Chapter Twenty Three: Acceptance.

***

Leeds Royal Armouries, March 1st, 2030.

Rainbow Dash ducked under a spinning blade, before back flipping away from another, her wings powering the flip. A spear shot out towards her, and she dodged that too, before lashing out with her own blade, taking the head of the spear off. She smiled briefly to herself for a moment, before leaping back again, dodging another sweeping blow.

She was battling against a static training machine designed to hone the reflexes and endurance of Air Force Pegasi: it was a column, spanning from the base of the room to the ceiling, attached to which were various levers, springs and other articles which, at random intervals, would lash out with wooden blades, blunted spears and training arrows, designed to catch a flyer unaware, though none of the weapons were lethal; the most danger a flyer would be in was mild bruising, though she had heard tell of worse injuries still.

So far she was doing well: the minimum a Pegasus had to last against this machine before calling it quits or being thrown beyond a yellow circle that surrounded it (or being badly injured, which was rare given the skill-set of most ponies and the comparatively safe equipment, but it did still occasionally happen) was one minute to meet Resistance Air Force standards of reflexes and endurance. Her time was currently around five minutes, possibly five and a half, she wasn't certain.

Watching from a nearby observation room through a tinted glass window was Errant Flight. He narrowed his eyes slightly as he observed the spar between Dash and the machine.

"She's still beating most of the scores, right?" Dream Flyer asked from next him. She was looking at his face more than the spar, watching his reactions with concern.

"She's either just below or matching most of Lightning Dust's scores," Errant Flight replied softly, a frown on his face, "and Lightning Dust was always the best flyer in Grey in terms of raw skill. Dash also seems better at teamwork than Dust ever was."

"Less hardship, I reckon," Dream Flyer said with a sage nod.

"Even without the hardship, Dust was never really a team player," Errant countered, glancing sideways at Dream Flyer. "It was a learned skill. It seems more natural to Dash, like she has more experience with it."

"She probably does," Dream Flyer noted. "Elements of Order."

"Hm," Errant said, sounding like he wasn't convinced. "If I recall correctly, they earned the Elements for their personality, not the other way round."

"Either way," Flyer said, "she's more experienced with teamwork regardless and it shows." Dream Flyer paused, thinking her next words carefully. "She might even be a better asset than Lightning Dust ever was."

Errant Flight threw her a dirty look. "Lightning Dust was my friend. Rainbow Dash is not. Better team-player or not, Rainbow Dash has a long way to go before she matches Dust in my book."

Dream Flyer shrugged. It wasn't her place to question Errant on this matter: if he wanted to push Dash more, it was his call.

Dash had been on the course for over six minutes by this point, and was still going.

"Alright, Dash," Errant said, activating the intercom. "That'll do."

The machine stopped moving, leaving Rainbow Dash standing in the training room waiting for somepony to collect her. Errant Flight sighed and stepped out of the observation room into the training space.

"Good work today," he said to her. "You're matching most of the score records set by Lightning Dust, or getting close to it anyway."

Rainbow nodded heavily, panting slightly as a small grin formed on her face. The training was hard work, but she was definitely getting better at all of this.

"Don't get cocky though," Errant added, a stern look on his face. "You have a long way to go."

"Gotcha, sir," Rainbow Dash said with a slightly comedic salute. Errant scowled and waved her off, and she walked out to meet with the rest of the squadron.

Outside in a waiting area, the rest of the squadron was waiting. Considering her position in the squadron, she had been the second to last to do this test. The last, unfortunately, was Fluttershy, who looked suitably nervous at the thought of going into the training room. Rainbow saw Dark Wing, Ditzy and - surprisingly enough - Solid Hoof talking to her, trying to cheer her up.

Since the training combat mission against the other squadrons, during which True Blue and Fluttershy had saved Solid Hoof from being 'downed', the gruff pony's opinion of Fluttershy had drastically improved from his initial dismissal of her usefulness, and he had taken it as his personal job to help support her in her effort to become a better flyer and more productive member of the team, as well as backing her up whenever she needed it. In practice, this usually led to him giving her practical, if bluntly spoken, advice in his typical gruff voice.

"Don't worry, Fluttershy," Ditzy was saying as Rainbow approached. "If I can do the training room, I'm sure you can."

"It's more intimidating to look at than it is to take on," Dark Wing added.

"But... but I'm not very fast, and it's supposed to be..." Fluttershy murmured, barely audible.

"You are small and agile," Solid Hoof said bluntly, his gruff voice sounding no different to how it usually did, despite his attempts to be comforting. "And your reflexes are better than you think they are. You will be fine."

Rainbow smirked at the bluntly given advice the larger Pegasus gave. Fluttershy, for her part, simply nodded meekly.

"Don't worry, Shy," she said, approaching the quiet yellow Pegasus. "You'll be fine, they set it to different levels depending on which pony is taking it on."

"Oh..." Fluttershy said, nodding slightly. "Ok."

"Grey Twelve," Errant Flight's voice called. Fluttershy looked up, to see Errant Flight looking, not entirely unkindly, at her. Unlike Rainbow Dash, who Errant didn't seem to be able to bring himself to be able to trust, he had apparently taken a shine to Fluttershy, encouraging her at every opportunity. "It's time for your training run."

"Ok," Fluttershy said softly, nodding and apparently steeling herself. Rainbow had noticed that her friend was - if only by a small amount - definitely a little more confident than she had been before she had started her training. She stood up and headed to the training room. Rainbow followed her.

"Sir, permission to watch Grey Twelve's training run," she asked Errant. The squadron leader raised an eyebrow, but nodded in assent. Smiling, Rainbow proceeded to the observation room.

***

Inside the training room, Fluttershy faced off against the intimidating static machine with a soft whimper. It was covered in blades, spears, arrows, wooden and other unfortunate things that made her want to cover her eyes and run out of the room screaming. Unfortunately, that was not an option. She had to face this thing and last against it for at least a minute to meet the minimum Air Force standards. Sixty seconds, she told herself. That's all it needed.

"Um... hello," she said quietly to it, feeling absurd. "Um... I know you're only a machine, but could you please try not to hurt me?"

"Ready, Twelve?" the voice of Errant Flight came through the speakers, sounding tinny and horribly unnatural to Fluttershy's ears.

"R-ready," she replied softly. A moment later, the large machine whirred to life.

One second.

She began sidestepping slightly as wooden training blades began moving. A spear jutted out, and she dodged it with a soft 'eep!', before stepping back slightly. She minded the yellow circle that surrounded the machine, making sure she was well away from it, before ducking a narrow that shot towards her head. She rolled, dodging a training halberd that chopped down from the column, before leaping high into the air to dodge another sweeping bokken.

Fifteen seconds.

Flapping her wings, she circled the column, keeping an eye on the yellow ring surrounding it. Another arrow whizz end by her, forcing her to dodge back the way she came - in time to be forced downwards by a high spear jutting out. Whimpering slightly, she landed, ducking under another blade and covering her ears with her hooves.

Thirty seconds.

***

Inside the observation room, Rainbow Dash watched her friend fly with something resembling appreciation: Fluttershy was slower and less finessed than a lot of flyers Rainbow had seen, but she was certainly keeping ahead of the attacks (just), which was more than she would have been capable of before.

"Not bad," Dream Flyer noted. "She's improving."

"I knew she would," Errant Flight smiled softly. "Not a fighter, but certainly a Grey."

Rainbow threw him a quick glance, frowning slightly at the fact that Fluttershy had been given the honour of Errant calling her a Grey, probably the highest accolade anypony in the squadron could get from the squadron leader. She was happy for Fluttershy being accepted, but it was an acceptance she herself had yet to feel.

As of yet, she had not earned that particular accolade from Errant Flight; though she had done her absolute best, defeated every training test and jumped every hurdle he threw her way, he still refused to see her as a true member of his squadron the same way he had everypony else. Rainbow was beginning to wonder if he ever would, or if he would continue to far her with the same brush as her dead counterpart.

***

Inside the training room, Fluttershy was starting to find a sort of rhythm, albeit an odd one. She dodged another jutted spear and rolled under another blade and past another halberd, before another arrow shot out, nearly clipping her wing. She took off into the air again, dodging another blade narrowly as she did so.

Forty five seconds.

More arrows shot out, and she narrowly flew ahead of them, keeping her eyes focused on the yellow line and the next attack. She screeched as a spear jutted out in front of her, before doubling back, narrowly dodging under another blade as she did so.

Fifty five seconds.

Finally, she dodged under another attack, a blade sweeping towards her, and sped ahead of another row of arrows.

Sixty seconds. She had done it!

"You're at sixty seconds," Errant Flight called out. "You've hit the minimum!"

Smiling, Fluttershy turned to fly towards the exit...

And a training arrow smacked into the ankle of her back leg.

Screaming in shock more than pain, she span, only to bump into the haft of a spear as it jutted out, knocking herself to the ground, where she lay unmoving, more deadly training devices moving towards her still form...

***

Rainbow Dash's eyes widened as she saw Fluttershy go down. Without thinking, she darted out of the observation room, speeding towards Fluttershy. Unheeding of the risks, she headed straight for her friend, trying to reach her before she was injured even further.

Just as she reached her friend, a training arrow shot towards her. She dodged it, only to find the haft of a wooden crushing mechanism coming down - at the speed the heavy wooden object was descending, it would probably crush them both on impact. Gasping and closing her eyes, Dash moved her forearms to try and catch the thing, expecting the crushing weight to break both her forearms instantly. She only hoped that doing so might save Fluttershy.

But, to her surprise, the weight never came. She opened her eyes, looked up, and saw that the halberd had retracted.

"The column's off!" Dream Flyer's voice came through the system, speaking loudly. "You're safe!"

Rainbow slumped to the floor, more relieved than she could ever recall having been. She looked at Fluttershy, checking to see whether her injuries were severe: an initial inspection showed that she had a graze along the calf of her left back leg, and a few bruises from her fall, but apart from that she seemed fine.

Errant Flight rushed out of the observation room towards them.

"What were you thinking?!" he yelled. "You could have both been killed!"

Rainbow flinched slightly.

"I don't know!" she replied, raising her voice defensively. "I just... I reacted is all. Fluttershy was in danger and I..."

She hung her head, feeling stupid for acting so thoughtlessly. To her surprise, however, Errant Flight let out a low chuckle. She looked up, to see him looking ruefully cheerful rather than angry.

"You just wanted to save your squadmate - your friend," he said softly. He looked incredibly thoughtful for a moment.

"I... yeah," Rainbow replied after a moment.

Errant Flight sighed, shaking his head slightly.

"I know the feeling," he said, almost too quietly for her to pick up. "All too well."

After a moment, he held out a hoof to help Rainbow up. She grasped it.

"Come on," he said softly. "Let's get Fluttershy to the sickbay."

Rainbow Dash couldn't be certain, as she and Errant Flight lifted Fluttershy gently between them, but she suddenly felt as though the squadron leader had finally, after all this time, begun to accept her as part of his squadron. As she walked, however, he threw a glare her way, almost surreptitiously, and she sighed as she realised she still had a long way to go.

***

Pontefract Base, March 3rd, 2030.

The pony troop that Twilight and her friends belonged to were on one of their infrequent breaks from training. They had just completed a five mile jog, which - though it was something they were better prepared for after weeks of training - was still pretty tiring.

True Grit sat next to Lyra, looking around the castle grounds with a slight smile. Lyra looked thoughtful, as though she were pondering something. She had taken to being more philosophical since she had arrived: being surrounded by the humans she had longed to study had that effect.

"I wonder what happened to this castle?" she pondered aloud after a little while. "Was there a war, or was it just really old?"

"That's a question, I suppose," True Grit replied with a frown. "But hardly an important one."

"No, I guess not," Lyra said, frowning slightly herself in consternation. "But I always hoped that one day I'd get to ask those kinds of questions. And now..."

"And now, here you are," True Grit said, smiling slightly.

"Yeah," Lyra said thoughtfully. She sighed. "It's strange. I always wanted to meet humans. We've heard so much about them in our legends, you know?"

"I wonder how," True Grit pondered. "Did Equestria have humans, or did a human cross between worlds years ago?"

"There's legends of things like Dream Valley," Lyra replied softly, looking thoughtful, "but a lot of that is considered apocryphal, if not downright mythic."

"Maybe in our world that's all humans are," True Grit suggested.

As they spoke, Twilight walked past them. Noticing them, she sat near them, smiling tiredly as she did so.

"Hi, Twilight," Lyra greeted her.

"Hey Lyra," Twilight replied. "How are you guys?"

"Just discussing whether humans are purely mythical in our world, ma'am," True Grit said smartly. Twilight chuckled.

"You know, we're the same rank," she said. "You don't have to call me 'ma'am'."

"I know, ma'am," True Grit replied, a slight smirk on his face.

Before Twilight could really respond, Private Dipstick, Pinkie Pie and Sapphire Steel ran by.

"Hey guys!" Pinkie called to them, smiling cheerfully. "Come over here!"

The group of ponies exchanged confused glances. The training had resolutely failed to curb Pinkie's seemingly boundless enthusiasm for pretty much anything, much as Iron Gait seemed intent on trying. Intentional or not (and Twilight suspected it was intentional), Pinkie's smiling nature in the face of their training was something that kept the other ponies going: it reassured them that there was still something other than killing in their immediate futures.

"What's going on Pinkie?" Twilight asked, smiling slightly at her friend's cheerfulness.

"Radio!" Pinkie yelled back. "Come on!"

With that, she darted off excitedly after Dipstick and Sapphire Steel, who had already rushed off. Twilight sighed slightly, before turning to face the others.

"I guess we'd better go see what's got her so excited about a radio," she said.

"Yeah," Lyra frowned. "Normally I'd say it's just Pinkie being Pinkie, but..."

"But Steel and Dipstick went with her," Grit added. "That suggests something worth getting excited about."

"Yeah," Twilight said. "Come on."

They got up and raced off after Pinkie.

***

Inside a small tent, Twilight, Grit and Lyra found Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, Desert Wind, Sapphire Steel and a half dozen other members of the troop, sat around a small radio.

"What's this about?" Twilight asked, frowning slightly. Desert Wind looked up and grinned, a nasty, feral thing.

"Songbird," he said, a snarl in his tone belying the smile on his face.

"Who's Songbird?" True Grit asked.

"Songbird is one of the nicknames we use to talk about a broadcaster for Equestrian radio," Sapphire Steel supplied. "Nopony knows who she really is."

"Except that she's Solamina's personal propaganda plot-hole," Dipstick added, sounding unusually harsh. This surprised Twilight: Dipstick, or rather Chick Pea, was normally a nice, polite and overly friendly pony, prone to being eager to please. To hear him sound so... angry... was unusual to say the least.

The radio burst into life with a snatch of static, silencing all conversation, and soft piano music began playing. Finally, a soft voice began speaking.

"Hello to all the so called 'Equestrian Resistance' fighters, currently stationed in such lovely places as Hull and Leeds. This is Songbird with more 'News from Home'. Hope the training is going well for the latest recruits, and that your journey across the channel wasn't so bad either, though we can't speak for the poor ponies who got blown up by the HMS Dauntless. Such a shame that they came so far only to be blown up by those they wanted to help: just goes to show that it wasn't really worth the effort, but sometimes a harsh lesson like this is the only way you learn."

The voice was softly spoken, and sounded vaguely upper class. Rarity frowned, recognising the cadence as being similar to her own, but she didn't say anything about it.

"We hope Commander Dream Flyer is feeling better after losing so many of Blue Squadron over St Paul's cathedral. We know she invested a lot of time turning Blue into a respectable squadron, so the loss must be hitting her especially hard."

"Smug bitch," Desert Wind said harshly. Twilight's eyes widened at hearing the pony swear so harshly, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Commander Twilight Sparkle, meanwhile, has asked me to pass on a message to Sapphire Steel," the voice continued. Sapphire paled, her eyes widening in shock. "She says to say that she'll be seeing you again, very soon."

"No," Sapphire said, eyes wide. "No!"

"Sapphire, calm down," Desert Wind said. "She doesn't know where you are."

And yet the very mention of her name had sent fear running through Sapphire's spine.

The radio broadcast continued for about an hour, detailing various messages and insinuating that the ponies had made the wrong choice in leaving. Several of the group looked at each other doubtfully, but True Grit stared at the radio with narrow eyes.

"That's all we have time for this broadcast," the soft voice finally said. "But before we leave you, I'd like to sing something. This is dedicated to Commander Rarity, whose sacrifice..."

True Grit reached out a hoof and shut the radio off.

"Enough of that horseapples, I think," he said sharply. He looked around him. "That was enemy propaganda. I've heard of similar things being done before. I'm surprised at all of you for letting it get to you." He turned his eyes on Pinkie in an almost accusatory glare. "And I'm surprised at you for wanting to listen to it, ma'am."

"I didn't," Pinkie replied, frowning in return. "I wanted to listen to this."

She switched the radio back on, adjusted it for a moment, then found what she was looking for. In contrast to the soft, dignified piano music, there was a harsh, almost screeching synth playing. After a moment, an upper class Trottingham accent began speaking.

"Hello to all the brave ponies of the Equestrian Resistance; this is Resistance FM," the voice spoke, sounding quite a contrast to the blaring dubstep. "We'll broadcast for as long as we can."

"A Resistance movement in Equestria?" True Grit frowned.

"Most of us leave," Sapphire Steel said, her voice weak from the fear the previous broadcast had put into her. "But some stay: try to fight from within. They're the brave ones."

"We're here to dispel some of the rumours that Solamina's drones have been spreading," the voice continued. "Firstly: the HMS Dauntless is confirmed to have destroyed a Royal Guard transport attempting a covert landing at the beaches of Scarborough, much to Solamina's annoyance no doubt." A soft murmur of laughter ran through the group of ponies listening. "Her attempt to rework the loss to be Resistance ponies is typical: just to reiterate, no Resistance refugees have been killed by Royal Navy forces since the Blue channels were set up, and that's a Pinkie promise."

"Wow," Pinkie said. "Nopony breaks one of those."

"In other news, reports of Albion's death have been greatly exaggerated: we have reports that he is alive and well, and taking a well deserved break from killing every Royal Guard and Militia he meets to polish his mane collection," the voice continued. "Which we can now confirm has a touch of pink."

Twilight swallowed. They were referring to the death of the alternate Pinkie Pie with that. If Pinkie realised it, she gave no indication.

"In the meantime, that gives the rest of you ponies the chance to catch up and kill some Guard for yourself," the voice continued. "I'm sure you're up to the challenge."

"Darn straight!" Dipstick said, a little too enthusiastically.

This broadcast, too, continued for another hour: news from home, reports of various setbacks Solamina's forces had met, or problems with her commanders. Eventually, though, this broadcast too ended.

"We have to go now," the voice of the broadcaster spoke. "You're carrying all our hopes, remember that. And all our love. Keep fighting, and those of us still waiting will see you when you get here."

The radio shut off. For a long moment, nopony in the group spoke.

"That was good to hear," Sapphire Steel said after a while.

"Yeah," Desert Wind added.

"Have to agree," a harsh voice said. Suddenly, everypony snapped to attention as Iron Gait marched in. "So this is where you've been: listening to the radio, huh?"

"It was Resistance FM, sir," Dipstick said earnestly.

"I know what the buck it was, Dipstick," Iron Gait said. "I was listening too. Mind you, it's been a little hard to keep myself from telling at a bunch of ponies whose break ended half an hour ago!"

The rest of the group looked shamefaced at having been so absent from their mission. Iron Gait sighed.

"Having said that, I guess it understand why you were here. It's good to hear news from home," he said after a moment, sounding much more sympathetic. "So I won't be too harsh - this time. But this kind of thing is never happening again, understood?"

There was a chorus of affirmatives from the group, and Iron Gait nodded.

"Alright, ponies, move it out," he said after a moment. "You're late for your next course."

At once, the group moved out of the small tent. Iron Gait threw a look at the radio, his expression almost wistful, and then he followed his troop.