Loud knocking at the door roused Steadfast from a deep sleep. Sitting up, he groggily stumbled out of bed and threw the door open. A nervous looking recruit stood cowering under his tired gaze.

“By Celestia and the stars above this better be important.”

The recruit shrank under Steadfast’s piercing glare. “Ca…Ca… Captain…you’ve been su…summoned b…b…by Princess…Lu…Luna.” He managed to stammer out.

Captain Steadfast was momentarily surprised. “Why would Princess Luna want to see the Solar Captain?” Lost in thought, Steadfast closed his door and began outfitting himself in his patrol armor. Once equipped he threw open his door and stepped out into the hall…and slammed headlong into the recruit from moments before.

“By the…Why are you still here?!” yelled Steadfast as he readjusted his helm.

“I…I was…t…told to escort…y….you.” stammered the recruit.

Steadfast was about to give him a dressing down when he noticed just how frightened the boy was. “Must be fresh out of training.” Thought steadfast.

“What’s your name son?” he asked in a softer tone.

“Private Jammers, sir!” he answer quickly.

“Alright Jammers, I know my way to the Lunar Court and therefore require no escort. You are dismissed.”

“But..but sir, her highness insisted…that I…es…escort you, be…besides she…isn’t…at th…the Lunar Co…Court.”

Steadfast resisted the urge to drag a hoof across his face. “Very well then, lead the way.”

The eastern sky was beginning to lighten just as Captain Steadfast and Private Jammers reached the train station in lower Canterlot. Despite the early hour the station was bustling with activity. Guards, both day and night ran about carry large crates of various items as well as bandaged ponies on cloth stretchers. Many of the stretchers that they passed were covered with a white sheet.

“What happened here?” asked Steadfast.

“Tr..tragedy at the…th…Crystal Empire, sir.” Said Jammers, navigating through he crowd. “Her hi…highness will ex…explain.”

Ahead Steadfast saw the Princess of the Night speaking with a cyan pony with a rainbow mane, Steadfast recognized her as the Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash. Drawing close he could make out the conversation.

“….unwise. We understand your feelings but allowing you to return alone without fully understanding the situation could be disastrous.”

“But Princess Luna!”

Princess Luna was about to say something else when Steadfast and Jammers approached.

“Ah Captain, We are glad to see you.”

“Your highness.” Steadfast said, bowing low. “You wanted to see me?”

“Yes, as we are sure you have guess, we are in the middle of a crisis. Several hours ago, King Sombra overran the Crystal City and encased it in a black crystal dome. Nay on four dozen were able to escape, most of those were mortally wounded and passed while in transit. Thousands more were trapped inside the city when it was sealed, among those were Princess Cadence, Prince Shining Armor, and the Element of Magic, Twilight Sparkle.”

Steadfast’s jaw dropped, his gaze moved from Princess Luna to Rainbow Dash and back again. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard, mentally shaking himself and regaining control of his jaw, Steadfast snapped to attention. “What course of action do you recommend, your highness?”

Before Princess Luna could speak Rainbow Dash angrily spoke up. “I’ll tell you what we should do! Get together a team and break into the city and rescue Twilight and the others!”

Princess Luna looked crossly at the cyan pony. “Rainbow Dash, we have told you that would be unwise. It’s unknown what you would encounter.”

“Your highness?” interrupted Steadfast. “If I may, that sounds like a reasonable course of action.”

“Captain?” asked Princess Luna, slowly raising an eyebrow.

“I can put a specialist team together. Like you said, we don’t know what’s really going on. My team can assess the situation and allow us to plan out our next course of action.”

Rainbow Dash smiled triumphantly. “See?! Even the Captain here agrees with me!”

Princess Luna considered Steadfast’s words for several moments before responding. “Very well Captain. We trust you to handle this accordingly. You are to gather a team to return to the Crystal Empire and assess the situation and report back to us their findings.”

“Hey! What about me?! They’re not going without me!”

Princess Luna scowled deeply. ”Rainbow Dash, we have told you already…”

“Your highness? If I may?” asked Steadfast.

Princess Luna turned her scowl to him. “You may.”

“Your Highness, if we are going to merely assess then we will need a sharp eyed Pegasus. If memory serves Miss Dash is one of the fastest and able Pegasus in Eqestria, We could certainly use her skills.”

Princess Luna did not respond for several seconds and Steadfast began to wonder if sticking up for the Element of Loyalty was a good idea. Finally Princess Luna nodded her head. “Very Well. Rainbow Dash will accompany the team back to the Crystal City.”

“AWWW YEAH!” yelled Rainbow Dash, hovering excitedly in the air.

“Only to observe.” Finished Princess Luna sternly. “Under no circumstance are you to try and get into the city, learn all you can from a safe distance then report back immediately. Is that understood?”

Rainbow Dash appeared to want to say something but quickly changed it to a smart salute, rivaling Steadfast’s own. “Understood!”

Princess Luna nodded again. “Very good. Captain we leave you to it, Our sister will soon be rising and we’d prefer to be the ones to bring her this dire news.” With a flash of magic, Princess Luna was gone. Steadfast turned towards Private Jammers who had said nothing during their talk.

“Private. How good are your eyes?”

“Twenty tw…twenty, sir. Wh..why?”

“Excellent.” Captain Steadfast said, slapping a hoof on his shoulder. “You’re coming with me to the Crystal Empire.”

“Wh…WHAT?!”

A terrible fit of coughing jerked Applejack awake, she struggled to sit up and get more air into her lungs but intense pain in her chest kept her from doing so. After several moments the coughing subsided, able to breath Applejack opened her eyes.

She found herself laying on a extremely ornate bed in an equally ornate room. Turning her head to the left she saw an odd machine with a tube filled with blue liquid running out of the top. Following the tube with her eyes she saw that the other end was hooked into her left foreleg.

Gingerly adjusting her leg so as not to tangle the tube, Applejack looked to her right and saw Rarity asleep in a chair next to the door. Her usually well-kept mane was a mess and she looked like the one who needed to be in the bed.

Applejack was about to wake her up when the door opened and in stepped a brown unicorn stallion wearing a white coat.
“Ah good. I see that your awake Miss Apple.” He said. Upon seeing Rarity asleep in the chair he blushed slightly and lowered his voice. “Uh…how are you feeling?”

“Pretty good considering. I got a real bad cough and this here tube in my leg is kinda itchy.”

“Well that itchy tube will help with your cough so you’ll have to put up with it for a while longer.”

“Figures.” Applejack said glumly. “Hey where exactly am I? I know Canterlot is fancier than Ponyville but I didn’t think the hospitals here were this fancy.”

“Oh you’re not in a hospital, you’re in a guest suite inside Canterlot Castle. Princess Luna arranged for you to receive medical attention here so that you and your friends would be close by.”

“Well that was mighty kind of her. If you see her tell her thanks will yah?”

“Of course, now just let me check you’re IV and I’ll let you get some rest.”

He moved over to the machine and checked several knobs and compared them to notes written on a clipboard he brought, after nodding several times he levitated a clear pouch filled with more blue liquid and switched it out with the empty one attached to the machine. Immediately Applejack's leg grew warmer as more liquid flowed through the tube.

His work done, the stallion gathered his things and quietly left the room, closing the door back behind him. The heat in her leg spread to the rest of her body causing her to feel sleepy, unable to resist she gave into the warmth and fell into a restful sleep.

Applejack awoke to the soft rustling sound of pages turning in a book. Opening her eyes she saw that she was still in the same room although it was brighter than the last time she saw it. Turning towards the sound of the rustling she saw Rarity sitting in the same chair as before, awake and reading a fashion magazine.

She was using her magic to levitate the magazine in front of her face while turning the pages, at the speed she was flipping the pages she wasn’t actually reading it, more likely just glancing at the pictures. Reaching the end of the book, Rarity sighed softly and placed the magazine on a small table next to her chair. She looked over towards Applejack and saw her staring back.

Her face lit up with joy. “Oh Applejack, your finally awake. How are you feeling?”

Applejack replied with a small smirk. “Ahm finally awake? I woke up earlier to find you asleep in that chair right there.”

Rarity blushed slightly. “Oh, well we all were worried about you so we decided to take turns sitting with you until you finally woke up. I suppose the waiting got to me, no?”

They made eye contact before bursting out into laughter, they both laughed for several minutes until a coughing fit struck Applejack. Her laughter died immediately as the struggle to breath took precedent. Rarity jumped from her chair and rushed to her side, her smile form before replaced with a look of worry.

Several painful seconds went by before Applejack could breathe properly. “Dear me, it sounds like your cough has gotten worse.” Rarity said worriedly.

With a few more coughs to clear her throat, Applejack settled back into her bed. “What happened while Ah was out? Ah remember watching the Crystal City being encased in black crystals then everything gets all hazy after that.”

“After you lost conciseness…” Rarity began, deep sadness entering her voice. “We got the crystal ponies who made it out onto the train, a lot of them were hurt, some couldn’t even walk. We did the best we could with what we had. It was a long trip back to Canterlot and many didn’t make it. All we could do was ease their passing,” Rarity paused a moment as she took a shuddering breath before continuing.

“We reached the capital around midnight and the station master sent for the guards, within ten minutes the nearby hospital had sent over medical supplies and personnel to tend to the survivors. Fluttershy and I wanted to stay and help but Princess Luna sent us here to get some rest and to be nearby when you woke up.” Rarity finished her recounting and took one last shuddering breath as she fought back tears.

“Where’s the others?” asked Applejack, trying to change the subject.

“Fluttershy is asleep in a room down the hall, and Pinkie is down in the castle courtyard.” Rarity shuddered slightly. “She hasn’t been herself since we left the Empire you know. Not once have I seen her smile, and Pinkie always finds something to smile about.”

“We all been through a lot, Ahm sure she’ll come around. What about Rainbow Dash.”

“She’s going with a team of guards back to the Crystal Empire to see what they can learn about the black crystals surrounding the city.”

“Ahm glad for her, I know she felt the worst about leaving the others. I hope they find a way to get them out safely.”

“As do I. She wanted to go back shortly after we left the station, but Pinkie Pie convinced her to stay.”

Applejack chuckled softly. “That sounds exactly like RD. Knowing her she’ll defeat King Sombra and bring the others back safely, all while grinning like an idiot.”

“I hope your right.” Applejack looked at Rarity and saw that she didn’t seem to share her optimism. “Hey.” She said as she reached out and grasped Rarities hoof in hers. “We’ll get through this just like all the other times. Together.”

Rarity said nothing as she squeezed Applejack's hoof in hers, both taking comfort and strength from the others touch.

Author's Notes:

kudos to SageBrony07 for the name of this chapter.