Chapter Twelve: London's Burning (Part 2).

***

David Elliot didn't like spending too much time in a war zone talking, ever conscious of the fact that out there, still was an army of Solaminan Empire soldiers ready to destroy them. But no matter how uncomfortable staying still made him feel, it was important that his friends understand that the ponies he had brought back with him from the alternative Equestria were to be trusted. If he didn't convince them now, then he'd never be able to convince anyone - and he might condemn them to being executed for the crimes of their (in many cases deceased) counterparts, which was not why he had asked them to come here.

Jan Lockett, a soldier he had known for about half a year, said nothing through the entire story, her scarred visage stony and neutral as he laid out his tale. Hell Blazer, on the other hand, had a slight scowl on his face throughout Elliot's explanation, as though he was trying to decide just how much bullshit it really was.

When he was finished, Lockett whistled softly, shaking her head.

"That is one hell of a story, sir," she said simply.

Elliot gave a mirthless smile at Lockett's summary of the tale he had just told. She and Hell Blazer both looked surprisingly neutral about the whole story (though Hell Blazer still had a scowl on his face, and had smoked at least three more cigarettes during that time): Elliot took that as a good sign.

"John?" he asked Hell Blazer. "What are you thinking?"

"Was considering asking you that," Hell Blazer muttered. "Bad enough that you didn't bring back an army…"

"Our hope isn't in force of arms," Elliot replied, waving a hand to dismiss that idea. "There's no way even the entirety of Princess Celestia's army could have been enough. It'd be more fuel to the grinder, sure, but where's the hope of victory in prolonging this fight? But specific ponies - specific individuals with specific potential…"

"So you thought bringing these ponies, of every single pony you could possibly have brought, would be a good idea?!" Hell Blazer summarised, looking irritated.

"That… is about the long and the short of it, John," Elliot replied, smiling slightly sheepishly. "I realise it isn't the best solution, but under the circumstances I thought it would work."

Hell Blazer facehoofed. "There are a million and one ways that this could go horribly, horribly wrong."

Elliot grinned. "And if it goes right? You saw how the Elements fight, the power they had even as individuals. Imagine having that kind of power on our side!"

Hell Blazer sighed, realising he couldn't convince Elliot that this was a horrible idea. He turned to look at Lockett, but the engineer was looking thoughtful.

"Solamina's armies don't have the Elements any more," she said quietly, smiling slightly. "But we do."

Elliot nodded, smiling. "Exactly."

Hell Blazer sighed, unhappy that Lockett was apparently agreeing with Elliot. It had been a very long time since Lockett had been the young, slightly nervy engineer Hell Blazer had saved from an ambush in the Pennines, but she still had the awe of Albion that Hell Blazer remembered, even if it was tempered by an exterior hardness.

Hell Blazer still didn't trust any of this at all, though. Maybe it was his old, cynical nature (which had served him so well when he was still John Constantine), but in his opinion anything that seemed this easy wasn't. No ifs. No buts. No exceptions.

"Mr Hell Blazer," the yellow one, Fluttershy, said softly, catching the cynical pony's attention. "I know the other us's weren't very nice…" Hell Blazer scoffed at her understatement, and Fluttershy paused nervously before continuing. "But we're honestly not like them: we're here because we wanted to help Mr Elliot stop… um…"

"We're here to kick that Solamina squarely in the flank," Applejack supplied grimly. "We've heard about how she's invaded your home, about how loads of humans have died…"

"And we want to do something about it," Rarity finished, nodding resolutely.

"I've a question, though," Pinkie Pie threw in. "Why does everypony keep calling you John?"

The non-sequitur caught everyone off guard slightly, and Hell Blazer sighed in irritation.

"Because it's my name," he said, speaking slowly. "Why do you bloody think?"

"But it's not a pony name," Pinkie pointed out, as if this were the most obvious thing in the world (which it was to Hell Blazer).

Hell Blazer gave Elliot a look. "You did tell her what Solamina's been doing, didn't you, Dave?"

Elliot didn't say anything, but he looked unhappy, as though this were a subject he would have rather not had come up.

"We know about the war," Twilight said frowning confusedly after a moment. "The deaths of so many of your people, the barrier that destroyed most of your world…"

"That's not the worst of it," Hell Blazer said scathingly, looking at her with a look of derisive disbelief. "Has he told you about…?"

"This isn't the time or place to fill our new allies in on every evil thing done by Astra Solamina," Elliot cut the yellow pony off. "We can do that at base."

"Assuming they aren't all strung up the minute we get there," Hell Blazer muttered. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity blanched, but Elliot held up a hand to placate them.

"That won't happen," he said softly. He turned to Hell Blazer. "Once we convince everyone that they're not a bunch of crazies or monsters or necromantic freaks…"

"I'm still not convinced of that myself," Hell Blazer muttered.

"… I'm sure they'll see how much of an advantage this could give us," Elliot finished, ignoring the yellow Earth Pony's interruption.

"To be fair," Lockett put in fairly, "Dash's rainboom certainly helped our assault on the enemy's position just now. We'd have lost this position without it."

Rainbow Dash didn't say anything, but the sickened expression on her face showed that she was hardly pleased with the accolade: in fact, she looked positively ashamed of herself.

"Exactly," Elliot said, smiling slightly and ignoring the ill-looking Pegasus' expression. "We just need to convince command that they're useful."

"They'll listen to you," Hell Blazer said unexpectedly; he didn't sound happy, per se, but he didn't sound annoyed. "They always do. And you could convince the troops the sky's made of fairy dust, the amount of faith they've got in your abilities."

Elliot's enthusiastic expression faltered for a moment (he didn't like being reminded of precisely how much rides on him and his abilities), but then he smiled again.

"I'm glad you think so." He looked around, then frowned. "As it is, we still need to win this battle. Situation hasn't changed since last time I was here, I take it?"

"Millions of Pegasi flying around, hundreds of incoming unicorn and Earth pony divisions, defence force running low on everything?" Hell Blazer summed up. "Yeah, same as it ever was."

"Pretty much as expected then," Elliot said softly, sighing slightly. "Ok then." He checked his weapons, then turned to Lockett. "We're moving our troops out, Lockett. I need to get these ponies to command, get their image out there so to speak. Our forces need to know that they're on our side."

"Gotcha, sir," Lockett said smartly. "My lads are ready to move."

"Is that wise from a strategic standpoint?" Twilight put in. Elliot turned to look at her, and found her looking at a very dusty map of London. "If this map is right, we're currently at a strategically important intersection…"

"Intersections won't matter a shit if we're too dead to hold them," Elliot replied, cutting her off, though not harshly. "Here's a lesson for you: compromises have to be made."

He looked at the map, and pointed at a landmark.

"We'll make for the defensive position at St Paul's," he said, his voice carrying a tone of finality. "It's about half a mile from here, so we'll have to get moving."

"That's pretty far back," Lockett said quietly. "And it's the heart of the defences in this part of the city."

"We can't hold anything else," Elliot replied, looking up at her. "We don't hold that position, we'll be fucked, but we can't hold anywhere else at the casualty rates we're facing."

Lockett nodded smartly. "Yes sir."

Elliot nodded in return. "Suit up and get your team ready to move."

Without another word, Lockett pulled her mask back over her face and went outside, already barking orders to her surviving soldiers. Elliot turned to Twilight's group.

"When we go, we'll need to fight," he said softly. "I need to know you're ready to face that."

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, but she looked even more ill than before at this news. The other ponies looked at her nervously.

"Most of us are not combat trained," Rarity pointed out, speaking quietly but firmly. "How can we be expected to fight?"

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy nodded, neither of them looking particularly happy. Elliot cursed softly under his breath. He looked at True Grit.

"You can fight at least?" he asked, sounding a tad more annoyed than he wanted to.

"Yes sir," Grit said, nodding smartly and apparently ignoring Elliot's tone. "Basic offensive spells, basic defensive spells, basic first aid spells."

"Our Grit knew more that he picked up over the years, but you're more qualified than these ponies," Elliot said quietly. "Can I rely on you to keep them safe, then?"

"Now hold up, Sugarcube," Applejack said before Grit could reply. She sounded annoyed. "I may not have fancy Guard training, but I'm no damsel in distress needin' some knight to keep me safe. Anypony comes at me, they'll get a good buck to the face."

"And what good will a 'buck to the face' do against an armoured Royal Guard?" Hell Blazer asked scathingly.

Applejack raised an eyebrow at that, and rather than reply verbally, she bucked the wall behind her. Dust fell from the building and any random observer could have sworn the entire structure shook slightly upon impact. Applejack smirked slightly.

"Oh," Hell Blazer said blankly, raising an eyebrow. He shrugged. "No more questions."

"So you can protect your friends too?" Elliot asked the orange pony.

"Or die tryin'," she said, sounding deadly serious.

"Well, hopefully it won't come to that," Elliot said, but he nodded in respect at the sentiment nonetheless. He turned to Lyra and Twilight. "I don't know whether you know many defensive or offensive spells…"

"A few shield spells and a stunning spell," Twilight said quietly. "Not perfect, but it'll buy us time."

"Same," Lyra replied, "but I'm not as good as Twilight."

"Don't put yourself down," Elliot said sharply. He indicated the body of the deceased Lyra. "She was…"

He trailed off, looking as though he was trying to find the words to describe his Lyra. Finally, he shook his head.

"Lyra was one of our best," he said simply. "And I believe you can be too."

He turned to the body, frowning slightly.

"What are you going to do with her?" Twilight asked, trying to be sensitive to what she thought Elliot might be feeling (though she was conscious that, grandparents aside, she'd never lost anyone). Elliot sighed.

"There's a bit of greenery near here," he said quietly. "It's on the way to the church. We'll bury her there."

"Is there time?" Hell Blazer asked. Elliot shot a glare at him, and he raised a hoof in a placating gesture. "Only asking, Dave."

"We'll make time," Elliot said softly. "She deserved it."

None of the ponies in the room said anything for a long moment, waiting for the human to move. Finally, Elliot sighed, and he picked up Lyra's body. She was surprisingly light.

"Come on," he said to them. He walked out of the room, and the group of upset and out-of-sorts ponies followed tentatively, uncertain what horrors they would see in that city at war.

***

Gunfire echoed in the distance as the group walked down the streets. Twilight looked around, taking in every sight she could and also trying to keep alert.

She had read up on wars before today - the Griffon wars, the Royal Guard's internecine conflict, even read about ancient wars like the Adamantine insurrections... but she had never heard of a war like this one, which seemed to involve far more small scale engagements and far less line warfare. Still, she wasn't going to quibble about small details. This was a war, and her books had told her plenty, but not enough to prepare her to face it head on.

Most of the books she had read had been dry historical tests, filled with dates and numbers that weren't all that expressive about the nature of the thing itself. As it stood, the only book that had been any real help was a retrospective account written by a soldier who had fought one of the early Griffon wars. The blunt descriptions and harrowing tales related in the story were enough to convince Twilight at the time that she wanted nothing to do with a real war.

Yet, here she was. She sighed. She didn't like this, but she would deal with it as best she could.

"Ya alright Twilight?" Applejack asked her, startling her slightly.

"Yeah," she said quietly, looking around. "Yeah, I'm fine."

***

Behind Twilight, Fluttershy was talking to Rainbow Dash, who looked considerably less ill after having gotten some air, though she still looked pale and stricken. The compassionate yellow Pegasus was trying to comfort her friend after her first taste of combat.

So far, it wasn't going brilliantly.

"Dash," the compassionate pony said softly, "I know it's hard but…"

"I killed them," Dash interrupted, her voice soft and weak as she spoke. "I rainboomed… and it killed them."

"I… I didn't know a rainboom could do that," Fluttershy said quietly, unsure what to say to Dash.

"You get close enough it can," Rainbow Dash replied, not looking at her friend. "Shockwave can break things, displace stuff… break ponies. But I was always careful with it, always made sure I didn't… until…"

She didn't say anything else, simply sighing and continuing to look ahead with a slightly glazed look in her eye.

"Rainbow, we knew we'd have to… to fight…" Fluttershy said, trying not to sound too worried about the prospect herself. In truth though, she could already feel like she, too, would break down upon causing her first death. If her stoic, brave friend Rainbow Dash could barely handle the horror, what chance did she, a mare who was scared of her own shadow, let alone anything truly frightening, have of being able to deal with it?

"I was so proud of the rainboom," Rainbow Dash said softly. "I was so happy I could do it. It was the one thing I thought made me really special. Now though… now I don't think I ever want to do one again."

Fluttershy didn't know what to say in order to comfort her friend. She started wondering whether coming here was a mistake, but it was too late now. For better or for worse, they were stuck here.

***

Near them in formation walked Elliot, carrying the body of Lyra Heartstrings with him. True Grit and the younger Lyra were walking near him, but Lyra's eyes kept drifting to the body.

"You shouldn't look," Grit said quietly to her. She turned to look at him, frowning slightly.

"How would you react, knowing that you're dead?" she hissed, feeling slightly more touchy than usual.

"I am," the Guard replied without missing a beat. "Mr Elliot told me this world's True Grit was killed the day before he came to Equestria - which I guess would be yesterday."

Lyra said nothing, looking away from True Grit with a slight blush on her face.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly after a moment.

"It's alright," Grit said, chuckling slightly, though it was a laugh without humour. "I'll be honest, I'm really out of my depth here."

"What?" Lyra asked, eyes widening in surprise.

"I'm not really ready for a war," True Grit told her. "I don't know how much good I'm gonna be in a fight."

"You're a guard," Lyra pointed out.

"And as much as we're Equestria's military, we've not fought a real war in years," Grit replied, shaking his head.

"But the border conflicts…" Lyra began.

"Border conflicts with the Griffons you mean?" Grit said, chuckling. "Yeah, those are going on, but usually its the specific border Guard who are set for those. The Royal Guard in Canterlot haven't had to fight anything since the Changelings, and that was damage control more than anything else." He sighed, his amusement fading. "I'm about as ready for war as you guys are."

"You should look at your cutie mark more often," Elliot's voice spoke up suddenly, startling the two ponies. Lyra's eyes drifted to the cutie mark briefly, and True Grit turned to look at his own mark as well.

It was a shield - that was fairly common among the Royal Guard - but unlike the pristine shields of many guards, Grit's was battered, the white streaked with rust.

"You've never wondered why you had that pattern?" Elliot asked, looking behind him at the guard.

"I…" Grit said nothing. In truth, it had been a question: the shield was all but ubiquitous to anypony who'd end up serving in the military, in one form or another. Shining Armour for example - and Grit could hardly think about his old Captain anymore without feeling slightly ill - had a shield with several stars surrounding it, similar to his sister's mark. Grit's battered shield, however, was a subject of some curiosity.

"The shield is your military destiny," Elliot said after a moment. "The fact that it's battered is a testament to your resolve. You're not just a guard, Grit, you're a fighter: it's your destiny to hold the line where others fail."

True Grit nodded thoughtfully as they walked. Elliot then turned his head to look at Lyra over his shoulder.

"And don't get too fixated on death," he added sombrely. "You do that, you're fucked."

Lyra scowled slightly. "It's hard to do that when you see yourself die."

"I know," Elliot replied, sighing sadly. "I never said it was easy."

He said nothing more, and a dread silence settled over the two ponies as they thought about what he had said.

***

Hell Blazer, meanwhile, was walking further back from the group, a scowl on his face. Near him walked Rarity - the "good" Rarity, much as his mind rebelled against that being a thing. With them, silent and contemplative, walked Ditzy Doo.

The pony was scowling at Hell Blazer slightly, which annoyed him no end: he had put up with far too much shit to put up with this bitch already - the only reason he was a fucking pony in the first place was because of her - so having her stare at him like he was dirt on her metaphorical shoe was insulting.

"Alright," he finally said after having put up with her staring for the best part of twenty minutes, "what exactly is your bucking problem?"

"You needn't use that language," Rarity said with a frown.

"Yeah, sorry," Hell Blazer said snarkily. "I meant to say, what is your fucking problem, but it kinda came out the wrong way."

"I'm just looking at your trench coat," Rarity said quietly, ignoring his rudeness. "It's a little… bland, isn't it?"

"Seriously?" Hell Blazer said, raising an eyebrow. "All the things you could possibly choose to pick up on in this world of utter shit, and you decide to have a go about my trench coat?"

"Who even made it?" she asked, ignoring his scowl. "It looks like it wasn't made for ponies…"

"That's because it wasn't," Hell Blazer replied, cutting her off. "It's a long story and I have no intention of telling it to you."

"I see," Rarity said, sighing. She looked around, her eyes chancing upon some of the posters scattered about the walls. She frowned when she saw a familiar visage on one of the posters. "Is that Prince Blueblood?"

Hell Blazer followed her gaze, seeing what she was referring to: it was one of the governmental council's propaganda posters, a stylised image of Ditzy Doo (without any sign of her normal wall-eyed expression), the True Grit Hell Blazer had known (the former Guard had never liked those posters very much) and at the centre, Prince Blueblood, looking stern in his uniform of office, a stylised Night Guardspony outfit. The caption beneath them read, "WE FIGHT FOR A FREE EQUESTRIA".

"Yeah," Hell Blazer said shortly. "That's Blueblood."

"What in Celestia's name is he doing on one of your posters?" Rarity asked, sounding almost affronted.

Hell Blazer scowled at the use of the tyrant's old name.

"Blueblood's on our side," he said shortly. "And don't use that name, or you'll find yourself really short on friends."

It took Rarity a minute to understand what he meant, but she looked suitably abashed when she did.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I just… what should I say? Luna?"

"Most ponies go for unspecified deities," Hell Blazer replied shortly. "'By whatever deity watches over Ponykind,', 'Pony God,' that sort of thing."

"I see," Rarity said quietly. For a long moment, they were silent as they walked.

"Why am I on the poster?" Ditzy put in, speaking for the first time since they had arrived.

"What?" Hell Blazer said, turning to look at her.

"Why am I on a poster?" she repeated. Hell Blazer blinked, surprised that she would ask this question - and worried about the implication.

"Here, Dave!" he called over to his friend. "You did tell her about Manchester, yeah?"

"No," came the short reply. Hell Blazer cursed. Leave it to the scatterbrained Elliot to not bother telling the counterpart of the hero of Manchester and the founder of Grey Squadron that she was dead.

"I can't tell you," he said to the grey Pegasus. "Not yet anyway."

Ditzy nodded softly. "Ok." She didn't look particularly happy, but she kept her issue to herself. She was certain, in her own trusting way, that everything would turn out ok in the end. She was with her friends, after all.

***

At the head of the little group walked Jan Lockett and her two remaining troopers. Also walking with them (to Lockett's consternation) was Pinkie Pie, who kept pestering them with questions.

"So why do you wear the masks?" she asked chirpily. She was - Lockett could hardly believe this - bouncing, as though for all the world this were simply some bloody road trip and they were all going for a hike.

"Avoids chemical warfare," Lockett replied, not wanting to talk about the potion just yet.

"What's chemical warfare?" Pinkie asked.

"Use of weaponised substances that cause harm to human beings when it makes contact with their skin," Lockett said sourly - that was as much as she was willing to reveal, since it was obvious Elliot hadn't yet told them about ponification: Lockett wasn't so naive anymore that she didn't pick up on her commanding officer deliberately leaving information unsaid. "Solamina's armies use that in conjunction with other tactics quite frequently."

Pinkie frowned. "That doesn't seem very nice."

"Welcome to war," Lockett muttered.

"Why do ponies even fight wars?" Pinkie pondered aloud. "Seems a great big pain in the plot for no gain to me - you could settle disagreements much easier with a food fight, or arm wrestling, or…"

Lockett chuckled, and Pinkie stopped.

"You know, I wish I'd known you before," the scarred woman said. "You're a right laugh."

"But what about the left? Don't I make that laugh too?" Pinkie asked, tilting her head. Lockett laughed again.

Suddenly, her point man held up a hand, and Lockett stopped laughing, bringing her attention to their surroundings. Pinkie came to a rest near her, frowning slightly.

"What is it?" she asked, speaking far too loudly for Lockett's liking.

"Quiet!" the engineer hissed. She crouched, scanning the street and the skies, and then she saw it.

In the sky there were two squads of ten Pegasi, Royal Guard by their armour - and from their course, they had spotted the group on the street.

"Shit!" Lockett swore. "Cover, now!"

At once, her troops reacted, taking up cover behind cars and in broken buildings, their rifles aimed at the sky in worry.

Elliot scowled, and gently put the body of his Lyra down, before whipping out his 'speed killer' and his hand cannon.

"Guard her," he said over his shoulder to Lyra and True Grit.

"Sir!" Grit said at once. "All non-combatant ponies, on me now!"

Almost immediately, most of the Element bearers converged on his location, to Elliot's immense relief - he knew he could trust Grit to look after them, whether he was his Grit or not.

Twilight was looking at the inbound flying guards with a worried look on her face. Rarity and Fluttershy exchanged glances. Applejack was scowling. Derpy gave Lyra a quick smile when she reached her, a smile the turquoise unicorn didn't return. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, was frowning at the sky, her expression almost looking as though she were building up to something.

Hell Blazer stayed in the street, his eyes closed in concentration. Elliot moved to stand near him.

"They're too fast in the air for a fireball," the Avatar muttered to his friend.

"To hit them, sure," Hell Blazer said quietly in response. The fireball appeared in mid-air in front of him, and he looked up at the approaching squadrons with a vicious, feral grin. "But not to scatter the bastards."

He looked at Elliot, waiting for the man's order. Elliot frowned slightly, and then smiled softly.

"Fire!" he called out loudly.

Hell Blazer grinned again. "Literally!"

The fireball in front of him leapt towards the Pegasi. One or two unfortunates were caught in it, unable to manoeuvre in time, and were blasted to ash. The rest were scattered for a moment, trying desperately to avoid the thrown firebomb.

Another Pegasi was caught by a round of fire from Lockett's troops. Yet another took a round from Elliot's hand cannon. The remaining Pegasi, however, kept approaching. A spear flew, landing near Lockett's troops. Another spear hit one of them in the chest, killing the poor unfortunate instantly and pinning him to the ground.

Another one flew straight at the small group of huddled and scared ponies. Twilight couldn't get a shield up in time, and it impacted near Applejack, grazing her side in the process. She yelped in surprise and pain, and stepped back.

"Applejack!" Twilight said concerned. "Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Applejack replied, hissing in pain slightly when she tried to move. "It's just a scratch, Twi…"

Rainbow Dash was looking at Applejack's injury, the red tear along her friend's side acting like the red flag in front of a bull, filling her with anger. She frowned at the sky, her wings unconsciously unfolding.

"Dash?" Applejack's voice spoke, but to Rainbow Dash it was distant. She bent her knees slightly, and suddenly she was airborne.

"Rainbow Dash!" she heard somepony call out her name, but she didn't pay any attention. She charged at the first Guard she could see, knocking him out of the sky. She didn't stop to see whether he landed or crashed hard on the ground, instead switching her attention to another Guard. Before the armoured Pegasus could do anything she had charged into him, knocking him into a wall, which crumbled under the speed the pony had been flung at.

Suddenly, another pony rammed into her, knocking her away. Rainbow recovered quickly - only to find the space she had been in had a spear flying through it, thrown by a Pegasus who had been above her. The pony who had pushed her, a light brown Pegasus in a red flight-shirt and goggles of some kind, gave her a terse nod before charging into other ponies, scattering them. Rainbow quickly charged after him, further scattering any guards he missed.

On the ground, Twilight and Lyra had raised a shield that no spear could penetrate. Unfortunately, it didn't prevent any of the enemy Pegasi from trying to land - three of them landed near the Element bearers' position.

"Get the traitors!" one of the ponies yelled.

True Grit snarled, and fired off a spell at them, knocking one across the street, where he lay, smouldering slightly. A second Pegasus charged at Applejack, but she dodged the spear thrust and, faster than her injury should have allowed, span and bucked, knocking the Guard away. Before the Guard could do anything else, however, a bullet smacked into his head, sending a fine red mist spraying from the hole. Fluttershy screamed at the sight, covering her eyes, and Applejack paled, suddenly realising that she had helped end a life. She shook her head, realising that she couldn't let it overwhelm her just yet, and she assumed a ready stance, ignoring the burning pain in her side.

The last Pegasus, however, went nowhere near Applejack, instead going straight for Twilight, only to find himself facing down the barrel of Pinkie Pie's party cannon. A shot rang out in an echoing blast, knocking him to the ground, though he seemed unharmed (albeit covered in various party accruements). Before he could move though, Elliot was on him, pinning him to the ground with his boot and stabbing him in the throat. His eyes widened beneath his helmet, and he gurgled his last breath.

A moment later, it was all over. Lockett and her last soldier checked their weapons. Hell Blazer sighed, the latest fireball he had been working on dissipating. Elliot sheathed his dagger and holstered his hand cannon.

Zooming down from the sky, Rainbow Dash and the brown Pegasus landed. Dash was breathing heavily, and looked a little ill again. Fluttershy rushed over to her.

"Oh my goodness, Rainbow are you alright?" she asked, speaking quickly to her friend. Rainbow nodded tersely, trying her best not to think about what had just happened. She had acted on instinct, and now that instinct had died down, she was once more hideously aware that she had ended lives.

They would have killed you, a voice said softly in her mind. She shook her head. She wouldn't ever get used to killing… but maybe she could accept that there was a need, at least in this messed-up world.

The brown pony who had saved her frowned at the two ponies, his gaze drifting over all of the Element bearers before a look of horror descended onto his features as he realised exactly who they were.

"Oh, you're kidding," he muttered.

"Errant Flight!" Elliot said, grinning slightly. "Didn't know you were here!"

"I came down with Red Squadron, hence the uniform," the last survivor of Grey Squadron said, sounding more than a little annoyed. "Reinforcements have been pouring into the city."

"That's great news," Elliot said, suddenly feeling a little more hopeful.

"Yeah, real great," Errant said, eyes still fixed on the Element bearers, who looked more than a little uncomfortable about the naked hostility in his glare. "You wanna tell me why there's a bunch of ponies who are the spitting image of ponies you killed running around?"

"Ah," Elliot said sheepishly, his smile fading. "Well, y'see…"

"Is it over?" a quiet voice asked, interrupting Elliot. From behind the Element bearers came Ditzy Doo, looking more than a little shaken by the entire experience.

Errant Flight gawped at her, his eyes widening in shock. "Ditzy?!"

Elliot sighed. This was going to take a lot of explaining, he could just tell.

Author's Notes:

This chapter was edited 8th July 2015.