Author's Notes:

It is honestly amazing what a little bit of scheduling can do: just set a daily reminder to write either two paragraphs a day or ten lines a day and BOOM, we're just churnin' these things out!

Speaking of helping my fellow writers get better at writing...

In case you missed the announcement: I'm trying to build a step-by-step video series on how to write your own fictional story!

I wanted it to be perfect for both people who have written their own stories before, but think they could do far better, and for those who are completely new.

As a storyteller yourself, I'd like to hear your thoughts on what YOU would want out of an online course like this! If you're new to all this fiction writing stuff, then this survey will help me understand what you need.

If you've been writing for a while now, you can still pitch in here, and let me know what you wished you knew when you were first starting out!

This is information that could help thousands of future writers reach their full potential, but it must start here with you.

But without further ado, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 25: One minute earlier…

Rainbow shook her head violently with panicked breaths, ridding herself of oppressive dizziness. She squirmed in her seat unable to unbuckle herself and leave! Thankfully, Jenkins was there to do it for her, since he had been less fazed by the impact.

Stumbling onto the warming metal floor, she made her way to the cockpit and shoved the door open. The scene nearly made her barf.

“Hey! *cough**cough* The pilot alri-? Aww FUCK!” Ogden shrieked as he too viewed the grisly scene before Rainbow.

The former aviator had been impaled through the chest by the now burning trunk of a desert tree, her head impaled by a smaller, secondary branch through her visor.

“At least she didn’t suffer,” said Jenkins somberly a moment later, prompting the pegasus in front of him to experience a pang of guilt.

“Well, we can’t stay in here,” said Gunny from behind as everyone felt the cabin start cooking them alive. “Sidney, grab that medkit. Marcus, Alex, clear a perimeter outside. Jenkins?! How’s the pilot?!”

“The pilot’s down!” the PFC called back.

“Shit,” was Gunny’s only response. “Shifty, you’re with me. Help me configure the fail-safes in this thing so we don’t blow up!”

“How do you know what to do?” asked Shifty as he and Gunny ran past Ogden Jenkins and Rainbow Dash before seeing the body. “Jesus!”

“I used to pilot various aircraft myself back in the day,” Gunny answered stoically as he got to work on the touchscreens. “Mostly some stolen Covenant Banshees here and there, but it’s all the same you know? Can you unhook that compressor for me?”

“Shit…I’ll just take your word for it I guess,” the still repulsed Private responded as he went over to the panel his superior was pointing at. “Sir.”

The coast is clear. came Marcus’ voice over their helmet radios. For now…

Rainbow Dash was now really starting to sweat from the heat.

“Jenkins, get Rainbow outside,” ordered Gunny. “For the time being, she’s safer out there than she is in here.”

“Aye, sir! C’mon Dashie,” said Ogden, pulling at her shoulder. “Let’s go!”

“Wait!” she said, teary-eyed and pointing at the pilot’s maimed corpse. “What about-?”

“She’s dead Rainbow!” he interrupted, practically yanking her towards the exit. “We gotta leave ’er! C’mon!”

Too shocked at the ease with which he uttered those words, the cerulean pegasus reluctantly obeyed, sobbing the whole way out.

Shifty exited the pelican after a few minutes and approached the rest of his squad. In doing so, he couldn’t help but overhear the conversation Ogden Jenkins and Rainbow Dash were having with each other.

“She’s dead because of me!” cried Rainbow as she rocked back and forth in the fetal position. “Tell me that wasn’t our only way out!”

Sidney had tossed the medkit over to Jenkins, who was now using its contents to treat Rainbow’s injured wings. He slowly and methodically wrapped white athletic tape around her chest.

“It was not our only ride!” said Jenkins matter-of-factly from behind. “The Infinity can always send another, it’ll just take a little longer. We’ll find you another way out!”

“And damn right she died for you!” Sgt. Alex interjected. “She understood how important you are, and was willing to accept that risk.”

By then, Jenkins had finished tying the white tape into a bow. The pegasus gave a small squeak when he pulled it tight.

He then packed up the medkit and stowed it away inside his backpack before kneeling down in front of Rainbow.

“That’s right,” said Jenkins, holding her by her shoulders once again. “This is all for you! You hear me?”

She just looked at the ground, still trying to process it all.

“Just do what we say, and try not to worry! We’ll all make it outta this!” he finished. “You don’t see any of us freaking out, do you?”

“Well, not on the outside at least,” said Sidney.

“What he said,” agreed Shifty.

Jenkins simply gave them both a look through his visor as if to say, “You’re not helping…”

In the meantime, Gunny hopped out of the burning pelican and walked over to the group of six.

“Electronics are mostly fried, but the fail-safes have all been activated,” he briefed. “The flames should eventually die down and what’s left of it can be recovered when the war’s over.”

“Good stuff, sir!” said Sidney, to which Gunny nodded.

“It looks like we’re still clear somehow,” said Marcus, continuing to scan the darkened horizon with night-vision.

“Yeah, but soon they’ll find the bodies and the pelican completely empty,” said Sgt. Alex. “Then they’ll be back on our asses! But, for the moment, sure: somehow they think we’re all dead.”

“Good,” Gunny responded as he looked at the ground, pointing behind himself with his thumb. “A moment of silence then, for the pilot.”

All six humans simply hung their heads for a few seconds, the soft rumble of fire licking away at the downed pelican filling the silence. Rainbow Dash only watched on at them, observing their quiet requiem.

“Infinity’s trying to contact me,” said Gunny somberly, finally breaking the silence. “Excuse me while I take this…”

Jenkins pulled out the piece of purple cloth he’d ripped from General Hive’s robe, turning to the rest of the group as his squad leader pulled himself off to the side.

“I was going to wrap this around one of your injured wings,” he said to Rainbow as everyone else listened. “But, I’m thinking now there’d be a better use for it.”

With that, he rolled the piece of purple cloth into a ball and chucked it into the flames.

Everyone slowly stood around him, watching as the fire consumed the ripped piece of purple robe in a glowing blaze. Rainbow just came and sat beside the PFC.

Wordlessly, he just rested a hand atop her dome and started stroking the mane. A now mutual understanding overcame them both: they must move on, for it’s either that or they all perish here and now.

August 11, 2558
0205 hours
Somewhere 200 miles southeast of Ottapaw

Sometime later, Gunny had huddled everyone into a circle.

“Lasky says he doesn’t want to risk another pelican flying into changeling airspace, so we’ll just have to hoof it,” he briefed before looking over at Rainbow. “No pun intended.”

“I didn’t know humans used that phrase,” she mused.

“If we can escape under the cover of darkness,” Alvarez continued. “We can, in theory, reach a point where they can send one in safely. If worse comes to worst, Shadow Company and our half of Gypsy Company should be through the Broken Leylands by noon tomorrow on their way to liberate Canida, and we’ll just link up with them.”

“How long would that take?” asked Alex.

The Gunnery Sergeant just shook his head and shrugged.

“God knows,” he answered, locking his shotgun onto his back. “That all depends on how much resistance they encounter the closer they get to Ottapaw.”

“Why are these city names so similar to the ones back on Earth?” asked Jenkins, a Canadian himself. “I guess only god knows that too?”

“Indeed,” said Gunny, looking back at Rainbow once again. “In any case, your home ain’t gettin' any closer. So, if north is where it’s at, then that’s the direction we start walking! Oorah?”

The rest of the group nodded in agreement as he stood up.

“Then let’s get moving, ‘cause it ain’t gettin' darker either!” he finished, shouldering his silenced SMG.

“Oorah!” said the other five ODSTs in unison as they and their singular, cerulean pegasus companion began to fade into the shadows.

August 11, 2558
0200 hours
Outskirts of Manehattan

One stop before it would enter the city, Greyblade and Cinder Pine debarked from the train that had left Ponyville a half-hour ago.

There it was in the distance: Manehattan, still somewhat crumbling in some parts, still burning in others, but still as alive and bustling as ever.

“There’s the city,” said Cinder. “C’mon! If we hurry, we’ll make it to the docks by sunrise!”

Their eyes were nearly bloodshot from how exhausted they felt. They had both been travelling all night, since they had left Sweet Apple Acres the afternoon before.

Still, Cinder felt on-edge. He trotted uneasily for some ways, for he was headed to where his traumatic experience had happened not even three days ago! However, it wasn’t too long before he realized the only hoofsteps he was hearing were his own.

He stopped and turned around to see that his marefriend hadn’t even moved from her original spot, nervously rubbing her left hoof with her right. She’d probably be shivering from the land-breeze coming from the lake was it not for the tan jacket she was wearing over her white t-shirt.

Come to think of it, he might’ve been shivering too was it not for the scarf she’d lent him. He sighed an exhausted breath, then trotted back over to the princess.

“Look, whatever it is your feeling right now, I guarantee it’s the same thing I’m feeling,” he said before pointing at the skyscrapers behind him. “We both just had the worst day of our lives in that city, but right now, it’s our best way out. We discussed this, remember?”

“Well, you got part of the story right,” Greyblade responded, looking up past him at the city. “I also feel guilty for just…leaving.”

Now she looked at him, and he could once again see tears coming from her sky-blue eyes. This time however, they appeared to be tears of anger and frustration.

“We just got up and left without even saying goodbye!” she said angrily. “Who the hay does that?!”

“We left a note,” said the brown stallion, as if that solved all their problems.

“Oh come on, Cinder! You know it’s still rude, especially after how much hospitality they showed us…”

Cinder said nothing for a while.

“You’ve changed,” he said finally. “You know that right?”

Greyblade just stared back at the cityscape. They were alone on the platform, having been the only two to get off at this stop.

“What if one of them recognizes me?” she asked finally. “Just like that little filly back on the farm?”

Cinder simply looked at her, before wordlessly taking her blonde braid in his hoof.

“Ow! Hey!” she protested. “What the-?! What are you doing?!”

“There are plenty of blonde ponies around here,” he said as he fiddled with her mane. “But not many with a braid like yours.”

After a few moments, Cinder pulled out a plastic braid holder from Greyblade’s mane, and her blonde locks fell around her visage once again.

“There! We just needed to loosen up a little!” said Cinder, then looking at the fashion tool in his hoof. “This is a thing?!”

“How would you like it if I just started tugging at your mane?!” said Greyblade, annoyed. “And yeah, Granny Smith let me borrow one. I mean, it just seemed way more convenient than doing it manually, so…”

“Huh,” was all Cinder Pine could say as he tossed it aside. “I suppose she won’t miss it. You feelin’ better now? ‘Bout going in there?”

Greyblade thought about this for a moment. Now that he mentioned it, untying her mane felt like it had released a lot of bent-up anxiety!

She then reached into her saddlebag and pulled out the plain-black sports hat she was given when she was released from captivity.

“Just one last touch,” she said before putting it on. “That’s better.”

Cinder and Greyblade exchanged almost childlike smiles. Looking towards the distant, tall buildings, the grey mare took a tentative breath as her mane blew in the breeze.

“This is it then?” she asked.

“We’ve just gotta make our way to the docks,” Cinder responded. “Then we’ll never, ever visit this city again!”

Greyblade just giggled like a foal when he said that.

“I’d like that,” she said before she started trotting. “I’d like that a lot…”

August 11, 2558
0600 hours
Somewhere 185 miles southeast of Ottapaw
Biome: Semi-Arid Desert with Little Undergrowth

As the sun began to rise, Gunnery Sergeant David Alvarez raised a fist to stop the group.

“My map’s telling me we’ve gone about fifteen miles on foot,” he said. “There’s little vegetation around to give us cover, so we’ll start digging foxholes by those bushes.”

“Fifteen miles in four hours?” said PFC Ogden Jenkins. “Damn right we need a break!”

“We’ll just dig three,” Gunny continued. “Two men per foxhole. Rainbow, you’ll be with me and Jenkins.”

“Okay,” said Rainbow exhaustedly.

“Alright, you heard the man!” said Sgt. Alex Thompson. “Everyone get out your shovels and hop to it!”

Alvarez pulled out his canteen and took a sip before tossing it to Jenkins.

“Make sure she gets some,” he ordered, smiling. “She definitely needs it more than you!”

He didn’t have to him twice, Jenkins could see the first leg of their journey had already taken its toll on Rainbow: her mane was matted to her fur with sweat and she was panting hard.

He knew she was being forced to undertake this long hike off the back of brutal torture, the likes of which he couldn’t even fathom, yet somehow she seemed more exhausted than she should have been.

Regardless, he handed her the canteen without taking a sip himself. She pointed at him instead of taking it.

“Wha-what about-?” she started.

“I have my own,” he interrupted, thrusting the canteen into her hoof. “You need to drink up. We should be worrying about you way more than you should be worrying about us!”

With that, Rainbow sat on her haunches and wordlessly began gulping down the water. She hadn’t thought about it much until now, but aside from the bucket of ice-cold water that got poured over her one time, the changelings had just barely been feeding her food and drink the whole time she was held captive.

As a result, this was by far the freshest and tastiest water she’d consumed in a long time!

“We’ll have to search for another source of water soon,” said Corporal Marcus Williams. “Our canteens won’t last us forever.”

“Agreed,” said Gunny, looking towards the horizon. “I was just thinking: that clump of vegetation over that way could be an oasis.”

“I can go check it out later,” Jenkins volunteered. “Once we’re finished digging, right?”

“Why don’t you go now, yeah? It doesn’t look like there are changelings too close by, so let’s prioritize the water situation,” said Gunny. “And take Sidney with you, so you’ve got a combat buddy. Rainbow Dash too, she still looks parched.”

Sidney grabbed his silenced SMG as he stood up, before showing some stunned body language when he looked at the pegasus.

“Oh, shit…” was all he said.

Jenkins turned to see Rainbow sheepishly holding Gunny’s canteen upside-down with no water coming out of it.

“And you can take my canteen with you, too,” Alvarez finished.

“Aye, sir,” said Jenkins.

August 11, 2558
0610 hours
UNSC Infinity Bridge

Captain Thomas Lasky joined Dr. Glassman and Dr. Halsey on the bridge.

“You’re lucky I don't need to sleep, sir,” said Roland, having observed Fireteam Icebreaker’s movements all night.

“Or what? You’d self-destruct the whole ship?” said Captain Thomas Lasky jokingly as he approached the holo-table while stretching. “Or fly us all into Eternity’s Crossing?”

“Is that what they call that ocean over there?...And yeah...probably…”

“How’s their progress?”

“They’ve managed about fifteen miles since 0200, and it looks like Private Morgan and PFC Jenkins are about to discover that oasis.”

“Probably to get extra water, right?”

“My thoughts exactly. Strange that they would send Rainbow with them…”

“We have no clue what kind of tourture she had to endure, and she had to walk basically twenty-four klicks on top of all that? She’ll be extremely dehydrated.”

“That reminds me: I can’t read her vitals from here. I sent them down with an instrument that can run the scan, but they still haven’t used it!”

“Perhaps it broke during the drop?” asked Dr. Glassman.

“It’s possible,” said Halsey.

“We could just extract them now,” Lasky suggested. “Send down another pelican? Skip the middleman and run the bioscan up here?”

“If the coast is clear we might as well,” said Roland. “Lemme check.”

August 11, 2558
0612 hours
Somewhere 185 miles southeast of Ottapaw

“With any luck, they’ll just send the next pelican down before we even finish,” said Sgt. Alex after heaving a hefty pile of dirt to the side.

“They’d better!” said Private Eugene Phillips. “These uniforms didn’t come with air-conditioning, you know?”

“We’re all painfully aware, Shifty,” said Gunny. “I still haven’t seen a single changeling, despite being behind enemy lines. A quick in-and-out should do the job.”

As if on cue, Roland’s voice filled their headsets.

Icebreaker, this is Infinity! Come in Icebreaker!”

“Go Roland,” Gunny responded.

You’ve got a squadron of twelve changelings incoming from the south!

August 11, 2558
0611 hours
Somewhere 185 miles southeast of Ottapaw

Rainbow Dash and her two human guardians emerged from the greenery into the oasis. The mare nearly collapsed as she knelt down take huge gulps of water.

“God damn, Rainbow!” said Jenkins. “What if it was poisoned?”

She didn’t respond. It tasted clean enough for her.

She drank and drank, periodically splashing water over her face and head as that was her only means of efficiently bathing herself for the time being.

The marines simply watched on as they refilled their canteens.

“Why didn’t we just bring everyone’s canteens?” asked Sidney.

“We’re in no rush,” Jenkins responded. “Gunny says we weren’t pursued, so…”

Hearing this, Rainbow slowly brought herself to a stop and just sat on all fours by the pond, eyes closed and trying her hardest to relax.

In fact, she was almost about to lose track of time! But what snapped out of her trance was the concerned gaze on each ODST’s face. They both looked like they’d just seen a ghost.

“Changelings!” hissed Sidney.

“Shit!” said Jenkins grabbing Rainbow by the neck and chest. “Everyone into the water!”

“What?!” Rainbow squeaked as Sidney dived in. “Wait! Aah!”

The PFC had already dragged her in waist-deep!

“Just take a deep breath and try to stay calm!” he told her, now neck-deep.

Seeing no other option, Rainbow Dash took in the biggest gulp of air she could muster before covering her mouth and nose with her hooves. The next thing she knew, she was dragged under, the lukewarm water now surrounding her head.

She had held her breath underwater before, but never when she couldn’t control when she would come up! She knew it wouldn’t be long before she would want nothing more than to surface, but it was then that three changelings flew into view and stopped just above the water.

Meanwhile, the other four members of Fireteam Icebreaker rested on their backs inside of their half-finished foxholes, aiming up at the hovering changelings. The remaining nine had yet to spot them, but it wouldn’t be long until that changed and the four humans knew it.

“If this is a full squadron, then they’ve got four flights of three,” said Sgt. Alex. “See? Those three are checking the oasis. That means they must be grouped together.”

“Ooh...I didn’t know you read up on Air Force terminology, Sarge,” teased Shifty.

“Shut up Private,” said Alex good-naturedly. “You know it pays to know that stuff!...I’m not embarrassed to admit that…”

“Sure ya aren’t,” Shifty continued.

“Can it you two! God damn,” Gunny hissed, not taking his eyes off the hovering hostiles. “Some airpower would be hella useful right now. We could use the cover, since I’ve been told this is just a scouting party.”

“There’s gunna be more?!” said Shifty.

“Way more,” Alvarez responded, his gaze unwavering. “These guys are just part of a reinforcement wave headed towards Canida, so regardless of whether or not they spot us, a swarm of changelings will control this area in the next few minutes.”

“This is fucked!” whispered Marcus. “We’ll need to keep moving to avoid them, but we’ve also gotta rest! What do we do?”

“We’re resting here tonight, that much is final,” said Gunny. “The best we can do right now is hide in these bushes.”

His eyes finally shifted from the sky to the group.

“If they spot us, we shoot ’em, then hide the bodies and hope the rest don’t sniff us out later…”

With that, he returned to aiming at one changeling’s head.

Please leave... thought Rainbow, feeling the discomfort start to set in. Please!

But the three changelings just wouldn’t. And as if they were intentionally trying to drown her, two of them slowly began to drift downward as she and Jenkins looked up at them.

Come on Rainbow! Push yourself! said the athletic part of her. You have to push yourself! You just have to!

The water was barely murkey enough to hide them. As the two hostiles landed on the spot where Rainbow and the two ODSTs were just seconds prior, they began scanning the ground; perhaps they were examining the footprints?

Hold your breath! she practically screamed in her mind.

She shut her eyes in desperation and began to tremble violently in Jenkins’ arms, to the point where he had to hold her across her chest with one arm, and across her full waist with the other, just to hold her back!

It was at this point that the two ODSTs noticed the two changelings start squinting at the water’s surface.

Jenkins looked over to Sidney, who acknowledged that they were both seeing the same thing, before Jenkins released Rainbow Dash just a moment later.

If they see me and kill me, then they kill me. she thought ironically, as those were her survival instincts finally winning out

But I need to breath, NOW!

The pegasus mare burst from the water, taking a few massively deep breaths before coughing and spitting everywhere. Thankfully for her, the changelings were taken aback by her sudden appearance more than anything.

This gave the ODSTs the time they needed.

Jenkins swiftly burst out of the water in front of Rainbow Dash, brandishing his silenced M6C pistol, and shot both changelings square in the face between their blue, reflectionless eyes.

Sidney meanwhile had burst out as well, pre-aiming at the third changeling providing overwatch and shooting him in the gut multiple times from below.

The changeling dropped his spear as he fell, but as Sidney attempted to get out of the way, he slipped on a rock and the Australian fell on his back underwater. Rainbow looked over to where he was just in time to see it happen.

She screamed for a brief moment, stopping only when she covered her mouth with her hooves, as she watched the tip of the spear pierce the water’s surface and get lodged in something below.

“They’ve been made!” said Sgt. Alex. “Engage! Engage!”

The silenced rounds from Icebreaker’s SMGs tore into the changelings like they were Covenant Drones, and in seconds the other nine changeling bodies hit the sand in pools of green blood.

“Each of you drag one back here, then cover the rest with sand,” ordered Gunny, practically jumping to his feet. “The sand itself should absorb the blood. Go!”

Rainbow Dash remained frozen in place, she was too shocked to move. She saw a red mist rising from under the spear, stuck in the now calm water almost vertically. Tears began to flow from her eyes.

Still breathing hard from having to hold her breath for so long, she instinctively began to swim over to Sidney with a kind of morbid curiosity. The moment she looked through the clear water however, she immediately regretted her decision.

She fell to her knees, the water still shallow enough to keep her upper chest out of the water. The spear had broken through his visor, and through the semi-transparent red blood slowly oozing out, she could see his mangled face.

The worst part were his eyes, wide in shock and forever a snapshot of his final moments.

Despite being out of breath just moments ago, she was suddenly finding impossible to simply inhale once! It wasn’t until Jenkins waded over next to her that she finally broke from her trauma-induced trance.

“God dammit, FUCK!” Ogden exclaimed as Rainbow finally took one massively deep breath before bawling into his armor.

The two of them stayed like that for a few moments, Rainbow continuing to grieve as the PFC just looked on at his fallen friend, until Jenkins finally brought the pegasus mare back to their piece of sand.

Rainbow just crawled out of the water and laid flat on the sand, still wailing loudly in heartbreak as Jenkins activated his helmet microphone.

“Gunny? We’ve go-we’ve got a man down,” he reported. “Sidney, sir he’s...he’s gone…”

August 11, 2558
0700 hours
UNSC Infinity Bridge

“At least Private Morgan did his job keeping Rainbow safe,” said Lasky somberly.

“She’s the only one who can power the ‘loyalty’ Forerunner artifact,” said Glassman. “Need we remind ourselves…”

“It could have certainly been worse,” said Halsey.

“Yeah, I mean, can you imagine if that news had arrived just one minute later?!” Roland speculated.

“Let’s not. Just leave the past where it is: in the past,” said Lasky, before he put a fist up to his mouth and spoke under his breath. “Thank goodness Fluttershy isn’t here to see this…”