Blitzkrieg: Redemption

Tears and Betrayal

     One hour ago.....

     Lightning Dust stormed away from Rainbow Dash towards the front doors of the administration building, wiping tears from her face as she went. Every angry face she passed by only helped to speed her course. Word had traveled very fast indeed. By now nearly the whole academy was aware of her almost accidental pony-slaughter. The angry looks cut Lightning Dust deep at her core, only adding to the tears in her eyes. As she burst through the admin buildings front doors, she collided into the side of a pegasus mare. As Lightning Dust raised her head, groaning in pain, she looked over the mare she had hit. Her coat was a light grey, her mane blond, and she had a cutie mark consisting of bubbles. Strapped to her side was a mail saddle, the latch of which had come undone, allowing the many letters inside to scatter onto the ground. A few of the letters were getting trampled by the oblivious passerbys going to and fro through the admin building doors. Lightning Dust winced as she stood up, her head still hurting from the collision. As soon as se got up she began to head towards her dorm room once again, eager to escape from this horrible academy. After only a few steps, Lightning Dust heard a loud groan from behind her.

     'No, don't stop, just keep going and get the buck out of this place.'

     *groan

     'She'll be fine....she doesn't need help....'

     *louder groan

     *sigh

     Lightning Dust turned around and quickly trotted up to the mare she had knocked over.

     "Hey are you ok?"

     The mare sat up and raised a hoof to her head, groaning softly.

     "Yeah....I'll be fine....my head just really hurts. Whad I hit?"

     "Ummmm....I kinda hit you....sorry."

     The mare slowly opened her eyes and looked up to Lightning Dust. Lightning's eyes opened wide as she noticed the mare was walleyed, two golden irises each with a mind of their own. The mare cocked her head at Lightning, a confused look forming on her already confused looking face.

     "Is-is something wrong? Is my face scratched up or something?!" The mare began to panick, frantically feeling her face and muzzle with her hooves, searching for any deformity.

     "No-no....well kind of....your eyes are crooked, I guess I hit you really hard."

     The mare just stared at Lightning Dust, still confused.

     "Your eyes, their pointing two different directions."

     The mares eyes lit up knowingly, but her expression quickly went from confusion to sadness.

     "Oh...no its-it's ok, they always do that....." She held her head low as she continued to stare at the ground. After a few seconds she looked back up to Lightning Dust, a weak smile plastered on her lips.

     "Hey, don't worry about it, my eyes aren't anything to cry about."

     "What?! I'm not crying I'm-"

     Lightning Dust felt her face with a hoof, suddenly remembering that she was still crying from earlier. She began to break down again, remembering what she was in the process of doing. The grey mare's expression softened at Lightning Dust. She raised up a hoof to try and comfort her.

     "Hey it's ok, don't cry-"

     "No....no I have to....I have to leave.....bye."

     Lightning Dust ran off towards the dorm building, leaving an extremely saddened pegasus in her wake. The mare looked around at all the scattered mail, then back up to Lightning Dust's retreating figure. Tears began to form in her eyes.

     "I always end up alone...."

     *Zap!

     "Ahhhhhhh!"

     The mare jumped ten feet in the air as a lightning bolt shot past her and burned half of her mail. She looked up to see a young trainee trying to handle a thunder cloud. He smiled at her sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

     "Sorry! I didn't mean to do that!"

     The mare sighed and lowered her head, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.

     'And now I'm probably going to lose my job....'

               ---------------

     Spitfire growled angrily at her assistant. She wasn't in the mood for dealing with a trainee with a broken wing or the idiot who accidentally lost control of a thunderhead and fried the dizzitron. Let alone the four guardsponies in the welcome center demanding her attention ASAP. Lightning Dust's little tantrum had left her in a sour mood and all of the problems her assistant was trying to stack onto her plate weren't helping. She held up a single hoof, silencing the aggravating pony.

     "Look, nows not really the time, ok? I have a trainees dismissal paper to write up, four guardsponies in the welcome center demanding my presence, and a migraine. Unless you wanna talk about coffee, Equylenol, or a nice big fried hay and bean burrito, then can it. I'm not medical, engineering, hay I'm not even a councilor so these aren't really things I can fix at the moment. Now shoo!"

     "Yes commander."

     Spitfire rubbed her head as she flew towards the welcome center.

     'This migraine just keeps getting worse....buck I need a nap.'

     As she flew by the runway, Spitfire could barely make out an argument between one of the trainers and that purple unicorn from earlier, Twilight Sparkle. Something about border disputes with Germaneigh and such. Spitfire shoved it aside as political nonsense and continued towards the welcome center. She didn't so much as glance at the two standard pegasus guards guarding the door. They weren't the ponies she was worried about anyways, just some chump guard escorts. Upon landing at the front door and pushing it open, she could make out a female voice arguing on the inside.

     "I swear if she's signing fanmail and it's keeping me from doing my job I'm gonna go woop her fla-"

     "-I'd like to see you try there marshmallow."

     'This is going to be a long day....'

                ---------------

     Lightning Dust slammed her dorm room door shut behind her, leaning back against it as she cried. Slowly she slid down onto the floor, still propped up against the door, still crying. Her mind raced as she thought about everything that had just transpired. Her life had been perfect. She was top of her class in the academy, she had a great new friend to share that with as well. She was living her dream, the dream she had ever since she went to that air show as a small filly with her mother. Everything was just so....right. Or so she thought. Rainbow Dash just couldn't accept being number two. She couldn't live with sharing victory after victory with her. She had to have it all, even at the cost of her so called friend's dreams. She curled up into a ball at the foot of her door, cradling herself as she let her tears flow.

     'I did nothing wrong....I was just trying to be the best. It's not my fault if the others couldn't keep up.....is it?'

     Lightning Dust looked up to the Wonderbolts poster she had tacked to her wall. It's brightly colored depiction of the famous stunt ponies seemed to taunt her, as she imagined that behind each pair of stunt goggles, an evil grin was plastered on their faces, taunting her. This thought caused a sudden burst of anger to well up inside of Lightning Dust. She jumped to her hooves and began to tear at the jumpsuit that adorned her body, stretching out the rip that was already there, as well as adding new ones in various places. The enraged mare finally managed to pull the jumpsuit completely off, now tattered and torn almost beyond recognition. She tossed it carelessly to the floor, and began making her way about the room. She gathered her few precious possessions and placed them in her flight satchel. Finally her gaze once more fell upon the offending poster tacked to the wall. In a fit of anger she reached up and shredded the poster into several pieces, some still held precariously to the wall by the tacks. In her anger she barely heard a soft crack from the floor below. Lightning Dust looked down at the foot of the desk the poster was above and panicked upon discovering that her picture frame had fallen to the floor, face-down. She quickly grabbed it up and began frantically searching the precious photo encased within. The glass had shattered beyond repair, and the frame had began to crack at on corner, but the priceless photo inside was still unscratched. Lightning Dust sighed in relief as she gently placed the frame back on the desk. She continues to stare longingly at the only photo of her mother she possessed, a treasure more valuable to Lightning Dust than anything else. After all, what else did she have to remember the mare by but a few happy memories, memories that had long since been overshadowed by the memory of her death, which Lightning Dust had the misfortune of being present for at a young age. More tears began to well up at the unpleasant thoughts, so Lightning Dust shoved the offending memories aside and went back to the task of packing. As she put the last of her dressers contents into her satchel, she heard a loud banging at her door, accompanied by a gruff and demanding voice.

     "Miss Lightning Dust, the commander requires your presence in her quarters to sign dismissal papers."

     "......"

     "Immediately!"

     *sigh

     "Ok, I'm coming...."

     Lightning Dust made her way to the door, and opened it to reveal a wide frames pegasus trainer wearing aviators. Not the same stallion from training earlier, but similar enough in appearance.

     "Right this way miss."

     "Let's just do this quickly so I can leave."

     Lightning Dust began making her way towards Spitfires quarters.

                --------------

     A lone changeling sulked silently through the sleek marble hallways, slinking behind each and every hoof crafted ebony column that helped support the heavy arched ceiling of the hall. Said ceiling was adorned with hoofpainted pictures depicting epic battles between strong, proud looking ponies wearing beautifully crafted chain and plate mail armors, wielding heavy claymores and broadswords. The valiant ponies were immersed in a battle with numerous forms of enemies, ranging from elemental sprites from the Great Purge Era to the ebony clad minotaurs and Centaurs of the Dark Army of Tartarus. Each ebony pillar the changing sleuthed by was about five feet thick all around, and each was carved to a smooth sheen all around the column, save for a small arched alcove on the inside face of each pillar. The alcoves rose about ten feet high and were three feet wide. Inside of these spaces was a small crafted pedestal, atop which stood a scale model of each and every great emperor that resided within the walls of the castle. Each proud and valiant pony easily stood about two feet higher than the average Equestrian pony, bringing them close to the Royal Pony Sisters stature. This was a fact easily forgotten due to the massive plate mail armor made specifically for each and every emperor. The added stature of the heavy yet sleek black armor made these ponies look almost mythical, and the many stories and tales of these emperors in combat spread far and wide to enemy nations, striking fear into the heart of any creature smart enough to understand them, yet dumb enough to challenge the empire's might.

      The changeling finally made it to the end of the hallway unseen, stopping before a set of heavy oaken doors, standing twenty feet high and ten feet wide. Four imperial guards stood watch in front of the door, their heavy silver mail adding to the already imposing stature of the guards. Each guard carried the standard issue steam-axe commonly wielded by imperial heavies(whom also double as imperial guards). This axe was a fearsome culmination of new and old technology, combining the standard might of a battle axe with cutting edge steam propulsion technology. The highly polished shaft of the axe rose a good five feet, putting its peak high above the heads of it's bearers. The head of the axe was of typical design, only instead being made of a darkened ebony steel instead of the bright silver of the shaft. There was no point on the backside of the axe head, just a small blunted rectangular bar that jutted out an inch from the backside of the shaft, running the length of the blade. The main difference between this axe and a standard battle axe was four squared faucets slowly rising on each side of the axehead, coming to a flattened opening facing away from the axehead. The sloped front side allowed the head to keep its near flattened shape, while the back of each faucet provided an opening for the internalized steam jets. Each faucet, two on each side of the head, upon activation, sent out a strong net of steam, propelling the axehead forward extremely fast and with great force. Early field tests for the fearsome weapon had shown, that with the improvement of the strengthened ebony steel head, the axe would shatter all forms of armor, bone, sinew, and even go straight through a boulder, causing an explosion of sorts as the rock burst into tiny pieces from the great force. The changeling shuddered at the thought of being hit by one.

     The shapeshifting creature hid behind a pillar and burst into brilliant emerald flames. Seconds later, the imperial envoy, Golden Script, came trotting around the pillar, in sight of the imperial guards. The two front most guards raised their axes into the battle ready positions, hooves ready on the steam trigger jutting out of the handle. Golden Script stopped at a safe distance, bowing to the guards. Keeping his head low and his eyes to the floor, he spoke.

     "The emperor has requested my presence." As he spoke he pulled the summoning stone from the pendant around his neck. It's smooth surface shone bright red, pulsating slowly. The guards examined it cautiously before returning to their normal stance.

     "You may enter."

     Golden Script returned the summoning stone to the slot in his pendant and rose back to his hooves.

     "Thank you, guards. May courage guide steel, and the emperor guide courage. Wir werden hoch herrschen!"

     "Wir werden hoch herrschen!" The guards repeat simultaneously, each giving a single bang on the floor with the shafts of their hammers upon finishing, resulting in a loud echo through the marble halls. Golden Script proceeded inside. Upon entering the emperors chambers, Golden Script immediately fell to the floor, curling up in pain. His skin began to become consumed in emerald green flames, chaotically flashing at various points on his body, revealing small patches of black chitin. Finally his entire body was consumed, followed by the flames dying out, revealing a shaking black changeling, curled up into a fetal position. His vision still blurry from the pain just inflicted upon him, he could barely make out the outline of a massive armor clad figure walking towards him. The figure stopped a few feet away, his sleek ebony leg plates slowly coming into focus for the changeling. A deep voice boomed.

     "Get up creature, I have no time to deal with your pain."

     The changeling obeyed, standing up and facing the ebony clad mass before him. He gave a low bow before speaking.

     "S-sorry your lordship....it won't happen agai-"

     "Let that be a lesson to you whelp. You and your kind are to never attempt to hide your ugly snouts in my presence unless I specifically ask you to do so. My summon will get you past the guards regardless of what form you are in. And if you dare insult my envoy Golden Script again by taking his form I will personally cave your skull in and feed you to my war hounds. I have many more of your pathetic kind available to me, so you are nothing special. Are we clear?"

     "Y-yes your lordship."

     "Good. Now, on to business. What news does our stealth detachment at the Equestrian flight academy have?"

     "The detachment has successfully made contact with the tail we put on the academy commander. The tail, as expected has gone undetected by the commander or anyone else. Also, your vollblütig was successful in joining the detachment. He has taken charge under your orders. Everything is proceeding as planned."

     "Good....the time has come for us to start our operations against Equestria. I want you to send word to the detachment that they are to initiate operation 'Pheonix Down'. Tell my vollblütig I'll be in touch." The dark clad figure began to walk away. The changeling gave a low bow once more before speaking.

     "I will do as you command. May Germaniegh never fall.Wir werden hoch herrschen!"

     The ebony clad figure turned his head slightly before replying.

     "Hail Germaniegh."

                --------------

     Lightning Dust approached Spitfires door, apprehensive of what was to come. The trainer behind her nodded towards the door, his expression unchanging behind his dark tinted shades. Lightning Dust let out a sigh as she knocked on the door, pleading to Celestia that Spitfire simply wasn't there.

     "Come in!"

     'Buck you Celestia....' Lightning Dust thought angrily to herself.

     She pushed the door open and walked slowly inside, taking a minute for her eyes to adjust to the dark interior.

     *Shink!

     "Ahhhhhh! Too bright!"

     Lightning Dust shielded her eyes from the barrage of light coming from the newly opened blinds. Spitfire sat next to the window, retracting a hoof as she turned towards Lightning Dust. She motioned towards a seat in front of the partially blinded pegasus.

     "Sit." She commanded.

     Lightning Dust complied.

     "Why was it so dark in here?!"

     "I like it dark." Spitfire replied coldly. The fiery mare sat down in front of her desk and began pulling papers from one of its many drawers. After a few seconds of shuffling through the papers she pulled one out, depositing the rest back into the drawer. She then slid the paper towards Lightning Dust. Her eyes finally adjusted to the light, Lightning Dust examined the paper in front of her. It was her admission paper to the academy. Lightning Dust cast a raised eyebrow at Spitfire.

     "What's this for?"

     "Your admission paper doubles as a dismissal paper."

     "Oh....that's awfully....convenient."

     "Meh, we're kinda lazy, less paper, less money."

     "Uh-huh...."

     *sigh

     "Look, if you want out just sign and date on the dotted red line at the bottom of the page. Nothing more nothing less. Hurry up, because I'm not in the mood and I have a lot of crap piling on me that I need to deal with."

     Lightning Dust cringed at the mares harsh words. Wasn't she trying to get her to stay just a little while ago? Why the sudden change of heart? Lightning Dust shook her head to clear the offending thoughts.

     'They don't want me here anyways. Let's just get this over with.'

     Lightning Dust grabbed the pen in her mouth and moved to sign the paper.

     Just then, three things happened. One, Lightning Dust didn't get to sign the paper. Two, a seemingly unknown force suddenly came down upon Spitfires front fetlocks, snapping both her front legs at once. Three, a giant white figure shimmered into existence to the right of Lightning Dust, wearing sleek black armor and wearing a massively large great sword across its back.

     Spitfire screamed in agony as the figure grabbed her by her mane and hurled her into Lightning Dust, knocking both mares into the floor. Blood from Spitfires broken legs coated Lightning Dust. The armor clad hulk walked towards the two. As he neared, he reared up onto his back hooves and brought his front hooves down in a mighty stomp, breaking Spitfires back legs as well. The crippled mare screamed into Lightning Dust's chest. Lightning Dust attempted to back away from the figure, dragging Spitfire away with her. She quickly hit the wall, halting her retreat. The hulk approached the two once more, causing a low whimper to escape Lightning Dust's lips. As he neared, Spitfire raised her head out of Lightning Dust's chest, tears of pain selling up in her eyes, blood pooling from her clenched mouth. She met Lightning Dust's eyes with a look not of fear, but of determination. As the assailant drew near she spoke.

     "Get away from here-" *cough* "-find the Crimson Brotherhood, tell them the academy-" *cough* "-is compromised."

     The hulk grabbed Spitfires mane and hoisted her up. She continued to stare into Lightning Dust's eyes as the figure wrapped its hooves around either side of her head.

     "You have to run, you have to tell the others, you have to liv-"

     *SNAP!

     Spitfires eyes rolled into the back of her head as her head jerked violently, causing her neck to snap. The massive figure tossed Spitfires body at Lightning Dust's hooves, the mares fiery mane and coat drenched in blood. Lightning Dust stared in horror as the figure smiled at her maniacally, before fading out of existence. Lightning Dust was in such a state of shock that her mind only perceived  noises as soft echoes. She could barely make out the screams of the crowd of ponies now gathering at the entrance of the room. She barely heard somepony yell for help. All she was really paying attention to was all the red. The floor was covered in it. Spitfire was covered in it. She was covered in it.....Wait! Lightning Dust's senses snapped back to normal as the horrible reality of what was going on clicked in her brain. She looked up to see several ponies staring at her in fear, crying, angry, shouting for her head. She stood up and backed away, trying to sputter out an explanation, trying to prove her innocence. All that came out was a low gurgle. Lightning Dust bumped Spitfires desk and attempted to climb over it, under it, around it, anything to further distance herself away from the angry mob of ponies. Just then, a familiar rainbow maned pegasus burst through the crowd. Lightning Dust locked eyes with Rainbow Dash.

     'Oh thank Celestia, Rainbow Dash will believe me! She knows I would never-'

     "I'LL KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE! I'LL KILL YOU LIGHTNING DUST!"

     'Buck.....I'm dead.....'

                -------------