Chapter Three – Under a Blood Red Sky

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Spitfire

Coordinating nearly eight thousand able-bodied pegasi to move an entire city across Equestria was not how Spitfire had planned to spend her vacation. It couldn't be further from. However, when you get an order from Princess Celestia of all ponies, you very well can't ignore it.

"Fleetfoot, get the downtown ponies to stop slacking off. We've got a city to move here!" Spitfire yelled.

Fleetfoot nodded and flew off in a blue blur. Spitfire took a moment to study the progress Cloudsdale had made. The floating city was traveling at a staggeringly slow pace through the sky. Even with an entire population of pegasi working to maneuver the massive cloud, they had barely covered twenty miles in the last half hour. That meant they still had yet to crest over the top of the Foal Mountains.

It was making the flame-orange pegasus very impatient.

"Soarin!" She yelled out. Two feet in front of her, a light blue pegasus in a Wonderbolt uniform turned around.

"Spitfire, I'm right here. You don't have to yell." He said, rubbing his ear.

"What's with the halted progress?" She asked, this time only in a loud voice, not a yell.

"Everypony's tired, Spitfire." Soarin responded. "You've been running them ragged since dawn."

"Of course I have." Spitfire said, her amber eyes narrowing. "We've got to get the entire city positioned between Canterlot and Neighagra Falls by lunchtime. Our orders come from the top, so there's no room for failure here."

"Which brings me to the other problem." Soarin said. "Nopony is motivated to move the entire city all of a sudden without knowing why. Didn't the Princess give you an explanation in the orders she sent?"

Spitfire thought back to very earlier this morning – or was it very late last night? – when the scroll baring the royal seal had flashed into her room. It had said specifically why the city needed to be moved, but the Princess had implored her to tell nopony why until the city had been relocated.

There is no point in alarming anypony and causing a panic. The elegant calligraphy of the Princess had said. Once the city is in place, the pegasi will have a right to know why I've uprooted them, but until then it is important that you keep it a secret.

Spitfire had stuck by those words all morning, but her resolve was beginning to wither. Soarin and the other Wonderbolts had a right to know why this was happening. After all, she could trust them.

With a reluctant sigh, Spitfire looked directly at Soarin and bluntly said, "War's been declared, Soarin. The Princess needs us to be Canterlot's first line of defense."

"WHAT?!" Soarin shouted. All nearby pegasi turned confused head in their direction. Before Soarin could do anything else stupid, Spitfire clamped his mouth shut with her hoof.

"Don't mind him." She told the pegasi. "Just get a move on." Begrudgingly, the winged ponies returned to maneuvering Cloudsdale.

"Soarin." Spitfire hissed at him, safetly out of earshot of the other workers. "We can't sound the alarm just yet. The pegasi might go berserk, so this news has to be broken to them gently."

Soarin nodded, his green eyes portraying his understanding.

"I'm going to take my hoof off your mouth now." Spitfire said. "Promise me you won't scream again?" Soarin again nodded. Spitfire removed her hoof, allowing Soarin to speak.

"Has the Princess gone crazy?" He asked, quietly this time. "Why is Cloudsdale being put on the frontlines?"

"Because," Spitfire began, about to reiterate the words on the Princess' parchment. "Pegasi are warriors, we always have been."

"Yeah, in the Griffon-Pony Wars five hundred years ago." Soarin said, giving her an unnecessary history lesson. "But now – and no offense to any of us – we've kinda gotten a little lazy."

"I can whip them into shape." Spitfire said confidently. "And it's not like our lives are in danger for being put on the front lines. Cloudsdale was built to be a fortress during the war, and it still is. When we're inside the city, nothing's going to harm us."

Soarin gave a dubious look, but didn't offer any more complaints. He returned to the process of moving the city, as did Spitfire.

Even though Cloudsdale was basically a bunch of clouds, it was ironically heavy. The only way that it could be propelled forward is by the wind produced by thousands of pegasi flapping their wings. It was a difficult job for each pegasus, but arguably Spitfire had the most difficult job. As one of the best fliers in the city, she had fly back and forth to manage the whole project. It was up to her to steer the city, and make sure everypony kept an even pace, otherwise the city may hit a stray mountain top, or be sent in a wild direction.

Spitfire allowed herself to get lost in her overseer job for the moment, slowly tiring herself out. Over the next hour, she felt her wings slowly feel the strain of circumnavigating the entire city hundreds of times. To conserve some energy, the orange pegasus let Fleetfoot take the reigns temporarily. Spitfire found a small, fluffly cloud, and decided on a five-minute power nap.

It seemed the second she closed her eyes she suddenly found herself being shaken awake. Irritated, she opened one eye to see Fleetfoot. The silvery-haired pegasus had concern in her eyes.

"Spitfire, we've got a problem." Fleetfoot said.

"What." She grumbled, irritated yet slightly worried based on her comrade's tone.

Instead of telling Spitfire, Fleetfoot pointed off to the left to show her the problem. Spitfire followed the direction of her hoof until her line of sight caught something unusual on the horizon. Tiny gray and black specks… that were coming closer.

Adrenaline rocketed through Spitfire's body and she bolted upright. "Changelings." The captain of the Wonderbolts snarled. She glanced at Fleetfoot. "Alert the pegasi, these things will be on us any second now."

Fleetfoot nodded, and swooped down, screaming a cry to battle. Every pegasi who had been working to move the city suddenly turned their attention to the oncoming threat.

Spitfire looked again and saw the specks were now close enough that she could see the gnarled, ugly bodies of the changeling. They looked ready for a fight. Spitfire looked back at the eight thousand pegasi of Cloudsdale.

They did not look ready for a fight.

Hours spent moving a massive fortress of a city had taken a toll. The majority of the winged ponies were exhausted, and the rest were practically about to pass out. Spitfire knew they would not have enough time to get into the city and fortify themselves. She knew they would only have one chance of survival. And a very slim chance it was.

"Everypony… CHARGE!" She screamed boldly. In spite of their exhaustion, it seemed as though the pegasi also knew that this was their last chance. Unfortunately Soarin had been right when he said they weren't ready for battle.

Several charged straight into the fray, while others scattered and fled. A few tried unsuccessfully to enter the fortress city before getting cut down by the swarm. The unarmed, unprotected pegasi that chose to fight fell victim to the changelings as they sped forward. Fangs ripped into pony flesh, and bloodcurdling screams filled the skies. Fleetfoot rushed forward, and found herself bombarded on all sides by a flurry of kicks, punches, and bites.

Spitfire joined the fight herself, but she quickly saw it to be a losing battle.

She didn't surrender though, and to show her resolve to the changelings she bashed two of their heads together. ANtoher one flew too close and she delivered a mid-air roundhouse kick to it's face. That was about the only hits she got.

A changeling attacked from behind, sinking his fanged teeth into the bone of her wing. Spitfire screamed in pain, and tried to swat it away. Before she could even bring her hoof around, another two changelings rammed into her from the front, once shattering her sternum and the other crushing her windpipe. Spitfire gaped but failed to breath in air as her vision went red. Unable to sustain flight any longer, the orange pegasus felt her body plunge to the ground.

The last thing her red vision saw was Soarin diving after her. Then everything went black.

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Frostburn

He sprinted down the hall, almost knocking over a surprised looking guard in the process. Behind him, he heard a set of hooves trotting and a pair of wings flapping.

Frostburn didn't have to guess who they were.

"Frostburn, get back here!" Dash's angry yet passionate voice called out.

"Please darling, we only want to talk." Rarity pleaded. He grunted and ran faster.

"Well I don't want to talk." He turned his head to yell back. When he did so, Frostburn saw that only Rarity was pursuing him now. Rainbow Dash had disappeared.

The cyan pegasus wasn't missing for long, however. When Frostburn turned back around, he nearly crashed into Rainbow Dash before skidding to a stop.

"Is this going to be a regular thing with you?" Rainbow asked in an accusatory tone.

Frostburn turned his head to see if he could still get away, but a white mare blocked his path. He sighed.

"I don't want it to be Rainbow. Honestly, I don't. But running from my problems is just easier than facing them."

"You can't run away from everything, Frostburn." Dash said, her tone more gentle.

"Why not? I've been running my whole life." He replied. Frostburn sat down in defeat, not willing to try another escape. Rainbow Dash stopped hovering and moved closer to him. Rarity also moved in, but Frostburn noticed the two mares stayed starkly away from each other.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Rarity quietly asked.

"Not really." He said.

"Well too bad." Dash said, playfully punching his shoulder. "Cause I'm not leaving till you do."

Frostburn allowed himself a brief smile, but it faded away slowly. "Look, I… I can't go to war. I can't lead an army into battle. I certainly can't defeat the changelings with my power. And I don't want to."

Rainbow blinked a few times in confusion. "You mean you don't want to defend Equestria? You don't want to save everypony who lives here?"

"It's not that!" Frostburn said immediately. The last thing he wanted was for Rainbow to think of him as an unfeeling sociopath. The words to explain it were on the tip of his tongue, yet he couldn't quite reach them.

Rarity came to his aid by putting a hoof on his shoulder. "I think I know what the problem is." She whispered. "You don't want to kill again."

Frostburn looked gratefully at the white unicorn. "I can't kill again." He said.

"Are you talking about the changeling on the train?" Rainbow asked, oblivious to Frostburn and Rarity's conversation last night. "That was nothing Frost, it–"

"It wasn't just the changeling." Frostburn said, the burden on his heart about to be revealed for the second time in twenty-four hours. "Dash… I've killed ponies." He painfully whispered. "Seven others. They were all burned alive and it was all my fault."

The cyan pegasus stared at him, her pupils had shrunk. "Frost, I had no idea…"

"No idea that I'm such a horrible pony?" He filled in for her.

"No! I just…" Frostburn could see that Rainbow was searching for something to say, but couldn't find it. She hates me now. Frostburn thought. She thinks I'm a monster… and she isn't wrong.

He stood up, causing both mares to back up.

"Frostburn?" Rarity inquired.

"Goodbye." Frostburn said softly, and ran off again. He didn't look back, but he didn't need to, knowing he wouldn't be followed this time.

Without anywhere to go, Frostburn found himself in the small guest bedroom he had been spending most of his time in since arriving. He sat there brooding for a long time.

"She didn't understand." Frostburn whispered to himself over and over. It's not like I expected her to. He thought to himself. She knows you're a murderer now.

But one pony understood. Frostburn didn't know what his own thought meant for a moment. But then he recalled. Last night, Rarity had known exactly what to say. She had been so warm and comforting…

"Why is my life so bucking confusing." Frostburn asked the bed in front of him. It didn't respond. After all it was a bed, and beds tended to not speak even when spoken to. Without somepony to talk out his frustrations too, the red haired pegasus curled up on the bed, and touched the small stump on his forehead, hoping for some luck or guidance or something.

There was a knock on his door a second later. Frostburn sat upright immediately.

Had Rainbow Dash come after him? Or was it… Rarity?

Frostburn calmly walked to the door, but prepared himself for anything that could be on the otherside. Even so, he was honestly surprised to see a navy blue alicorn princess looking back at him when the door swung open.

"Hi…" he said. Luna… her name is Luna… right? "Princess Luna."

"Hello Frostburn. I thought you would be here." The alicorn said.

"What do you want?" He asked cautiously. He had so far had very limited interaction with Princess Luna. Practically none. That left only one reason for her to possibly want to speak to him.

"I've come to discuss the possibility of you joining the army." Luna said.

"There is no possibility. Discussion over." Frostburn said, not caring that he was being rude the Princess of the Night. "I can't use my power for this war."

"You don't have to." Luna replied, catching him off guard. "If you are still not under control of your magic, that is fine. But I have a feeling that you will want to come to the frontlines anyway."

"Why?" He asked, genuinely confused.

"Think." Luna told him. "War is dangerous. Ponies on our side will most likely be dying everyday, especially those on the front lines. Who do you know who just volunteered to go there?"

Frostburn's eyes widened as he realized what Luna was saying. In recognition of this, Luna's voice softened. "I'm not saying you have to go, but they will both need and want you there."

"B-both of them?" Frostburn stuttered. After what he had just told Rainbow, he doubted she would want him anywhere near her for a long time.

"Frostburn, I spent a millennia in exile on a desolate rock thousands of miles in the void of space. Yet somehow, even I can see that both Rarity and Rainbow Dash like you. How in Equestria did you get so bad at reading mares?"

"Practice." He responded, realizing that Princess Luna was joking. She grinned at him. "But, Rainbow just learned some awful things about me, and it didn't look like she was taking it very well. I don't think she'll ever like me now, knowing that I–"

Princess Luna put her hoof up to stop him. "I don't need to know about your past." She said. "But I do know that whatever it was will not affect how Rainbow Dash feels about you. I've known that pegasus for quite some time. She's slow to warm up to somepony, but fiercely loyal to them when she does. Perhaps her loyalty has doubled when it comes to you."

Frostburn smiled, grateful for the Princess reassuring words. "Okay." He told her. "It looks like I'm going to war then."

Princess Luna gave him a rueful smile and said, "In that case, I hope I have not convinced you to make a choice you'll regret."

The Princess of the Night turned and walked away. She paused once to shout back to him "Make sure you pack your things. We are heading out at evening."

"Heading out to where?" He asked.

"Why, the Crystal Empire of course." Luna said before rounding a corner.

And just like that, Frostburn was alone again.

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Sorry that this chapter is like, a thousand words less than the previous one. Not a lot of ideas were going through my head. (I blame the headband for cutting off circulation to my brain.) Also, the next chapter might be even more delayed because I will have no time to write over the weekend. On the upside, the next chapter is going to be epic.