it down!"

Twilight groaned as she heard that, holding onto a table to right herself.

****

The fighting on the ground was intense, the defenders were pouring fire out of the windows, making quick work of the raider ponies that didn't bother to take cover. A light machine gun placed on the back of a truck was tacking away as it fired long bursts into the wall of the home. Some of the more intelligent raider ponies were taking cover behind their vehicles and returning fire.

Bullet holes scarred the walls of the home, light coming through the breaches. All this did was remind the defenders that this building was not bulletproof. Magical charges flew back and forth in deadly bursts, heating the air around them.

Blaze and Rainbow Dash were holding the hallway window on the second floor. Blaze took careful aim with his Pressure rifle and fired. Immediately, the raider pony manning the Technical's machine gun was blasted off his perch, a magical charge burning through his chest. He frowned grimly as he noticed the Karalian Army helmet fly off of the raider's head. Next to him, Rainbow Dash let off two quick bursts of her submachinegun, spitting blue magical charges at two raiders that tried to rush the side of the house. Both gave shrieks of agony as the charges melted their skin and seared through their flesh.

Applejack and a Dragoon were holding another second floor window, this one in what used to be a foal's room, from what she could see. She squeezed off two shots of her Pressure rifle, the first shot hitting the side of a buggy and the second ripping through the throat of a raider. Her and the Dragoon would take turns shooting while the other took cover and reloaded if needed.

The rumbling of the Aurora's broadside guns was heard among the fighting, prompting Blaze and Rainbow Dash to order everypony to take cover. They covered their ears to avoid going deaf once the shells hit, throwing up bursts or black soil. Through their hooves, the defenders listened to the sounds of the magical shells tearing through the raider vehicles. After holding their ears in their hooves for a few seconds after the loud explosions and crashes, they took up arms once more. The firefight dragged on, many shots fired by both sides missing. Every once in a while, a raider would get hit by either a well-placed or lucky shot.

At the front door, Thunder Coy was taking cover behind a flipped table, an Equestrian Dragoon flanking him on either side. The three ponies were facing the front door, ready for the raiders to attempt a breach. They listened to the combat all around them as they waited patiently. The door bursted open, prompting all three ponies to pump charges into the breach.

The first raider was riddled with shots and was dead before he hit the ground. The second one followed his comrade as she was getting hit with shots that passed through the first. When the third raider entered the room, Coy and the Dragoons' weapons clicked dry. When the raider saw this, his evil smile seemed especially dreadful since Thunder Coy couldn't see his eyes from behind the goggles.

The raider raised a pistol in his hoof and shot the mare on his right and before Coy could react, did the same with the Dragoon stallion on his left. Both Dragoon ponies hit the wooden floor with a thud. Thunder Coy panicked as he fumbled with his magazine, trying to fit it into the well like a puzzle piece.

He dropped it. Thunder whimpered as he began to panic, desperately trying to recover the magazine.

The raider smirked at Coy's disposition and noticed the rank on the unicorn's helmet.

"I'm a lucky pony...I've never eaten 'officer' before."

The goggle-wearing raider cocked back the hammer of his pistol as pointed down at Coy's forehead.

"I wonder how you taste, little colt," the raider continued to taunt, with a sick grin and a crazed look in his eyes.

Just as the raider pulled the trigger, Coy let out a barrage of magical bullets from his own pistol that he was holding under the table. The rounds ripped through the wood and one found a home in the raider's foreleg. The shot that the raider fired missed high, leaving Lieutenant Coy unharmed.

"Gah! Dammit!" the dark brown pegasus cried as retreated to the door.

Coy magically levitated his pistol up to aim properly and emptied the mag, trying to finish off his enemy. The shots missed, hitting the walls or flying out of the door. After the raider escaped, he heard a transmission coming from his communicator.

"Dammit! That was the last of our missiles and we still couldn't break that shield! We'll have to ask the commander for better munitions next time. Sound the retreat..."

****

All of the ponies on the control deck cheered as the four elite fighters zoomed away from the aerial warship. The four attack aircraft shrunk into tiny dots in the sky as the multi-colored puffs of anti-aircraft fire around the Aurora dissipated. The shields held...barely. From Twilight's judgement, one more missile would probably have done it. They escaped certain destruction from the most elite pilots in the Karalian Air Force by the skin of their teeth. She saw Rarity sigh in relief from across the room.

They had done it.

The shields had held.

The ship was undamaged.

And no pony was hurt...in the sky anyway. She had been so immersed in the air battle, that she had not paid attention to any of the transmissions coming from the ground yet. She hoped that every pony was okay. Even more, she hoped that one cannibalistic raider was gone.

As she placed her headphones back on her head, her eyes widened at what she heard.

"We've lost two Dragoons..."