Days of Ruin

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?"