Chapter Twenty: Never Live Up.

***

February 10th, 2030.

Rainbow Dash flew through the streets of Leeds along what was apparently called the 'Resistance Air Force obstacle course', though it was hardly deserving of such as grandiose name. She was well into her third lap of it by now, dodging under flagpoles and broken buildings, between double decker buses and around corners as she flew above, around and through the empty and abandoned streets of Leeds. This was an improvised assault course for any flyer in the Resistance Air Force. Everypony in the squadron had been made to fly this course over the last week and a half: some once, some twice, some several times. This, however, was Rainbow Dash's twentieth time on the course: Errant Flight drove the newcomers, as well as True Blue, very hard, expecting to see the best from them all and not satisfied until he got what he saw as their full potential.

This course, though tricky, was pretty much foal's play to a pony of Rainbow Dash's flying caliber, but behind her she could tell that Fluttershy and some of the other flyers weren't taking as easily as she was: they were still on their second lap through the course, and they were already flagging slightly. Still, they were doing better than they had at the start. Even Rainbow had noticed some improvement in her reaction times, so she could only imagine how much better Fluttershy might have gotten after twenty separate runs on the course.

Next to her, Errant Flight flew, watching her progress even as he dodged wreckage and rubble. He hadn't dodged, ducked or barrel rolled nearly as stylishly as she had, but he had matched her for speed so far (though since this wasn't a straight line, she was fairly certain he was actually nowhere near as fast as her). He gave her a sideways glance and scowled slightly. She kept her face impassive as she flew: he had been pretty passive-aggressive over the last couple of days, making her feel, while not exactly entirely unwelcome, certainly less like part of the team than some of the other flyers.

Ignoring his attitude, she dodged under another flagpole, and then skimmed the top of three double-decker buses that had been out in place to block the road, before going round a corner, dodging some rubble that covered the road, dodging over a broken building and finally hitting the start end of the course again.

"Alright!" Errant Flight called out to her. "You've completed the course! Pull up and return to base!"

"Yes sir!" she called back, pulling out of the course and heading back to the meeting point, glad that she had finally finished the assault course. It was irritating, dealing with the attitudes of ponies who clearly didn't want her there and clearly had no appreciation for her skills or her efforts, but she was constantly reminding herself that, to these ponies, she was an enemy, or so similar as to have any differences be virtually negligible. She would have to be patient with them: hopefully they would eventually relent.

Waiting back at the rally point already were ponies like Dark Wing and Dream Flyer: only the more inexperienced combat ponies, such as True Blue and the newcomers, had been sent on the course more than once, flying along with new members of other squadrons to acclimatise to the speed and manoeuvrability that would be expected of them. Though Rainbow Dash had been certain that she was able to handle anything thrown at her, she was still grateful that she had a course to run: she felt the need to home her skills a bit.

A few minutes later, Errant, True Blue, Ditzy and Fluttershy returned. The newcomers and True Blue all looked fairly tired, though Blue himself was smiling, clearly feeling like he had accomplished something.

"Alright," Errant said softly, getting the squadron's attention. "Not bad from our new combat flyers: Rainbow Dash, you managed to match the course record that Lightning Dust set. Ditzy, you've managed to match your counterpart. Fluttershy and True Blue both completed the course within acceptable standards for Grey Squadron." He smiled softly. "Good work, everypony."

Everypony in the squadron began congratulating themselves, True Blue and Fluttershy especially: the two of them had been having trouble with the course until this moment, but now they were finally up to spec for Grey Squadron members. It had taken a week and a half of flight drills and military drills to do it, but they matched up with everypony now.

"Now that every pony's finally on the level," Errant said to the assembled flyers, "I think we're ready to start flying some basic combat drills."

"Does this mean we get to learn the corkscrew?" True Blue asked excitedly.

"No can do, Blue," Errant said with a wry grin. "The corkscrew is advanced. We'll begin with some basics."

He walked over to a nearby crate and broke it open, exposing twelve pairs of what looked like funny wooden forearm vambraces. He tossed them out, and everypony grabbed them and put them on.

"What you ponies happen to be looking at is the Air Force's first and most important weapon," Errant Flight said with a smile. "Allow me to present the flip out vambrace blade."

Rainbow Dash flipped her blade out: it was a shaped piece of wood, designed to look like a bladed weapon.

"These are only the vambrace blade equivalents of Bokken, of course," Errant continued. "You'll be running drills with these for a while." He turned his eyes to look at the slightly disgruntled face of a Swift Strike. "Problem, Grey Seven?"

"Yeah," Swift said with a smirk. He flipped the blade of his vambrace out, before performing a complicated swing manoeuvre with the blade that looked like it was designed to take out a pony's throat. "I've done this bit."

"Ah, I see," Errant said with a nod. "You think the training is beneath you?"

"No sir, just that I've already done it," Swift Strike replied.

Errant Flight looked at the pony with an amused smile. "And what about Fluttershy? Or True Blue? Have they?"

"Um... no sir," Swift Strike said, sounding apprehensive, like he thought it was a trick question.

"And if they train together, they'll have a camaraderie, yes?" Errant Flight continued.

"Probably, sir," Swift Strike replied, looking confused, "but I don't see..."

"How do you think a squadron will function if only four ponies have a real camaraderie because they're the only ones who trained together?" Errant Flight asked.

Swift Strike looked slightly shamefaced as the realisation hit him.

"I see sir," he said softly. "Objection withdrawn."

"To be clear," Errant said to the other members of the squadron, "I know a lot of you don't need this, though some of you will probably be grateful for the remedial training." At this, Bright Wonder and White Blossom both nodded, neither of them having seen action yet and neither of them being particularly certain of their skills. "However, if we all train together, not only can we guarantee everypony having the same skills, we can also guarantee everypony developing the same camaraderie, which is - in my book - essential to the smooth running of a squadron."

"How come?" True Blue asked. He shrank slightly as every pony's eyes turned to him. "Um, sorry... I'm just curious."

Errant Flight nodded. "I can respect that," he said. He sat on his haunches, gazing off into the distance with a distant expression. "People say the old Grey Squadron was a great squadron. Right?"

Everypony made noises of agreement. After only a few days here, every one of them had become intimately familiar with the reputation of the previous Grey Squadron, and with the expectations that now rested on the new squadron's shoulders because of that.

"Do you know why they make those claims?" Errant asked the group. Nopony replied. "It's not because Grey were the best flyers: we had a mixed bag, actually. It's not because Grey had the most kills: kills don't matter. It's because Grey was a team. No, more than that. Grey Squadron was a family."

***

Hull, January 3rd, 2026.

"And I'm telling you, I killed at least twice that many!" the voice of Head Strong said loudly.

A group of ponies from Grey Squadron, including Errant Flight, Head Strong, Royal Flush and Lightning Dust, along with the Wing siblings, were on the streets of Hull, arguing about the latest battle they had fought above the city. The Equestrian Royal Guard frequently sent aerial raiders to try and take out the beautiful old city, and more often than not, the city held it's own with minimal damage, thanks to the efforts of ponies like Grey Squadron. They had been among those who fought against the occupying forces of the town, along with an effort by the HMS Venture, a destroyer that had bombarded enemy positions.

Right now, Lightning Dust and Head Strong, too of the more... exuberant members of the squadron, were having an argument about their respective kill tallies in the battle.

"No way did you kill twenty eight ponies in that fight," Lightning Dust said with a snort. "I'm not even sure there were that many up there."

"It was a full wing, fifty bucking Pegasi," Head Strong said, slurring his words slightly. He, like the others, had been drinking slightly.

"Yeah, and I killed fourteen, Errant killed five, the Wings killed four and three, Royal got two, and the rest of the guys accounted for something like twenty between them, which means you did not kill twenty eight ponies!" Lightning Dust said sharply.

"Heh," Head Strong smirked, waving a hoof dismissively. "So maybe I miscounted. Still killed more than you."

"Children, children," the alabaster Pegasus Swift Wing said, holding up a placating hoof. "I think we can all agree, it doesn't matter who killed more, just so long as we held the city."

"Yeah right bro," Little Wing, his dark grey little sister, said with a smirk. True to her name, she was slightly smaller than most of them, despite being only a few years younger than Lightning Dust. "You're only saying that because I killed more than you."

"This discussion is stupid anyway," Errant said, his own voice slurring somewhat. "Let's just go to a bar so we can get more drunk and Royal can cheat some poor bucker out of his money."

"Works for me," Royal Flush said cockily. "None of you guys play me at cards anymore."

"We're not idiots, that's why," Lightning Dust said, frowning at him, though her lips had quirked into a playful smirk. "I like my bits... gah, dammit. I like my money in my saddlebag where I can see it, not bet on a lost cause."

None of the ponies commented on her faux pa. Though most of them had left with the initial resistance escapees two years ago, it was still strange adjusting to an entirely different world. Still, all of them knew that the alternative was being in Equestria, and none of them wanted to be in Equestria, especially after the sanction of Cloudsdale.

"Bar it is," Head Strong said, hiccuping. "Anyone know one?"

"There's a pub call the Rowdy Mare that's just opened on Beverly Road," a new voice said softly. "It's a bit of a trek, but it serves genuine Equestrian-style ale."

They squadron members turned, to find themselves facing the smirking face of Ditzy "Derpy" Doo, their squadron leader. Only they called her by her real name, most other ponies (except for her foal, Dinky, and her friend Doctor Whooves) and most people calling her by the old nickname. Her uniform shirt held the same symbol theirs did, and under it was embroidered the nickname "Derpy", along with fourteen silhouettes, seven on each sleeve: each one representing five confirmed downed ponies.

"Boss!" Lightning Dust said with a smile. "You gonna join us?"

"No, I'm just passing by," Ditzy said. "Gotta go collect Jagged Course and Orange Swirl from another bar, I hear they've been fighting with some Pegasi from Blue Squadron again."

"Pfft," Errant Flight said softly. "Blue are bucking posers, everyone knows that."

"Be that as it may, bar fights aren't really something I like seeing," Ditzy said with a smirk. "Anyway: Cloud Ranger and Butter Mellow were already on their way to The Rowdy Mare when I last saw them, so you'll probably meet them there."

Errant Flight grinned at the thought of meeting up with Cloud Ranger.

"What are we waiting for?" he asked his companions, jumping into a low hover before flying off. "Let's get going!"

With that he dashed off, and the others began following him.

"Have fun, team," Ditzy said to herself as the group flew away, she sighed: sometimes, it was like having a bunch of children all over again. Nonetheless...

She sighed and headed off to find Orange Swirl and Jagged Course.

***

The Present.

"Grey Squadron, on and off the battlefield, always had each other's flanks," Errant Flight finished, "and I expect the same from all of you."

The ponies of Grey Squadron looked at each other, almost as if reevaluating their opinions of their comrades. Rainbow Dash noticed a fair few of them looking at her, less with the suspicion or outright hostility that she had been experiencing all week from them, and more with something resembling... what? Acceptance? Maybe not outright acceptance... but they were starting to grudgingly come to terms with the fact that they were stuck with her as part of the Squadron and they might as well get used to it. Rainbow also saw similar glances being thrown Fluttershy's way.

"Alright," Errant said, interrupting the group's introverted thoughts. "Everypony take to the skies and follow me."

He jumped up and flew off in an easterly direction. The rest of the Squadron immediately followed him.

***

"Alright!" Errant Flight said, once they were over a small park. Filling the park were several high poles, each of which had a target on a spinning base. On one side were the rest of the squadron, and on the other was Errant, flapping his wings once every so often to keep himself aloft and holding what looked like a stopwatch. "Listen up, everypony, cos this is where you start your combat training!"

Rainbow paid rapt attention to the Squadron Leader, itching to know more. Next to her, Fluttershy looked nervous.

"I want each and every pony in this squadron to line up, and on my signal, you will fly through here and hit as many of these targets as you can with your training blades, while simultaneously being as fast as you can," Errant yelled at them from across . "You will only hit the targets once each - any more, or any missed, will be a two second penalty. Once you're done hitting them, return here for your time." He looked at each of them. "Rainbow Dash, you're up."

Dash blinked, then readied herself. She flipped the two blades out of her wooden training weapon, then waited for Errant's signal.

"Go!" Errant yelled.

At once, Dash bolted into the training targets. There were ten: she hit the first, rebounded off of it and rammed into a second, before hitting three more in quick succession. Quickly doubling back, she whacked two more, before barrel rolling and bouncing off the next one. The last two she tapped on her way out of the field.

Errant stopped the stopwatch. "Twenty nine seconds!" he yelled. "Not bad!"

Rainbow gave him a slightly cocky grin, and he raised an eyebrow at her before looking back at the squadron.

"Next up, Bright Wonder!"

***

For the next twenty minutes, members of the squadron were made to go through the course, hitting every target as they went. The only ponies who came close to Rainbow Dash's time were Dream Flyer, who did the course in thirty one seconds, and Swift Strike, who did it in thirty two. The rest took roughly thirty five to fifty seconds each, with the slowest being True Blue at fifty one seconds. Ditzy had taken forty two seconds, her bouncing style taking her through half the course at once, where she doubled back, hit one again and then took on the rest. She had been penalised a whole eight seconds for hitting targets twice, but that was apparently not too bad in Errant's opinion, given his rather large smile.

Finally, only Fluttershy and Dark Wing were left to try the course.

"Fluttershy!" Errant Flight called. "You're up!"

Gulping, Fluttershy took up her position, and flipped her own blades out. She looked as though she wanted to be anywhere else but here.

"Do I have to do this?" she called out softly.

"Yes!" Errant Flight replied, sounding irritated.

"Oh dear," she said softly. "Um... ok."

She gulped, looking nervous.

"Go!" Errant called.

At once, Rainbow saw that her friend just wasn't flying as fast as the other members of the squadron had. Fluttershy went from target to target, moving quickly enough between them, but focusing on one each. Her pattern was comparatively zig-zagging, dotting from one target to another and hitting them individually instead of aiming for sweeping strikes. To make matters worse, every time she tapped a target - and it was always a tap, barely enough to move the thing - she would flinch, murmur "sorry", and move on.

After a few moments of her flying like this, she finally tapped the last target and flew in front of Errant Flight, who stopped his watch.

"One minute, five seconds," he said, sounding slightly disappointed. "Not the absolute slowest I've seen, but still not fast enough, Fluttershy."

"Oh dear," Fluttershy murmured,

"And you need to hit harder to - I barely saw half those targets move!" Errant added, scowling slightly. "Royal Guards aren't going to be beaten by love taps!"

"Oh dear," Fluttershy said softly. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Errant said to her, slightly harshly. "Be better."

"Hey, it's the first time she's done anything like this," Rainbow Dash defended her friend.

"I know," Errant Flight replied, giving Rainbow a withering glare, "which is why I'm being this nice."

Before Rainbow Dash could retort, Errant Flight had turned his attention to Dark Wing, the last pony to try the course.

"You're up, Wing!" he called.

"Yes sir!" Dark Wing called. The young Pegasus gave a slightly cocky grin as he took up his and flipped his blades out. "I'll show you how it's really done by the experts!"

"Go!" Errant yelled, ignoring him.

At once, Dark Wing charged at the targets, hitting three within seconds. The third, however, had been hit so hard that it started toppling slightly - and then it did, right onto a Dark Wing fresh from hitting the sixth target.

He was almost fast enough to avoid it when he saw it - almost - but the side of the target clipped him in the back leg and sent him careening to the ground. Before he could hit the ground, however, Rainbow Dash reacted, zooming to catch him.

On the ground, Dark Wing hissed in pain as Errant Flight examined his injury, a frown on the squadron leader's face.

"I think I might have broken it," Dark Wing said softly.

"Um, excuse me," Fluttershy said softly. Errant turned to her, to find she was hold piece of the target pole that had splintered off, as well as a strip of bandage she had apparently been storing in a small pouch. "I think I can help."

"By all means," Errant Flight said, stepping away from Dark Wing and letting Fluttershy approach him. The yellow Pegasus started by examining Wing's leg, eliciting a hiss from him. A couple of ponies, specifically Swift Strike and Silver Spire, started, almost moving to stop her, but Errant Flight glared at them, before returning a thoughtful gaze to Fluttershy as she continued her efforts. As he watched, she set Dark Wing's leg in a splint, and smiled softly at the young stallion.

"There we go," she said kindly, her eyes filled with compassion. "You're all better. You'd best stay off that leg for a few days, but I bet it'll be right as rain after."

"I..." Dark Wing said, looking faintly shamefaced not only at injuring himself but at being helped so kindly by the pony he had sneered at only a few minutes before. "Thank you, Fluttershy."

"Anything to help a squadmate," Fluttershy replied with a smile. "And a friend."

Dark Wing blinked at that, and then he smiled too. He had precious few friends - his aching desire to prove himself a flyer equal to his more famous cousins had gotten him far in the Air Force for his age, but left him with little else.

"Good work, Fluttershy," Errant Flight said. He looked down at Dark Wing. "I trust you've learned your lesson about watching your targets and watching your back?"

"Yes sir," Dark Wing said at once.

"Good," Errant said. "Alright everypony: I think that's enough for today. Let's get back to base."

***

That evening, in their pilot barracks, the flyers of Grey Squadron were discussing the day's events. Fluttershy and Errant Flight were conspicuously absent from the group.

"I guess it's inevitable that not watching my back was gonna get me hurt sooner or later," Dark Wing was saying, still limping on his bandaged leg. "I'm just glad I learned that lesson now and not with a Royal Guard spear thrown through my guts."

"I know what you mean," White Blossom said softly, smiling at him. "I'm pretty happy with my time at least."

"Me too," Silver Spire added, the gruff pony giving a half smile as he thought of his own time of thirty six seconds. Solid Hoof gave an affirming grunt, showing that he too was satisfied, though he gave no other indication.

"The best flyer here's clearly Rainbow Dash," Dream Flyer pointed out, glancing over at the cyan pony. Rainbow shrugged, a small grin on her face - she felt pleased with herself, but figured it probably wasn't a good idea to boast.

"Well that goes without saying," Swift Strike said. "But I don't think it's fair that she gets timed too, she cheats."

"Cheats?" Rainbow said, her eyes wide and her expression indignant at the implication.

"Yeah, you're a cheater!" Swift Strike said. "Everypony knows the Elements give you ponies better skills!"

Rainbow looked indignant for a moment, before smirking, then snorting, the guffawing, then full on howling with laughter at his remark. Swift Strike looked confused for a moment.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"The Elements don't make us better flyers or anything, dummy," Rainbow said, still chuckling. "All the Elements do is give us the power to use the magic of friendship. Nothing to do with our individual awesomeness. Believe me, I'm awesome even without the Element of Loyalty."

"Uh huh," Swift Strike said, looking dubious. "If that's the case, why are you even here?"

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "I'm here because Elliot - sorry, Albion - brought me and the others here, cos he said we could help."

"Yeah, and how can you help if you don't use the Elements of Order as a weapon like the Elements from here did?" Swift Strike asked.

Rainbow had no answer to that. Now that she thought about it, was that what Elliot had expected from the Element bearers, that they would use the power of the Elements as a weapon? If so, she had the horrible feeling he might be disappointed: they might have been able to try banishing Solamina to the moon or turning her to stone or something similar, but...

The door to the barracks opened, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"Fluttershy!" she said, seeing her friend enter with a large smile on her face.

"Hi Rainbow," Fluttershy replied. "How are you?"

"I'm good, how are you?" Rainbow asked. It was only then that she noticed a small white armband had been attached to Rainbow's shirt, with a green cross emblazoned on it.

"Me and Errant Flight have been discussing what role I could best fit in the squadron," Fluttershy said, looking down at the symbol with a smile of joy. "I've been made the squadron's medic!"

Rainbow Dash smiled. Being a medic might well be the best choice for Fluttershy; she could now concentrate on trying to help ponies instead of trying to hurt them. Still, Rainbow was worried - not just about Fluttershy when Grey Squadron finally went out there to fight the armies of Solamina, but more importantly, she was worried that she and her friends had been brought here under false pretences, that Elliot had thought they could do something they just couldn't.

She hoped in her heart of hearts that they wouldn't all end up being a disappointment, and more importantly, that they could still help these ponies and these humans somehow defeat Solamina...

***

The Mindscape.

In the grassy fields of his mind, Elliot sat, meditating and concentrating on the power of the Avatar of Albion. He remembered the words of the knight, who sat nearby.

"The power is yours to wield, not merely yours to channel. The disconnect is a false dichotomy, a psychological impairment. Soon, you will learn to channel the power as yourself, and through controlling that power, reach new heights that will allow you to crush the tyrant Solamina."

He concentrated on the power, imagining it as stream that he was letting into his body. The water was filling him up with it's power, but he couldn't let it overflow and become a raging tide the way he had before: no, the only way to use it was to control that tide, be the force behind it that directed it.

The power kept building, coming faster and faster as he let more and more of it into his system, but he still had control of it - just.

"You are doing well," the voice of the knight spoke, somehow not affecting Elliot's concentration. "Soon, you will have your control."

Elliot realised that the power had reached it's apex, but the flow wouldn't stop: eventually, it hit him, and suddenly he convulsed, falling backwards.

In his bed, David Elliot twitched slightly, but the pony nurses watching over him didn't notice, engrossed in readings sent to them by the Doctor. Had they been paying close attention, they might have noticed a faint golden glow emanating from under his eyelids, but that too dissipated leaving him just an unconscious human again.

Elliot lay flat on his back on the grass, looking up at the blue sky of the mindscape with a scowl of frustration on his face.

"Why did you lose control?" the voice of the knight asked him.

"It came too fast," Elliot replied at once. "I couldn't control it, it ran away from me."

"It came because you summoned it," the knight replied, "and so you must control it's speed."

"I think I understand," Elliot replied. He closed his eyes, marshalled his breathing, and started again.

This time, the water would come slower.