Letters from North Everfree

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Epilogue
Prelude
Chapter 4

Chapter 1

I can still remember the sights and smells of when we first arrived in the camp. The sky as blue as the ocean surf; and the clouds dotted the sky in a way where it was almost a parade. It was peaceful, and beautiful, and quiet, a lot of things that I had never expected that the northern forest could be. One thing was for sure though; I was in the right place at the wrong time. I and a group of other pegasi pulled into Camp Eclipse as part of the 43rd Pegasus division of the Royal Guard. The train wasn’t the same candy trains like they use now-a-days. The engine was the color of hardened blue steel and spat out black smoke and steam everywhere like a dragon had just taken a drink of water while breathing fire. The coaches were a color of Pullman green and the train was filled with at least two pegasi per seat. I consider myself lucky that I had a seat to myself on the train as I could stretch out my hooves and relax without having to worry about accidentally crushing another pony’s wing. At last me and all of the other pegasi were allowed off of the train to the sounds of orders boomed from the sergeants.

“We don’t have all day fillies!” they called out to us, “Get your uniforms, gear and weapon as soon as you step through the main building! Welcome to Camp Eclipse!”

I had never heard of ponies being handed weapons other than spears. You never see any pony with some kind of gun, despite the cannons that I have seen before used by the Royal Guard. Next to magic, those cannons can provide serious damage if aimed in the right place. They may look small, but if that’s the type of damage that those cannons can do, I hated to be on the receiving end of the artillery pieces. Artillery pieces were similar to cannons, except they looked like something hydraulic, and the shell when it left the barrel was hurled towards the enemy, and exploded on impact leaving a massive crater for a fairly small shell (the shells were about as long as an adult stallion, and they were about a hoof in diameter), but none-the-less the artillery and armored division were a force to be reckoned with.

I looked around what was basically my new home away from home in Camp Eclipse. When I walked out of the train station, I looked up to see a giant wooden watchtower with searchlights and two stallions looking out from the top of the crow’s nest anxiously. I never really understood what the whole situation was, or why I was here. When I was walking around my home of Manehattan, I still remember looking at the posters for the first time. They had a picture of 3 royal guards all in a row, with their hooves raised high saluting Equestria’s flag. They had a faded image of Celestia as a watermark with a serious look on his face. In the background as well were the towers of Canterlot which were clearly defined due to their varying tower shapes. In stencil letters below the 3 guards read, “The princess needs your help, enlist now.” They were all over town on every corner of every street, even inside of the skyscrapers. It was as if a situation in Equestria was direly serious and everypony was needed to help, including me. So lo and behold, here I was in a strange place, far away from home, having no idea what to expect, I was just happy that I was serving the princess.

The barracks were crowded as pegasi grabbed their uniforms, helmets, gear, saddle bags, assault rifles and pistols respectively. I had never seen weapons like these in the Royal Guard, as whenever there was a major event, they always had spears. “This must be truly serious,” I thought to myself as I grabbed my assault rifle from the sergeant.

“You are to report to the mess hall for a briefing at 1200 hours private!” boomed the sergeant in my face. He then gave me a slip of paper with a number on it and the word Charlie on it as well. “The number and cosign Charlie tells you where your new home away from home is private! It also tells you which squad you belong to! You have an hour before briefing private, don’t be late, ya got that?!” he said walking into my face.

“Yes sir!” I said as I put my helmet and began my trot towards the door. “Well this is going to be fun,” I thought to myself.

When I finally got outside and got a chance to stretch my legs, I took a breath of the fresh forest air. The benefit to living in the forest is that there is always a fresh breath of air with your name on it, and no pony can take that away from you. I actually liked it and began whistling a little tune to myself as I looked at the tent fronts as they had numbers and designations on them. The alpha tents were located closest to the mess hall and the infirmary, as most of the alpha company was made up of commanders and drill sergeants. The beta’s were located on the opposite side of the alpha’s as they were mostly drill sergeants and some high ranking soldiers, none of them higher than lance corporal though.

“Let’s see here,” I said to myself as I walked along the seemingly endless rows of tents, “Charlie 7, Charlie 8, ah here it is!” At last I stopped in front of a tent with a 9 and Charlie at the top of the tent. It was identical to all of the other tents as every tent, except the infirmary and the colonel’s tent, was the same identical shape and color. “Well maybe I can talk to my squad mates about possibly thinking of a unique way to identify our tent and not get confused with another.”

I walked in and found an empty cot where no pony had placed their stuff, and immediately claimed it as my own. I finally got a chance to put my weapon in its rack respectively, my helmet on its hook, and finally got to unpack my saddle bags to see what they had inside. The saddle bag was a brownish hint of green, as well as my uniform and helmet. I wasn’t complaining about it, but it was quite dull. “I guess you give up a fancy life when you join the Royal Guard,” I said as I lay down alone in my cot.

“Ain’t that the truth,” said a voice from one of the other cots.

I quickly looked up from my cot and looked around the tent to see who said that, but no pony was there. “Who said that?” I asked a little shaken by the voice.

Just then a light blue Pegasus with a navy blue mane popped out from underneath one of the cots. “I did,” he said with a smile on his face. “The name is Soarin,” he said enthusiastically. “I’m from cloudsdale, which is about an hour away from here to the north.” He then got up and began to straighten his cot so he could get ready for the briefing. “What’s your name?” he asked looking at me.

“My name is Ace,” I said stretching out my hoof. “I’m from Manehattan, pleasure to meet you.”

Soarin then got up, and grabbed my hoof giving it a firm shake. “Pleasure is mine,” he said. “Why don’t you have the accent like all other ponies from Manehattan?”

I merely shrugged; “I never really did have the accent like other ponies form Manehattan,” I said. “I guess some get it, and some don’t.” I began to unpack my saddle bags as Soarin still wanted to talk.

“Well I guess I understand,” he said. “I’m not from Manehattan so I wouldn’t know for sure.” He finished fixing his cot, and trotted over to me. “You’re going to like the members of our squad,” he said. “There’s another stallion, and then there are two mares.”

I was fairly surprised by this. “Mares in the royal guard?” I asked confused, “For as long as I can remember, I’ve never seen a mare in the royal guard before.”

Soarin smiled, “Well for one thing, it’s probably because you’re not looking hard enough. They’re there.” Sure enough, I found out that Soarin was right as mare voices could be heard getting closer to the tent entrance. “See?” he said, “That’s them now most likely.”

“What are their names?”

“Spitfire and Aqua Star,” he said. “The one to watch out for is Spitfire.”

“Why’s that?” I asked a little more concerned.

“I used to go to flight school with her,” Soarin said with a concerned look on his face. “She’s an extremely impressive flyer but for all of that flight in her wing, she has a fiery attitude, especially when she’s mad.”

Sure enough, I didn’t know that I was about to experience some of this firsthand. The tent flap then flew wide open to two mares. One was a golden mare with two shades of fire orange in her mane. Her tail also embraced her name as her hair looked like it was a blazing inferno that had burned everything in its path, but it was beautiful in a way that flowed in the wind. The other mare was a light teal with white and blue hair. I didn’t really have any problem identifying who was who; it was actually kind of obvious.

“You owe me big time!” she said. “You bumped me into the sergeant and made him drop his coffee!” roared Aqua Star at Spitfire.
Spitfire merely laughed, “Oh please, don’t be such a cry filly.” She then walked over to her cot, which just so happened to be right next to mine. It was almost a play on words, but at first, I thought it was kind of strange, and I felt a little uneasy as well. She quickly grabbed her uniform, and then turned and looked at me. She was a little confused, but at the same time I think she was happy to have company because her corner was rather lonely in the tent. “And you are?” she asked looking at me with a curious intent.
“Ace,” he said. “I just arrived on the 1030 train from Manehattan. I presume that you’re Spitfire?” I said hoping that I didn’t get the two confused. I stretched out my hoof.
“You presume correctly,” she said smiling at me. “As you know already,” she began “my name is Spitfire. I’m from cloudsdale, and so is that crazy stallion over there that you’ve already met.”
“I’m not crazy!” called Soarin as he munched down a pie.
“Anyway, as you can see, he really likes pies,” she continued. “He even has an emergency pie just in case something happens to the first pie.”
Aqua star then cut in. “What am I, chopped pony?” she asked with an attitude in her pose.

I had almost forgotten that I hadn’t firmly introduced myself to aqua star just yet. “Sorry about that,” I said trotting over to her. “My name is Ace, as you probably can already guess,” I said stretching out his hoof. Aqua star merely knocked my hoof away with an attitude.

“Humph!” she said turning tail towards me. “I’m Aqua Star, the squad medic. You better show more respect. I may save your life one day.”

“Don’t be such a wise pony!” called Spitfire from her cot, “you don’t revive us when you can, Blitz will have your head, and then he’ll save some for me. She said polishing her small pin.

“Who’s Blitz?” I asked curiously.

Spitfire then walked over to me with a sympathetic look in her eyes. “Blitz is the squad leader,” she said. “You won’t see him most times except if it’s a briefing or if we have to go out in the line of duty.” She then picked up her cadet hat and dusted it off, while I still had questions.

“Line of duty?” I asked. “Against what?”

“You’ll find out at the briefing,” Spitfire said.
~~~

“All in line!” called the sergeants from the front of the mess hall. “This is an urgent issue, and must be taken care as soon as possible.”

The whole mess hall suddenly went silent as the colonel began walking into the center of attention. I still remember seeing him, he had an officer’s uniform, tie and buttoned shirt. He was a white alicorn, no ties to Celestia whatsoever. He had a mane and tail that were two shades green, and he had teal eyes. It was Cloud Storm; I’ll never forget the first time that I heard him speak. “Thank you for being here everypony,” he began. He then took of his hat in perspective, revealing his messy mane. “I’m sorry that we’ve kept all of this a secret from you. The reason why you are all seeing things that are not traditionally related to the royal guard service, but they are kept behind locks and key for such an occasion like this.”

With a mighty heave of magic, Cloud Storm revealed a giant image of Canterlot. He then zoomed in further to the image. It was soon revealed that Celestia was not alone. There standing with her were two of her sisters, Princess Marina who controlled the oceans, and Princess Terra, who controls the seasons. They appeared to be in great pain as Celestia continued to tend to them. Terra had a large gash slightly above her left wing, while Marina had a scar close to her horn.

“About a month ago,” began Cloud Storm, “Marina and Terra appeared to Celestia in much worse condition than this. When Celestia asked them what happened, they told her that they had been dethroned from power by King Inferno and King Typhoon. They demanded that Celestia step down, or else she would face the burning of her empire and subjects before her very eyes. In that response, she has called for the Royal Guard to prepare to invade from here, north of the Everfree forest. That’s why you are all here at base camp headquarters. We fear that this is as real as it gets, as Marine and Terra combined have twice the size of an army as the Royal Guard, so we are in a hurry. This brings us to where you are today.”

I was stunned to hear the news; it was unbelievable to think that someone could dethrone the princesses from their power over their land. I almost wanted to raise my hooves in an uproar. I looked at Spitfire, and I could see the determination in her eyes; I had never seen anything like it before.

“Now,” called Cloud Storm to the others, “We have been given our first mission briefing from the generals further south of us. Apparently the two countries of Marina and Reigns, where King typhoon and King Inferno have taken over, are beginning their assault about 15 miles to the north of here and are using every last pony they have to invade. Our division, as well as 22nd Pegasus division, the 32nd unicorn artillery, and the 54th armored division are to halt the advance as much as we can to bring their advance to a standstill. The 54th armored division and the 22nd Pegasus division are already there preparing for the advance. We have been asked to be there as soon as possible, so tomorrow we begin the flight to the north at 0600 hours. Bring your gear and be ready for a fight.”

“Yes sir!” roared the cadets waving their hooves in the air. “Invading Equestria huh? We’ll stop them dead in their tracks.”

I could only look at so many of the angry hooves roaring through the air, as I knew this meant war, in more ways than one. We were going to defend our home god damnit, for Celestia, for Equestria, for the whole World. Spitfire looked at me with fury in her eyes. I knew that we were both thinking the same thing; there was no doubt in my mind.

“Ready to kick some flank?” she said with a serious smile.

“I’m ready to do more than that,” I said. “I’m ready to save the world if I have to.”

“You mean if we have to right?” she said smiling.

I couldn’t help but smile as well. “Right,” I replied.

Chapter 2

“Fall in Charlie Company!” called Blitz as the chaos on the base runway ensued the next morning. I had my uniform dusted off, tightened, pressed, and made sure that the emblem of the pegasi division of the royal guard was clearly readable so that in case something were to happen to me, I would be clearly identified as an ally. In the crisp morning air, I looked around to see pretty much every pegasi packed and ready to defend our home. Wings were stretched, prayers were being said, and some ponies even put on war paint to build spirits. Charlie 9 was looking sharp, but was trying to remain relaxed by talking to one another.

“This is going to be quite an undertaking,” said Soarin to Spitfire who was still straightening her uniform. She tried to respond but right now her mind was on the ensuing battle ahead.

“It will be,” she said, “and we will fight like heroes, not just for our survival, but the survival of our homeland and everyone in it.”

I could only smile, but Aqua Star had her doubts. “Oh please,” she said disgusted checking her medical saddle bags, “You may sound all strong and tough now, but are you ready for all of that gunfire? And artillery? Some if it might even be friendly fire from your own fellow comrades.”

“Sometimes we have to die in the line of duty in order to fully serve our nation,” I said trotting over to Aqua Star. I stared at her dead in the face as I wanted her just to shut the hell up with all of her bravery shit, I was tired of it and just wanted to end her right here, right now. I knew it wasn’t right, I couldn’t do that, not when we have to come together in order to defend our home. “However,” I said breathing in her face, “I guess you would already know that, wouldn’t you?”

Aqua Star merely brushed me off and returned to the infirmary tent to make sure she had everything. I only smiled as I knew she wasn’t going to give us anymore lip after that. Spitfire then trotted over to me; she had a look of defeat in her eyes. Something was wrong, but I didn’t know what. “You didn’t have to stand up for me,” she said trying not to look thankful.

I could only smile. “That’s what friends are for right?”

“Indeed they are,” said a voice from behind me. Then a rather strong stallion stepped into view. He was white from head to hoof, he was wearing an officers uniform, but he was also wearing his armor from the guard (due to all of the gear pegasi need to carry, they are not required to wear it due to the circumstances, as it is with the other divisions. Only unicorns and Colonels are required to wear the armor into battle) and he had a baby blue mane and tail. His eyes were of a determined lime as he looked very strong. His cutie mark was that of a shield with the cross of the pony crusades, a failed endeavor of years past to establish an alliance with the dragons. He gave a small smile.

“Might I ask who you are?” asked Spitfire with a confused look.

Blitz then walked into the picture, also wearing his armor. “This is Corporal Oxycoccus,” he said looking at him. “He is the commander of Charlie 8, another squadron of ponies in Charlie Company. It is also the smallest.”

“Size doesn’t matter,” said Corporal Oxycoccus looking back at Blitz. “It is rather a squadron’s heart that makes it strong in battle, yet emotional in burying our fallen.”

I then looked confused. “If you don’t mind sir,” I asked patiently, “How many ponies make up your squad.”

“We have one medic, we have a spotter, we have one infantry pony, and then myself so that makes 4,” he replied with a serious expression. “I guarantee you,” he said, “we are a strong squadron; we just don’t have the numbers to prove it.”

“I understand,” I said turning back and looking at Spitfire. “We aren’t a big squad either.”

“But we do have one of the fastest filers in Equestria,” said Spitfire proudly opening her golden wings. I could smile knowing that she actually did have quite the speed advantage over everyone in Camp Eclipse. “So help them Celestia if I get good turbulence.”

“EEEEEEYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!” shouted Soarin watching his pie towards the ground. “MY MORNING PIE!”

On his back stood an alicorn who was enjoying a small moment of victory; he was a blue hue of violet and his hair was a very light blonde color. His cutie mark was that of a star in the center of the galaxy. He appeared to be rather strong, and here he was wasting it on pulling a prank on Soarin. “Never eat before a big battle,” he laughed. “It’s bad for when your adrenaline begins to rise!”

“But I’m hungry!” said Soarin turning tail and staring down the alicorn. “YOU JUST DESTROYED MY BREAKFAST YOU SHIT!”

“Soarin! Front and Center!” called Blitz looking at him seriously. Soarin could only do nothing as he began to walk slowly towards Blitz. He raised a hoof in salute and then looked at me praying that he didn’t just make a serious mistake; but by the way Blitz called him over, he had just made a huge mistake.

“Yes sir?” he asked looking at him nervously.

“I do not have time for fillies play,” he boomed in his face. “If you want to horse around keep playing around on the battlefield and gladly get yourself killed, or you can stay here and face the court martial. Straighten up and fly right, am I clear?”

“Yes Sir.”

The Alicorn merely stood smiling in his glory but Corporal Oxycoccus also stared down the Alicorn. “That goes for you too Universae,” he boomed towards him.

Universae turned straight and silently saluted in defeat. “Yes sir,” he said.

Soarin then trotted over towards Universae and was actually now confused. “What kind of a name is Universae?” asked Soarin.

The alicorn took offense to this and stared him down angrily. “That’s Prince Universae to you, pie boy,” he said.

Soarin then got in Universae’s face in response, “and for YOUR information,” he said, “The name is SOARIN! REMEMBER IT!”

Universae was about to give him a good one right in the snout when a coaches whistle sounded off from Cloud Storm. He sat in the Watch tower and looked down on the runway. Immediately all of the companies formed into their respective rows and prepared for flight. Wings were opened, excess feathers were shaken off, and all eyes were pointed towards the sky. Even I had to admit I was more than anxious to finally get up in the air and join the ensuing battle on the front lines. I looked over at Spitfire with an anxious and determined smile, knowing that there was no turning back from here. Spitfire smiled back. “You ready?” she said.

“Ready as I will ever be,” I replied stretching my wings long and wide.

Cloud Storm then looked at his watch as the mid-day sun finally rose to peak the horizon. He then looked down at the 300 pegasi that lined the runway as 100 stayed behind in case something was to happen. “Mares, Stallions,” he called form the top of the watch tower, “Godspeed.” Suddenly, a flag dropped, it was the flag of the royal guard. It dropped and slowly fell down to the ground and just like that, the 43rd pegasi division was on their way to north neighagra falls to protect their homeland and stop the advancing troop from getting into Manehattan and close towards the mountains where Celestia’s castle stood. Judging by the looks of most of their eyes, they weren’t going to let that happen, not now, not ever.
~~~

We had been flying for roughly 2 hours now. We had flown past Celestia’s castle to see Celestia, and her two bandaged sister’s wave to us and also wish us good luck. It was a heartwarming sight, even though I had been to Canterlot more than once, but still, it never got old every time I spotted those white towers with Golden Tops. I do enjoy it, and I think it gave us all a small boost of confidence, well, almost everyone.

“I’m hungry…” said Soarin looking down at the apple trees. “I want my pie back…” He almost wanted to rip off his goggles and use them to catch an apple from the tree as quick as a whip, but Spitfire kept him straight. “Stay on mission,” she said gently nudging him so that he wouldn’t flop over. “You can eat when we get back home.”

“But I’ll pass out because I haven’t had anything to eat, maybe throw up, maybe even DIE!” he said becoming more determined and preparing to power towards the clouds. I could only laugh feeling bad for him.

“Well that’s why we have Aqua Star,” I said looking over at her with a smile. Aqua star however looked very unamoused and said nothing as we continued on.

Another hour soon drew by, and we knew that we were now close to the front lines as the sounds of cannon fire could be heard very faintly in the distance. I knew that this was it; everything we had prepared for had come down to this moment. I wanted to know what Spitfire was thinking, so I looked over at her. I wanted to give her a gentle nudge, but when I looked over at her, I felt something different. I inspected her from head to hoof, but the thing is it wasn’t exactly to see if she was missing any pieces on her uniform, but rather I looked at her hair as it flew freely in the wing with her tail following suit. “You’re beautiful,” I thought aloud. Unfortunately, she heard me and quickly turned her head.

“What was that?” she asked with a puzzled look on her face.

“Oh,” I said stammering trying to hide a blush, “I mean this scenery is really beautiful from up here. Whenever I get the spare time I’ll have to fly up here to spend a day.”

Spitfire smiled, “It is nice,” she said. “I’ve been up here many times myself just to be alone for a nice cloud nap. It’s peaceful.”

“I could use a cloud nap as of right now,” said Soarin giving out a gently yawn.

“No time for naps or rest now everypony,” called Blitz to Charlie 9. “Look ahead.”

I remember looking ahead at the sheer horror of what awaited us. There were the cannons of the armored division as well as a row of unicorns standing ready to fire at the first sight of the enemy. The runway was empty as the 22nd had already left for the first bombing run, and it was sizable enough that the 43rd could fit without crashing into some pony. With that, the 43rd let off of its wings and gently glided down towards the runway, one pony at a time. Standing there to greet them was a stallion unicorn with a blue mane, and was also wearing Royal Guard armor. He was apparently the captain of the current operation.

“Fall in,” he said.

“Immediately the other pegasi stood in attention as Blitz then stepped forward from our line, and firmly saluted the unicorn. “Captain Armor,” he said saluting.

Shining Armor then saluted back, “Captain Blitz,” he then extended out his hoof as Shining Armor then grabbed it and gave it a firm shake. “Good to see the 43rd still up and flying on such short notice,” he said.

We can’t let you have all of the fun alone Captain, “He said smiling.” Immediately Blitz turned to face us as Shining Armor stepped forward. “As you already know,” he began, “I am Shining Armor, and currently the commander of the 32nd unicorn artillery as you may have already guessed by my appearance.” He then began pacing us up and down our rows, however he wasn’t quite the cheery “rah-rah kick their asses” kind of mood. He was actually in a rather doubtful mood, you could tell by the look in his eyes.

“I won’t lie to you,” he began, “This military does have experience in war as they have fended of the dragons from invading both of their nations. The Kings however have control of their nation by something called a dark gem.” He then held up the pitch black gem in front of the 43rd. It was in a case covered and sealed its powers off by magic. Even then, the sheer power of the small gem could be felt from right where I was standing. I could tell it was a force to be reckoned with as it had a dark purple glow surrounding it. With that, Shining Armor hid the gem silently away in its respective case.

“Understand, this gem is attached like a very light glue,” continued Shining Armor. “It can be removed, but the problem is where it is placed, and what will happen when it is removed.”

Spitfire then patiently raised her hoof high. “Sir, where are the gems placed, and what happens when they are pulled or removed?”

Shining Armor closed his eyes in regret. “They are placed next to the heart,” he said. “We tried to remove one from a captured stallion, but when we began surgery, we found that they were attached directly to the heart when they are exposed to light. When we tried to remove it, we destroyed the heart, and the stallion died.” Shining Armor then raised his hoof to wipe a tear from his eyes. “It’s terrible what the kings have done to the citizens, unfortunately it is also more powerful than Princess Celestia’s magic and with her sisters seriously injured, and they cannot make a spell to reverse the gems.”

I was shocked. I now wanted both of the king’s heads on a platter. To do that to innocent ponies? All of taking the story light, you can forget it now. I wanted to fight. Spitfire had tears in her eyes as I looked at her with expressive empathy. I then looked at Shining Armor with nothing but rage and a sense of mission. Something told me that I wasn’t alone in that feeling either. “How much time until they begin the assault Captain Armor?” I asked intently.

Shining Armor then looked up in the sky, noticing the 22nd Pegasi division had finally returned from the reconnaissance mission. “It depends on what they have to say,” he said pointing up to the sky. I was praying to Celestia that the situation wasn’t as bad as it seemed, but then again, I looked up, and noticed that they were falling faster than what we would consider a modest glide. Lower and lower they fell gaining speed, their wings were flapping, but something was definitely wrong.

“Straighten up!” called Blitz towards the approaching herd. “You’re coming in too fast and too steep!” Even I knew that something was horrendously wrong, but then I saw something no pony should see. Immediately, the leader of the squadron hit the ground hard, barrel rolled, and one of his wings flew off, as blood began to fall all over the runway. He wasn’t alone in this crash landing as soon 20 more pegasi came down in some crushing way, while 25 came down with heavy bruises, and 25 afterwards came down unscathed with light scars.

“Holy Celestia…” I said running over. “Come on Spitfire help us out! Aqua Star you need to help!”

Aqua Star wasted no time as she reached into her saddle bag and pulled out all of the medical supplies that she needed. Shining Armor then galloped over towards the injured leader of the 22nd, badly bleeding, wing barely hanging on. “What are we expecting,” asked Shining Armor looking down at the hard breathing stallion.

The stallion only looked up at him with intent and fear. “Hell,” he said as life quickly left his body. Shining Armor then placed the lifeless corpse back down on the ground as he slowly got up. “Everypony listen up!” he said quickly getting every ponies attention. “Medics, take care of who you can, squadron medics, go with your squads, everypony else, prepare yourselves. We’re going to war.”

Chapter 3

The once peaceful hill surrounding neighagra falls was soon filled with more noise than the falls by their self. The sounds of hooves running around the small encampment soon echoed around the whole valley as pony’s grabbed ammunition, gear, last minute medical supplies, and a tiny prayer or two. The 43rd was soon sent to grab ammunition as our squadrons specialty was bombing. We were only trained to go as far as we thought was necessary, but at the same time we knew that we could fly further without getting tired. We lined up inside of the ammunitions tent in a line as one by one we were given bombing saddle bags, which were both on the sides, but could be opened both above or on the bottom. Inside of the saddle bags were these round balls, the size of a fist. They felt like turtles shells, only more dominant as the ridges were much deeper. I had never felt anything like it, it was very strange.

“Why such deep grooves?” I asked the munitions officer. “When we trained for bombing we were given smoother rounds.”

The officer then looked at me, and I knew this was not the time for questions, but sure enough once I opened my mouth there was always one waiting right there. “Those were training grenades Cadet,” he growled. “This is the real thing now. Get out there and defend your home instead of asking me damn stupid questions.”

“Yes Sir,” I said as I galloped out towards the runway where the 43rd was sitting, Wings opened ready for takeoff. The sight was impressive, as the 32nd unicorn artillery stood in 10 rows, each made up of 10 unicorns, 100 in all, while the armored division stood in 15 rows, each with 10 ponies. All of them were wearing the official Royal Guard Armor, and everyone was awaiting the signal to take off. I turned to look at Spitfire who, once again, was found right next to me, while Soarin was found behind me, praying to Celestia that we were going to live.

“Well this is it,” I said trying not to be worried. “This is the first battle, the attempt to stop the king’s from invading our home.”

Spitfire smiled and nodded, “Yea, and we will defend it with everything we have, even our lives.”

“Indeed we will,” said Blitz trotting up and down the 9th squadron in Charlie Company. “I understand some of you are scared,” he began.

“I DON’T WANNA DIE!” said Soarin unknowingly getting everyponies attention.

Everyone merely looked at him while me and Spitfire turned and stomped our hooves into our faces. “Idiot,” I said to myself.

“Anyway,” said Blitz continuing on, “Know this, that if we do die here, if this is truly our last stand, it is because we want to die. It’s because we want the king’s to win,” he said looking at Soarin with a fierce intent in his eyes. “Or,” he said, “We can go down in battle, meaning we were Equestria’s shield, we did everything we could, and then some, to protect our home from anything and anypony. That is what we stand here to do today Charlie 9, now let’s make Celestia proud!”

“Yes Sir!” replied Charlie 9. As if we couldn’t get any more inspiration to fight for our home, Commander Oxycoccus then stepped in front. He was a veteran and one of the most respected ponies in the Royal Guard, and even had a small recommendation from Celestia herself. Everyone knew as soon as the war was over that he was getting a big promotion.

“Good to see Charlie 9 in such high spirits,” he said looking at us with a gentle smile. “You’ll need it for today, because today could be a very long one. Charlie 8 will be flying reconnaissance so we will be the first to get our wings flapping off of the runway before everypony else. I wish you all the best of luck.

“The same to you Corporal,” I said briefly saluting him. The rest of Charlie 9 followed in similar salute.

“Godspeed to you all, especially you Soarin,” he said looking over at him in the ground shivering.

Just then, a bugle call sounded, and just like that, Wings began flapping, and the unicorns and other ponies began their march. The battle for Neighagra falls was on.
~~~

We scanned the horizon, continuing our long advance towards where the dust was coming from. The unicorn artillery had already found a proper positioning a mile or two behind the armored division as they were within range now and were waiting for first word from reconnaissance before they could start firing. The armored Division also placed their artillery with the unicorns in case more bag for the buck was needed or if the pegasi and armored where overwhelmed. I looked straight at the dust cloud so that I would hopefully be the first to know when to start dropping bombs.

All of the respected Companies flew in formation. We were shaped like flocks of birds that were heading south towards the warm weather during the winter. “Come on you bastards,” I said looking out of my goggles, “Show yourselves.”

“See anything?” called Spitfire towards Soarin and Blitz.

“Not yet,” called Blitz scanning the horizon.

“All I see,” said Soarin stopping in midsentence, “Wait a minute! I see somepony!” He said looking closer at the horizon. Sure enough, upon close inspection, there was a massive herd of ponies charging towards the base camp at the back of the front lines downrange. “There they are!” he roared.

“All hands on deck!” called Blitz to his squadron. “Prepare to drop load!” Immediately upon the order, the saddle bags were tied loose and they were prepared to be dropped whenever need upon the light tap of a hoof.

The ensuing dark spots grew into 50, then 100, then 200, 500, and soon it was counted they numbered 5000 in force.

“Dear sweet Celestia,” said Soarin removing his goggles to make sure he wasn’t just seeing things, “we’re so outnumbered…”

“We’ll be fine you big chicken!” scoffed Spitfire bopping him on the head.

“Careful!” called Blitz. “We don’t want to give away just how close we are by dropping the payloads too soon!”

“Idiot,” said Aqua Star rolling her eyes.

Spitfire could only wish that she could knock her into the next century, however, she couldn’t. Not at this moment however, not when they needed a medic the most. Eventually the dark spots were close enough as the first row of the ensuing dark ponies then passed underneath us. I could see their armor from my stance. I could see that their armor was complete pitch black, and it almost appeared to be in the same shape and style as the Royal Guards, just pitch black, but it was too soon to tell.

“Drop payload!” called Blitz tapping the saddle bags with his hooves. Immediately the payload dropped. Eventually the 43rd pegasi division became a rain cloud of nothing by giant balls of black as the grenades began to fall onto the ensuing dark ponies. Immediately the air was then filled with sounds of a high pitched whistling which only dwindled in volume and was then followed by explosions. I didn’t drop my payload just yet due to the fact that I could see a unicorn artillery squadron that was surrounded on all sides by armored ponies. I knew this was my chance.

“Now!” I said as I dropped mine. Spitfire looked over watching my grenades fall out of my saddle bags.

“What are you doing?” she said. “You released your grenades late! Just what do you think you’re going to hit?”

I then pointed down towards the unicorn artillery they had set up. “Watch,” I said, and not a moment too soon, an entire Artillery squadron was wiped off of the battlefield.

“Well I’ll be,” said Spitfire giving me a light pat on the back and a small smile, “Damn good shot. That’ll save the armored division some time and their sanity as well. Way to think ahead Ace.”

“I smiled as a prepared to give turn and begin to head back to base camp to reload ammunition, but before the 43rd could even begin to think they were out of the hornets’ nest,

“Incoming aerial assault!” called Blitz looking up at a giant dark cloud of pegasi that was barreling down on them. Immediately, the dark pegasi began their assault, taking down one pony at a time one by one. It was almost a suicide, as they came down at an angle that was so fast, the captured pegasi that were grabbed didn’t stand a chance of surviving the impact. Not even their own squadron leader Blitz was at the mercy of the ensuing attack as he was quickly grabbed and began the harsh plummet down, as well as Aqua Star.

“Aqua Star! Blitz!” I called watching them plummet into the ensuing battle. By now the Armored Division and the ensuing army had begun their death bound skirmish as chaos ensued on the ground below.

“What do we do?” asked Soarin looking around at the pegasi that we were being grabbed.

Spitfire looked around at the ensuing chaos, as she quickly formulated an idea. “Fly crooked! They can’t grab us if we’re not in a straight flight path!” She said as she quickly began banks and zigzags, rolls and dives, climbs and stalls.

“Do you think we should do what she says?” asked Soarin looking over at me.

“Well,” I said, “She is the squad leader now since Blitz is dead. If you want to live, then you’ll do what she says.” With that I immediately opened my wings wide and began performing every daredevil move that I knew to dodge the ensuing assault of the pegasi from above. One Pegasus flew by, then another, and another, and another. It turned into a madhouse in the skies, until at last the number of pegasi finally dwindled down until none were left.

“I think that’s the last of them!” I called. “Everyone ok?”

“I’m still here,” called Spitfire.

“Likewise,” called Soarin.

“Ok then, lets head back,” called Ace as he began a bank with the rest of Charlie Company (or what was left of it) to head back to basecamp. But before they were out of the woods, they were in store for a harmful surprise. “Incoming!” called Oxycoccus as a large burst of magic roared towards the 43rd. BOOM! Direct hit, right in the middle of the formation.

“Dear sweet Celestia!” called Soarin as he flew through the cloud. “What they hell was that?!”

“I don’t know but we might want to get out of here now!” called Spitfire. “Retreat!”

Without thinking twice, the 43rd began turning around and getting away from the ensuing aerial bombardment. Explosion after explosion rocked the sky as the bombardment continued on.

“Where are all of these explosions coming from?” asked Oxycoccus towards Spitfire.

Spitfire then scanned the skies and looked for the source. Immediately I then caught wing of where the explosions were coming from as I looked back. “ALICORNS!” I called as I spotted them flying closer and closer. “Fly for your life!” Even then however, it was soon proved that it was too late as a hit quickly scattered and fled into their wings.

“HOLY SHIT, I’M HIT!” called Oxycoccus as he began to barrel roll down towards the ground where the chaos continued on.

“Oxycoccus!” called Universae as he watched him fall to his doom. “We can’t take another hit like that, another hit like that all of our wings are gone!”

“Then I’m afraid we have no choice,” said Spitfire looking down at the ground. “We’re going in guys; get ready because it’s going to be a hot LZ!”

“Right behind you!” I called as I began the dive down towards the ensuing chaos.

“Likewise here,” called Soarin angling his wings downward. Eventually all that was left of Charlie Company came down to the 5, as the rest did not survive the aerial diving attacks. The rest of the 43rd, or what was left of it rather, turned flank and headed towards the safety of base camp. The only ones to stay behind were I, Universae, Spitfire, Soarin, and a couple of other ponies from what were left of Charlie Company.

It turned out that Spitfire was right when she said that it was a hot LZ; everywhere I looked there were stallions fighting to the death, blood on the ground, and dead bodies from the 43rd and the 54th. It was a gruesome sight and it only made me fight harder. Immediately we were charged by more of the dark ponies as they kept coming, one by one, it almost seemed as if they would resurrect themselves as when one went down, another took its place. Despite the bravery, we found ourselves surrounded on all sides by dark ponies. We had nowhere to go as we were surrounded by dark ponies. I had blood and sweat running down the side of my face, Spitfire was injured badly as a scar left a mark on the side above her wing. Soarin, still on rage of losing his pie, also stood ready to fight even if this would be the last time. Universae stood ready in poise to defend his new squad mates, as he was also the last with medical experience; therefore he had no other choice but to fight. Growls were heard all around us, I thought for sure this was the end.

“Everyone,” I said catching my breath and breathing hard, “we go down together, and we go down for all of equestrian today, but I’ll be damned if go down in vain.”

“Bring it on dark ponies!” exclaimed Universae as he used the last of his strength to charge it into a beam. The beam tore a temporary path through the dark ponies, but it didn’t last long as it only made them angry. They were surrounded, and running out of breathing room as the dark ponies came closer and closer.

“Well it was a good effort Universae,” said Soarin wiping off some of the blood from his forehead, “least we went out with a bang.”

Even I had to admit that Soarin was right for once, but then just when all hope seemed lost, a sound came from the sky. We looked up, and sure enough there was a whistling artillery shell wailing just towards the dark ponies that surrounded Charlie 9. Afterwards, the dark ponies were stunned and backed off, and were also greeted by the sounds of an advancing 54th armored division charging at them. The dark ponies decided that enough was enough, and they turned high flank and ran for the north. Cheers erupted as Shining Armor immediately galloped out towards what was left of the 43rd.

“Shining Armor sir,” said Spitfire raising her hoof, “Mission somewhat accomplished.”

Shining Armor nodded, but then looked at all of the dead corpses on the ground, and noticed all of the scars that we had. He then looked over at Universae noticing that corporal Oxycroccus was nowhere to be seen. “Where is your commander,” he asked looking intently at Universae.

“I don’t know,” he said. “he vanished when we got ambushed from above, needless to say, I don’t think he made it.”

“Sir!” called a group from the 54th carrying a dead corpse. They gently lifted it up with magic, and then gently laid it back down to rest. “Corporal Oxycroccus is dead sir.”

Shining Armor then walked over to the corpse of what had once been a fully alive Oxycroccus, he then looked over and also noticed that Blitz was also dead. “Sweet Celestia,” he said trying not to shed a tear. He then got up, turned around and looked at us. “These two will not have died in vain today, but for now your mission is complete, you can return back to your home bases. That is all.”

“Yes sir,” they replied beginning the long trot back to the front lines. I couldn’t help but look back and notice Universae and Spitfire looking over at the dead corpse of Oxycroccus and then looking around at all of the other dead corpses that lay on the ground.

“Permission to speak sir,” I asked raising a hoof.

Universae and Shining Armor turned around. “What is it private,” Shining Armor asked.

“Do we know what the death toll is at the moment sir?”

Shining Armor looked at me, then gathered his thoughts. I could tell it was about to cause him great pain of what he was about to say. “Ace,” he began, “What I am about to tell you is classified, you can never tell anypony outside of the Royal Guard that this ever happened, even when this damned war is over.”

“I understand sir,” he said.

Shining Armor then looked over at Universae. “Tell him please, Sergeant Universae.”

Universae then stepped forward, wiping the blood from his scarred forehead. “Out of a force of 14,000,” he said as he briefly paused holding his dead down and closing his eyes in regret, “2,000 ponies are now dead, and will be buried here as a permanent reminder not only of this war, but of what happens when war comes to Equestria.”

Chapter 5

“Alright everypony, listen up,” called Cloudstorm out over the mess hall. With another strong heave of magic, he showed a large image of the dark pony army heading south towards Manehattan by air only. I was speechless noticing how close they were to my home.
“That’s Manehattan!” I exclaimed noticing the skyline in the far background.

“Indeed it is,” said Cloudstorm showing the map more closely. “The Dark Ponies have decided to go along the eastern seaboard and try and take over one of our cities. If they succeed they will use the dark gems, as Shining Armor has shown you during the Battle of Neighagra falls, to brainwash all of Manehattans citizens, and their army will quadruple in size. I understand some of you are from Manehattan and are anxious to get your hoofs dirty, but there is one problem. They are attacking by air and at a very bad angle for bombardment by land. One miss-fire could cause panic and despair, more-a-less the dark ponies would already win before the battle even starts. So it is only pegasi and alicorns today. Charlie Company, you will be on the back up as snipers and can only intervene if the battle becomes too hectic. Everypony else, go in, and route them away from Manehattan. Your squadron leaders will give you more information as the mission continues on. You’re dismissed.”

“Yes Sir!” called the Mess Hall towards the center. The pegasi were ready to fight once again for their homeland, even I was ready to have at the ponies that killed Blitz and Aqua Star and Corporal Oxycroccus, but now it was about more than that; it was about defending my hometown, and my brother. I couldn’t afford to let anyone see the pure hatred in my eyes. Spitfire walked over to check on me, as she noticed that I had my head facing towards the ground, and teeth clinched as if I was growling, or getting ready to kill somepony.

“Hey, you ok?” she asked gently nudging my head. “It must hurt to know that your home is their next target.”

I wish I could just scream at her saying that it was my home, and that I wanted to rip every one of them apart head and limb, and if they touched my brother, so help them; but at the same time, I couldn’t, I couldn’t do that to her. I had too strong of feelings for her, and I didn’t want to lose her because I can’t keep my own cool. I felt a tear roll down my face.

“Hey,” she said, “I know a lot of feelings are going through your head right now, but I just want you to know, I’ll be here for you, at your side, no matter what.”

I looked up at her, her gentle orange eyes and her perfect smile, she was like an angel from heaven to me, and I would do anything for her. To hear her says she would be at my side touched me in a place that I really needed it. I finally calmed down and straightened myself up, and I looked at her with loving eyes. She smiled at me again, and all I could do was smile back. “Thank you,” I said. “I appreciate it; I could use all the help I can get.”

“Hey, Air Buster,” called Soarin who was standing with the rest of the squadron, “We got you’re back too ya know.”

“You can count on us,” said Asteroid Run with a smirk holding a .50 caliber rifle with only his bare hoof. I could only smile knowing how relaxed and cool he was in tough situations, yet at the same time I knew he was sometimes overkill, but I liked that in a good soldier.

“Ace, Spitfire, a moment,” called Cloud Storm. I turned my head back and trotted over towards the center of the mess hall.
“What is it sir?” asked Spitfire.
“Once you get to this point here,” he said showing them the map on the central table, “You will rendezvous with Storm Sky, a veteran cloud sniper, and also one of the highest respected guardsmen in all of the Royal Guard. He is scheduled for a commendation by Celestia herself once the war is finally over. I have asked him to go ahead and search for an appropriate cloud sight to safely snipe pegasi without being detected. Good luck Charlie Company.” He said saluting the two pegasi.
I and Spitfire then saluted back. “Thank you sir.”
“Also,” he continued, “Ace.”
I looked very confused, but then that’s when I got scared. I knew that he was about to either kill me for standing up to an officer, or he was going to send me home. I knew that this was the end, I was sure of it.
“Yes Sir?” I asked.
“Shining Armor and I discussed what happened last night,” he said. “Rather, instead of you being Court Martialed, we are promoting you to the rank of second lieutenant, for being able to stand up for what you think and know is right in your heart.”
“Thank you sir,” I said firmly saluting. “I just believe other ponies should know what happened, why they’re country is so well protected and who gave the ultimate sacrifice for it.”
“I agree,” said Cloud Storm, “However we spoke with Princess Celestia and said the topics of war should not be taught to young fillies and colts that are below the appropriate age for knowing such things. It is not likely that they will be taught as subjects in flight camp or magic school, but there will be memorials erected in cities, and a final resting place for the soldiers is being organized. I just thought I would tell you that to let you know, you were not ignored.”
“Thank you sir,” I said.
“That is all lieutenants,” said Cloud Storm. “Go defend your hometown.”
“With pleasure,” I replied.
~~~

I was not much of a cloud person at all. I was not used to the moist feel of a cloud, more a less how soft and puffy it was. It was strange. These clouds were fairly nice as they were large enough so that you could go inside of them without falling out, perfect for a sniping mission. I took my perch, facing away from Manehattan. The scope was so close to my eye that I couldn’t even see the rim of it. Instead my eyes were on the horizon waiting for the first sight of the bastard’s heads.

“Liking the view?” asked Storm Sky trotting over to me. “These are the best clouds that I have seen in a very long time; you got very lucky and caught them at the right time.”

I nodded as I kept my attention on the sky, “They are,” I said looking out of the scope. I then heard loud munching sounds from one of the corners of the cloud; it was blatantly obvious who it was.

“Soarin!” I said to him whispering, “Do you want to give us away?”

“No!” said Soarin, “but since there not here, I decided to have a quick meal.” I then watched as a tray was placed gently next to Soarin. Spitfire merely rolled her eyes as she checked to see that everything was in place inside of the cloud.

“This isn’t a restaurant Soarin,” she said taking away the pie tin. “Try not to make a sound, ok? No pies, no candy, no drinks, don’t make a sound.”

“Aw,” he said.

“Don’t be sad Soarin,” called Asteroid Run from his corner of the cloud. “You’ll be able to eat all you want after this mission.”

I smiled hoping that we would make it to the next mission. I returned to the position where my Sniper Rifle was placed, but this time as I looked through the scope something was different. I could see a very faint black line off in the distance. The line continued to grow thicker, according to the scope, the line measured about half a mile wide. “I got something,” I whispered over to the group. “Half mile wide, whole swarm of the bastards.”

“Let me see,” said Spitfire looking out of her scope next to me. When she looked through it, she could definitely see that something was out there. “Well I’ll be damned, he’s right,” said Spitfire; she then turned over towards Storm Sky. “Commander, they’re here, coming in from the north, just as you said.”

Storm Sky then walked over and checked out his binoculars. “Right on time you bastards,” he said. “Alright everypony listen up,” he said. “Don’t fire until you see the white of their eyes, or the feathers on the wings, if their alicorns, they are the priority, so get ready. Keep your hooves tight on that trigger, and don’t let one slip.”

I did exactly as Storm Sky said. I didn’t move, I only watched as the line grew thicker and thicker. At last the line started to break, revealing small formations of pegasi squadrons. I was ready; I would take out every last one of them if I had to. Closer and closer they drew, the tension in the air was so tight you could cut it with your own hoof.

“Are you ready for this,” said Spitfire watching the force draw in.

All I could do was look out of the scope at the approaching swarm of pegasi that were trying to wipe my hometown off of the face of the earth. As far as I was concerned, everything had come down to this moment; the rest of the war didn’t mean shit to me now. “I was born ready to protect my home, and by Celestia, I’m going to do just that.” At last, one of them was in close enough range, and I opened up. The gun sharply as the recoil rolled up on my shoulder as the bullet left the barrel. However just at the second I felt it, a pegasi was seen falling from the sky like it had been stopped dead. There was no time to celebrate this small victory, as I quickly took aim at the next one, then another one, and another. One by one a fairly sized hole in the formation had been made by our squadron due to the sniping.

“Good kill’s everypony,” whispered Storm Sky walking around the cloud. Even though we did have a brief moment to ourselves when the formation was soon being pursued by the Battle Group, something went horribly wrong. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a hole was made in the cloud, and 5 alicorns, all in black, mane, tail, everything, came and stood in the center of the cloud surrounded by us. They were obviously covered in some kind of stealth uniform, as you couldn’t see their eyes, or their mouths. All I cared about at that moment is what their next move would be. I looked intently at them with sheer intensity as one of them looked back at me, silent and still, waiting for somepony to make the first move. I looked over at Spitfire as she gave me a determined nod and then she looked back at the mysterious Alicorns. “Let’s Dance boys,” she said, and then began a charge at them. I followed suit, as well as the rest of us that were inside of the cloud.

The alicorns didn’t miss a beat, and moved in a force rather quickly as they quickly charged at us. One by one, they pinned us down to the inside of the cloud. Eventually I looked around as I was the last one standing. Asteroid Run, Storm Sky, Soarin, and Spitfire were all pinned down by one of the alicorns. I looked over at spitfire as she weakly opened her wing in pain. She then found this to quickly be a mistake, as the alicorn smashed it to the ear splitting shriek of her scream. “Spitfire!” I cried looking back at her, but unfortunately, that would be a huge mistake as the alicorn soon got the upper advantage of me. I was determined to not let him win, as I struggled with all of my strength to get him off of me. We had a hoof fight, and I even tried taking the battle outside of the cloud, but the Alicorn was simply too fast, and much too stealthy. Every move I tried, flying into a cloud, fling as fast as I could, banking hard, nothing worked. The alicorn stuck to me like glue on paper. Eventually the other 4 alicorns followed in pursuit during the ensuing chase while everypony else remained inside of the cloud tending to spitfires broken wing.
At last, I had enough. I began a harsh dive down towards the ground, but as I began the curve downward, one of the alicorns grabbed both of my wings, pulled them upwards, and then stomped his hoof on my back down. The scream I let out was like that coming from the sounds of hell alone as I began my speedy fall down towards the ground. I fell down, faster and faster, and was badly injured from my struggle with the 5 mysterious alicorns. I was sure that this was the end as I slowly began closing my eyes, knowing that there were two things that could happen: I could die on impact or I could be found and taken as a War prisoner or returned to basecamp, at that moment I didn’t care, all that was on my mind was Spitfire. My mind quickly flashed images of flying next to her, her hair flowing freely in the breeze, her eyes staring at me with that same loving expression, and just the way she was. For all I cared, I hoped Spitfire was safe. “I love you,” I said as I began to feel the air between me and the ground finally disappear into a violent crash.

Chapter 6

I was sure that I was dead, without a doubt in my mind. But how am I able to think? How am I able to still think in the back of my mind? Why do I still see nothing but these images of Spitfire dancing around my head? Well, I guess it can’t be all that bad, I guess since I can’t see her anymore since I’m dead. Damn I’ll miss her though, I only wish I could have told her how I really felt about her, and who knows; maybe she would have felt the same way about me. I can even hear her name now, crystal clear; it’s almost as if she’s talking to me. Ace, she kept repeating, Ace, Ace, Ace,

SLAP!

“Please wake up! Come back to us Ace!” roared Spitfire, “We need you!” I then felt tears roll down onto my face from her. “I need you…”

I then opened my eyes, to see that I was in a hospital cot, IV in my left hoof, and I was covered in bandages, but I could still move a little bit, but everything hurt, and something was wrong but I couldn’t quite put my hoof on it. “What, what happened?” I asked dizzily.

Spitfire smiled. “Well, you got knocked out by one of king Inferno’s stealth force alicorns. You broke both of your wings. We found you down on the ground pretty banged up and passed out, but we found a way to carry you back. You’ve have been knocked out since.”

I then began to panic, “but Manehattan, what about Manehattan?!”

Spitfire put her hoof on mine and she calmed me down with her soft touch. “Don’t worry,” she said, “Manehattan is safe. Not a single dark pony got through the advancing forces on them, so now they have been driven back across the sea to Reigns, where King Inferno is currently in power.”

I then finally could relax, knowing that my family and everyone that I held close were safe from the ferocious advance of the dark ponies. Even that thought however, and with Spitfire by my side, I couldn’t shake off this strange feeling that I had. “So how long have I exactly been out?” I asked.

Soarin then cut in, who then offered me a glass of cool water. “You’ve been knocked out for about 5 days, the doctors couldn’t revive you so quickly because you had lost so much blood and you had broken both of your wings, you can’t quite fly yet but they are numbed up so that you can’t use them.”

“Lovely,” I said putting on a pouting face. “So in a nutshell I’m grounded, so I can’t fly with you all when the go ahead for the next mission is given.”

“Not exactly lieutenant,” called Shining Armor walking into the tent. He removed his helmet and placed it on my night stand while I lay in the cot unable to move.

“Commander,” I said raising a hoof in brief salute, but a sharp pain soon caught my leg and I quickly put it down again. “I’m sorry things didn’t go as planned sir, I might have been a little too anxious when I went after the stealth alicorns.”

Shining Armor nodded his head, but then put his hoof on my shoulder. “It’s understandable lieutenant,” he said with an understanding expression. “We had forgotten that reigns was known for the stealth force of alicorns that were in its army, we should have known that they were out there, but with two major battles back to back at neighagra and north of Manehattan, we haven’t had that much time to get in depth into what kind of force Marina and Reigns had in their military.”

I then looked at him with intent. “So now what do we do?” I asked. “We can’t out maneuver them, they’re too fast, and more-a-less their brain runs as fast as they fly. The next time I go up there, I don’t know if I’m coming down in one piece going up against those alicorns.”

“Which is understandable,” said Shining Armor, “but not impossible. We have our next mission now that we have gained the upper hand in this accursed war. The Kings are now on the defending end and not the offense now that they have been driven back into their land. The next operation will be an aerial and ground invasion. We will rely on the element of surprise in order to get into Marina and Reigns, going into Marina first, seeing as it is the closest to Equestria. We are expecting a long and hard fight though, so it will not be an easy task.”

“So what’s the plan?” I asked.

Shining Armor then pulled open a map and showed it to me. “Everypony on Camp Eclipse is already well aware of the operation; we were briefed on it the day when everypony came home from the battle of Manehattan. We’re here as of right now,” he pointed to the spot 5 miles to the south of Ponyville. “When we eventually get into Marina, we will set up basecamp at Aquarious, a small coastal town not far from the central city of Atlantis, where Typhoon is currently in power. We are expecting everything to be thrown at us, artillery, pegasi divisions, armored, even the stealth alicorns from Reigns. King Typhoon isn’t going to want to give up his spot on the throne so easily, so it’s going to get chaotic.”

“In the chaos,” I said looking at the map, “How are we supposed to know who is friend and who is foe?”

“Good question,” said Shining Armor rolling up the map again. “Every squadron is required to have some sort of identification that can be seen on their uniforms so that we know who is friend and who is foe. We have decided to not just incorporate the Equestrian flags on uniforms anymore because we have discovered that some of the ponies from earlier battles have been taken in as prisoners of war, so they have some undercover ponies, but we won’t know who until we reach Marina. So take some time to discuss it with your squadron, and when you have decided, we will send it to a tailor to have the design sewn on your uniforms. Until then however, you have 3 days to invade something, as the invasion is 5 days away. Do you understand?”

“Yes sir,” I said raising a hoof.

“Good,” he said as he began to walk out of the infirmary tent, “Oh, and lieutenant.”

“Yes Sir?”

“Get well soon.” With that, Shining Armor left the infirmary tent, and left me alone to our squadron to see what ideas we had for a symbol of some sort.

What was once a peaceful infirmary had become a mad house of debate and discussion. A lot of ideas were presented for a symbol, but each was lacking something. Asteroid Run came up with a pin style symbol of Wings and a Star, but it didn’t work due to the fact that our squadron wasn’t just pegasi anymore. Star Shine came up with a flag idea where it was a yellow flag with a light yellow stripe down the middle, but it lacked the flare and could easily be confused with another flag. Soarin came up with an idea of a star with a small saying underneath, but of course he wanted to add a picture of one of his pies on both sides, and of course everypony immediately said no to that.

“Come on everypony,” I said out of my cot having a sip of water, “We have some good ideas, but they all lack that basic sense of unity.” I then looked up at the emblems as Spitfire was holding the flag emblem made by Star Shine, with Soarin’s emblem, the pie parts being cut off quickly with scissors. I then pointed at the somewhat interesting image. “Spitfire,” I said pointing my hoof at her, “Keep holding the emblems the way that you’re holding them and bring them to me please.”

Spitfire then walked over to me, doing as I had requested, and I looked closely at the design that I could clearly see. It was perfect, the colors had to be changed, but it was perfect in its own little way. The saying was also perfect as well as it read, “For all Equestria.” I smiled brightly. “This is our new flag,” I said holding up the design to the squadron.
They all looked back confused at me. “That’s our new flag?” they said.

“Sort of,” I replied. “What do you think of the colors Green and White stripe, and pegasi wings behind the star in place of those stupid Soarin pies.”

Soarin took great offense to this as he finished another one of his pies. “I RESENT THAT!” he remarked, but Spitfire was close to silence him but pressing her hoof down on his snout.

“Ignore him,” she said.

“But yea what do you guys think?” I said holding up the image again. Asteroid Run and Star Shine trotted over to look at the new design.

“I think it looks pretty good,” said Star Shine with a smile, “Something for everypony is on it.”

Asteroid Run nodded. “I agree,” He said, “It’s not just praising one race of ponies but instead it’s more-a-less combining them.”

“So then,” I said, “This is our new flag!”

“Hurrah!” they replied. Spitfire merely smiled and nodded her head in agreement. She then looked at me with a sympathetic look in her eyes. I wasn’t quite sure what it meant, but I was glad that everyone was happy.
~~~

I finally had a chance to myself for one night, no nurses, no doctors, no pony but me, and me alone. It was night time as I could look out of the crack in the tent’s opening and look out and see the moon, where Princess Luna is said to still be imprisoned. This was one night where I actually was rather lonesome. I had constantly been surrounded by my squad mates since I first awoke from my coma 2 days earlier. The time for the invasion was drawing closer and closer, this I was well aware of but I couldn’t quite put my hoof on what was bothering me. I just softly closed my eyes, hoping and praying that maybe I could get some sleep.

“Ace?” said a familiar voice I could hear walking into the tent. “Are you awake?”

I opened my eyes to see spitfire not in her uniform for once, which was against the camp rules, but everypony was asleep, besides, the only ponies that are allowed in here are visiting ponies, doctors, nurses, and the occasional visit from the commander. I was happy to have it just be me and Spitfire for once though, I’ve been longing for this moment for a long time.

“Yea,” I said. “I’m awake, don’t worry I’m not going to die on you tonight.”

Spitfire smiled calmly. “That’s good,” she said as she stood next to my hospital cot. “How are you feeling?”

I flexed my wing moving it up and down. “I feel fine,” I said. “The doctor says that at this rate I’ll be ready to fly for the invasion of Marina in two days. He’s taking off the bandages tomorrow morning and then I go through a few flight exercises to get my wings strong again.”

“Well that’s good,” she said with a small smile, but then she looked at me with a deep loving look in her eyes, like a mare looking at her colt that had just been born. “I’m really glad you’re ok, I was really scared that you weren’t going to make it after that hit you took from the Stealth team.”

I smiled again to reassure her. “Don’t worry,” I said, “It will take more than that to kill me.” At that moment, I immediately looked deep into her eyes, and her eyes connected deeply into mine. It was as if I had found a treasure, and I wanted to take it with me wherever I went, and always keep it close to me. I couldn’t escape the sight of her beautiful orange eyes. I had to tell her now; this might be my only chance to really tell her. We both began to slightly blush, but Spitfire was the first to talk.

“Ace,” she said crawling on top of me, breaking a larger blush, “I want to tell you something, but I don’t know if I’m saying it too fast or if I’m rushing into this.”

I began to blush brighter as well, “What is it?” I asked.

Spitfire then began to come closer as our breaths became synchronized. Her lips were soon hovering above mine, as she softly closed her eyes as I wrapped my arms around her. “I love you,” she said.

“I love you too,” I said as our lips finally met as we shared our tender embrace for each other in the darkness of the night that surrounded us.
~~~

The invasion was at last one day away. Camp Eclipse had once turned from a peaceful station located in the Northern Everfree Forest, to a mad house. Squadron supplies were roaring in and out by train, munitions were being checked and prepared, uniforms pressed, squadron symbols made, check lists, maps flying, etc. No more new recruits were coming in by train now, as it was already much too chaotic as it was. It finally got to a point where the Royal Guard commissioned the Equestria Railroad to build a second line to the station due to all of the trains that were coming and going.
I had never been surrounded by so much chaos in my life, not even in Manehattan with all of the busy streets that crisscrossed town. The once peaceful sounds of birds chirping and the wind blowing gently through the trees had been drowned out by the sounds of preparation for the upcoming invasion. It was madness, but it was necessary. At last the night before the battle finally arrived; Everypony was gathered in the mess hall for final preparations before the long battle to take back Marina, beginning with the raid of the small port town of Aquarius on the coast. All of the squadrons were gathered together in their respective companies, among them of course being Charlie Company, with their new flag, exactly as Ace had requested. Cloud Storm once again stood in the center of all of the squadrons. As he looked around, he could see some ponies were praying, some ponies were putting on war paint, others were writing letters back home, some were even sharing memories of their lives before they enlisted in the Royal Guard. It was a time to regain confidence and strength, not just for Cloud Storm, but also for all of us. Of course, when it came to confidence in our squadron, Soarin had just the answer.
He threw a pie in the center of our group, it was freshly baked, and it was placed in a tin that had a small print of our flag at the bottom of it once the pie was gone. “This pie,” he began, “is not just for me.”
“Well that’s a first,” laughed Asteroid Run.
Soarin merely rolled his eyes and ignored him, “Instead,” he continued, “This pie is for everypony in our squad, for all of the times that we got to spend with each other here at Camp Eclipse, before we walk into the fires, or oceans rather, of hell. Everypony knows that this could be the last time we all get to spend time with our friends.”
Soarin then looked up at me and Spitfire with a smile on his face. We were holding each other close, aware that the invasion tomorrow could be the end for either one of us, or both of us. We didn’t want to lose each other ever, but if it ever did come down to the fact that someone had to die to protect the other, then so be it. I would do anything for Spitfire, even if it meant going to the grave and not going back home to see my brother Wolf again. “Even our loved ones,” he said trotting over to us. He then cut a piece of pie out of the tin, and handed it to me. “This first slice of pie,” he said handing it to us “goes to our squadron leaders, and the only couple currently in the squadron, Lieutenant Spitfire, and Lieutenant Ace. Huzzah!”
“Huzzah, Huzzah!” cheered the rest of the squad.
Spitfire and I could only smile with happiness and content. “Thank you,” she said softly taking a bite of the pie. “Thank you everyone for supporting us, and being there for us. We hate to be called your leaders because truth is; we’re all in this together, like me and Ace.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” I said smiling.
“Alright everyone,” called Cloud Storm from the center of the mess hall. He slowly got up from the central table where a map of the sea showing Marina and Equestria was spread out wide along the table. “As you all are aware I’m sure,” he began. “This is going to be one of the largest invasions that we have ever done in the name of Equestria. The crusades did not even come close to this size at we merely approached them first, but this time we are invading a country to restore power to Princess Marina over the oceans. There will be rough seas on our way there though, do not expect it to be an easy voyage.”
Cloud Storm picked up his hat, and placed it back on the top of his messy mane. “I will be joining you in battle, as I am a native of Marina, and Princess Marina is my aunt. I’m sorry I have kept all of this from you, as I should have told you earlier. When we were forced to leave Atlantis, it really hurt her both physically and emotionally. I couldn’t bear to watch her pain, so I became a temporary soldier for the Equestria Royal Guard to retake my homeland. However, despite what happens here, I think we can all take a lesson from Charlie Companies flag,” he said as he looked directly at our flag. “Charlie Company has a star and underneath it reads a small line which reads: For All Equestria. I think we can all take something from what this means. Tomorrow is just the day of our death, tomorrow we go down for our country and nation. Tomorrow we go for every pony in Equestria, today isn’t a day of defeat, but rather it is a day of destiny. Therefore, tomorrow’s operation I am naming D-Day. We divide and conquer, and dispel the evil that has gripped its hand on our beloved home. Rest well tonight cadets, tomorrow is going to be a long day. Dismissed!”
“Yes Sir!”

Chapter 7

D-Day. It was finally here. Due to the distance between Marina and Equestria over the sea, the Royal Guard found it best that we simply stay within the bounds of the navy. The Equestrian Navy was made up of mostly classic sailing frigates, and the occasional destroyer or two, all were powered by sail. We looked like a scene from the discoverers of Equestria back in the olden days, when the pony’s from the legend of Hearths Warming Eve first discovered Equestria. They came over the frozen tundra, through the Crystal Empire into this land of ours. When they found that the journey was simply too dangerous going by land, they tried by sea, which is where these ships are left over from. During their voyages over to the new land of Equestria, they encountered pirates, and it was only necessary that the ships be armed with the proper cannons in order to sink the ships. The ships that they now used were built to the same specs as the ships back then, but they were large enough now to carry the artillery pieces that the unicorns used, as well as cannons, armor, and ammunition, as well as ponies.
Our ship was known as the Reignaria, named after Reigns. She was a frigate, tall, proud and true to her name, tough as nails. She had served during the crusades as well, and has been the ship commissioned by Celestia during her visits to Marina. The ship had a decorated story, and we were about to add more to her story. The captain of the ship was Universae, as he was used to sailing the seas for his purpose, creating and protecting the constellations and studying the stars. My job was to serve as a lookout with Soarin, while Spitfire was in charge of handling the wheel. Asteroid was in charge of gun control, and Star Shine was in charge of making sure nothing was damaged during the voyage. The rest of Charlie Company was in charge of various other duties like manning the sails and arming cannons, as well as helping Captain Universae in case he needed it.
I looked out peering through the cloudy skies, to see if I would get lucky and spot something. Through all of the dark clouds, the only thing that I could see was the flag of the Royal Guard on the mast, and our flag on the secondary mast forward of us. Everything seemed calm, until a sharp wave came to us; a welcome present from King Typhoon himself.
“Man the sails, pull them in, we don’t want to lose them!” called Universae towards the group of ponies manning the sails.
“Aye Captain,” they replied quickly climbing the rigging. I watched them diligently from the crow’s nest as they scoured up the rigging towards the sails to pull them tight.
Universae then turned to Spitfire, “be ready for rogue wind, it’s going to be hard to control the ship once we hit them.”
“Aye Captain,” she called gaining a grip on the wheel.
“Soarin, Ace,” called Universae up towards the crow’s nest over the raging winds, “Do you see anything?”
“Nothing yet captain!” called Soarin looking towards the south east.
I slowly scanned the horizon through the clouds; all I could see was still nothing but the dark storm clouds that King Typhoon had created as a welcoming party for us. At first, there was nothing there, but then I caught sight of something, a light shining through the dark clouds, it rotated around and around like a mysterious signal, but then, more camp into perspective. The light then showed to be inside of a giant lens cap like a giant lantern, and it was placed on top of a tower of spiraling blue stripes. It was then obvious what it was.
“Lighthouse on the starboard bow!” I called ringing the bell from the crow’s nest. “It’s definitely Aquarius Light, no doubt in my mind about it!”
Universae nodded over the sounds of the roaring winds which felt like constant punches in the face. “Excellent,” he roared. “All hands to battle stations,” he called ringing the deck bell. “All hands to battle stations! Signal the other ships to prepare to start the bombardment!” He then took control of the ship in place of Spitfire. “Fine work lieutenant, he said with a brief nod and a smile. “Please get Ace and Soarin to come down and prepare for beach landings, I will take control of the ship from here.”
“Yes sir,” she said as she climbed up the rigging. Universae’s eyes were then focused on the horizon, hoping that the arming of the coast was more of a threat from King Typhoon to get us to turn around. By the sounds of how heavy the armament was, it almost sounded like something out of a war story novel, it was unreal. 10 artillery pieces, 5 machine guns, and 15000 soldiers stationed along the coast, among them 10 stealth alicorns. “If what I’ve heard from Ace is true,” thought Universae to himself, “then I’d hate to see what 10 can do to us.”
Spitfire continued her way up the rigging in the middle of the storm which was summoned by King Typhoon. The harsh weather made the riggings slippery, and a challenge to hold on. Spitfire had to keep her wings exposed and out in order to keep the wind from blowing her off the rigging. I bent over the crow’s nest to see her bravely charging through the storm. “Spitfire!” I shouted down towards her. I could see Spitfires distinctive orang eyes, which simply made my heart melt any time I saw them. “Are you ok?”
Spitfire continued her way up, “I’m fine!” she shouted up towards the rigging as she continued on. At last she made it into the crow’s nest; her mane had at last let go off its beautiful flow, but in the witness of her hair at last dropped down to where it fell over her eyes. It had lost its former beauty that I was used to seeing, but at the same time, she had regained something else, something beautiful. I loved it, and almost completely forgot about the harsh storm that continued to approach us. She smiled brightly, “Universae says that you can come down onto deck, but we have to be at battle stations, we’re expecting a rough dropping of the anchor when we’re close to shore. Get ready for a long fight.”
I nodded, understanding the seriousness of the situation. “I understand,” I said, but then I smiled, “As long as I’m fighting at your side, I’ll fight 3 armies at once if I have too.”
Spitfire then leaned in for a small kiss. “I’ll see you deck Air Buster,” she said sealing her words with a kiss. With that, she began the long climb down the rigging. Soarin looked over at me like I had lost my mind.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” said Soarin finishing another one of his pies.
Immediately, then the sky erupted with the sounds of thunder, and streaks of lightning danced through the sky. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind on how close we were to shore. King Typhoon wouldn’t keep it cloudy and windy just to keep us off of shore, not when we were this close to entering the hell that we had finally sailed into, Soarin and I quickly climbed down the rigging, as the wind had gotten so bad that we simply had to drop a rope down, and simply slide down the rope, as the rigging was too slippery. At last landing on deck, we were greeted by Universae, who was standing on the bow looking forward through the ferocious storm.
“Anything yet commander?” I called over the furious winds.
Universae merely continued his serious gaze through the thick storm clouds. “There’s nothing yet, but there’s no doubt in my mind that we’ll know when we’re close enough to shore to begin the invasion,” he said staring out into the dark where lightning danced through the storming skies. Spitfire stood close by right next to me as we continued to look through the storm clouds. The waves continued to get worse, and some of our crew got sea sick, and tossed it overboard. Spitfire merely looked at me with fear in her eyes; it was obvious that we were all thinking that this was going to be the end of us.
“Do you think we’re going to make it?” she asked.
I nodded my head, “We will,” I said, “If we make it through this rough storm first.”
“Look,” called a stallion that was climbing down from the rigging. He pointed directly into a spot where the storm had finally calmed itself. It was like a giant column of light had suddenly pierced down through the skies, and it was clear, no winds, no peals of lightning, nothing but the calmness of the sea. Universae took sight of this, and immediately smiled.
“That’s the eye of the storm,” said Spitfire remembering her father’s tips on weather. “It’s a spot where there is nothing but absolute calm. It is also the heart of the storm.” She then turned to look at Universae. “Commander,” she said, “If you can summon a large enough magic burst right into the center of the eye, both height wise and width-wise, you may be able to dispel the storm and save the rest of the ships. It has to be just right, or else you could intensify the storm.”
Universae, understanding that the situation was dire, agreed to action. “All hands,” he roared towards the crew, “get us into the center of that thing! Helmsman, keep that wheel tight, don’t let us miss it by even one hoof.”
“Aye sir,” called the stallion turning the wheel towards the eye. I merely then turned to look at Spitfire. I didn’t doubt her, I just wanted to know if she totally believed what had just flew out of her mouth, but when I looked at her, even in the harsh wind and rain which still had the reignaria in such a grip, she expressed a sure guarantee that she knew exactly what she was talking about as she showed a determined look towards the center of the storm. I had never seen her like this, but something told me that I could definitely trust her.
“Ace,” she said, “Don’t worry, I know this will work.”

“Are you sure Spitfire?” I asked. “Nothing like this has ever been attempted, more a less it’s mostly a theory.”

Spitfire nodded and then looked at me. “Don’t worry,” she said as she broke a small smirk. “This will work.”

All I could do was just pray to Celestia that she was right. At last, we finally reached the eye of the storm. It was something that I didn’t expect to see as all around us was a giant pillar of clouds, and up at the top, we were greeted with the morning sun. The oceans had quickly transitioned from a violent rage of waves to calm and still waters. It was incredible, and as I looked around, I saw the other ships that were following close behind, among them being the flagship, the Celestia, commanded by Cloud Storm, and the Solaris, commanded by Shining Armor. Following the three frigates was three more sloops-of wars, ships with only row of guns, but still forces to be reckoned with. At last, the time came when were perfectly aligned with the center of the eye. Universae began to concentrate as he looked up at the sun to perfectly align his shot. He began charging a powerful magic that was so bright, it filled the entire circle where the ships were idling with a luminescent purple hue of blue, until at last, and the shot was fired. I watched it as it began its rise, higher and higher into the pillar, until it covered the sky like a disk, and exploded. The shock wave was felt all over, as the ships rode a large wave that the sound wave had generated. I then watched as the typhoon which had once gripped the sea finally dispelled into the late morning sky, but as well as slowing us down, it was also hiding the true danger. It was obvious that King Typhoon was waiting just for that shot, because as soon as the clouds cleared, we were greeted with something much, much worse. As we looked out over the now calm oceans, we spotted what awaited us on the coast.

The coast was lined with 15 artillery gun stations, all aiming directly at the Celestia and Reignaria. Among the 15 large guns were 10 machine gun posts. We also then listened closely, as a large roar could be heard from the shore, as pegasi began their flights.

“Holy shit…” said Soarin dropping his pie on the deck.

“Well would you look at that,” said Star Shine from the deck.

“We are so dead…” said Asteroid Run as he grabbed hold of the rigging to get a closer look.
Universae merely stood determined, as he then straightened his captain’s hat. “All hands!” roared Universae. “Battlestations; helmsman, get us on the broadside; pegasi, get your wings flapping.”
Immediately, Charlie Company went into action, as we began our long flights from the Reignaria. Other pegasi were quick to follow suit from the other ships. I looked down towards the ships as they began their turn toward broadside, I quickly started praying. “Good luck everyone,” I said as I began the swift flight towards the advancing force, sliding my goggles down. I then looked over at Spitfire. She looked back at me.
“You ready?” she asked.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I said as we shared a brief high hoof and began the flight towards the advancing aerial army.

The sky quickly turned into a madhouse of pegasi being knocked into the water, the sounds of screams of ponies dying by swift impaling with a flight knife, the sounds of gunfire coming from both the shore and the ships, and the machine guns being fired into the air. I watched one by one as pegasi after pegasi, some dark ponies, others from equestrian, began the plunge down into the water among the raging fight. All I could do was swiftly move from one dark pony to another with nothing but a small pistol and a flight knife. Our objective was to get onto the shore first, and silence the guns to take the shore. Afterwards, the armored division would begin advancing out and constructing a temporary harbor for ships to dock so that supplies could be unloaded. Finally, we would set up camp in Aquarius, and free it’s civilians from the hold of King Typhoon while preparing for the flight into Atlantis to take back Marina.

This was easier said than done, as pegasi quickly came at me, ready to fire when I only had seconds to react. One such pony even tried to impale me first, but luckily I grabbed his knife just by its glimmer, and quickly slung it back into his heart right where it belonged, and I began to watch him plummet down towards the oceans below. The scene was gruesome as one by one, pegasi fell into the ocean. I then looked over at spitfire, who was quickly finishing off two more pegasi. “We need to get to the shore; we won’t last much longer if we stay up here. Plus it’s only a matter of time until the dark alicorns get here.”

“I know,” she said knocking another pegasi down into the ocean. “They just keep coming, but if you can send a signal on where the navy needs to shoot, I’m sure they can make it easier to get the guns taken care of!”

Just then, the sound of an explosion ripped through the ocean. It was the Solaris, its magazine had taken one good hit, and she was going down quickly as the smoke began to rise to the sky. “Whose ship was that?” I asked.

“Shining Armor’s,” she said quickly looking down at the burning ship. “There’s no time to go back and get him, besides, you would get shot up. Go take care of the guns, and hurry, we don’t have that much time.”

I wanted to just dive down and go save Shining Armor, but I knew that she was right. All I could do was dive down into one of the gun placements. When I finally reached the ground, I was greeted by a pain in the ass of a sight: a stealth alicorn. He was alone. It was just me, him, and a large artillery gun that he had control over. Remembering my last encounter with one of them, I merely cracked my hooves. “Just me and you friend,” I said standing ready. The alicorn merely cracked his neck, as we began the long stare down, waiting for someone to break open the first move. I stood there paralyzed, as I knew one false jump and I was a goner, but if he slipped up first, I could get the advantage and kill him before he could kill me. In my left hoof I held my flight knife, while my right stayed close to my pistol. The alicorns hooves dangled over, waiting for me to do something stupid. At last, the waiting game was over.

“Move already!” I said making the first move. The alicorn didn’t miss a beat as he swung around quickly to the left and attempted to stab me with a hidden knife from his right hoof. I quickly took the knife away from him, and threw it out into the ocean. The alicorn didn’t give up easily, as he soon presented a second knife hidden on his left hoof. He brushed it by me with speed and agility. It was so fast, that even though I wasn’t hit by it, I was still cut just by how close it was. At last, I had enough as I took him from behind, drew my knife, backed him into the wall, and stabbed him right in the heart. I watched his blood seep from his insides, and I watched his mysterious stealth cloth become lifeless as he fell down to the floor. I wasted no time as I quickly unloaded the gun, armed it with an explosive, and watched it explode from a distance. “One down” I said as I galloped over towards the next 14.
~~~

When the guns were finally silenced, the remaining ten machine guns were smoking, and most of the dark ponies had either been killed, or had retreated towards Atlantis where the rest of the force remained. We took the cloaks from the stealth alicorns, and used the as our own. We designed it as an idea to slip into the capitol once we were ready. The casualties from the battle were rather minimal, as we only lost 3 ships, but the amount of bloodshed was incredible: out of a force of 20,000, 5,000 ponies were dead.

When the survivors from the Solaris were finally pulled in from the Reignaria, Shining Armor was the first to be pulled off of the ship. He was smiling, even though he had blood dripping down the side of his horn. Everypony else, including myself, had only suffered a couple of scars in the invasion. We were the lucky ones. I then trotted over to Shining Armors spot inside of the infirmary, and he laid there awake, talking to Cloud Storm.

“How do you feel commander?” I asked walking into the tent saluting. Cloud Storm saluted back and Shining Armor gave a brief smile. “Well I’m not dead,” he said. “When the Solaris finally blew up,” he said recalling the events during the battle, “I flew into the water, but then I instantly blacked out. According to Spitfire, I was floating on the surface in bad condition. Heh, who would have thought that water, could make a pony bleed. But at last I’m here now.” Shining Armor then looked at me. “I hear you handled the Stealth alicorns rather well. That is good news to hear, and you will receive a commendation for it once this whole thing is over.”

“Thank you sir,” I said.

“Please, now leave me be for a minute, I need to get some rest. Don’t worry about me,” he said as he gently closed his eyes for a light nap, “Oh, and Cloud Storm.”

“What is it,” he said looking down at the wounded leader.

“When you see King Typhoon,” he said, “Make sure he gets a piece of my mind as well.”

“I will,” he said saluting.

Chapter 8

At last, we had a base camp. We were within striking distance of King Typhoon and a real chance to free Marina, and restore the namesake to the throne and calm the seas between Equestria and Marina. The weather on the oceans had roughened to a point where going back for supplies was suicide. The storms that we were being reported had three characteristics: Windy, Waves rolling incredibly high, and lightning everywhere. The Celestia and Reignaria were commissioned to stay on the shore, as they were too valuable to lose to the roughness of the seas until King Typhoon was dethroned. It was risky not giving the other ships protecting in case of raiders from the Marina navy, but due to the rough weather, the opposing navy was simply forced to stay in port. Already, one of their major assets was gone, and in my opinion, it had a huge impact on our victory at sea.

I finally had a day to stretch my legs, and check out the sea side town of Aquarious. The town may be small, but it was not like other towns that I had been too. For example, Ponyville had the classic barnyard look with hay as roofs; Canterlot was mostly towers with golden tops with the castle in the center. Manehattan was all skycrapers, but Aquarius was made up of bubble homes that were round, and looked like bubbles, as they were made of very reflective chrome like material. The spheres were rounded, and some larger buildings looked like bubbles emerging from water. It was beautiful, but one thing that I scowled at was the flags that King Typhoon had forced the ponies in Marina to fly over their homes. We tried to remove them, but they merely reappeared magically. I continued walking around until at last, one of the residents came out to water the flowers in her garden. I trotted over to her.

“Hello,” I said to the mare as she watered her flowers.

She smiled happily and walked up towards the fence. “Hello soldier,” she said in a rather unenthusiastic way.

“Where is everypony?” I asked her.

“They are too afraid to come out of their homes,” she said looking down at the flowers with regret. “King Typhoon threatened that if this town fell because we helped you, that as soon as he slaughtered you in Atlantis, that we were next.”

I was shocked, “So why are you outside?”

The mare smiled and then handed me a small blue rose. “I have confidence that you will free our country, and for that I am grateful,” she said as she bent over the fence and kissed me on the cheek. “Good luck soldier.”

I lightly blushed, “Thank you,” I said. “Don’t worry, we will free your country, and you will not have to be afraid of King Typhoon anymore. Spread the news to your neighbors and the whole town that they can come out of their homes. They are safe now.”

“Thank you,” she said with a smile. “Might I ask what your name is?”

“Lieutenant Ace,” I said, “from the 115th Battle Group of the Equestrian Royal Guard.”

“Well Ace,” she said, “I wish you the best of luck on your vacation, but as dangerous as your fight is protecting us, please do not forget the things you hold dear. Please keep them safe.”

I smiled lightly, but then I remembered what Cloud Storm had said. The words “According to Spitfire” haunted my head as when I gave it serious thought, it was obvious on what she did. “Please excuse me,” I said looking at the mare. “It was nice talking to you.”
~~~

Arriving back at camp, I looked around for Spitfire. I was trying to keep my cool, but not give my sheer frustration away. I passed by groups of ponies that were either unloading supplies from the ships, or were finally taking a break from the rapid fire action of the war. I couldn’t believe that Spitfire would do such a dangerous thing; I mean, I understand he is one of the commanders of the 115th but I told her not to do anything rash, and to just stay put in her place, especially when we didn’t know where the stealth alicorns were. She and I were going to have a very long talk once I found her.

At last I spotted Soarin, Spitfire and Asteroid Run enjoying some time alone in the tent that they had set up. The cots had not been placed in their respective spots yet, and all of our gear had not been placed, but it was a temporary base for Charlie Company tent 9. I looked around, and noticed that Star Shine was missing. I trotted in, and took a spot on a cot that had been set up. “Where’s Star Shine?” I asked.

“Star Shine didn’t make it,” said Soarin charming in. “She was on the Solaris right at the heart of the explosion when it blew. We went back to check, but it was clear that she was nowhere to be seen. Her body washed up on the shore; but let’s just say that you didn’t want to think of her last moments before the explosion just by looking her body. Luckily for the commander that Spitfire was there huh? Celestia only knows what would have happened if Shining Armor was left alone.”

Spitfire smiled.

I lightly smiled, but it was obvious that I wasn’t happy. “Yea, lucky.”

Spitfire noticed the distraught tone in my voice, and trotted over to me. “Hey guys,” she said trying to sound relax, “can you leave us alone for a while? We need some time alone.”

“Sure thing Spitfire,” said Soarin as he began a trot out towards town with Asteroid Run following suit. Spitfire then got up and closed the flap to the tent. She then turned around and looked at me, her seriousness had returned, and she looked angrily at me. “Ok, what’s wrong?”

I got up out of the temporary cot, and trotted in front of her. “What’s wrong?” I said with my anger growing in my voice. “What’s wrong is the fact that you almost got yourself killed.”

“I was saving the commander,” she said looking at me.

“You were giving yourself a death wish, what were you thinking?”

“I was thinking of someone other than myself Ace.”

“So you were going to die for Shining Armor.”

“Yes, yes I was.”

“Why.”

“Because he’s a great leader, and no one deserves to die like that.”

I then finally calmed down getting a full spectrum of what was going on here. I then let go of my anger. Spitfire was still a little distraught. “Why does this bother you so much?” she asked.

“Because I didn’t want to lose you,” I said looking at her with deep expression in her eyes.

“Ace,” she said with a teasing look in her eyes, “I’m not a little filly anymore, I’m a grown mare.”

“A beautiful grown mare at that,” I smiled and walked up closer to her.

Spitfire smiled and wrapped her arms around me, “You’re a crazy fly boy, that’s for sure,” she smiled as she gently kissed me pushing me towards the floor. I then gently lay down on the floor with her gently on top of me as she began taking off one piece of her uniform at a time. I could only smile.

“I may be crazy,” I smiled softly, “but that’s why you love me.”

Spitfire smiled as she began to close her eyes, “One of many reasons,” she said. “Let’s just say, I love you very much, for everything about you, and that you are.” She then leaned in for slow passionate kiss, as we continued on with this sin that we are guilty of, the sin of love, but as they say, all is fair in love and war.
~~~

“Alright everypony,” said Cloud Storm unrolling a map, “We’re not on our home turf anymore, we are now at the mercy of our host King Typhoon.” He then opened up the map a tiny bit wider, and then began placing pegs to show where Aquarious was and where Atlantis was, while projecting the image he was seeing over the table so that everypony else could see it. “It is obviously way too risky to walk into Atlantis and ring the doorbell. King Typhoon will have Atlantis armed to the teeth, not to mention he will use civilians as shields. Atlantis, next to Canterlot, is one of the most populated cities in the world, as well as one of the best guarded. So here is the plan; thanks to the efforts of one of the lieutenants from Charlie Company, we have the uniforms of 15 stealth alicorns. Thanks to him, and also some intelligence from former stealth alicorns, we are able to commission 10 alicorns to go undercover and land in Atlantis’ central castle, Neptune, from there, they will stealth kill the guards, and then go for the grand prize: King Typhoon. Our goal is not to kill him, but rather to capture him, and take the crown. Once we have the crown, we will reverse the spells of the dark gems that possess the Aquarian army, and hopefully restore power to Princess Marina if all is successful. This operation will begin at dawn, two days from now. Good luck everypony, dismissed.”

“Yes Sir!”

Author's Note

This chapter will be the shortest, hope you enjoy.

Chapter 9

Two days passed quickly in our temporary camp. We didn’t expect the weather to cooperate so well, more-a-less how much time it would take for us to become undercover stealth alicorns. 5 of us would be sent on this mission, some of them not even being fully alicorn: Me, Spitfire, Cloud Storm, Universae, and Asteroid Run. Since the 3 of us lone pegasi didn’t have horns, we had to do something which we thought was rather naïve. We had to mold clay around Universae’s horn (a brief lesson for him in humility might I add) and then make the first mold of the next clay, and then it would be temporary our horn created by magic, but it was only temporary. We were then taught some temporary spells which were taught to us by Cloud Storm, the former trainee for the stealth alicorns before he and his aunt, Princess Marina, were exiled from Atlantis. At last, the day came. We were going to overthrow King Typhoon and restore power to Princess Marina to calm the seas between here and Equestria, and finish one half of the threat to Equestria and get one step closer to ending this war.

The flight to Atlantis was a rather solemn one; it was quiet and peaceful as we flew over island after island, until at last we caught sight of a large energy shield around a city. The city was made up of towers made of water, literally, water. It was spectacular as you could clearly see the water flowing through the buildings and then being released in a waterfall back down towards the ocean. The castle was the most incredible of them all, as it was counted to have 45 waterfalls, 5 large ones at the base, and the other 40 being smaller streams from certain areas of the castle, including 5 small ones at the peak of the central tower.

The uniforms that we stole from the alicorns had proven successful as we were allowed to pass through the shields of Atlantis with next to no suspicion (possibly because it was night time and everypony was fast asleep) of something going astray; Little did the citizens of Atlantis know that there was a standing army in the nearby islands. As a backup plan, the Celestia and the Reignaria were sent to a nearby gulf, hidden by a large dormant volcano. They would begin firing long broadside towards the city if the plan failed.

At last our hooves touched down on the first floor of the castle. We removed our hoods and immediately pulled out castle blueprints and plotted which way to go. “So,” he began pointing at the castle map, “we are here right now.” He pointed to the base of the castle where the platform was, he then drew his hoof up towards the top of the castle, in a large room, no sign of the throne. “Here is where King Typhoon is, which is also where we find the crown of Neptune, which is said to control the seas of the world. As judging by the typhoon we encountered when we came into Marina,” he said rolling up the map, “That power has been abused.”

“So what do we do?” asked Spitfire still looking around the large display of water.

“Well,” he said, “We all meet up at the doors to the throne room, but we take 3 different staircases. Spitfire, you and I will go up the main staircase which is similar to the stairs back at Canterlot, up a main, then two sides split, then another main, and so forth.” Cloud Storm then turned and looked at Asteroid Run. “Asteroid,” he said pointing at a smaller spiral staircase towards the grand hall in front of the throne room, “You will go up this staircase. You’re a fairly athletic stallion, so I think this should be a piece of cake for you.”

“Understood,” he said with a nod.

“And you Ace,” he said looking at me, “You will have the job of going up the guards stairwell which is right behind that corner to the left.” He then pointed to a large door which had two guards standing and watching for any pony that was of high military rank. “Stealth alicorns are normally the most respected leaders, so you should have no problem on here; however, if you run into a stealth alicorn, kill him quickly and silently. Use the hidden knife if you have to, but make sure that no pony sees the body, understood?”

“I understand sir,” I said with a nod.

“Good,” he said. “Good luck everypony.”

With that, we all pulled our hoods back over our faces and headed towards our respected stairwells. As Cloud Storm had said, I didn’t have any problem getting into the stairwell as the guards quickly opened the doors to let me pass. I didn’t nod, nor say anything, I simply trotted by. I waited for the doors to close before I began a fast gallop up to the top of the stair well. I had the sight of the mare and what she said on my mind as I began to see the top.

“You will be free.”

I had a promise to keep to the citizens of Aquarius, and it only filled me with more determination to find King Typhoon and end his reign over the seas. On my way up though, something was definitely not right. There were no other guards, just the ones at the door. “Wasn’t this supposed to be the guard’s staircase?” I thought to myself as I continued my way up. “If this is the guard’s staircase, then where are all of the guards? Something is not right here, but I hope I’m wrong about my suspicions or else we are all in serious danger.”

At last reaching the top of the staircase, I found myself surrounded by the sights of waterfalls in the great hall before the throne room. The hall was decorated with waterfalls, windows, and water flowing through its walls. “It is beautiful,” I said as I looked around the hall. “Even Canterlot isn’t this amazing, no wonder King Typhoon wanted to live in a castle like this.”

“Indeed,” called Cloud Storm trotting towards me from the main staircase. Spitfire followed close behind and smiled at the sight of me. I couldn’t but to smile back. Asteroid Run eventually finally met us as well at the entrance to the great hall. “Alright everypony,” he said as he looked forward at the doors at the end of the hallway. “This is it, we do this quickly, and then we get out before anypony notices what’s going on here.”

“Understood sir,” we said as we began the long trot down the hall. Spitfire looked at me with the expression of a smile. Even though we had masks on over our faces, it was still obvious that she was smiling.

“It would be amazing to be married in here,” she said looking around the halls as we trotted, “To be surrounded by all of this water, so much life in this room, it’s so romantic just to think about it.”

“Romantic,” chuckled Asteroid Run, “That’s a word I never expected to hear come out of your mouth.”

“Yea well just remember Asteroid Run, I am your squad leader, so I’d watch your tone towards me, got it?” she said with a growl in her tone.

Asteroid Run then straightened up quickly. “Yes ma’am,” he said as he continued the walk down the hall. At last, we arrived at the giant doors. The doors had large waterfalls running through them, as underneath them they would continue on to be one of the waterfalls found pouring from the throne room from the outside. You could tell when the throne doors were open by the waterfall number coming from the throne room: 4 meant the doors were closed, 5 meant that the doors were open. I was sure that back inside of the gulf, everypony on the ships was watching this very closely. “Alright everypony,” said Cloud Storm with his hooves on both of the doors, “On your toes, we don’t know what to expect.”

I could only stand ready for a fight, as I knew that if King Typhoon was behind these doors, it was going to be a long brawl with however many guards were in there. The doors then swung open to a room which was surrounded by a dome of water which was flowing a rate where you could see the stars and here the surrounding waterfalls from the outside. It was a spectacle to behold, and in the center of the room stood the throne. The throne itself was in the shape of spouts of water emerging from the very heart of the castle, but there was a problem: where was Neptune’s crown, and where was King Typhoon?

“Where are you Typhoon?” called Cloud Storm throwing off the stealth alicorn uniform. “I know you’re here.”

Immediately, the doors behind us slammed shut.

“Something tells me we are not alone,” said Asteroid Run looking around at the water, but as if things couldn’t get any worse, they did.

“So,” said a dark voice that boomed around the room, “You have returned to your beloved home Cloud Storm. I congratulate you on your bravery.”

“I would like to have my home back actually, and my aunt kind of wants her crown back as well,” he said looking around the room.

“Yes, yes of course,” said the voice in a more mocking tone. “But then again, I do like this crown, and I enjoy my dominance over the seas. I have created so much beauty out in the oceans until you Equestrians had to ruin my perfect storm.”

“You almost got us all killed,” roared Spitfire getting closer to me. I then put my hoof around her, even though she was trying to be brave, I could still feel that she was simply petrified with fear.

“HA!” mocked the voice. “How cute, you have to have your precious love protect you from me? How sweet, it is a pleasure that you two will be able to perish together.”

This made me angry, “Enough games,” I said looking up towards the center of the dome. “Show yourself.”

“Oh very well,” said the voice. Immediately the water which surrounded the glass dome ceased to flow as it then became nothing more than a glass dome looking around at the city of Atlantis. Then, the water came crashing down upon the throne, and it began to form the shape of a stallion. As it took more form, the stallion showed to be quite strong and muscular. He was a navy color, and had silver hoofs. His eyes were a deep crimson, and he had fangs revealed from his snout. His hair was pitch black and freely flowed. Upon his head sat the crown, and in his left hoof he held Neptune’s trident, the very tool which is said to control the oceans of the earth. He merely smiled at us evilly as we stood in fear, and anger.

“King Typhoon,” said Cloud Storm stepping towards the throne, “You’re reign over my homeland, and the seas have ended. Surrender now and you will be spared death.”

King Typhoon merely laughed in his anguish. “You really think that I am going to give up my throne? My high place among the seas?” He then looked down and began shaking his head. “You poor Equestrians, you simply do not understand what it takes to run a vast and beautiful empire such as this. More a less, you’re country itself is pathetic. You worship the sun, and Celestia does not protect her subjects, which is why you should have been eliminated.”

“Our country is stronger than you and King Inferno’s powers combined,” said Asteroid Run angrily shaking his hoof at King Typhoon.

“Enough,” he said pointing the trident at Asteroid Run. Immediately water shot out of the trident and propelled Asteroid Run through the dome at such a velocity, that he broke through, and began a long plummet down. Spitfire and I could only watch in horror.
“Asteroid!” I called galloping towards the edge. Immediately I saw that he had used the momentum to his advantage as he began his flight back up.
“Don’t worry I’m fine,” he called as he began his flight up. “Get that crown!”
I then looked at King Typhoon and began charging at him. He merely glared.
“You foolish stallion,” he called as he shot magic from the trident. I merely opened my wings and dodged one shot of magic after another. “You really think merely dodging me will do you any good?”
“Watch out Ace!” called Spitfire as she quickly made a move towards King Typhoon. Typhoon was swift to notice this, as he turned the trident toward spitfire, and shot her up to the roof of the dome. It had simply so much force that she rammed the top, leaving a crack, and then plummeted down, landing with a giant crack. I heard a small moan of pain as she began to get up, but King Typhoon then immediately pinned her down.
“Spitfire!” I called as I galloped towards her, but King Typhoon was merely too fast, as he summoned magic so strong, that it immediately pinned me down to the floor and quickly began to drown me. King Typhoon merely smiled in his moment of victory as he turned the trident towards Spitfire. Cloud Storm was imprisoned within the throne with water wrapping around his hoofs so he couldn’t move; and Universae was nowhere to be found.
“You are such a beautiful mare,” he said brushing her mane with the trident. “It is a shame that you must die now.” He then lifted the trident up to impale her wide open. I was sure that this was the end.
“NO!” I screamed begging mercy, but then when all hope seemed lost-
“Hey, Storm boy,” called Universae diving in from above the dome, “You forgot something!” He then charged through the glass, and pinned down Typhoon as Neptune’s crown immediately rolled from his head, and the trident flew in the direction of Cloud Storm. Universae then held Typhoon up by the back, and strangled him so he couldn’t move. Cloud Storm was swift to respond to this as he grabbed the trident breaking the water shackles around his hooves. “Do it now!” he said.
Immediately summoning all of his magic and combining it with the magic of Neptune’s trident, he fired a strong ball of energy towards King Typhoon. The blast in itself was so strong that the glass dome was quickly destroyed, and the top of the castle from the flag pole crumbled down towards the water canals surrounding the castle. “NOOOO!” roared Typhoon as the energy ball quickly vaporized him leaving a small gem in the center where he once stood. The gem was in similar style to the way that the gem which possessed the soldiers was. Cloud Storm walked up to it, and picked it up. “This is for everyone that you imprisoned, this is for my aunt Marina, but most importantly, this is for me.” He then threw the gem down onto the floor of the castle, and stomped on it with his hoof. Immediately a dark radiating pulse flew out from the gem, and then a bright light radiated from it, and the light captured the trident, and made it vanish. The light also restored the top of the castle as if nothing had happened, and the shield surrounding Atlantis immediately fell, as the stars of the night twinkled above. The threat from Marina was finally over. Cloud Storm then immediately picked up the crown, and placed it on the throne.

“Spitfire!” I called galloping over to her side and holding her.
She opened her eyes and smiled. “Don’t worry,” she said smiling, “I’m ok, and it’ll take more than this to kill me.”

I smiled lightly, trying to hide a tear that was beginning to roll down my cheek. Universae and Asteroid Run then trotted over to us as well. “Is that a tear I see there Lieutenant,” teased Universae.

I only smiled, “Oh shut up,” I laughed. “The whole place is surrounded by water so I might as well shed some too.”

Just then a bright light quickly filled the throne room. It shone with radiance and a bluish aurora. From it emerged Princess Marina, a white alicorn with a mane completely made of water and flowing freely through the air. She had a smile on her face as Cloud Storm walked over to her. “Aunt Marina,” he said smiling.

Princess Marina then smiled back at him and hugged him. “Hello Cloud Storm,” she said with a smile. She then looked over at us. We immediately bowed down.

“Princess Marina,” I said.

Marina smiled. “Thank you for restoring my country,” she said as she placed the crown back atop her head. She then used her magic to reverse the flags from the image that King Typhoon had created, back to the original flag, a blue flag with an image of two waves approaching a seagull. “My military has also returned back to normal as well, so you will have them to work with you as well,” she said.

Cloud Storm smiled. “Thank you Aunt Marina.”

“No,” she said, “Thank you Cloud Storm.” She then turned to look at us. “Thank you Equestrian Royal Guards, I am forever grateful.”

Chapter 10

The Celestia and the Reignaria were finally allowed to set sail back to Equestria now that the seas had returned to their normal behavior. Instead of risking the fate of our ships, we decided to allow the Marina navy to escort us around to reigns. The area around camp quickly turned into a madhouse as now that the Marina army was no longer under the control of King Typhoon, they were now aware of what was happening around the world. Ponies were being questioned, wondering if they had any memories of orders directed from King Inferno, each time being a swift answer of no.

Soarin, Spitfire, Asteroid Run, Universae and I decided to do something rather out of the ordinary, since we were going to take a day off from duty in celebration of freeing Marina. Now that King Inferno had a draw back since King Typhoon was no longer in power, more a less alive, he had lost about half of his force. Even though he still maintained control of the stealth alicorns, a lot of things now had to be changed for him, so everyone was taking a break from the fighting. So where were we?

“Cannonball!” shouted Soarin as he jumped flank first into the sea. He then violently came bobbing up to the surface gasping for air. “Oh crud, I forgot I can’t swim! Help!”

Asteroid Run and I looked at each other, and we were pretty much shaking our heads. “Didn’t he learn from the last experience back in the Everfree River?” I asked looking down at the bobbing Soarin.

“No,” said Asteroid Run. “Don’t worry I got him this time.” He then dove straight into the frigid cold waters, and went out to get Soarin. I took this as an opportunity to spend some time with Spitfire and Universae he were sitting on the beach enjoying a small lunch in the mid-day sun.

“Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches?” I asked picking up a sandwich.

Universae nodded. “That’s right,” he said taking another bite into his sandwich. “Did you want hay fries as well? Oh wait we’re in war not a fancy restaurant.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re lucky that you’re one of the commanders,” I said staring him down.

Spitfire then gave me a gentle nudge. “Oh calm down,” she said. “Enjoy some time off of the Battlefield. Don’t you like spending time with me?”

I looked at her and put my arm around her, “Of course I do,” I said. “It’s just this war of ours has only been going on for roughly a month, and it has all happened so fast, it’s almost not even a war.”

Spitfire then gently kissed me to get me to stop talking. “Oh Ace,” she said with a small giggle, “You think too much.”

We had almost completely forgotten that Universae was sitting nearby watching the whole love scene play out. When we realized this, it was a little embarrassing. “How long have you two been together?” he asked.

“Not that long, about 3 weeks,” Spitfire smiled. “Do you have a special some pony Universae?”

Universae took a bite of his sandwich and shook his head in denial. “Not yet,” he said. “I’ve had my eyes on a unicorn who is an artist. She lives in Ponyville but I think she already has one. I don’t know.”

“Why haven’t you asked her?” asked Spitfire looking at Universae with a confused look.
“I live in Canterlot,” he answered, “Besides that I am a prince. I just don’t think that it would work out, but who knows. Someday we’ll see, first we have to finish this war so that we can protect our home.”

Spitfire and I couldn’t agree any further.
~~~

“Alright everypony,” called Cloud Storm unraveling a map in the center of the mess hall, “Astounding work on freeing Marina from the grip of a tyrant. You should all be proud, also get some time to meet some ponies from the Marina army, as they will be fighting alongside us for the rest of the war. Now then, down to business.” He then projected an image of the map using magic once again, this time, a mountain range stood in between Marina and Reigns. The Neighsa Mountain Range was one of the harshest mountain ranges in the world, and there was no real easy way through the mountains, which made the job much more difficult. “Unfortunately, to get into Reigns, we have to cross the Neighsas. As you all are probably aware, the Neighsas are the most dangerous mountain range in the world. We can’t go over it, we can’t go around it, and we have to go through it. Marina and Reigns currently had a railroad which traveled through this range with tunnels; however the tunnels were blasted by King Inferno’s scouts when they heard of the overthrow of King Typhoon. So as of right now, we’re sitting here until the tunnels can be cleared. It will take about a week to get the tunnels blasted and new tracks laid, but once that is taken care of, we will begin our advance onto Reigns and Gaia Castle. According to what we know as of right now, between Gaia castle and where we will be positioned is a large stretch of land. It is expected to be the largest battle of the war. As of right now, sit back, relax, and be ready to move in case we get the go ahead. You are dismissed.”

“Yes Sir!”
~~~

Spitfire and I finally had some time alone. In the middle of the week, we finally had a day where it was just us. Everyone in Charlie 9 had gone out to take care of some last minute problems in Atlantis, so that left me and Spitfire a day, and a night, alone to ourselves. We lay under the stars that night and enjoyed the silence as we lay next to each other. We didn’t say much, the silence said it all for most of the night. Spitfire at last looked over at me, and I looked over at her. She had a look of worry in her eyes, but I didn’t know why.

“Ace?” she asked.

“What is it Spitfire?” I asked.

“When this war is over,” she said looking down at the grass, “What will happen to us?”

“I don’t understand.”

“I mean, what will happen to us being together, when we go back to our regular lives. The way that we have been playing a lot of major roles, it’s obvious that we are destined for some promotions, big time promotions. We won’t be able to see each other as often.” A tear began to well up in her eyes. “I don’t want to lose you…”

I had never really thought about it like that. Spitfire actually was right, what we were going to do once we went back to Equestria was very uncertain. We were destined for promotions; that was the obvious, but would we still hold on to this relationship of ours if we couldn’t be with each other all the time? Could we possibly become something more in this crazy reality of ours? I then turned and looked at her with a promising expression in my eyes.

“You won’t lose me,” I said with a smile. “It’s just once we get back to our regular everyday lives, we have to see how things are going okay?”

Spitfire then finally rolled over and relaxed looking at the stars. A smile crossed her snout as she closed her eyes and mover hoof close to mine and grabbed it. “Okay Ace,” she said. She then rolled over and put her hoof on my cheek. She then looked at me with a loving expression in her eyes. “I love you Ace, never forget that.”

I could only smile looking at the mare that I loved dearly. “I love you too,” I said as we shared a brief kiss under the stars.
~~~

The rest of the week flew by rather quickly as word eventually came in concerning clearing the railway towards Reigns. There was simply no other choice but to wait for the builders to finish clearing and repairing the damage done by King Inferno’s forces. At last, word came from the front lines that the railway line was clear through the mountain, and now all that had to be done was the final mission briefing. Cloud Storm once again stood in the center of the mess hall, and showed the map once again using magic.

“Alright everypony,” he said pointing out markers on the map, “This is it. This is the final mission to finally end this war once and for all. This operation is not going to be stealth, and we’re not ringing the doorbell or sneaking in, we’re kicking the door down. While we are ripping through the defenses of Gaia castle, another pegasi division will fly into the castle, find King Inferno, and kill him, and finally end this war for good. Remember everypony, this isn’t just for us; this is for everypony that we lost during this war. This is for all of us, this is for Equestria, this is for Celestia, and this is for the whole world. We leave tomorrow at dawn. It has been a pleasure serving with you, and being your commander. Good luck everypony. You’re dismissed.”

“Yes Sir!”

Chapter 11

The train ride through the mountains was a long one with many unanswered questions: What was on the other side of the range; would this be the last time that we would see our fellow soldiers; would this be the last time we would do something in the name of Equestria. There were many unanswered questions that simply were roaring through everyponies mind somewhere. Spitfire and I sat next to each other on the train as we waited until we reached our destination. Spitfire and I were both scared for the future, as we had no idea what was going to happen once this was all over. Soarin and Asteroid Run sat in the seats across the aisle from us, as they were sharing some light hearted memories almost as if they knew they were going to die.

“So then he walks up to me and says ‘can you spare a bit?’ and I say to him I can spare a bit of time!” laughed Soarin.

“Ah that’s a good one,” said Asteroid Run wiping his eyes from laughing so hard. “Whew, some ponies can be so gullible.”

“I’ll say,” I called from across the row, “You both talk like you’re both going to die. If you feel like you’re going to die all you have to do is just stand there and smile waving your hooves. I’m sure the stealth alicorns will grant your wish.”

“Ha!” laughed Asteroid Run. “We’re not going to die; we’re just recalling memories is all, in case something was to happen to us.”

I smiled and looked over at Spitfire who was looking out the window at the falling snow. “Hey,” I said. “You ok?”

“Yea, I’m fine,” she said turning around and giving me a soft smile.

“Whatever you say,” I said as I began to open my war journal and write. When we got closer to Gaia, the weather began to violently take a change. It was the middle of summer, and it was snowing outside. It was obvious once again that King Inferno knew we were close. “Well,” I said looking at Spitfire and giving her a light nudge, “This is it, we’re the ones going in again; you, me, Soarin, Asteroid Run, we’re going in there to stop King Inferno and end this war once the train stops.”

“I know,” she said with a nod. She then turned around and looked at me. “Hey,” she said, “In case we don’t make it, I just want you to know that you’re the best stallion I’ve ever met.” She then leaned in and kissed me tenderly. Soarin and Asteroid Run began laughing from across the row.

“Oh, not afraid of dying are we?” laughed Soarin.

“Oh shut up.”
~~~

The Marina army had already taken an earlier train, and had taken the artillery equipment with them to the front lines where the battle was taking place. All that had to be done was final plans re-organized, and the official green light to begin the attack on Gaia castle. According to scouting reports from earlier, they were expecting anything, and everything. The army numbered 25,000+, among them 100 stealth alicorns. It was a number that we had never expected see in terms of strength. King Inferno was pulling out all of the stops. We were outnumbered, but we were not ready to stand down, not today.

At last, the train stopped at the front lines. The sight stepping off of the train were battle groups in perfect formation, standing ready and determined. We were going to shut down King Inferno’s tyranny, and pay him back for the dead that we lost in his evil, and also pay him back for the innocent ponies that have been put under his spell because of the dark gems.

I was standing alone in my corner of the room that had set up for us. It was designed as a small chapel of sorts, instead of a map room where we could pick up blueprints of where to go inside of Gaia castle. Spitfire, Soarin, Asteroid Run, and I finally gathered together in a small huddle around each other, hoof in hoof, as I lead us in a small prayer in a way to gather keep our moral high.

“We ask you to be with us in any way you can, give us the speed, power, and vision to continue through the mission despite whatever circumstances we come across. But most of all, we pray that we can all come back home to Equestria in one piece so that we can tell the story of this short war, and just how bloody one month can be. All of this we pray, Amen.”

“Amen to that,” said Soarin as he began eating another pie.

“Really,” said Spitfire rolling her eyes, “Of all times to be eating a pie, you choose to start eating one now?”

“What?” said Soarin. “I’m hungry, and plus it could be my last pie.”

“Ugh, well one thing is for sure,” said Spitfire walking over to Soarin. “It was fun being your classmate, and I’m grateful to have had you as a friend, and even for your stupid pies that you bake.”

Soarin smiled. “Thanks Spitfire,” he said. “I’m grateful for that, I really am.”

“Do you have a moment Charlie 9?” said a familiar voice walking into the tent. I turned around, and was shocked at the sight that I was seeing. It was Shining Armor, in a cast but nonetheless, still walking around.

“Commander Shining Armor,” I said turning and saluting him. “Might I ask what brings you up to the battlefield? I thought you were being sent back to Equestria so that you could heal.”

Shining Armor smiled. “I was,” he said, “but I changed my mind. I couldn’t stay behind the wall of protection while the Royal Guard stayed out on the front lines without me. So I got my strength up and lo and behold, here I am.”

“It is good to see you sir,” I said smiling. I could then see that he had a serious look in his eyes.

“Look Ace,” he said, “I know you and Spitfire have been doing really good work for us, but Celestia would like Spitfire to lead the Wonderbolts upon her immediate return from here. You are also being promoted to the rank of Captain all in respected due time once this war is over. I’m just here to tell you two that so that way you’re not surprised by it when you return to Equestria.”

I was a little shocked, but I smiled. It meant that Spitfire and I both had good lives after this war, and that we had something to look forward to back home. “Thank you sir,” I said.

“You’re welcome,” he said smiling. “Now get out there, and tell King Inferno that Celestia says hello too, will ya?”

“Can do sir,” I said with a smirk and a wink.

“Alright everypony,” said Universae walking into the tent. “It’s time.”

Pretty soon, we had all grabbed out uniforms, and whatever necessary gear we needed. The only thing was no guns, we didn’t want to turn the hall into a blood stained capitol. We also decided to do something special. We tied our squadron flag onto our tails as a way of good luck and to keep our spirits up. We walked out of the tent to finally see just what we were up against. Off in the distance stood rows and rows of Inferno’s army, lined up and ready, while behind them stood Gaia Castle.

Gaia castle was a giant tower that was made up of mostly stone. From the looks of it, the castle looked like a mountain with certain areas cut out for ponies to enter and pass through. At the top stood something that looked like a clock, but in reality, it was a season clock. King Inferno tried to take control the seasons, but Terra’s magic was simply too strong to break, and therefore the seasons still run, but until Terra is back in power, her magic continues to weaken, which is why it snowed in the mountains.

Our wings were stretched, and we had our eyes faced on the balcony, and we were waiting for the go ahead to take off. At last, a bugle sounded as the unicorn artillery began their bombardment of Inferno’s large force that had gathered. The opposing guns immediately opened up as well, as chaos began to consume the battlefield. We watched as one by one, the battle groups began charging at inferno’s army, which wore nothing but a dark orange for their armor. Among all of the chaos were the stealth alicorns, about 95 were in the skies as they began firing magic bursts and diving down into our forces. It wasn’t pretty to see the damage that they were doing, but at last, we got an opening.

“Wings up everypony,” called Universae as he began the flight towards Gaia castle. We followed quickly in haste, sure not to waste any time. The flight over the battlefield was almost too easy as we flew over the ensuing chaos below. It was horrendous, as one pony after another continued to fall to the merciless attack of the stealth alicorns. I didn’t want to look down into the ensuing hell that was going on below us, but needless to say, it was something awful.

“Can you believe that,” said Soarin looking down into the hell that was being portrayed on the battlefield. “If you killed 15 ponies that have that kind of ability, then you’re a damn god.”

I smiled and just remained on the mission at hand. The balcony greeted us warmly as our hooves finally touched down. It was also convenient enough that we were literally at the same level the throne room was, so we could practically just walk in and do what we had to do. Universae looked back at us and giving us the nod, we began charging towards the throne room. We flung the doors wide open, and there, standing on the throne was another strong stallion, his mane and tail in a style similar to spitfires, and his skin made of a tan. His eyes were crimson, and he looked at us with a smirk, his hooves close together, and chuckling with the crown of Gaia on his head.

“Welcome Equestrians,” he said rising up from his throne. “So now you’ve made it, you think you’re going to walk in here, kill me, restore the crown, destroy the spell, and save the world and then go home right?”

“Something like that,” said Soarin.

“In the name of Princess Terra,” said Universae stepping forward, “You are to surrender the crown of Gaia, and maybe you will be spared death until another day.

King Inferno merely laughed. “I do suppose that is an option, but you do not understand.” Immediately, 15 stealth alicorns fell down into the throne room, and surrounded us. It was an uneven fight, but it was the same number of stealth alicorns that I had managed to take out alone. I was not worried. “So I say to you,” he said, “Beat the stealth alicorns, and then you can face me. Begin.” He then clopped his hooves together, and the 15 stealth alicorns immediately dashed towards us.

I was quick to watch their movements. “Grab their knifes when you see them,” I said as I reached down into the first one, grabbed the knife, slung it back into his chest, and then took out two more with the other two hidden knifes. The other ponies immediately followed suit and eventually, 15 corpses lay on the ground. We were worn out by dealing with the stealth alicorns, and it was obvious by how hard we were panting.

“Impressive,” said King Inferno, “Very impressive, but I still have one last question.” His eyes then began to shine a bright crimson light and his mane and tail turned into a rising flame, before we knew it, his whole entire being was nothing but fire. “Can you take the heat Equestrians?” Before you knew it, he had the whole throne room surrounded in flames, and one after another fireballs were being flung at us from all sides. We had no idea where he was, all that we knew was that he was in the fire.

“Can anypony see him?” called Universae over the sound of the crackling flames.

“I can’t see anything in this heat,” said Asteroid Run sweating hard.

“Neither can I,” said Soarin as he continued panting harder. His breaths immediately began to slow down. “I think…I’m going to…pass…” THUD! Soarin was soon on the ground because of heat exhaustion. Pretty soon, he wasn’t alone. I looked around frantically searching for King Inferno as Asteroid Run collapsed soon after, then Universae, until at last it was just me and Spitfire. Spitfire was tired, I could see the sweat rolling down her face, and her mane, once proudly standing tall and dominant, had drooped down once again. Her eyes slowly began to close.

“Spitfire,” I said trying to keep her up, sweating like a dog. “Please hang in there; we’re going to make it!” I then softly felt a tear roll down my cheek. “I can’t do this without you.”

Spitfire smiled. “Don’t worry Ace,” she said with a weak smile. “Everything…will be…fine…I promise….” Spitfire’s eyes then closed, as she fell over towards the side.

“Spitfire…”

An evil laughter immediately filled the throne room. “You’re all alone now equestrian! What will you do now?! I am anxious to see what pathetic idea you have in your puny little pathetic head.”

I closed my eyes, and then everything I knew soon came alive from within me. I was filled with a strength that I had never felt before. I felt the power down in my hooves, and it was an unbelievable power. Everything that had told me who I was, and what I was fighting for, suddenly came out in a rapid burst of energy. Waves of energetic wind surrounded the throne room as my wings had turned from simple Pegasus wings to that of mighty angel’s wings. With one swipe, the flames were soon out, and King Inferno was exposed.

“Impressive equestrian,” he said with a smirk, “But mark my words, you cannot win! You, and your nation will burn before your very eyes, I will even kill the one you love once I defeat you!” He then began a rapid dash towards me but I then grabbed his hooves, stopping him dead in his tracks.

“Not today.” I said throwing him down into the floor. I then pounded him constantly with this new power I had, over and over and over, until at last, his flames were out.

“No more,” he said lying close to death in the ground, “no more…”

I then concentrated every ounce of energy that I had left within me, and turned it all into a massive ball of energy. I then aimed the ball of energy directly at that fuckers heart. “This war,” I said holding home by the neck, “Is over.” I thrusted the ball of energy directly into his armor, and the resulting light was brighter then that of the light which illuminated the top of Neptune castle. The battle outside immediately stopped as the light grew brighter and brighter. At last, all that was left of inferno was the Gaia crown, and the dark gem, which shattered after the blast of energy.
~~~

“Ace! Ace!” said Spitfire slapping me over and over again. “Please Ace, wake up. You can’t die, not now, just not now…” I then smelled the soft smell of Soarin’s fresh baked pie. It was apple pie, made from a recipe from Sweet Apple Acres. I opened my eyes to the sight of Cloud Storm, Universae, Soarin, and Spitfire looking down at me. Spitfire then shed tears of nothing but pure joy as she leaned in and kissed me softly.

“Is it over?” I asked weakly.

“Yes Ace,” said Spitfire embracing me closer, “It’s over.”
~~~

Canterlot hall was filled to the brim. Ponies from all around the world had gathered on the central city for a very special honor from Princess Celestia, Princess Marina, and Princess Terra. Immediately, the trumpets of the Royal Guard sounded as the doors to the hall of the throne of Equestria swung open to the sight of me and Spitfire walking in with our officer’s uniforms tightly pressed. At the front of the row of cheering ponies were Celestia, Terra, and Marina, all smiling brightly. We had done it; we had restored the balance back to the entire world in a 2 month long war. The fanfare finally stopped, as Spitfire and I finally stood at the front of the grand hall.

“2 months ago,” began Celestia, “The world was faced with a threat that none of us had ever seen before. A pure display of nothing by dark evil filled the countries of Marina and Reigns, and overpowered my sisters Marina and Terra overthrowing them from power, and closing in on our ever so precious nation of Equestria. For a time, we thought that we were going to fail, that is until the bravery of the Royal Guard shined in. Among these Royal Guard soldiers, stand these two squadron leaders: Lieutenant Ace of Manehattan, and Lieutenant Spitfire of Cloudsdale, who have stood in the face of pure danger to defend their homeland, and free both the country of Marina and Reigns. For that, we are eternally grateful, and not only do we promote you both to your new respective ranks, but we also present you and your squadron the Equestrian cross for your service to your country, and Ace, to you we present the Mare of honor Medal for your display of leadership during the war. For that, we salute you. Congratulations.”

The whole hall of Canterlot erupted in a loud roar through the great halls. Spitfire turned and smiled at me. “Well,” she said, “one thing is for sure.”

“Which is,” I said.

“You’ll always be more than Equestria’s hero,” she said, “You’re my hero.”

“This calls for a pie!” smiled Soarin.

“Oh Soarin,” laughed Spitfire.

Epilogue

Ace then finally straightened his hat onto his head, as the cadet stood in awe at his desk. “You saved the world,” said Emerald with an expression of shock and awe. “You saved the world, and defeated King Inferno single hoofed. What happened afterwards?”

Ace then got up and showed Emerald the picture. “Well, after the celebration at Canterlot, we went back to base to grab whatever we held near and dear from the war before we all went our separate ways. While we were there Soarin thought it would be a good idea to get one last picture before we all split up, so this is what resulted.” He then showed the cadet the picture.

“What happened to prince Universae?” asked Emerald wanting to know more of the story.

“Well, Universae went on and finally talked to that mare that he was so interested in, the two of them are married now and are happily living in Ponyville. Asteroid Run went back to his hometown and he started a flight camp there where he is now the head coach. Soarin and Spitfire, well, you obviously can guess what happened, and me, I moved to Ponyville with my brother Wolf, and once the Academy was built, this became my new responsibility.”

Emerald smiled. “Wow, thank you commander for sharing your memories with a lowly cadet like me. I’ll make sure the memory of the dark pony war will never die. I promise.”

“Good on you,” said Ace. He then looked down and noticed Emeralds information sheet. “Oh whoops, before I forget, here is information for your dorm. And also, this is a little something from Spitfire.”

Ace then handed Emerald a signed picture of the Wonderbolts flying in formation over the Air Brigade Academy. Underneath her iconic mane and tail, she signed “To my biggest fan Emerald, your friend, Spitfire.” Emerald smiled.

“Thank you, all of you, for giving me this glimpse into your lives. I won’t forget this, I promise,” he said as he quickly galloped out of Ace’s office.
Ace softly smiled, but then he looked at the time. It was 1630, almost time for dinner, and it was also the time when he was planning on having his papers signed and completed. He didn’t panic, but instead he grabbed the papers, neatly organized them, and grabbed a pen.
“I’m sorry guys,” he said looking at Spitfire and Soarin with a look of sorrow in his eyes. “I have to get this done.”
“It’s ok Air Buster,” said Soarin as he trotted out of the door. “I’ll see you later.”
“Alright Soarin,” he smiled. Ace then looked at Spitfire, noticing that she had a loving smile in her eyes.
“Ace,” she said, “I just want you to know,”
Ace smiled and kissed Spitfire over the desk, but when he was reaching back to get into his chair, he noticed a brown envelope. On it was stamped the seal of Celestia, and in golden lettering it read, “For Spitfire and Ace.”
Ace showed Spitfire the brown envelope, “It’s a good thing you’re here at least, and it turns out that this is for both of us.”
Spitfire then walked behind Ace’s disk and stood next to him. “I wonder what it is,” she said.
Ace opened the envelope, and there was a letter, and a small envelope attached to the letter. The letter read:
Dear Major’s Ace and Spitfire,
I hope that life finds you well in these days following what happened earlier with the incident involving the royal guard. Isn’t it Ironic on how military’s seem to turn on you two, but at the same time you both respond the same way, with bravery and courage; the only time I have seen this exhibited more is with the six elements of harmony that currently reside in Ponyville. When I heard about what happened, I found this in my small photo album. I decided that you two should have it because you both had a fairy tale ending at the end of the war, and I hope that when you both see this picture, you will both want to continue your story.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia

The picture was from the ceremony when Ace and Spitfire were honored by Marina, Terra, and Celestia. Among all of the excitement, Spitfire and Ace shared a loving kiss with each other, and it just so happened to be captured in a picture at the exact moment that it happened.

Spitfire looked at Ace with nothing but love and affection. She then wrapped her arms around Ace with love. “Ace,” she said smiling, “I think we should take Celestia’s advice and not let our fairy tale end. I don’t want it to end; I never want to be away from you.”

“Neither do I,” said Ace smiling and holding Spitfire close. “In fact,” he said, “I think we might have just opened a new chapter in our fairy tale.”

Spitfire smiled. “More than just a new chapter,” she said, “the rest of the story still has yet to be written, and I think we may already know how it’s going to end.”

Ace and Spitfire smiled at each other, realizing their love was that of not coincidence, but of determination and compassion to never lose the other half.

“I love you Ace,” said Spitfire closing her eyes.

“I love you too Spitfire,” said Ace.

The two pegasi’s lips met once again as they had during the dark pony war, as they both embraced their new life together in service to Equestria and each other. A new day had just dawned on their relationship, and it was a day that the sun was not to set on any time soon.

Prelude

The sky was crystal clear blue above the Air Brigade Academy. Around the valley where the brigade sat, you could hear the sounds of birds chirping, the gentle whispering roar of a waterfall off in the distance, and conversations out in the courtyard around the memorial gardens. It was peaceful, the perfect time for some off duty relaxation for the Cadets. Everyone was having a nice day out, except for the green and grey Commander Ace, who was unfortunately sorting through papers of reports from the incident from members of the Royal Guard. The papers stacked up to the height of the lamp on his desk. He never had a problem signing the papers, he just wanted to get them done and over with.
As Ace continued swiping through the papers, he noticed time to time again that more and more pegasi were coming in with family members enlisted in the Royal Guard. He began to wonder how Hurricane and Winter Chaser were doing after he last saw them, in which the last he heard from them, Hurricane and Comet were planning on getting married as soon as Hurricane got a break from duty. On that thought, Ace picked up a picture from Hurricane and Winter’s graduation. In the picture, Hurricane and Comet snuck in a quick smooch, while Winter stood with a giant smile in place of the faded scar over his right eye, and Spitfire and Ace were smiling wearing their officer’s uniforms. Ace couldn’t help but smile as he placed the picture back in its respected corner with all of his other treasured photos from back home in Ponyville.
“I wonder how those two are doing,” he thought to himself looking intently at the picture. He couldn’t help but notice Hurricane and Comet sharing a brief kiss, while him and Spitfire, due to the occasion, were simply closed off to show all of their professionalism. He immediately began to think back to a different time, when nothing could keep the two apart, not even Celestia herself.
There was a knock on the door. Ace immediately got up from his desk, careful to not knock down any of the papers which stood barely organized. He grabbed his officer’s hat and then stood diligently on two hooves ready to receive whoever was coming in.
“Yes what is it?” he called towards the door.
“You have two visitors,” called a stallion from behind the door. “Major Spitfire and Major Soarin of the Wonderbolts, do you want to see them right now or tell them that you are busy sir.”
Ace looked at the stack of papers, knowing that he had a lot of sorting to do. Among the papers as well as the reports was a letter from Princess Celestia that was sent directly to him. He did not know what it was about but he knew that somewhere in the reports and applications for the Air Brigade that it was in there. Maybe it could be a new award, possibly a higher promotion from Major (even though he was called Commander most of the time he was more known as Captain around the Academy), maybe it could be a letter of gratitude for ending the new threat to Equestria and all of its citizens, or maybe it was just a letter notifying him that one of Celestia’s nieces or nephews was enlisting in the Academy. There were many thoughts that were surrounding what the letter could be, but instead, Ace simply decided to take a small break. He carefully picked up the towering stack of papers off of his desk and he put them in a corner next to a file cabinet. “Perhaps a break would do me some good,” he thought to himself.
“I will see them now,” he called towards the door returning to his desk.
The door soon swung open to reveal Soarin and Spitfire in their officer’s uniforms for the Wonderbolt Academy. Soarin was not a member of the Air Brigade Academy, but he was considered an honorary member of the head board by Ace. Spitfire, on the other hand, had a uniform for both the Wonderbolt Academy and the Air Brigade Academy. She was the head commander at the Wonderbolt Academy as she herself requested that it be built after the war to train pegasi to soar through the skies and keep the peace in Equestria and places elsewhere.
Soarin smiled brightly as he walked through the door. He was happy to see his friend as it had been a few months since they had last seen each other. Ace had to limit these visits due to the fact that everypony was busy with something, whether it is the Academies, training, meeting with Celestia, among other things. It was a very rare time when they simply got together and got a chance to see how they were all doing. One thing that significantly marked that this was not a serious meeting was their nicknames that they had held on to during the days of the war.
“Old air buster,” said Soarin raising a hoof to Ace with a smile.
“Long time no see sky diver,” he said grabbing Soarin’s hoof and giving it a firm shake. “How’ve ya been bud?”
“Oh you know, I’ve been busy while you and Spitfire were out saving Equestria without me,” he laughed.
Spitfire then gave him a gentle nudge, “Oh you,” she said smiling, “You just never seem to be around when we’re out saving the world. Instead you’re usually sitting somewhere having at a pie as usual,” she laughed.
Soarin then tried to give a sarcastic look of seriousness. “Hey, my pies can save lives!” he said. “You know that from experience.”
Ace laughed, “Alright,” he said. “So what brings you two out here in your Wonderbolt officer uniforms? Means of business with the cadets here or are you trying to steal some of them as usual.”
Spitfire laughed, “No thieves here,” she said, “Just a couple of pegasi that just wanted to stop by and say hello to their dear old friend,” she said with a wink.
“I saw that,” said Soarin teasing. “I may a pie hungry stallion but I’m not stupid!”
Everyone then laughed fool heartedly, but just then Spitfire looked at Ace as if she was emotional. Ace was not new to this look, as he had shared it with her many times before. “I need to spend more time with you,” she said sympathetically.
“I know,” said Ace trying to understand. “But we can’t, you know, we have to stand strong and tall for both of the academies and represent our branches of the Royal Guard with bravery and courage, not with dating and sympathy.”
Spitfire sighed, “Yea I guess you’re right,” she said nodding her head.
“Which reminds me,” said Soarin reaching into his saddle bags; “I got this picture from an old squad mate of ours that I haven’t seen in a long time. He told me to bring it to you so that way you can see it, Spitfire already has.” He then placed the brown envelope on Ace’s desk.
“I wonder what this picture is, or if I’ll regret it,” he said as he began to open the envelope.
“No jokes this time Ace,” she said. “You’ll like the picture, I guarantee it.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” he said as he pulled out the picture. On the picture was a photograph what appeared to be a camp. There were tents that were shaped like small houses, ponies walking around in uniforms and helmets, and a big sign over the camp the read “The 115th battle group, the screaming eagles.” Next to the lettering on the banner was an emblem of an eagle blazing towards the lettering with great neck speed. The wings merged into the shape of a pegasi flying through the air. Below the banner there were 6 ponies: Soarin, Asteroid Run, Prince Universae, Star Shine, and at last Spitfire and Ace; they were holding hooves at the time that the picture was taken.
“This is a really good picture,” said Ace smiling.
“I know it is,” said Spitfire also smiling. “I do miss those days even though they were long and some of our closest friends didn’t make it.”
Ace then closed his eyes and turned towards the last drawer of the file cabinet. He browsed through every single letter of the alphabet, while Soarin and Spitfire looked confused.
“What are you looking for?” asked Spitfire.
“I think he has flipped his hoof up the wrong place again,” laughed Soarin.
Ace smiled as he finally got to the back of the file cabinet. “Aha,” he exclaimed, “Here it is!” He pulled out a small tattered flag with holes in it. It was green with a white stripe running down the middle. On the tattered flag you could still make out the emblem of what is now the Air Brigade symbol. “Remember this?” he asked showing them the tattered flag.
Spitfire was shocked, “I can’t believe you still have it!” she said excited. “It needs a little bit of restoration but still, it looks pretty good!”
Soarin smiled, “I remember that flag,” he said smiling. “That flew high over our three tents at the camp in North Everfree. I wanted to have a pie as part of the emblem but you said no, CAPTAIN Spitfire.” Spitfire had previously been a squad leader of the squad the three were in. She wouldn’t share the rank with Ace until later in the war.
Spitfire nudged Soarin again. “You and your stupid pies,” she laughed. “Those were good times though; remember swimming down in the river?”
Ace laughed, “I remember that,” he said. “Soarin almost got me killed as he couldn’t swim, so I had to save his sorry flank.”
Soarin merely looked embarrassed as Spitfire and Ace laughed hysterically.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. The trio softly panicked as they then put themselves back in a serious mode as they straightened their uniforms, put hats back on, and of course Spitfire straightened her shades. Ace quickly positioned himself behind his desk, but what he didn’t know is that he forgot to put the flag and the picture in a respective place so they weren’t lying on his desk.
“Permission to enter sir?” asked a young cadet talking from behind the door.
“Granted,” called Ace towards the door. “Come in Cadet.”
The door soon opened to a Cadet slowly trotting in, he then saluted Ace and the other two Wonderbolt officers. “At ease,” said Ace pointing to a chair. “Have a seat.”
The cadet trotted into the chair, not even realizing that Spitfire was in the room as well, but it was clear he was a fan of the Wonderbolts as he carried around a trinket around his neck of the Wonderbolt symbol. Ace saw this, and hid a smile. He given a small look towards Spitfire as Spitfire winked back. Ace was then assured that when whatever the issue was solved, that she would sign a picture for the cadet.
“Now, what is it that you need cadet?” asked Ace putting his hooves together on the desk.
“I never received a paper from orientation this morning on where my dorm is,” he began. “I know who my partner is, and apparently he didn’t get one either.”
Ace was baffled by what he heard, “I see, that is a problem,” he said. “What is your name cadet?” he said as he trotted over to his file cabinet.
“Emerald Skies, sir,” he said.
“Emerald Skies, Emerald Skies,” said Ace as he browsed through the papers in the cabinet for an extra copy. While he was doing that, the cadet looked down and noticed the picture. He had never seen anything like it before, more-a-less had never heard of the Dark Pony War. Ace didn’t know this, but he was soon to find out.
“Sir,” he asked still looking at the photograph, “What is the picture? I can recognize you, Spitfire and Soarin of the Wonderbolts, but I don’t recognize any of the others…”
Ace then got up and trotted over towards the desk to notice that he had forgotten to put the picture inside of a frame earlier. He then smiled. “That is a picture from my days in the Dark Pony War,” he said proudly.
Emerald looked very confused at him. “The Dark Pony War sir?” he asked confused. “What is the Dark Pony War?”
Ace was baffled. “You have never heard of the Dark Pony War?” he asked angrily. “Did you decide to call in sick when they taught you about it in flight high?”
The cadet began to shudder, “We had nothing in our textbooks relating to the Dark Pony War sir, more-a-less no pony has really heard of it.” He then calmed down and breathed gently as now he noticed that Ace was more concerned than angry. “We heard some of the teachers talking about it, and when we asked they said that it simply was far beyond our knowledge, so we left it at that.”
Spitfire then walked up next to the cadet, removing her shades. “I can understand that,” she said placing her shades next to Emeralds hooves. “They don’t teach anything relating to the dark pony war in schools anymore; as they think it would give Equestria and other countries a bad name.”
Emerald turned around, and noticed that it was Spitfire but he didn’t go completely insane, he just softly smiled. “Spitfire, ma’am” he said, “you fought in this war?”
Spitfire nodded. “Yes I did,” she said. “So did Soarin and a couple of other Wonderbolts. Your own commander fought in the Dark Pony War as well Cadet Emerald.”
Emerald was now enlightened as he was learning something that very few of the other cadets knew about; He was now intrigued. Ace then grabbed the picture and the flag from his old camp and placed it in front of Cadet Emerald. “Well,” he said, “The story of the Dark Pony war is a rather gruesome one. A lot of ponies died in the defense of Equestria and its allies.”
“Why didn’t the princess’ stop the war from happening?” he asked.
“Well,” he said, “there’s a reason for that, but we have to go back in time about 10 years, if you want to know about the war,” said Ace placing his hat on his desk, “I will tell about the war, from how I saw it.”

Chapter 4

That flight back home was a long one. We could fly easily now that we weren’t going into the face of battle, but the 22nd pegasi division was reduced to such a small amount that they were going to come and live with us. We had gained a new squad member, a strong winged stallion named Asteroid Run, tough as nails. His coat was a dirt fire orange, and his hair was a gold hue with red highlights. He was a good flier, almost as fast as spitfire, and was one of the few pegasi that didn’t get injured during the battle of Neighagra falls. Even with all of that, most of the flight home was a silent one; even I couldn’t get the image of all of the dead corpses out of my head. Thank Celestia there weren’t any missing limbs on the ground either or else none of us would make it home. The air was still, and quiet, until we at last got halfway home. I looked over at Spitfire to try and start a conversation with her, but now that she was our squadron leader, she had a lot on her mind now. I just wanted to help, now that I was the second in command as well.

“Spitfire?” I asked looking over at her.

She turned over and looked at me, with a look of regret in her eyes. I could tell she didn’t want to be disturbed. “What is it?”

“Are you alright?” I asked looking at her with concern.
She only turned her head around and paid attention to the direction that she was flying in, but she then turned around back at me, eyes closed, as I could tell that she was regretting the scene at north Neighagra. “Ace,” she said intently, “I’m fine, I promise.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “If you’re thinking about what happened to everyone back at Neighagra, you’re not alone. It’s stained everyponies mind.”
“I know,” she said looking back at the horizon. “It’s just that now that we know what we’re up against, and by the looks of things, the kings really know how to brainwash a pony properly.”
I nodded, and then noticed the watchtower our on the horizon. “There it is, good old Camp Eclipse. Only lived here for less than a combined total of 24 hours and I already consider it home.”
Spitfire smiled, “you and me both,” she said, “Except I’m more of a veteran, 2 days on you Ace.”
I could only smile, it was the first time that I had gotten my mind away from the horrors of Neighagra just a few short hours earlier, which seemed like an eternity had passed for all of us. The fact of the matter was that we were finally heading home for Camp Eclipse to rest, relax, and recharge ourselves for when we were next called into action to serve our country, and the princess.
When my hooves finally touched down on the smooth tarmac of the runway and I could finally close my wings, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath of the fresh forest air. It was a smell that I knew I couldn’t describe or match with any other smell that I was familiar with, but it was better than the smell of gunpowder from the artillery shells, and whatever explosive magic odor that was left over as well. I never really did look up at Camp Eclipse when I landed; I just sort of sat there on the runway and took my first deep breath of somewhat safety, whether that’s the right word or not to use, I didn’t care. I was just happy to be away from the Battlefield, even if it was at basecamp.
“Have you seen this yet?” asked Spitfire giving me a gentle nudge. She sounded as if she was surprised and a little disturbed, if not scared. “Look what they’ve done to Eclipse.”
When I heard that line, I opened my eyes, and sure enough things had drastically changed. The barracks had been expanded largely. Cannons could be seen from the armored division, and the large artillery guns could also be seen in position ready to roll wherever they were needed. The Infirmary tent had now become a small field hospital as it had expanded form 4 tents in a row to a large series of connected tents. The most disturbing sight of all was the sight of bringing the wounded from Neighagra. A temporary rail line had to be built in order to bring the wounded from neighagra by hospital train which was officially commissioned as a direct order from Celestia herself after catching word of the fierce battle.
“Dear sweet Celestia…” I said looking out at the new Camp Eclipse.
“I know this is our home away from home,” said Soarin, “but this is a small city.”
“That’s the point,” said a familiar voice walking towards us. It was Shining Armor in his officer’s uniform not wearing any armor, shirt and tie, dress coat, and a hat with the emblazoned symbol of the royal guard in golden thread. “It is good to see you again Charlie Company,” he said stretching out his hoof toward Spitfire.
Spitfire smiled and grabbed it giving a firm hoof shake. “The same to you as well Captain,” she said saluting him. “Might I ask why you are here sir, and what has happened to Camp Eclipse? This is the headquarters of the 43rd pegasi division.”
“It was,” said Shining Armor nodding his head. “After the battle and the read casualties, we got a note from the Princess as an official order saying to merge the divisions into battle groups so that you could go into battle together instead of separated to avoid what happened to the 22nd.”
That really struck a nerve with me; I can still remember watching those pegasi coming down onto the runway one by one like a parade of death. Wings lost, Limbs on the ground, blood everywhere, the sights of war. The smell of death was also strong that day; it seeped through the whole base camp like a fresh cake out of an oven in sugar cube corner in Ponyville, just a few short miles to the north. It stained my mind as I tried to listen to what Shining Armor had to say.
“Because of what happened,” Shining Armor continued, “she has issued that the 43rd, the 54th, and the 32nd are to be merged to become the 115th battle group, of which myself, Cloud Storm, and one of your own have been ever so chosen to lead.”
“One of our own?” said Soarin confused. “Who?”
Shining Armor then looked over at Universae, who was caring to some of the wounded from the battle of Neighagra. “Princess Celestia saw it beneficial that Universae had become such a strong leader so quickly, besides the fact that he still needs to learn responsibility.”
“I’m not surprised,” said Asteroid rolling his eyes.
“Even under those circumstances,” he said, “Universae is a good leader, and he is among those who will lead you responsibly into battle.”
“But why my sudden promotion?” asked Spitfire interested. “I only lead my squadron when it was necessary.
“And you will continue to do so lieutenant,” said Shining Armor, he then turned and looked at me also with something for me. “Please step forward Ace,” he said.
I could only wonder what for, I just fought alongside everyone during the battle, I never really did lead anypony; I was just there. “Yes Sir?” I said stepping a hoof forward.
Shining Armor then gave me a pat on the back. “You will be Charlie Companies Secondary leader; therefore I am promoting you to Second Lieutenant, one rank below Spitfire.”
I was quite surprised; happily surprised, but also confused. “Might I ask why sir?” I said looking confuse. “I didn’t do anything; I was just there to serve as I could and defend my friends, I was never out for a promotion in the first place.”
Shining Armor nodded, “I know,” he said, “but every squadron needs a person of humility and sacrifice to be a leader in case one leader falls. When Blitz fell I saw that you kept your squadron all together and following Spitfire’s orders in the chaos over Neighagra field. I think that is a quality that a leader should possess, but Spitfire showed a little more leadership then you did, which is why she is getting the promotion to being squad leader over you. Do you understand?”
I didn’t understand really, but I guess I couldn’t complain. “I guess I do,” I said gently brushing off my mane.
“Good,” said Shining Armor with a smile. “You all fought hard yesterday,” he said. “The next few operations will be days, maybe even weeks long, this was just a light skirmish but when we really get into the in-depth missions of invading Marina and Reigns, that is when the missions will turn into long ones, but for now, take some time to be with each other, and also meet your new squad mates as well. You’re dismissed.” He then gave a salute to us.
“Yes Sir!” with that, we began the walk back to our tent, but on our way back, everyone was happy for both me and Spitfire.
“Congratulations,” I said to Spitfire smiling at her.
Spitfire smiled back, “thanks Ace, the same to you. We have a lot of work ahead of us, you do know that right?”
I nodded, “I’m aware,” I said. “Let’s just head back to good old Charlie 9 first and get some rest.”
“Amen to that,” said Soarin following close knit.
~~~

That night was the first night we really had to ourselves, we didn’t have to up until 1200 hours for details of what could possibly be the next mission. We of Charlie 9 had decided to hike out for the night, and set up a small campfire in a patch not far from the camp. Charlie 9 had gone from only 4 ponies to 10. There were now 4 pegasi, 2 unicorns, and 3 earth ponies, totaling in about 6 stallions and 3 mares. That night we decided to just get a chance to get acquainted with one another since we were going to be spending a long time with each other until this blasted war was over. So we decided to share a part of our lives with the group, Spitfire, since she was squad leader, went first.

“Well, my hometown,” she began, “Is Cloudsdale, born and raised. Of course I came out of the Flight School for Enterprising Pegasi and it gave me the tools to become stronger, and it also opened my wings to how fast I could go.”

“What was your fastest speed,” asked Asteroid Run curiously roasting a marshmallow over the fire.

“Soarin knows,” she said looking over at Soarin who was eating a smore. Soarin only nodded as he continued chowing down on the perfectly cooked mesh of chocolaty sugary goodness. “Soarin was with me when we went to Flight School, so we’ve been together for a long time; he’s my little brother in a sense.”

“LITTLE?!” exclaimed Soarin.

“Cool it Pie Boy,” said Spitfire as she blew a flame off her marshmallow. “Like I said, my fastest speed came as a surprise, not only to my Coach, but to every pony. No pony expected that my wing power was up to 12, 2 over the standard number, I was only a filly. When I finally came down and my hooves touched the ground, a trail of flames followed suit. I guess I was flying so fast I started a fire, and lo and behold, this cutie mark appeared that same day.”

She then showed off her small flames cutie mark, it suited her well after her experience. “So what happened afterwards?” asked one of the unicorns.

“Well afterwards, I left flight camp and got into the Wonderbolt Academy and made it through there with really high rankings, so when I get back home after this war is over, I’m going back to the Wonderbolts,” she then looked back over at Soarin who was eating a smore. “That includes you too Sky Diver.”

Soarin blanked out at the thought. “Sky Diver?” he thought to himself. He then smiled, “I like that nickname, why’d you choose that?”

“Because at the rate you’re eating you’ll be falling out of the sky like ditzy doo dropped a rock on you,” she laughed.

Soarin then shrugged his shoulders as every pony laughed at him, but eventually he soon gained a new respect for being a part of the Wonderbolts.

“Alright Asteroid,” she said towards the Pegasus who was keeping a rock balanced on his wing, “What’s your story?”

Asteroid dropped the rock, and he grabbed a stick, a marshmallow, and began roasting it lightly over the campfire. “Well,” he began, “I’m from Las Pegasus.”

“Here we go,” said a Mare rolling her eyes.

“No, I’m not a spoiled colt Star Dust,” he said shooting the rock over to her. “I was born in Fillydelphia, but my folks wanted to move out to Las Pegasus so that they could live a life among high class pegasi that aren’t just found in Canterlot. The place actually isn’t as spoiled as you think either, it’s full of hard working pegasi, good number of them too, and it just so happens to have its share of bad apples as well which makes it a little more famous.” He then made a quick smore out of the marshmallow which had been cooked to a perfect brown.
I was actually intrigued by his story. “So what do you want to do,” I asked taking a bite of my marshmallow.
Asteroid Run merely finished his marshmallow and wiped his mouth clean. “I want to go into music,” he said. “I play the trumpet so I get a lot of time to practice here with the bugle and all. I just can’t wait to get back and see my mother again; things haven’t been quite the same since I told her I was leaving for the guard.”
Everypony nodded their head with understanding at that, even I had to admit that my brother back at home was concerned. “Alright,” said Spitfire cutting in, “now for the new ponies, you tell your story, AND say your name and where you’re from.” She then pointed her hoof at an indigo mare with black and white hair. “You’re up first,” she called.
The mare then finished her marshmallow and cleared her throat. “My name as you might have probably guessed,” she began, “Is Star Shine. I’m from Ponyville, which is just to the north of here. Lived and worked and played there my whole life. I work as a store owner who sells wood workings made by my wonderful special somepony, Timber Bucks, who is back in Ponyville running the shop while I’m fighting this war.”
“Why didn’t he come with you?” asked Asteroid Run.
“Well, when I told him I told him that someone had to stay and run the shop in case business kept booming, so he agreed to stay behind and chop the wood as well as sell what we make.” She then pulled out a small wooden heart which hung from a string around her neck. “He made this for me before I left, so basically I take it with me wherever I go.” Everypony nodded agreeing that was something special.
The circle continued on as we met the rest of our squadron, until at last it came to me. “Alright Ace,” said Spitfire with a smile, “You’re closing out the night.”
I finished chewing on what was left of marshmallow wondering what I was going to say. I didn’t want to embarrass myself, or more a less make myself look like an idiot. But when I looked out over the fire, I could see nothing but smiling faces that were happy and content with meeting every pony. Among those faces was Spitfire, the one who made me smile the most with her orange eyes and her beautiful smile. I couldn’t help but smile back as I finished my marshmallow.
“Well,” I began, “I’m from Manehattan for starters. I have a brother back at home named Wolf, who is a writer, so he doesn’t want anything to do with war in his stories, so he decided to stay at home while I went off to war. I was one of the top flyers in my class as well so I rose through the ranks and I graduated right before I enlisted for the royal guard. I had no clue that this war was going on when I signed up, did anyone know really?”
Everypony looked at me. “No we didn’t know now that I think about it,” said Spitfire. “They kept it a secret until we actually got here, and they said the war has been raging on for about a month by the time we got here.”
This made me upset. I got up, and walked back towards the officers barracks. “Where are you going?” asked Spitfire getting up and following me. “I’m coming with you; please tell me where we are going.”
“We’re going to get to the bottom of all of this secrecy.”
~~~

Spitfire and I stood in front of Shining Armor’s tent as we were determined to figure out what was with the secrecy surrounding the war. “Commander,” said Spitfire gently opening the flap. “A word please.”

“Not right now,” came a muffled voice from behind the tent. “I’m sure that this can wait until the briefing tomorrow at 1200, return to your tents.”

“But sir,” said Spitfire.

“That is also an order,” called Shining Armor from behind the tent’s closed flap.
I had enough of all the secrecy, and stormed in. Shining Armor was sitting at his fold desk with a stack of papers on his left, and his helmet on the right. His commander’s cap was also hanging on the side just above his cot. He was very disappointed. “Lieutenant,” he said a she rose up from his desk, “What is the meaning of this?”
Spitfire walked in behind me closing the flap. I was intent on finding the truth, even if it meant a possible demotion. “Commander,” I began trying to keep my voice low and calm, “I have nothing but the highest respect for you, for your rank, and what you have done in the name of the Royal Guard, he said.”
Shining Armor then relaxed, “well that is very kind of you to-“
“BUT,” said Ace cutting him off midsentence, “I cannot believe you would hide this kind of information from the public that innocent stallions and mares are dying at the hands of tyrants. People only know that their loved ones go into the royal guard, and then get a letter saying that they “died in the name of Equestria. No offense sir but that is crap.”
“Watch your tone lieutenant,” said Shining Armor also trying to keep his emotions down. Spitfire even grabbed my hoof. “Please, listen to him,” she said. But I only got more upset the more I looked at him trying to remain calm at the situation.
“Tone?!” I said grabbing a picture of the dead corpses on the ground from the battle 2 days before, “This is sad, that ponies all over Equestria don’t know that they are in danger of dying, and they carry on thinking that they are safe and that everything is at peace! You’re going to let these ponies’ names die in vain? You’re going to let my former squadron leader Blitz die in the shadows? You’re going to let a great leader, Oxycroccus, die in the shadows of doubt that the Royal Guard is refusing to let come into the light?!”
“ENOUGH!” said Shining Armor slamming his hoof down on his desk.
I fell silent. “Shit, what have I done,” I thought silently. Spitfire then stayed close by.
Shining Armor then walked around his desk, and stared me down. “Let me tell you something stallion,” he said with anger in his tone. “You may think that this is unfair; you may think that this is downright cold keeping all of this a secret from everyone else in Equestria, you may even think that we are just brushing dead corpses aside saying ‘oh they’re dead, it doesn’t matter anymore’ well guess what, you’re wrong.”
“Oh am I?” I said backing my claim. “Then why? Why all of the secrecy? All I want to know is the truth.”
“You can’t handle the truth!” shouted Shining Armor in my face. He then walked over towards his helmet, and put a hoof on it. I was greatly disturbed, if Spitfire wasn’t there, Celestia only knows what I would have done. “Look,” he said. “We don’t want other ponies afraid. It’s true that we need them to know that they are always protected no matter what, but if news of this broke out to other ponies, it would be a panic attack scenario. The sky is falling, we’re all done for.”
“Sir,” said Spitfire chiming in, “Ponies need to know.”
“I agree with you Lieutenant,” he said. “We cannot teach the subject of war to young fillies and colts. More-a-less, it would be an optional teaching in flight school and magic school. It would be taught by the veterans that walk away from this and share their stories, but other than that, the dark pony war could fade away from history, never to have happened, except in who it is passed down to.”
Shining Armor then walked over to me and put a hoof on my back. “Promise me,” he said to me, “That you will never forget this war, and the first chances you get you tell some pony what happened, exactly what happened.”
“I will sir,” I said saluting, “Spitfire will too, we all will.”
Shining Armor then returned to his desk. “Go get some rest,” he said. “The briefing is tomorrow at 1200 hours. You’re both dismissed.”
“Yes sir,” I said as I walked out of the tent closing the flap behind me.