Days of Ruin

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?