The victorious First Equestrian Air Group was greeted, not by a crowd of cheering, clamoring ponies when they docked in Cloudsdale, but something nearly as memorable in Spitfire’s opinion. As the crew of the Cruiser stood at attention on the bow of the cloudship, with Spitfire and Rainbow Dash at the forefront, they looked upon the entire population of Cloudsdale arrayed before them. Pegasi had long had a martial culture, and even in the peaceful times such as now, they retained a certain respect and tradition for their home, and all pegasi of valor. Now, every citizen of Cloudsdale, from youngest to oldest, stood rigidly at attention around the carrier, wings stiff in salute, eyes raised to the sun-brightened clouds above. Pegasi members of the Solar Guard flew down to fly escort for the craft, faces calm despite the situation. The Captain of the Wonderbolts spared a glance at the young flier currently tucked under her wing.

Rainbow Dash was trembling, tail firmly tucked under her legs and head bowed. Spitfire could practically feel the self-loathing radiating from her.

“Look at me, soldier,” she whispered softly.

Dash instinctively looked up, though her eyes were filled with hesitance.

“You’re a damned hero,” Spitfire told her firmly, holding up a hoof when Rainbow’s face immediately began to scrunch up to protest, “You are. When we thought you were dead, all of Cloudsdale was mourning. Hell, most of Equestria was. This-” She waved a hoof out before them, “Is for you, and you deserve it. You’re home now, among ponies that adore and respect you.”

Spitfire held Rainbow’s gaze, smiling faintly when she saw a little hardness come to her quivery mindset. Better. The ship came to a slow, rolling stop at the dockyards, and as the gangplank fell into place, Spitfire carefully turned Rainbow Dash towards it, ushering her along, keeping pace with her slow, shaking steps. She didn’t have to glance around to know her ponies were following them, step for step, not a look of impatience among them. They would walk for two days to the hospital, if that was how long it took for Dash. An avenue of clouds had been built prior to their arrival, leading straight to Cloudsdale General; the entirety of the Royal and Night Guards, enchanted to stand on clouds, lined the avenue, shimmering spears forming a ceremonial covering over the procession. To Spitfire’s surprise, she saw the guards around the hospital itself were wearing shining cyan armor, their crests a rainbow of colors- the Aurora Guard, Twilight Sparkle’s newly formed unit. Was she here?

Nurses and doctors were waiting for the procession as they arrived, rushing out to guide all the injured- most of them just had field dressings, instead of proper care- into the hospital; Spitfire stayed right beside Rainbow Dash as they were led into the building and guided to a room; the captain was amused to find Fleetfoot and Soarin’ following as well, eyes glued to the increasingly tottery rainbow mare. It ended up taking all three of them to help Rainbow Dash into the bed, something that led to a few mumbled thanks and soft tears from the battered pegasus. And it was, shockingly enough, the gruff Fleetfoot that leaned up to nuzzle the tears away and coax a hoofbump out of Rainbow, grinning up at her.

“Alright you two,” Spitfire piped up after letting the trio reminisce for several minutes; Soarin’ had even managed to get a giggle out of Rainbow, and he was beaming brightly over it, “Get out there and make sure the guard is ironclad. Hell, steelclad. I want NOTHING coming in without my knowledge.”

The fire in their eyes as they left would put a dragon to shame. Spitfire knew her team would follow their duty to the death. Carefully edging her way onto the bed, Spitfire gave Rainbow a warm smile; she’d do everything she could to put this filly’s mind to rest. She had earned that much.
******************

Arcane sparks leaped from Twilight’s hoof as it slammed into the table, outrage blazing from her eyes at the Minotaur ambassador’s casual remark about her friend.

“Just a MARE!?” she snarled, wings flaring out threateningly, “You animals tore Rainbow Dash from her home in the first place, you-”

A white hoof gently settled on Twilight’s shoulder; only Celestia, or Ditzy, could calm down a raging Twilight, and even then it took several moments of silent, deep breathing before Twilight could settle back in her chair, though her piercing eyes never left those of the aloof Minotaur. It had only been her fierce desire for answers that had driven Twilight Sparkle down to the ground-based meeting under Cloudsdale, to treat with the Minotaur ambassadorial team that had stormed into Equestria following Operation: Breaking Chains. And only a Minotaur could deign to call an Element of Harmony- formerly a thought-deceased Element- ‘just another mare slave,’ in the middle of an armed camp of ten thousand angry pegasi and two enraged pony princesses.

The Minotaur’s brown eyes gazed back at Twilight smugly, his thickly built arms crossed over his equally thick chest. The only coverings he wore were a set of finely embroidered pants; Minotaurs preferred bare chests, as muscles were a form of social status among them. From seeing others of his kind like Iron Will, Twilight knew that this particular individual would be very popular in his homeland. In Equestria, he was one of the most hated things breathing in it.

“My point stands, princess,” he replied with a snort, “Three hundred Minotaurs slain, and dozens of griffons beside that, for… what? Twenty, thirty ponies?”

“Fifty-seven ponies, thirteen Deer, and four maredragoras, many of them pregnant, beaten, or near death,” Celestia replied coldly- and not in the emotional sense.

Twilight gave a faint shiver as the temperature of the room dropped, energy soaked up by Celestia’s magic.

“Including an Element of Harmony, who is a personal friend of myself, Princess Luna, and Princess Twilight. I believe it is more than fair.”

The ambassador tensed at this, standing up abruptly; soft creaks told of four crossbows held by invisible Night Guards stationed at each corner of the room. The Minotaur’s massive hands slammed on the oaken table with a loud slapping sound.

“They were my countrymen! You had no right to-”

Twilight’s eyes widened a fraction of a second before the heat soared back with a fiery vengeance, the light of the sun pouring from Celestia’s radiant fur and wings as she in turn rose to her hooves, one shod hoof slamming into the table as well. Twilight could faintly smell the scent of burning wood.

“I HAD EVERY RIGHT!” Celestia roared back, the volume and power of her voice causing even the prideful Minotaur to step back in shock, and caused Twilight to gaze at her teacher in surprise- she very rarely used the Royal Canterlot Voice, “YOUR KIND WERE OPERATING AN ILLEGAL SLAVE PEN IN MY.” Her hoof slammed on the table at each word, burning it further, “BUCKING. COUNTRY!”

Her sun-lit eyes closed after a long moment, and the light faded back to tolerable levels. Celestia’s eyes opened once more, harder than glass as she peered into the Minotaur before her.

“From this point forward, no Minotaur bearing allegiance to your nation will be allowed into Equestria,” she told him coldly, “On the pain of imprisonment and deportation. Slavery is now a crime punishable by death, no matter what country they hail from.”

Her red-hot hood pointed solidly at the stunned ambassador, while her horn glowed in a bright golden aura.

“Get out of my country, beast.”

The teleportation spell flashed once, and each Minotaur of the ambassadorial party found themselves teleported onto the tallest mountain in the Minotaur Empire.
*******************

Rainbow Dash really, really hated hospitals. Heck, she didn’t like them even when she had books, but without them? The pegasus sighed softly, curling up in firmly among the soft sheets, her head buried lightly in the Wonderbolts uniform the team had left for Rainbow. It was signed with all of their names, and even had been sown with the patch for honorable service, one for wounded on duty, and another for the new Ponyville branch of the Wonderbolts. Getting it had been a dream come true, as had the group hug that had followed. But now, with time to think on it…

“I-I don’t d-deserve this,” she whispered to nopony in particular, tears threatening to flow again, “I don’t. I shoulda… I coulda…”

Could have what? Everything Spitfire had told her was making sense, and the memories of her capture… Rainbow closed her eyes. A knock on the door… then a pounding… She had gone to open it, and there was a slash of pain. Her cheek was bleeding. There were ten of them, big griffons in armor, all around her, smashing up her home as Rainbow tried to escape. Could she have been faster? Maybe. She had worked hard that day getting a storm together, and it was late at night… It was all so confusing.

Rainbow’s body jerked as the hospital door opened, and she rushed to wipe her eyes before anypony could see. She glanced up to see a… blur of purple and grey? Fur and feathers entangled as two ponies gingerly slammed into Rainbow, wings and hooves surrounding and hugging her tightly. It was too late to hold back the tears once she recognized the ponies. Twilight Sparkle and Ditzy Do. Her best friend and her best confidant. Neither were speaking, but neither had to. Spreading her wings over the pair of mares, Rainbow closed her eyes… and let out a year of fear, pain, and self-loathing in a long, wordless wail.